The UN International Day of Peace on 21 September is a day of global ceasefire and non-violence. It is not just asking aggressors in war-torn countries to disarm, but for everyone around the globe to refrain from violence – in the home, the work place, and school. It’s also about helping to save the lives of those less fortunate than we are. Although Zambia is a very peaceful country life for most people is an arduous challenge. With water shortages, incurable diseases and some of the worst poverty in the world for many life is certainly not peaceful.

In recognition of global Peace Day The Butterfly Tree is fundig a workshop at Mukuni to highlight the importance of our work in these remote communities.  HIV and AIDS in Zambia is a virus that can be caught at any age most especially for babies born to an HIV positive mother. One of our most successful projects is our under fives feeding program, which provides formulae to replace breastmilk. It has also encouraged more women to come forward to be tested. Today we will be inviting women and their families to participate in a workshop at Mukuni Village, further educating the people of the dangers of this devasting disease, helping to remove the stigma and to encourage more people to be tested.

Peace Day: Young children at Siamasimbi joining hands – a sign of love & peace

To enhance our work at Mukuni Brendan Mission is raising funds to build a music centre at Mukuni. This will be a great place  for the school children throughout the Chiefdom to perform music and drama to raise further awareness of HIV/AIDS. Concerts can be held to make the project sustainable and give the pupils a chance to ‘make change’ through music. Brendan is launching three songs and donating all the profits to The Butterfly Tree. On the 30th September Brendan will be doing a sponsored cycle ride from London to Devon where he will perform a gig. The songs can be pre-ordered for download on the 3rd October.

Two young American girls, Sammi Cohen and Madison Sacks have also been working hard to raise funds for The Butterfly Tree. Their initiative was to collect change from all their classmates and make it into a competition to see which class could raise they most money. They collected an amazing total of $3762. The staff at Natwest in Warwick completed a 10k walk on Sunday for the charity. Gordy Munro has been trying for two years to do a sponsored Skydive for the charity; after six cancellations due to bad weather he finally completed it on the seventh attempt. We are very grateful to all our supporters, the ones doing challenges and fundraising deserve a very special thanks for giving up their time to support our cause.

Children don’t ask to be born and when you are born into a Zambian family the chances of losing your parents at an early sage are very high. The HIV and AIDS  in Zambia pandemic has infected or affected almost every family. One in six adults have the HIV virus and 710,000 children have been left orphaned. What happens to these orphans? The luckier ones have family members who look after them, others have guardians, while the unlucky ones who have lost everyone close to them, have to fend for themselves. Many of the have to drop out of school as they can no longer afford the school fees and need to earn money to buy food.

Sponsor an orphan: Elena Malala lives in Kamwi Village with her elderly grandmother

The Butterfly Tree orphan sponsorship program has given hope to almost 400 children and the numbers are rising. Last month an association in Australia – the Mukuni Village Inc. Generously offered to sponsor twenty orphans in addition to the 30 they sponsored last year. This has given the program a huge boost. We have many donors sponsoring between one and ten orphans, some have been with us since 2006 coming from several different countries. We are extremely grateful for this support and hope that this continues as we need many more people to sponsor an orphan.

One man who was so touched by the plight of the orphans after volunteering at Mukuni is doing a fundrasing event to build a music centre for the school. Brendan Poynton, a musician, will cycle from London to Devon to perform a gig to raise additional funds. Chiswick TV are filming the story and event which is to take place on 30th September.

Mukuni pupils on the orphan sponsorship program using the guitar donated by Brendan

Virtually all of our projects in health, education and community work are for the benefit of these vulnerable children. By offering them a chance to go to school, eat a nutritous meal and drink safe, clean water they have a chance in life. Education is the most important aspect of an orphan’s life. Our aim is to get as many of these orphans back into education as possible and to build classrooms in areas where there are no schools. Ten schools in the Mukuni Chiefdom are receiving our support and it is hoped, funds permitting, that we can develop schools in the Musokotwane Chiefdom in 2011.

Victor Simango securing a job after being sponsored by the charity

In December we had our first school leavers after completing their A levels at the high school built by the charity. Although umemployment is extermely high one young man who had been on ourorphan sponsorship program secured a job with Sun International. Victor Simango works as a security officer at the Zambezi Sun Hotel alongside the Victoria Falls and is very grateful to his sponsor who gave him the chance to improve his situation. Help us to help more of these vulnerable children.