Of all the villages we work in Siamasimbi is the most difficult to reach, especially during the rainy season. A distance of thirty-five miles from Mukuni this remote community has no clinic or village shop and is accessible only by 4×4. During my last visit to Zambia I was asked if I could give a lift to a women and her two children, shocked to learn that the previous day she had walked from Siamasimbi to Mukuni clinic and had planned to walk back the following day having no provisions to sustain them. There is no easy way to get to this village, rivers and streams have to be crossed resulting in children from some of the outreach villages unable to attend school during the rains.

Siamasimbi: This family had walked 21 miles to the clinic

This year the gentle and humble people of Siamasimbi saw the completion of a 1×3 classroom block, teachers’ house and latrines in addition to the bore hole we constructed in 2009. Our priority for next year will be to build a clinic in the area at Mahalula to accommodate neighbouring villages such as Siamasimbi. Although certain members of the community have been trained to practise traditional birth any complications could result in death. Several women each year die during labour attempting to walk  to Mukuni Health Centre. The Butterfly Tree has recently completed a shelter kindly donated by The Besom, so that women who live a considerable distance from a clinic can go to Mukuni prior to the onset of labour. This is an addition to our Maternity Clinic, which opened in 2008, the facilities here provide a safe haven for women and infants. The Birthing Kit Foundation of Australia donates birthing kits to further improve the delivery procedure.

The Butterfly Tree Maternity Clinic – Mukuni Village

June through August is winter in Zambia. The days are gloriously sunny with temperatures reaching 22-25 degrees, however the nights are very cold and temperatures can drop to 4 degrees. Many children and elderly people sleep on the floor of their mud huts with no blankets and very few have warm clothing. Siamasimbi’s rocky terrain is at high altitude and can be exceedingly cold at night and many young children have to walk several miles to school in the early hours of the morning. Far too many children cannot afford shoes and walk bare-footed, often suffering from hunger along the way. Siamasimbi is just one of the many remote communities that desperately need further support to improve their circumstances.

Young girls at Siamasimbi walk bare-footed to school

You can help these vulnerable children by donating a uniform for £10 ($16) or shoes £15 ($24) or a blanket £15 ($24).

Being a teacher is no easy task with all the beaurocracy, administration, numerous restrictions, ever-increasing violence in schools, it is no wonder that teachers need the long breaks to recuperate. Being a teacher in Zambia is challenging to say the least, though for entirely different reasons. If you have trained in Lusaka and lived in a house with electricity and plumbing, being sent to a remote rural village is a real shock to the system. When Zambian teachers qualify they have no choice as to where they will be located.

Help teachers in Zambia: Malima Community School House

Schools such as Mukuni Basic and High rely upon trained government teachers and with a catchment in excess of twelve hundred pupils a considerable number are required. Sadly the government cannot provide adequate housing for these teachers and it is left to the school to meet the shortfall. Since building Mukuni High School, which opened in 2007, we have encountered all kinds of problems. Although The Butterfly Tree has build some houses many more are needed in both Mukuni and Ngandu Villages. Several teachers who are residing in Livingstone, some distance from Mukuni, do not attend classes every day due to the cost of transport. Others have requested a transfer.

The Butterfly Tree Teacher’s House – Siamasimbi Basic School

When we upgraded Ngandu School in 2009 the community built two mud hut constructions to help ease the situation. This was fine until an elephant sniffed out grain in one of the teacher’s kitchens and uplifted the roof, as aresult the teacher refused to return to her home. Ngandu, one of the oldest basic schools in Zambia, built back in the nineteen forties has over 500 pupils and feeds into Mukuni High School. Like Mukuni there are a considerable number of orphans and many of them are on our orphan sponsorship programme.

Teachers’s kitchen destroyed by an elephant – Ngandu Basic School

Today starts an appeal to invite anyone to donate just £5 to help these teachers who in turn can help the orphans who desperately need an education.