Orphans Give Back

Coming from remote villages in Zambia the majority of children have to walk daily, from one to ten miles each way, to seek an education. The facility may only be a mud hut with an untrained teacher, but the eagerness to learn, shown by these vulnerable children, never seizes to amaze me. Education is everything to them.

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Bunsanga Community School in need of a Permanent classroom

Since 2006 The Butterfly Tree has run an orphan sponsorship programme for children who have lost one or both parents. Several hundred children have received a sound basic education, now many of the original beneficiaries have completed school.

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Josias Muuba now a trained pre-school teacher

Over the past ten years we have build a considerable number of schools and teachers houses, installed bore hole and latrines, improved the health facilities, all for the benefit of the orphans. In addition we have provided vast amounts of educational material, sports and classroom equipment and much needed boarding shelters to enable older children to attend High School.

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Singwamba Primary School development funded by Attraction Tickets Direct

What has impressed me most is the desire for these educated orphans to give back to their community. Jacob, when he completed grade 12, thanked me and added ‘What can I do to help The Butterfly Tree?’ He has since been a volunteer at Mukuni Health Centre, helped us with the orphan and malaria prevention programmes, and is about to start his final year at agricultural college.

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Jacob helping with the malaria prevention programme – Chuunga Village

Others like Josias, Edwin, Natasha, Joe, Sammy, Florence, Mufiani, and Etkin have followed suit by volunteering for the charity. Most importantly many of them have become trained peer educators in HIV prevention, a programme that was written especially for these young Zambians by Mutsa Marau, one of our UK volunteers. Natasha and Bridget are full time volunteers at the clinic.

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Former sponsored orphans turned peer educators

‘Catch me I’m a Butterfly Tree’ teaches school children about the dangers of HIV and AIDS, early teenage pregnancies, STI’s and drug and alcohol abuse. I spent several days in March observing and working with these young peer educators, it was truly inspirational. They are motivated role models and the ones that will make the change for their peers and families to lead healthier lives.

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Bridget, Natasha and Florence conducting an HIV prevention workshop – Mukuni

When funds are available we sponsor orphans to go to college. The courses include hotel management, teaching, engineering and computing to name but a few. The British and Foreign School Society sponsored 20 students, out of these 18 have sought employment. Our aim is to source funds to provide further education opportunities for the orphans, and to create a training centre for young entrepreneurs.

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Petronella employed as a maid at Avani Hotel, saving for teacher’s training college

A message from Petronella:

‘I would like to thank you for the sponsorship you gave me towards my education. I believe that for me I am where I am today because of you and can’t imagine how I would have ended up if I hadn’t been offered the chance to get an education.’

We are so grateful to everyone of our sponsors, most especially the Mukuni Village Trust in Australia, who have sponsored between 40 and 50 orphans for the past several years and the Callaways who have annually sponsored 15 orphans since 2008.

If you would like to sponsor an orphan to go to school or a student to go to college, please contact jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

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