One billion people throughout the world suffer from hunger, a figure which has increased by 100 million because of the global financial crisis, says the United Nations. We are all complaining about the effect the world reccession is having upon us, but do we give a thought as to how badly people are affected in the developing countries. Lower incomes, unemployment, reduced foreign investment increase in food prices have attributed to a record number of people suffering from hunger and yet in the developed world relatively few are affected.

Zambia is in Sub-Sahara Africa where 265 million people are hungry, many relying on food aid. In the past twelve months The Butterfly Tree has provided bore holes to four schools and two villages in Mukuni now we need to use that water to develop agriculture and for the communities to grow food so that they can become sustainable. I hear sad stories of African Children unable to walk the long distance to school due to lack of food, pupils who are lethargic in class and have actually seen a number of them fall asleep over their desks. I recently met a mother with twins who had walked three miles to the clinic, the infants were suffering from malnutrition, she hadn’t eaten for twenty-four hours having no money to buy a bag of ground maize. They are now receiving aid through our under fives feeding program.

Food for Mukuni - mother & twins no longer suffering from hunger

More feeding programs are needed until these communities can become sustainable, a difficult task with ever increasing costs, floods and elephants destroying crops. The Butterfly Tree is currently providing a feeding program, sponsored by Cunninghams, for over 500 vulnerable and orphaned children at Mukuni Basic School. We have just commenced a second program at Siamasimbi Basic School. Each day the pupils are given a nutritional meal of Nshima (ground maize), meat or dried fish (kapenta) and vegetables.

Feeding programs like this one at Mukuni needed for more schools

We are seeking micro-financing so that groups of widows, schools and communities can grow crops, produce goats and chickens for meat and eggs, fish farming and fruit trees.

Although The Butterfly Tree is making great progress with a number of projects in the Mukuni Chiefdom, more HIV funding is needed. HIV and AIDS in Zambia is pandemic, one in six adults are living with HIV. Every person has been infected or is effected by this devastating disease. The government has a number of initiatives but not enough HIV funding is getting through to the remote villages.

The Butterfly Tree provides funds for an under fives’ feeding program, the first to be initiated in Zambia. We provide formula to replace breast milk in mothers who are HIV positive, preventing mother to child transmission and this has also encouraged more women to come forward to be tested. Unfortunately formula is very expensive therefore we are looking into goat rearing to produce milk, mothers who have benefitted from our program are keen to get a sustainable income to provide HIV funding to help others in the same situation.

HIV funding: Two young boys from Kafekwa on the under fives’ feeding program

The Tusolwe Lwangunko HIV/AIDS Support Group Zambia, is run by a group of volunteers providing workshops, voluntary testing and sensitization programs. They rely on support from The Butterfly Tree to provide HIV funding and we have bought them goats to give them a sustainable generating income. I have worked with these people, they do an amazing job, based at Mukuni Health Centre, covering a vast area of the Chiefdom, encouring the communities to be tested and remove the stigmatism, the work is invaluable and we need to be able to expand on this.

HIV funding: HIV positive mother proudly presents her healthy baby

The most devastating is the number of AIDS orphans, over 400 in Mukuni alone and many more in surrounding villages. The only way to overcome the problem is to provide education for the children and teenagers. I believe they are the generation who could make the change. In Zambia the longevity is 34, they need our help to prevent them losing the next generation. By educating the pupils about the dangers of HIV and AIDS they will have a chance. We provide TMEs educational DVDs in each of the schools we operate and have distributed copies all over the nation. To help us educate these children you can, help via our orphan sponsorship scheme, for only £95 per annum (£8 per month).

Of all our programs supporting the HIV projects, education is one of the most essential, without this none of our other projects can be effective. We need to operate in more clinics, spread more awareness and provide more HIV funding to reach out to these rural people.

The Butterfly Tree has achieved a huge milestone. In the three years since we have been working at Mukuni Village the charity has raised over £250,000. Alongside this amazing amount we have sent as much again in donated medical and education supplies, clothing, blankets and equipment. The lives of thousands of people in the Mukuni Chiefdom and their facilities have been improved with this funding. Over twenty villages and six schools are receiving support from the charity and communities throughout Zambia are benefitting from the edcational DVDs we are distributing on behalf of TME.

Milestone for charity: Mukuni and Ng’andu pupils supported by The Butterfly Tree

From Hawaii to Australia our supporters are helping us to make a difference. Individuals, schools, corporates and trusts have supported The Butterfly Tree in our fight against world poverty. Worldeka is a collaborative platform designed to help you connect and create change and I am thrilled to say that we have just won a camcorder for our dynamic profile page on their website. Although Twitter and Facebook are great for social networking, Worldeka is the social network with a conscious bringing together people who are interested in charitable causes. You can hear the Mukuni children singing on Youtube.

Daily I am receiving offers of support from the likes of Kabaso who sell curios from Zambia donating all their profits to the charity, tour operators such as Exquisite Safaris who take philanthropic travelers to visit our projects at Mukuni, schools wishing to raise funds for the African children and individuals who want to sponsor an orphan. All of this means that we can spread our work to other remote communities in Zambia.

Siamasimbi: providing health care supported by the charity

Our website is attracting donors from all over the globe, thanks to the dedicated work of Miranda De Freston of Juggle Frogs donating the website and her time to improve the networking of The Butterfly Tree. We welcome Miranda onto our board of Trustees and Leonnie Mangan who is setting up a program for special needs children at Mukuni Basic School, has joined our team and Mary Luckman and Ann Sutton have volunteered to help with the administration. 

Much more needs to be done and there are many ways you can now help us reach half million pounds. Use everyclick the search engine, every time you click it rasies money for charity and currently you have the chance to win a Fiat 500 while raising money for The Butterfly Tree. Buy Once give Twice the charity auction site where you can add tickets, unwanted gifts or holiday accommodation and donate to the chartiy. Join us on Cleversquirrel and raise money for The Butterfly Tree, without you haivng to give any new money. Buying and selling on ebay for charities, take part in a sporting activity or get involved with one of our projects at Mukuni; anything however small can help us make a difference.

We are delighted that The Butterfly Tree is growing and still receiving funds despite the global crisis, thank you to everyone who has supported us. Zambia like many developing countries has been badly affected by the west’s problems; these rural communites need our charity - help us reach the next milestone!

Winter in Zambia is between June and August, although the daytime temperatures can reach up to 25 degrees the nights can drop below 4 degrees. For many this is a very difficult time, with no money to repair thatched a roof, no mattress, no blanket nor warm clothes the cold nights can be unbearable. For old people with a number of ailments, sufferers of  TB and  HIV/AIDS in Zambia  and new born babies it can be life-threatening. I have come across a number of people who are still sleeping with no shelter, open to the elements and snakes.

Homes for Mukuni: a dwelling in Mukuni Village

The Butterfly Tree’s community housing project provides substantial mud huts with a concrete floor for the most vulnerable. Using local builders a construction can be erected for just £400 and can comfortably sleep up to four people. One woman in Mukuni Village told me that when she lies down in her new home she thinks that she must be dreaming. To date we have built over 30 of these houses but need many more . This is the time of year when the grasses are ready for gathering, old roofs can be rethatched to keep the huts dry in the rainy season.

The Butterfly Tree community house

Providing a new home for a widow with young children or an elderly person who has no one to care for them can give them hope and a better chance of surving the cold winter months. A mattress at £20 and a blanket for £10 is an added bonus.

Happy, smiling faces, big wide eyes, innocent. This sums up the African children I work with in Zambia. It is refreshing to be with children who are undemanding, unspoilt, who are so poor but somehow manage to be happy. They have so little - no TVs, no computers, no toys nor sports equipment and yet they rarely complain. Some of my most pleasurable times at Mukuni are visiting the school children and watching the younger ones playing on the sandy terrain.

African children are tough. From an early age they have to fetch water, help with the chores and look after their younger siblings. They have no choice of what they eat, their staple diet in countries like Zambia is maize; typical daily meals are porridge made from mealie meal (ground maize) for breakfast, sheema (ground maize resembling unseasoned mash potato) with vegetables for lunch and for supper more sheema, salad and ground nuts, the latter being their main source of protein. Only families who have a good income can afford eggs, chicken or bread; with two thirds of the population living on less than 50 ($1 dollar) a day, these items are a luxury. Too many African children have to suffice on one meal a day, when I first set up the charity one of our initial projects was to provide a daily nutritional meal at Mukuni Basic School to feed vulnerable children.

African children walk long distances to school through bush, crossing elephant paths and rivers. I actually drove to one area where children set off at 4am to get to Mukuni High School for 7pm often having no breakfast until they reach school. For this reason many younger children are unable to be educated until they are old enough to walk several miles a day. Zambian education is something they all love, they are eager to learn and enjoy going to school, it gives them hope and a chance to better their lives and support their families in the future.

African women make loving and caring mothers, and are very protective towards their offsprings. African children are generally well diciplined both at home and at school. They support one another especially in the rural villages, where families are extended to accommodate the numerous orphans of AIDS. It is heartbreaking for mothers having to cope with so many illnesses and diseases: malaria, HIV/AIDS, aliments that cannot be cured and no money to send their children for treatment. The Butterfly Tree funds operations, medication and physiotherapy for children at Mukuni Health Centre.

Despite the terrible hardships African children have to endure they can always manage to smile. Sponsor an orphan and make a difference to the life of  these aids children.

Losing a parent is heartbreaking for any child; then having to give up your education makes it almost unbearable. This is the case of many orphans in Zambia. In the six Zambian schools supported by The Butterfly Tree there are almost 1000 orphans. To date we are sponsoring 175 children and desperately need more sponsors for orphans in Zambia. On my last trip to Mukuni Village I was staggered to meet over sixty children who could not meet their school and exam fees. By giving a child an education it is not just giving them a chance in life it is also giving them hope.

Mukabalenga was one of the first orphans in Zambia to be on The Butterfly Tree orphan sponsorship program and writes the following letter to her sponsor:

“It’s really beyond human understanding for me to have this opportunity of writing this letter to you, hope and trust all is well with you, as for me not so bad. I really appreciate your support, I don’t how I can express my appreciation. You are playing an important role in my life such as that I cannot think of my dead parents. I don’t have much to say only words of thanks dwelling in my heart.” 

Mukabalenga Siachanane at Mukuni Basic School

By paying for the orphans’ schooling, which covers school and exam fees, books, uniforms, shoes and school bag someone in the villages will accommodate them. This way the orphans do not have to be sent to the orphanages in Livingstone. Often it pushes the guardians further below the poverty line but at least the orphans are able to remain at the school with their friends, the teachers are very generous some of them having as many as five orphans living with them. Presley Mulenga, Head Teacher at Mukuni Basic School has five of his own chilren plus seven orphans living with he and his wife in his two-bedroomed house. The Butterfly Tree offers a daily feeding program to orphans in Zambia, sponsored by Cunninghams, to over 500 vulnerable children providing them a nutritional meal in addition to their morning porridge.

It costs only £95 ($150) to sponsor orphans in Zambia, alternatively £8 per month. I believe that every child has a right to education. Many more like Mukabalanga urgently need your help. To find out more visit our orphan sponsorship page. See the orphans singing with the choir on Youtube.

I am delighted to announce that The Butterfly Tree is now an aid agency for Jersey Overseas Aid. The Commission funded by the people of Jersey firmly believe that it is their moral duty to care about other people and to help them help themselves.  We are honoured to working with such a wonderful organisation who give substantial funding for aidwork in developing countries and grateful for the grant that we have been given to improve the the clinic and school at Katapazi.

Katapazi is a remote village in the Mukuni Chiefdom, over thirty miles from Livingstone and some twenty miles off the Lusaka Road travelling through bush using dirt tracks. The school and clinic has a catchemnt of 5400 people and has very little help from the outside world. When I first visited Katapazi in February 2008 I discovered that they had no electricity and one bore hole for the community and school to share. Through Just a Drop and W Foundation we have added a bore hole solely for the school, which gives them an opportunity to grow food for their feeding program.

Katapazi: Basic School pupils                          Elizabeth, health centre midwife

Now with a grant form Jersey Overseas Aid we have commenced building a 1×2 classroom block, enabling the school to upgrade to grades eight and nine as there is a high drop out rate after grade seven. The children have to walk several miles to school most of them without shoes. We will also include desks and chairs in addition to four pit-latrine toilets for the pupils and staff.

The funding will include and extention and improvements to the clinic, run by a midwife and her community-trained helpers. There is no male ward and the nearest hospital at Zimba is a thirty mile walk from Katapazi, resulting in unnessary deaths. Solar panels, a fridge and equipment will also be provided. The communty’s contribution to the project is making bricks, providing building materials and labour and The Butterfly Tree will train them in sustainability, HIVand AIDS in Zambia awareness, water and community projects.

Katapazi: Basic School choir                                  Basic School football team

Katapazi like Mukuni is an extremely poor village and has a large number of orphans. If you would like to sponsor an orphan it is £95 per annum or £8 per month. Visit Youtube and see the Katapazi choir singing and the boys playing football with bare feet using a ‘bag and string’ football.

Once again we are delighted that Eye for Travel has chosen The Butterfly Tree as the official charity for the Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2009, the world’s biggest event for travel marketing, pricing and technology executives. This is being held on 19th-20th May at the Business Design Centre, London. Helping to reduce world poverty through the tourist industry is one of the charity’s key aims and we have gained a number of suppoters as a result of this.

The tourist industry has a huge market in developing countries and must be prepared to give something back to the communities they are operating in. Besides providing jobs for local people, safe clean water and medical care is also extremely important. Many community bore holes have been drained as a result of golf courses being watered! Over sixty per cent of hoteliers worldwide do not participate is social corporate initiatives. The Butterfly Tree has partnered with Sun International Zambia where their community programs support orphanges, a hospice and sustainable businesses for vulnerable people.

Philanthropic Travel: Mukuni Pre-school funded by a tourist

Zambia’s tourism is rapidly developing, Livingstone is the capitol of tourism and  The Butterfly Tree is working with tour operators such as Exquisite Safaris, pioneers in philanthropic travel and local lodges such as Stanley Safari Lodge who through their clients raise funds for Mukuni Basic School. If you are a tour operator or hotelier working in the area ensure that you are helping the community and if you are visiting the Victoria Falls spare a couple of hours to go to Mukuni Village and see a cultural way of life, for many it is the highlight of their entire trip. Giving something back is both rewarding and beneficial to those in need, join our cause to reduce world poverty by making a donation.

For an orphan in Mukuni Village going to school is the highlight of their life. When you live in one of the poorest communities in the world there are no computers, IPods or TVS. Mud huts have no electricity, so school is the only place they can learn and they love it! To reach Mukuni some children have to walk as much as ten miles each way often having no breakfast before leaving home, this is ok when you are sixteen but far too far if you are only six. I drove out to Siachilobe to actually judge the distance the older children walk from their village to Mukuni, it’s a long, long way especially when the temperatures soar to over 40 degrees.

The Butterfly Tree is currently supporting six schools in the Mukuni Chiefdom but we need more classrooms to upgrade these schools so that the children do not have to spend too many hours of their day walking. We are currently raising funds for a Science block at Mukuni to complete our high school project. Ngandu has been able to upgrade to grades 8 and 9 as a result of the charity renovating an old classroom, last month we have commenced develoment at Katapazi school. 

 Mukuni Education  classroom in need of restoration

Now we needs funds for Kamwi and Siamasimbi two remote schools that receive no other support from the outside world. Siamasimbi becomes inaccessable during the rainy season therefore is is imperative to develop the school. We insist on community participation by asking the villages to make bricks, provide river sand and fetch water; the government provides the teachers therefore we also need to source funds for teachers’ houses.

Education is the key to developing these rural schools, building classrooms, providing safe, clean water, feeding programs and sponsoring an orphan gives the vulnerable children a chance in life.

Today is World Malaria Day and marks the unified commemoration of the global effort to provide effective control of malaria throughout the world. Each one of us should be aware and support the United Nations target for 2010 to deliver effective and affordable protection and treatment to all people at risk of malaria.

The Butterfly Tree supports Africa Malaria programs by providing malaria testing kits for Mukuni Health Centre and Katapazi Health Centre. Despite the Zambian government’s efforts there is always a shortfall. By topping up this vital supply of malaria testing kits more lives can be saved. Pregant women, babies and HIV/AIDS sufferers are particularly vulnerable. My first involvement at Mukuni back in March 2006 was to see a woman recovering from malaria as a result of our support. Zambia has the most deadly and most common form of malaria - Plasmodium falciparum, treatment is available once diagnosis has been obtained. 

World Malaria Day supports young Mukuni boy vulnerable to malaria

For World Malaria Day The Butterfly Tree is making an appeal on Touch Radio, Twitter and Facebook to ask everyone to donate just £1 to purchase a malaria testing kit. Your donation could save somone’s life.