Last September David and I were photographed by local UK media as the parcels we had so carefully packaged were sent on their way to Zambia. Little did we know that they would take eleven months, all but two days, to finally reach their destination.
It took us many weeks to collate all the items, much needed medical supplies consisting of bandages, syringes, saline solution, surgical gloves and fifteen pairs of crutches, all of which can be readily purchased in this country. On my last visit to Mukuni Village, the health centre had no syringes to vaccinate the babies and have no option other than to use saline provided in large bottles as the saline files are not available in Zambia, thus causing a risk of contamination once the bottles have been opened. Most medical supplies are urgently needed.
Photo: Children in Ngandu village wearing tattered clothing
Contained in the boxes were a number of sports items most especially footballs. At the Mukuni Village they only had one football to share between the school and the community. These are expensive in Zambia and can cost as much as £20 each, which is a vast amount of money considering many people only earn £50 per month and over 60 per cent of the population live on less than fifty pence a day.
However this does not stop them playing football as much loved for a young boy in Zambia as it is in the UK. I was absolutely amazed when I visited Ngandu School and saw the football that their team used; a ball of compressed plastic bags tied with string!
Photo: Boy at Ngandu School proudly showing us his football
We were given a vast amount of t-shirts and these will replace some of the tattered clothing the children have to wear. One little boy from Kamwi Village who recently enrolled at Mukuni Basic School only possessed one torn t-shirt and a pair of shorts; The Butterfly Tree is now sponsoring Oliver Kamwi.
Having been locked in customs for eleven months the nineteen boxes arrived completely in tact. Hopefully this delay will not reoccur as we are now a registered non-government organisation in Zambia.
A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE FOR THE DONATED ITEMS!