Although the HIV and AIDS in Zambia situation is not getting any worse it is not improving fast enough. Education is the key factor to fight the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Zambia. A quote from Avert, ‘as of 2005, although almost all adult Zambians know that HIV and AIDS exists, still 8.8% of the population do not know that it can be avoided. Over 25% of adults think that mosquitos can transmit HIV, 22% think they can be infected by withchraft; and 15% believe that sharing a meal with an infected person puts them at risk. The level of understanding is lower in towns, and women are less knowledgeable than men’.

The Butterfly Tree charity aims to built more pre-schools in Zambia; almost half of the population is between 5 and 14 years old, very few have HIV and by educating these young Zambians at an early age the HIV and AIDS statistics can be reduced. There is little else to occupy these children, living in poor rural communites, unless they can go to school.

 
Mukuni village pre school children

The Mukuni Village pre-school built by The Butterfly Tree, thanks to a generous donation by Gardiff, who are also supporting two teachers and a classroom helper, is a huge success. Over 200 children attend three classes throughout the day, learning English and Maths skills, preparing them for the basic school at the age of five.

 
Children at Ngandu School

We need donors to sponsor more pre-schools for Ngandu School and Kamwi and other villages supported by The Butterfly Tree. At Mukuni and many schools in Livingstone we are using educational DVDS, provided by TME, to teach HIV and AIDS awareness, prevention and voluntary testing. These are the childen who, by helping in the fight against HIVand AIDS in Zambia, could really make a difference.