I am delighted to announce that The Butterfly Tree is to receive a visit by HRH The Princess Royal, during her forthcoming visit to Zambia, as part of Her Majesty The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. This is a great honour for both the charity and Mukuni Village. Working closely with the British High Commissioner and The Princess’s secretary the arrangements have been finalised and everyone is looking forward to this auspicious occasion. Today I will be travelling to Zambia to make the final preparations for the visit for this exciting event. Accompanying me will be Emma Soames, a trustee of Saga Charitable Trust; Saga is one of the charity’s major donors.

Royal Visit for Charity: Mukuni Basic School

After a welcome from Chief Mukuni, HRH will arrive at the school where she will be greeted by some 1500 school children. The programme will include seeing a classroom in action, our special education unit and the orphan sponsorship programme. The choir and traditional dancers will perform and orphans will recite a poem and explain how our sponsorship has helped gain a place at high school and subsequently teacher’s training college. The Princess will unveil a plaque before proceeding to Mukuni Health Centre to learn about our health projects, which include a maternity clinic and women’s shelter, malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention programmes and treatment for sick children.

Cyclothon UK: Mike Kaye, James Blackburn, Nigel Birch & Richard Harrison

This will complete an incredible month for The Butterfly Tree. We had great success at Cylcothon UK when Mike Kaye, Nigel Birch, James Blackburn and Richard Harrison spent 12 gruelling hours cycling round the Brands Hatch Circuit. Prana Zambia held an event for Yoga Aid, a global initiative to raise funds for grass roots projects. Our Canadian representatives have a new concept to raise funds to purchase mosquito nets, as a result we are now able to distribute nets in the Sekute Chiefdom. By the end of the year, with Saga’s funding, every household in the Mukuni Chiefdom with have three mosquito nets.

Jacob, a volunteer for the charity, distributing mosquito nets

This week will also see the announcement of the UK Travel Mole Web Awards 2012. We have been short listed for the Best Responsible Tourism site and Miranda de Freston of Morphity, our trustee and web designer will attend the event in London. We will be posting a report and photos of the Royal visit later this month.