Mukuni Village is close to Livingstone, the tourist capital of Zambia and it is here where The Butterfly Tree is based. Since 2006 we have helped to advance the education in Mukuni, which has made it quite possibly the best and most certainly one of the biggest rural schools in Zambia. Much of this success has not only been due to our input, but also to Reverend Presley Mulenga, Head Teacher of Mukuni Basic School and the members of The Butterfly Tree in Zambia.
Mukuni Schools range from pre-school to high school
Rural schools face many challenges – lack of classrooms, insufficient teachers, shortage of materials and stationery and most especially lacks of funds to educate the many children left orphaned as a result of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. At Mukuni alone the charity has funded two 1×3 classroom blocks, five teachers’ houses, numerous latrines and a bore hole. In 2007 here we opened the first high school in the Kazungula District. A pre-school commenced in 2008, which is totally funded by the charity and attended by over 200 youngsters. A 1×2 classroom block has recently been completed thanks to a generous donation from the British and Foreign School Society, who has also provided several grants to help improve and advance the education at Mukuni.
Mukuni Basic School – new 1 x2 classroom block
Education is the key, but many of these children have to walk long distances to get to school – some leave at 4am, covering a distance of 15 kilometres to start lessons at 7am. Hunger is another major challenge, which can affect both the performance and attendance of school children. A daily feeding programme, kindly sponsored by Cunninghams, provides a nutritional meal for over 400 orphaned and vulnerable children, including ones from outreach villages. We have recently constructed two boarding shelters for older children who live far away, thanks to Saga who offer ongoing support to both our health and education programmes.
Daily feeding programme for over 400 vulnerable children
We have sponsored over 500 individual orphans and helped hundreds more with school and exam fees. In total there are over 1500 children attending the schools in Mukuni Village. This is just one of the twelve schools in the Mukuni Chiefdom that we have reached out to. Our work has now expanded to three further Chiefdoms – Musokotwane, Sikute and Nyawa. If you would like to help us with our education programmes we are currently seeking donations to purchase desks, at a cost of £45 each, for the new classroom block at Mukuni and as always we need more of people to sponsor an orphan.
