As the rainy season in Zambia continues crops are growing and boreholes, rivers and streams are filling up. However, during this period some rural schools, clinics and villages become inacessible as tracks become flooded. This is why The Butterfly Tree continues to source remote areas in need of health and education facilities. The following feedback, received this weekend, from a nurse at Katondo health post, confirms how vital these projects are:

‘An elderly woman had collapsed with BP. In the past she would have been taken to Kauwe Health Centre a distance of 15km, but with the rains the roads are currently impassable. She was treated in Katondo and went home the following morning. The next day an expectant mother was in an emergency situation, nurses safely delivered the baby at the facility.’ These rural health posts are vital – this mother and elderly women would not have been unable to travel to Kauwe Health Centre due to the rains.

Thanks to the tremendous support from the Overseas Aid and Development Commission in Guernsey we have developed health posts at Sikaunzwe, Bunsanga and Katondo with one currently under construction at Boombwe. We have also built health posts at Mahalulu and Mambova and added maternity wards and mother’s shelters in ten other areas. With readily available access to medical care in the West it is diffilcult to comprehend the need for improved healthcare in countries like Zambia.

This month we were delighted to receive a substantial donation from one of our private donors to build more classrooms. We are still finding mud and pole schools built by the community, in the Kazungula District, and though it is better than having no school the buildings are totally inadequate especially when it is raining. The pictures below show Bunsanga before and after our support, it can now take pupils from grade one to seven. We aim to develop three more schools this year.

Education is the key to overcoming poverty and its related issues. Following the United Nations Development Goal 4 – ‘Quality Education’ thousands of children in rural areas are in education. We were delighted to learn that out of eleven pupils on sponsorship at Mukuni High School, ten have gained their final certificates. More orphans from Mukuni, Ng’andu, Kamwi and Senkobo have joined the orphan sponsorship programme this year, having recently lost one or both parents.

Further support has been received from the Blackpool Cup organisers after selecting The Butterfly Tree as their charity partner for 2023. Two of our trustees from The Butterfly Tree, Zambia have been invited to the Blackpool Cup, an International Youth Football Tournament. The organisers will host and accommodate the trustees, and footballs from the event will be donated to the charity. Teams are are also being asked to donate football strips for our youth football teams in Zambia.

The Butterfly Tree has been shortlisted for the Water Air Food Awards in Denmark. Our comprehensive application was on Food Security and how we provided emergency relief for thousands of children and communities, suffering from severe hunger and famine, during the 2019-20 drought. We need votes and would be grateful if you would consider voting for our initiative, which will shortly be published on the WAFA Award website.

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