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Story 7 – The Water Pump 

This is the life changing moment in May last year when fresh water came to our Makangala Preschool in the Miyoba village in the Southern Province of Zambia  – thanks to a new borehole being drilled and a hand pump installed there for the first time. 

The community has since benefited from training relating to the WASH programme (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) covering the essentials of water sanitation and hygiene as well as measures to prevent the spread of COVID19. This has provided really useful guidance around how to keep the borehole and handpump in good working condition, keeping waterborne diseases at bay and preventing the spread of COVID19. 

 

Having the borehole means that almost 30 households now have direct access to a clean and reliable source of water for the first time. Those households add up to a population of 128 people. They, alongside the school community of 80 children, 2 teachers and a rotating team of pre-school community helpers, are able to use the borehole for their own hygiene purposes but also to prepare and cook meals. 

 

This has had such an impact on the lives of the community and they are now developing a vegetable garden for everyone to benefit from.  

 

 

 

 

 

10 Years, 10 Weeks, £10K! 

 

To mark our 10 -year anniversary, members of our trustee board and other supporters have taken on an ambitious challenge to walk/ cycle/ swim or even kayak the length of Zambia and raise £10,000 to help more children like Isaac. After ten exhausting but exhilarating weeks across 1500kms of Zambia’s beautiful (virtual) landscape, the team have reached their final destination of Mgapi on the Mozambican border. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, they have raised over £6000 which will go directly to supporting more children like Isaac to reach their potential. It’s not too late to donate and help the team to meet their final target you can donate here. 

 

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Story 8 – Charity the BFZ Wellbeing Champion

“We really want them to uplift their lives, these are the ones that will be the future leaders of tomorrow and we really want to support them”

Charity has been with BFZ since our beginnings, as a founding member of Twaabane group, one of the first community groups that we worked with.

Charity wanted to join forces with other single women looking after orphans and vulnerable children. At the time, she was looking after two orphans, Joshua, 7 and Boyd, 5. Charity’s dream was for her boys to have an education and a better life after school, but the challenges were many. She was alone and struggled to earn money in her rural home. She was traumatised by grief and loss following the deaths through HIV/Aids of so many of those she loved, she worried about how she could parent the boys and support them through their own journeys of grief and loss.

Charity helped us to shape projects to tackle some of the problems she and her group were facing. She was one of the first Good Goat herders, enabling her to make a small income. Charity helped us to develop our Wellbeing programme, she was one of the first caregivers to train in child counselling and has led weekly sessions in her community group ever since.

With the support of annual refresher training, Charity has become expert in supporting the children’s wellbeing and this year has started a new role as a BFZ Wellbeing Champion, travelling to other community groups to support new counsellors and share effective practice.

“The challenges facing children in Zambia are many– education, food and clothing, the vulnerable families are lacking these things. Many of these children and young people are orphans and they have been moved from home to home and are suffering grief and loss and problems of belonging. Wellbeing sessions help our children to express whatever they are going through. If a child is not given the time and chance to express, it will affect them in every angle of their lives. Where you talk about education, they will not be performing well at school, where you talk about the social life, they will not be able to interact with other young people, where they are supposed to contribute to the nation they will be failing at this. These sessions, they allow the children and young people to open up, to learn to interact and it is helping them to avoid challenges in the future.”

Counselling training

 

BFZ run weekly Wellbeing sessions across seven communities. The sessions offer one to one counselling and group learning given by BFZ trained community caregivers. Around 12 children and young people attend each session where they also enjoy a nutritious meal and take part in activities and games.

Want to help?

It can cost as little as £2 per week to fund a child to attend a Wellbeing session. If you would like to support a child please visit the BFZ webpages to donate or contact xxxx if you would like to make a regular donation.

10 Years, 10 Weeks, £10K! 

 

To mark our 10 -year anniversary, members of our trustee board and other supporters have taken on an ambitious challenge to walk/ cycle/ swim or even kayak the length of Zambia and raise £10,000 to help more children like Isaac. After ten exhausting but exhilarating weeks across 1500kms of Zambia’s beautiful (virtual) landscape, the team have reached their final destination of Mgapi on the Mozambican border. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, they have raised over £6000 which will go directly to supporting more children like Isaac to reach their potential. It’s not too late to donate and help the team to meet their final target you can donate here. 

 

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Story 9 – A Supporter Story

We had the chance to live and work in Zambia for many years, teaching in secondary schools first in Mazabuka and then Lusaka. Our children were so lucky to have grown up there, to have had that life experience, and they have such fond, happy memories of their childhood.  

 

Jim and Veronica had the wonderful opportunity to live in Zambia for 16 years from 1969 to 1987. They left Derry in Northern Ireland as a newly married couple, to go and work as teachers in a village not far from Monze, called Mazabuka. 

At that time there was a small but vibrant Irish community of newly qualified teachers in Mazabuka who had grabbed the opportunity to travel abroad and teach. Jim taught Woodwork, Metal work and Technical drawing at St Edmunds Boys Secondary School and Veonica taught English and PE at Mazabuka Girls Secondary School.  

A few years later, they moved to Lusaka the capital where they lived until 1987, before moving back to Ireland. 

Jim and Veronica arrived in Zambia at a time of change, almost 6 years after Zambia had gained independence from Britain. They never expected to stay for 16 years. Those years were some of their happiest. 

“Supporting BFZ helps us feel connected to the country that we still love. We cherish the stories of the children and young people that BFZ is helping to support. Our eldest daughter was born in the Monze mission hospital, which makes our connection to the place even stronger. “

 

Want to help? 

Want to join the Herron family in supporting this incredible charity? By donating to BFZ you can help many more children to achieve a brighter future. 

10 Years, 10 Weeks, £10K! 

 

To mark our 10 -year anniversary, members of our trustee board and other supporters have taken on an ambitious challenge to walk/ cycle/ swim or even kayak the length of Zambia and raise £10,000 to help more children like Isaac. After ten exhausting but exhilarating weeks across 1500kms of Zambia’s beautiful (virtual) landscape, the team have reached their final destination of Mgapi on the Mozambican border. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, they have raised over £6000 which will go directly to supporting more children like Isaac to reach their potential. It’s not too late to donate and help the team to meet their final target you can donate here. 

 

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Story 10 – Isaac

“Education opens doors to anyone regardless of their status in society.” Isaac, 2021. 

BFZ’s sponsorship programme has helped change the lives of many children and their families. And, it’s not only about helping individuals to meet their potential, it’s investing in the next generation of Zambians who will go on to make a brighter future for their country. One such inspirational young person is Isaac.  

Isaac was one of the first ever children to join our child sponsorship programme. Isaac grew up in Manungu compound in Monze. He was brought up by his grandparents who were deeply committed to his education but struggled to cover the cost of his school fees. Isaac’s Grandma, Bridget was one of the founder members of the orphan and vulnerable children’s project that delivers much of BFZ’s work.  

Like many of our volunteers in Zambia, Bridget found herself unexpectedly caring for young grandchildren in her retirement and was passionate about building networks of support with other carers to improve the lives of the children in their care. She became one of our most committed volunteers and is still an inspiration to all who met her. Sadly, Bridget died in 2015 but not before seeing Isaac complete his secondary education and go on to win a coveted scholarship to study medicine at the University of Lusaka. 

Isaac is now a fully qualified Doctor, working at the University Teaching hospital in Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka. He plans to become a consultant Obstetrician and would like to have two children of his own one day. He told us “Being a Doctor in Zambia is very fulfilling and I love it”. 

We are all so proud of Isaac and of believe that Bridget’s legacy could not be more fitting.  

10 Years, 10 Weeks, £10K! 

 

To mark our 10 -year anniversary, members of our trustee board and other supporters have taken on an ambitious challenge to walk/ cycle/ swim or even kayak the length of Zambia and raise £10,000 to help more children like Isaac. After ten exhausting but exhilarating weeks across 1500kms of Zambia’s beautiful (virtual) landscape, the team have reached their final destination of Mgapi on the Mozambican border. Thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, they have raised over £6000 which will go directly to supporting more children like Isaac to reach their potential. It’s not too late to donate and help the team to meet their final target you can donate here. 

 

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