Report from BHW Zambia Partnership Facilitator Following Visit 30th June

Key People: Faidess Chiyesu, Rebecca Kaumba, Leonard Kapenda

Recent Events

Activities

At the start of 2025 they had 11 orphans in the programme, but this has currently dropped to 8. One girl who got pregnant did not want to go to school anymore, even though they encouraged her to continue. Three boys decided not to go to school, so they have been removed. One of these boy's younger sister was added to the programme.

Sandra, who we met last year and who was getting a bit involved in the group, has now left the area to go to Lusaka to pursue employment. The preschool she had started at the local church has however continued as the community pushed to keep it open. Parents of children are paying a small fee which is helping the program to sustain itself (even Leonard's youngest goes).

Leonard Kapenda 

Leonard has had a busy year in 2025. He has enrolled in a trade school in Lufuyama to complete a one-year brick laying certificate and has gained a contract surveying bore holes for a UK company called Magenta Insight Limited.

The brick laying course is very practical, and he is very much enjoying it. It takes him three hours of “hard” biking to reach the school, and he has been staying there most of the year. He hopes to be able to use this skill to earn income for his family, and to be able to teach others the skill in the village.

The bore hole contract is for 30 bores holes in the Lufuyama area. He has to go to each site and install a sensor that measures water quality and quantity. He is then required to visit each bore hole once per month to download data and forward on the information from his phone. They pay him 270zmk (US$11) per bore hole surveyed per month. (8,100zmk total per month - US$330). However, he has an issue of transport as the bore holes are far away, so he has only managed to visit around 15 bore holes per month, after the initial installation of the 30. The payments he has received are therefore around 4,000zmk per month.

His wife Evette managed to complete a tailoring course last year and they purchased a sewing machine, that is both manual and electric. She has been making some small income from making clothes and school uniforms.

They have two boys, Leonard junior who is 5 years old and goes to the local church preschool, and Victor who is 10 and in Grade 3.

Leonard's maize crop for the 2024 – 2025 season was “just ok”. He planted 3 lima in total, with 1 lima in Foundations for Farming method. He entered the government programme, where they pay a joining fee of 400zmk and then are given 6 bags of fertilizer for free. They then have to sell all the maize to the government Food Reserve Agency.

The 1 lima of FFF method produced 20 bags of maize and the two lima grown traditionally produced 30 bags. He had issues with mulching as the neighbours burnt the grass in the fields. 

Partnership's Influence within the Community

There have been many orphans who have benefited from the programme of school education requirements provided by the Kamatipa group in the last 20 years. 

The group worked well when Jeremiah was alive, but since his passing they have struggled to have real input into the orphan's lives on a regular basis.

Ideas for the Future

We discussed at great length the current state of affairs, and what plans they have for the future. Rebecca is happy to still be involved but needs help with transport from Chavuma where she currently lives. Faidess basically said that if Rebecca is not involved, she will also stop.

There are a few of the orphans who are really working hard to be educated, and it would be a shame to see these ones left without sponsors to finish their Grade 12 exams. We discussed that with the state of the education system and the results that the orphan sponsorship should eventually cease, and no more orphans should be added to the programme at present.

The group has some other ideas on ways they might be able to help the vulnerable children in the area which include:
- Saturday morning programmes
- Skills training in tailoring, brick laying, farming
- Having a small farming demo plot of Foundations for Farming to teach and show the community
- The preschool to continue
- Literacy classes to help orphans to read and write

Current Issues and Challenges

One of the big problems the community is facing is that the level of education being provided by the local school is very poor. Last year only 5 pupils out of 65 past grade 9 exams. There are many reasons for this. The teachers do not live locally but come by bus each day from Chingola as they do not want to live in Kamatipa. This means they are often only at school for about 3 hours. The head teacher also complains that sometimes the teachers even arrive drunk.

The community itself has been complaining but so far nothing has changed. Guardians and parents of children are not particularly encouraging of the children going to school, and this might be one reason why, as well as wanting them to help on the family farm.

With many young men or older boys not in school, there have been many temptations for young girls to “sneak off” with these boys. This has led to a lot of early pregnancies and early marriages in the area.

Comments

We checked the accountability report which showed they had withdrawn 20,000zmk from the bank, and currently remain with 6,000zmk. They still have another 8,000zmk remaining in the bank account. The receipts were shown for the uniform purchases, books and other requirements that the orphans have needed.

Currently, we will place the sending of funds on hold. The group is to sit down and work out a budget for the remaining orphans who are serious about finishing school and send through proposals for the other programmes they would like to run.