Cecily's Fund Blog

Back in the UK

2011-03-06T02:55:00.000-08:00

The past fourteen days have been filled with sights, sounds and information that have taken me on a roller-coaster ride of feelings. But the abiding feeling I have come home with is one of admiration for the people of Zambia.

As the stories in this blog testify, Zambians face the daily grind of surviving in an environment where “HIV surrounds us like the air we breathe” and resources are scarce, with grace, charm, humility and the most beautiful smiles in the world.

What Cecily’s Fund adds is a boost which can often make the difference between these efforts failing and succeeding.

And all those who support the charity with the smiley face logo are helping to keep these faces smiling.

2011-03-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

We’ve spent the last few days, together with our partner organisations here in Zambia, exploring tools and methods for tracking the progress of the orphans and vulnerable children we support in school and college, and what is helping and hindering them in achieving their full potential. The highlight was a lively "monitoring tools marketplace"(left) where, with much haggling, we bought and sold cardboard cutouts representing the tools. These were made out of scrap from a recycling depot in Oxford, and will now become toys for children at Bwafwano Community School. Which is where we started our workshop.

Bwafwano Community Homebased Care Centre's buildings - painted deep blue - are ranged on three sides of a courtyard where the school children play, fight, sing and dance in between their lessons. It’s also where those that Bwafwano supports in government school (with Cecily’s Fund’s help), come to collect their new uniforms and shoes. These precious items are received with enormous joy and excitement. One boy was literally dancing with happiness, pulling up the legs of his new trousers to show off his new shoes!

The buildings house an HIV and TB screening point, a clinic, a laboratory (for blood and other health tests), a home-based care centre, a sewing skills training room, a food storeroom, a co-ordination centre for orphans and vulnerable children, and a “play therapy” room where traumatised bereaved children receive counselling. It also houses the classrooms and cooking area where 756 children are fed and taught in shifts by four teachers and a pre-school matron. The community school, teachers’ salaries and school lunches are funded by Cecily’s Fund.

Our session began with a monitoring tool called a “transect walk”. In small groups we walked through the community centre – and out into the community itself - each focusing on a different area of support it provides for the children and their families. We carefully observed the surroundings, drew maps, and interviewed Bwafwano staff and their clients – patients, school children, etc.

We observed the shape of the Bwafwano complex, like open arms welcoming the community, not judging them if they are HIV positive, but offering every service they need all in one place. Outside, we observed little stalls selling soap, guavas, tomatoes and fritters outside people's houses. One little girl selling guavas under tree was busy texting someone on her mobile phone.

We noted the exceptionally well integrated web of services run by very professional and dedicated staff, supported by a network of volunteers from the community itself. These resilient women and men take time out from the relentless work of surviving poverty to help those who are in even worse situations than themselves.

One of these volunteers discovered a family of three young orphans who had been abandoned by their grandmother, unable to cope with the pressures of trying to care for them. The volunteer informed Bwafwano who sent their Orphan and Vulnerable Children Co-ordinator, Eddie Muswa, to visit them. Eddie arranged for the youngest, let’s call him Nathan, to go into a transit home for orphans while they built them a new house (the old, mud house their grandmother had left them in was not secure or healthy).

When we visited, the family was living in a small but clean and secure little house, with a separate latrine block. An extra room with its own entrance had been built so the family could supplement its income by renting it out. The house was surrounded by greenery, maize, guava trees, even decorative plants in plastic cooking oil containers. Granny came back once the house was built and now earns an income for them selling guavas, maize and building materials – sand and stone - from her plot.

Nathan is a bright, articulate boy who enthusiastically enriched our map with pictures of football pitches, his family (including his elder brother who was then at Bwafwano’s clinic), the road to his school and the nearest water source. He described one of the football pitches where he plays with his friends as being close to "Amai Chola's" house. Mrs Chola is the local nurse who set Bwafwano up in 1992. Amai means mother. And for the whole community Bwafwano is indeed like a caring, nurturing, affectionate yet strict parent. Strict because in return for its care, it expects the community not to marry their daughters off at 15, it expects them to send children to school and not overburden them with house or market work, expects them to immunise their children and to feed them nourishing local foodstuffs from the market.

It might be my imagination, but Chazanga market looks more prosperous than when I first visited in 2008. If it is true, I would not be at all surprised to find that it is because Bwafwano's children are growing up stronger, healthier and more able to earn themselves a living.

The Triumph Of Hope Over Adversity

2011-03-01T00:28:00.000-08:00

To me, this image sums up the joyous optimism of many Zambians, especially the young, amid so much hardship. (Don't worry, that's not barbed wire this Bwafwano Community School pupil is jumping over, it's strips of bicycle inner tube tied together).

Yesterday I kept an appointment that I had made when I was in Lusaka last week, to visit the shop that Motrine (we used a psuedonym, Martin, until he was 18) had set up to sustain himself while waiting to reapply to college. A day, but no time or place had been agreed for our meeting, but somehow, in the mysterious way that things get sorted out in Zambia, we were soon bumping over the unbelievably undulating roads into the interior of the Chazanga settlement in one of Bwafwano's USAID funded four-wheel drives. At a virtually vertical, deeply creviced slope, a group of boys clustered round the straining vehicle demanding to be paid for work they claimed to have done on the road - a triumph of sheer audacity over reality!

Motrine points out to me the streets on which he collected census* data on the inhabitants of 150 houses, which earned him the K2 million (about £300) that he used as capital for his business. His shop is a small, single-room breeze block and corrugated iron structure with a little porch and the words "Shop for rent" fading over the door. The walls of the shady cave are lined with crammed shelves of biscuits, sugar, mealie meal, washing powder, and lots more. On the counter stands three bottles of cooking oil, a jar of sweets, loaves of bread, some toothbrushes... and an empty egg tray.

As Motrine carefully transfers the eggs he's bought in Chazanga market into the empty trays, we're relieved to see that they've survived the drive. He paid K40,000 (almost £6) for the two trays and will sell each egg for K800 (about 11 pence), making a total profit of K8,000 (just over £1).

From the moment Motrine opens up, the shop starts doing a brisk trade; school children drop in to buy biscuits, smaller children swap empty coke bottles for full ones, a man comes in for some razor blades and a group of women sheltering in the porch from a sudden downpour tell us that they often come to buy sugar and mealie meal.

Motrine takes great pride in his business and appears to be thoroughly enjoying running it. He is volunteering at his church to "teach other youths about enterprise", and intends to continue the business once he gets into college as his course will, he says, complement this enterprise.

The school education that Cecily's Fund partner, Bwafwano helped him to get, combined with his own industriousness, determination and business instincts, seem certain to make his hope of becoming "a business man who employs others" triumph over the adversity of his orphaned and impoverished childhood.

I told him about the Zambian my colleague Caroline had met on the plane. He had built up a thriving business from nothing, and was just returning from a business trip to China. "You could end up on a plane to China too, " I suggested to Motrine . He smiled shyly and said "If God blesses me."

And if it is true that heaven helps those who help themselves, Motrine should be richly blessed.

*The 2010 census: preliminary results put the population at 13 million, up from 9.8 million in 2000

The Devil's Workshop

2011-02-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Danish government is phasing out its aid to Zambia because "The Zambian economy is booming due to a bumper crop and high copper prices," according to a recent Zambian newspaper report. But it is hard to detect evidence of this boom at a superficial level; Kitwe's roads are lined with billboards saying "Ring this number to advertise here". For the first time in the six years I've been visiting Zambia, I saw and heard of signs of child malnutrition - pale skin, distended bellies and stick thin limbs. School heads and contact teachers report that more and more orphans are unable to pay even half their school fees*. Mr Mubwata, Chamboli High School's Accountant, says that the mines, on which Zambia's economy rely, have been laying people off, and that although Zambia's HIV prevalence rates are down, the "aftermath" of past infections is more orphans. School after school tells me that pupils are going hungry - sometimes for two or three days in a row.

Perhaps the benefits of the boom are yet to come, trickling slowly down from the upper layers of society. In the meantime school drop-outs, sick parents and redundant workers are, to coin another recurring phrase I hear in my interviews, "just sitting at home".

But yesterday I met with some notable exceptions; a group of young people who have formed 'Cecily Alumni Programme' to put to good use the communications and health information skills they learned as school peer health educators with Cecily's Fund partner, CHEP. Word is spreading among the programme's alumni in Kitwe and Lusaka, and more and more are joining the group. They would rather be doing this - even as volunteers - than "just sitting at home".

Poverty and boredom makes young people more vulnerable to HIV. One founder member, Nancy (right), who I first met in 2008 as a grade 12 school-girl doing her peer heath education entry test, explained that "Idle minds are the devil's workshop" - a workshop whose key tools are drugs, alcohol and irresponsible sex... or sex exchanged by young girls for schools fees, rent or food.

So together, the group has systematically analysed the challenges faced by their peers and considered the resources and opportunities available to them. The result is an amazing range of ideas and plans, from teaching people to earn money by weaving mats using free raw materials from Zambia's ubiquitous sisal trees, to approaching mobile phone companies to sponsor the group's communications through Facebook, via Zambia's equally ubiquitous cellphones. They also plan to lobby the government and private companies to develop sports facilities to keep young people busy and healthy. Another founder member, Valentine, will use his skills as a radio journalist to help develop the media advocacy campaign, while Lastone, who works in the YMCA's internet café, is about to start teaching young people IT skills to give them a better chance of earning a living. Former school peer health educators are already running regular health, HIV and life skills sessions for their peers in colleges and universities.

When I asked Mr Mubwata if he had hope for the future of Zambia since the economy is supposedly booming and HIV prevalence is down, he said "Yes and no. For example... we have Mr Lukwesa (below), our grade 11 and 12 sicence teacher, who is a product of Hodi [Cecily's Fund's school and teacher training programme partner]. It’s a real breakthrough. If every family has one like him that family will never be the same again." I also believe that if every community has a Cecily's Alumni Programme member, that community will never be the same again either.

Without any financial backing they've made an impressive start. Imagine what they could achieve with financial backing...

*Cecily's Fund is looking into this issue; we are planning to collect details of the extent of the problem and amend our support accordingly.

What should OUR response to HIV be?

2011-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

On May 10th we are inviting Friends of Cecily's Fund (those who donate 12 pounds a month or more) to the Houses of Parliament to take part in a panel discussion on the topic: "The economic downturn threatens the HIV downturn. How should we respond?" We're inviting a panel representing the religious, political, media and business sectors to answer this question.

One of my tasks on this trip has been to ask Zambians the same question for a short video to be shown before the discussion. The responses I've had have been interesting and varied.

The Head Teacher of Chamboli High School, Mrs Charity Chavula, said that the education sector should put their Heads together - literally - so that schools can share ideas about how to respond to the growing waves of orphans turning up on their doorsteps without uniforms, fees or food in their stomachs. As many schools have been telling me this week, several aid organisations have pulled out - leaving Hodi/Cecily's Fund as the only organisation supporting vulnerable children in school. She has waived the fees of over 100 of these children until other sponsorship can be found - but it is a struggle as the school needs its resources to keep running.

Ackim, the former peer health educator, who helped a teenager end his heroin addiction, said that he felt the youth of Zambia had a responsibility to behave in a way that reduced the risk of HIV, and to follow the advice of their peer health educators to abstain or “condomise”.

One young person assiduously living up to this responsibility is Misozi, whom we have supported through school, peer health education and teacher training college and who is now teaching at a small private school. After talking about her role as a matron in the school’s Anti-AIDS club she looked candidly into the camera and said “I abstain from sex and I would advise all other young people to do so.”

Mrs Grace Banda (no relation to the President), the contact teacher of Kamitondo school – where we caught up with Katy - also felt that her role as an individual was to abstain or use a condom, while another of our teacher training graduates – Robbie – who is also working in a private school while waiting for his results, said that as teachers they were like parents to their pupils, spending all day five days a week with them – so their role is to ensure that all their pupils understand how to stay safe from HIV.

Miriam and Hendrix, the peer health education team who ran yesterday’s session about sexual offences, said that they had a role to educate young people about how certain behavior leads to HIV infection, and about how to stay healthy if they are infected. They also said that they had a responsibility to be role models to the pupils and practice what they preached.

HIV is, as Ackim said, "all around us like the air we breathe" - only a sustained effort from every angle - individual, local, national and international - can slow down and eventually stop the pandemic. The slowing down has begun - but the global economic crisis has led to many vital HIV and AIDS services being cut. There's a real threat that the recent reduction in global HIV infections could be reversed. Faced with this threat, Zambians at individual, community and national are doing their utmost, in the face of chronic hunger, poverty and unemployment to respond.

It would be easy to think that because we live far away from Zambia, we have no role to play, but I think that on an international level the question "What should OUR response to HIV be?" is not only a legitimate one, but a vitally urgent one.

You are part of a global "safety network"

2011-02-25T10:36:00.000-08:00

I have had another day full of stories; stories of hope, despair, smiles, tears, courage and progress. But there's just one story I want to share because it so powerfully illustrates the waves of positive change that can result from giving the right support to the right person and helping them to put it into action.

While I was waiting in the Hodi office to visit another school, Kasamba pointed out a boy to me - one of the many people who trickle steadily into the Hodi office all day long desperate for help. "He's one of our supported boys," Kasamba said "Talk to him."

Ackim Mboyu was here to seek Hodi's support at teacher training college. His story was a tragic and familiar one; he had been orphaned at a young age and he and his brothers were left to fended for themselves. He had had to drop out of school for two years due to lack of funds and gave up all hope of his dream of becoming a teacher. Then Hodi and Cecily's Fund started supporting him - first through school and then as a peer health educator - and he has never looked back. He is immensely grateful for this support and invites blessings on those who have helped him.

I asked him if he could give me an example of peer health education having led to a change in the behaviour of a pupil. This is the story he told me:

"In one school where we ran sessions, there was a problem with drug abuse. So we explained to them the dangers of drug abuse and the link with HIV, that it could be transmitted through shared needles. After that session, one of the pupils came and confessed that he was using heroin. He was 17 years old. He didn't know that HIV could be spread through needles, and stopped using it straight away. My fellow peer educator and I researched the subject in CHEP's library. We counselled him confidentially - after every peer health education session, for about a month.

We also advised him to be tested for HIV. It was very difficult for him to go for testing, but after counselling he found the courage to go and be tested. The result was negative.

The last I heard that boy had passed his grade 9 exams and is now in grade 10. He counsells his friends who are using heroin, urges them to stop using and to be tested for HIV. He sees himself as a role model after what he has experienced."

I asked Ackim if he realised that he had probably saved that boy's life. He smiled modestly and thanked Cecily's Fund again for its support. And I suppose it is true that all of us involved in Cecily's Fund from our donors and supporters in the UK, USA, Switzerland and other parts of the world, our staff and trustees, our Zambian partners and those who benefit from our support are all part of the network that helped to save that boy's life, and possibly the lives of some of his friends.

I suppose you could call it a "safety network"... the challenge is going to be keeping that safety network strong and not letting too many bright and determined young people like Ackim fall through the gaps.

Hope the generator holds out...

2011-02-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

Am typing with fingers crossed (figuratively speaking) as there's been a powercut and the generator has just been cranked up, drowning out the sound of the crickets and the frogs. The powercut may have something to do with the epic tropical thunderstorm which woke me at 5.30 this morning.

Today the Caroline, the programme manager of our partner oganisation, Hodi, and Kasamba, Hodi's logistician and I visited two schools where we were priveleged to sit in on their peer health education sessions. Leon and Rita ran a lively session on substance abuse which the grade 8 pupils illustrated with a spirited drama involving a pious widow driven to drugs - supplied by two villainous but hilarious rastafarian drug dealers - after the death of her husband. Afterwards I talked to some of the young people who took part in the session and was really impressed by their grasp of the issues concerned. They seemed determined to resist any peer pressure they may come under to take drugs and if someone offered them drugs in school they would report them and would even go further and offer them advice to improve their errant ways...

At another school Miriam and Hendrix led a more serious session about sexual offences, bringing home the importance of telling someone if you are being abused or exploited. Sadly this is not uncommon in a society where orphaned young girls are often forced to rely on older men, like their uncles, for school fees and food. Another very good reason to provide vulnerable children with school fees. They illustrated the way that HIV can spread by getting children to pass a hairband from one to the other on pens held in their mouths. Peer health educators are nothing if not creative!

We also met Katy, who features on our website (Our children's stories). She is at a new school and is retaking her grade 9 exams. Her grandfather, sadly, passed away so her grandmother now has sole responsibility for finding food for the family. They share a small farm with an uncle 15 km away and get some maize and groundnuts from that, and Katy takes part in the schools agricutlrure and nutrition programme. They grow maize and other vegetables and feed the younger orphans and vulnerable children who have no-one to support them. There are more and more such children as school after school told us that Cecily's Fund is now the only organisation supporting children in the area - others have pulled out due to the economic situation. They are immensely thankful that our supporters have made it possible to continue our support.

Tomorrow we are meeting some of our trainee teachers and some who have graduated from college and are working.

Phew! The generator did hold out!

From New Yatt to Lusaka to Kitwe...

2011-02-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

Have not been able to get onto the blog until today, with the result that I have far more to tell than will fit respectably into a blog! I was greeted at Lusaka airport at 6.30 am by the smell of fresh rain on dry earth... the flame trees are in flower and everything looks lush and green. I was also met by Mr Kataso and Kangwa from Bwafwano Community School and within a couple of hours I was being introduced to Tabitha, one of the three new teachers in the art room - a kind of thatched one-room cottage painted in Bwafwano's distinctive deep blue. Tabitha, like the other two teachers talked of "having a heart for vulnerable children", a sentiment we hear often in Zambia. Stanford, the grade 4 teacher was particularly committed to Bwafwano, having grown up in the area and experienced first hand the challenges it brings.

I was also pleased to meet Elsie and Edina again - they have indeed moved on to government school. Elsie was thrilled with her smart new uniform and shoes. Edina is still waiting for her's and Mr Kataso assured me it would be ready by Friday. The uniforms are made in Bwafwano's own workshop by girls who weren't able to finish school, so learned this skill instead and are employed part time to make uniforms for Bwafwano supported children. I went to the girls' new house and was given a huge bear hug by Catherine, their grandmother, who I had last met in 2008. Afterwards I discovered Elsie had worked out how to use my camera and had captured the moment (see below)! The family still struggles to find money for both rent and food - but with the girls at school Catherine feels they will eventually be able to care for themselves and for their family.

I also met Steven and Martin, both mentioned in our 2010 Summer Newsletter. Steven has become a body builder! He confessed that he had been involved in some "bad behaviour" but that his contact teacher had encouraged him to be good and that now "I am born again". He's concentrating on his studies so that he can become a car mechanic. Martin, who got the highest pass marks in his school and wanted to study humanities, unfortunately didn't get into college. Undeterred, he has used what he learned in his commerce lessons at school, spotted a gap in the market and set up a grocery store in his neighbourhood.He splits the little profit he makes between his brother and sister who live with a relative elsewhere in Zambia, his uncles family with whom he lives and saving up for a second attempt at getting in to college.

I was very heartened by these stories of determination in the face of adversity. Clearly a culture of dependence has not set in with these particular young people! They really have made the most of what little they got.

I'm now in Kitwe, in the Copperbelt Province and have spent the day visiting our children in their schools and homes. The last visit was the one which will really stick in my mind; first meeting a group of bright, confident, smartly dressed young women at Helen Kaunda High School (we discussed the merits of single sex education) and then a visit to the home of one of them, Esme, who my colleague Sophie met last year. Many of our children are in homes where they are grudgingly tolerated by relatives at best. At worst they are abused and exploited. But Esme's small, breeze-block home was a warm and loving environment. She introduced me to her brother-in-law saying "He's like my father" and to her elder sister as "my mum". They were clearly proud of this extremely bright young member of the family who will no doubt achieve her ambition to become an accountant. Yet she is not too proud to roll up her sleeves and hack away at the weeds in the family maize patch with a lethal looking hooked hoe.

I'm told my nsima with chibwawa and impwa is ready so I'll sign off for now and then prepare for another busy day tomorrow.

Getting ready to go

2011-02-19T06:56:00.000-08:00

I'm getting really excited about my trip as I sit in the office (on a Saturday!) making the final preparations. My first two days will be spent at Bwafwano Community School, near Lusaka where I'm looking forward to meeting again some of the children I met in 2008 and 2010 - including Elsie and Edna who featured on our latest Annual Report cover and in our leaflets. Elsie should have started in a government school by now, so I'll be able to find out how she's settling in. On Tuesday evening I'll travel to Kitwe in the Copperbelt region for four days, meeting with children and young people that we support in school, as peer health educators and trainee teachers. I'm particularly excited about meeting the former peer health educators who have recently come back together to form an alumni association so that they can keep using their HIV prevention skills and supporting upcoming generations of peer health educators. I hope to be able to post my first blog entry on Monday night, but it will depend on whether I can get internet access. Watch this space!

Work Experience, by Mary

2010-08-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

Monday 9th August 2010
Hi! My name is Mary, I am 16 years old and I am going to start sixth form at my school this September. I decided to do some work experience at Cecily's Fund this summer because I wanted to see how a charity is run and what kind of jobs there are, with a view to my future career.

Monday
Everyone here at the office in scenic New Yatt is so friendly and they have helped me to settle in really well. Any questions I have are answered straight away and I have had some interesting chats with Sabita, Sophie and Helen about what their role at Cecily’s Fund involves. This morning I sat in on the team's weekly meeting and heard about everyone's busy schedules. The amount of things that need to get done is mind-boggling! My main tasks today have been communicating with supporters and donors to the charity. I have posted letters with introductions to Cecily’s Fund, sent many, many friend requests to supporters on Facebook to try and widen the amount of people that the charity can contact. It has been a long day but I am looking forward to the rest of the week!
Tuesday and Wednesday
I am getting used to office life now and have been doing lots of little odd jobs like preparing envelopes to send to possible donors and packs of information to help people promote the charity as well as contacting trusts by phone and email. On Wednesday morning I was able to go and visit the designer who is generously adding the design of the Annual Report to his already busy schedule. It was amazing to see him work so quickly and deftly and helping the information in the report really come to life with clever layouts and colour combinations.
Thursday
Today I spent the morning researching HIV and AIDS in Zambia and finding statistics to compare with the UK. I used sites like UNAIDS and AVERT which are well worth a visit if like me you want to look in detail at the problems surrounding HIV and AIDS and also the way that people are trying to deal with them. Education really is key! Each year of schooling that a child in Zambia reduces their risk of getting HIV by 7% which I think is an amazing statistic and really motives me to do more to support Cecilys Fund. Now I'm off to prepare a collecting tin for the local Post Office!
Friday
My last day was a quiet one as it was just me and Sabita in the office. Amoungst other things, I helped her by printing and laminating posters for her 'Poems in the Park' event (including wet weather ones which unfortunately she had to use!). It was nice to meet Alison who dropped in at the end of the day full of new ideas for fundraising. My week in the Cecily's Fund office has been an interesting one and I feel that I understand the workings of a charity like this one much more than I did. It has opened my eyes to the complexity of running a charity and given me respect for the people who work here. They are all so passionate about helping the kids in Zambia and so all work really hard. Thank you all for a great week!

Diary of an Internship at Cecily's Fund, by Kate

2009-08-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

I am doing a week long internship (split over two weeks) at Cecily's Fund after nearly two years of fundraising for the charity from afar. I have been president of Cardiff Stop AIDS for a year and actively fundraising for them through that as one of our 5 charities. I found Cecily's Fund through a web search and found the story of charity (having been set up by the parents of Cecily, Basil and Alison Eastwood, after her death when she was working for orphans in Zambia) really showed how something wonderful can come out of something very sad. I had come back from working in an orphanage in Tanzania just a few weeks before I had starting looking at the Cecily's Fund website and I really found a lot of familiarity in the photos and stories from my own experiences. I was inspired to email in about volunteering and fundraising for them.

The Cecily's Fund team have been a fantastic support network from the fundraising I have organised since. All of the Cardiff Stop AIDS team and myself have really enjoyed our involvement with the charity (and adopting our orange t-shirts on their behalf). We have done various bits and bobs for them, including selling Red Roses at Valentines, a glo stick pub crawl, a wine and cheese night and a big music festival.

So... when I tottled in for my first day being part of their office, I was delighted to finally put a face to all the team and get to meet everyone. My day began with an brief overview of the chairity and separate projects and how it works; from trustees to staff to parters to the children who are receiving the support. This was really useful in discovering really how a small international charity like this operates. I was also provided a list of different ‘mini projects’ that I might be interested in, which will allow me an understanding of different aspects of Cecily’s Fund and how I might be able to help. These include finding a venue for the Eye-Brow pre-show drinks, on updating their facebook and twitter sites, putting together guides for fundraising (using my expertise from hours of student life procrasting on those sites...), a phone survey and looking at the media profile of the charity. As well as getting the chance to have individuals meetings with each staff member and find all about their separate jobs.

My first section of the day involved going with Sabita to meet the Rotary Club of Witney and watching her speech on Cecily’s Fund (with the hope of gaining their support). I had never met a Rotary Club of any sort so I was not sure what to expect, but delighted to get the chance to go along and find out. After a general meet and greet of the main committee at the Rotary, everyone sat down for lunch. I found everyone to be absolutely lovely and, apart from a minor blip in calling the ‘inner wheel’ the ‘inner circle’ , it went well I felt. I throughly enjoyed listening to Sabita talk and find out a little more, particularly about HIV in Zambia and the general state of politics and economy there. I think everyone was genuinely inspired by what was said and everyone seemed to be really positive about fundraising for Cecily's Fund from that point onwards. I even got to be part of the photo shoot! I felt very fortunate to get to attend something like that and learn a little more about the inner workings of the Rotary, what seemed to me a little more like a secret club. I think it should have a really great outcome for Cecily's Fund with a knock-on effect with gaining support.

After that we came back to the office and I set about making a little write-up of the session with the Rotary club for future outcomes and working on my little tasks.

A really enjoyable first day. I think working with Cecily's Fund is going to be a great experience in finding out about a small international charity but also giving me great ideas to take back to Cardiff Stop AIDS for the future.

Day Two
It is my second day in the Cecily's Fund office. Been busy working my way through my jobs...Started by looking for a place to host the 'Crazy For You' pre show-drinks for Cecily's Fund in October. I have discovered that most hotel bars around the West End tend to enjoy the purple velvet and gold style ('swanky' is the word) and one had a quite unusual take on using eyes to decorate the backs of bar stools. Anyway, I wrote some emails to some local hotels and a bar so hopefully they will get back to me asap. I started making 'how to organise...' sheets for different events that Stop AIDS have put on which was enjoyable and gave me a chance to think over plans for the next year! Hopefully we will be able to get Cecily's Fund as our charity to support for Raid Festival (our world AIDS day music and arts festival) this year, which would be lovely.

I also had a nice chat with Jemma about her role as admin-assistant and she talked me through Donor Strategy, the beast of spread sheets really, and other bits and bobs that her job involves. I found Donor Strategy really interesting to look at and it obviously has so much potential (We enjoyed looking at a 'Mr Frogface'). You can see that throughout her career here that Cecily's has just gone on to get bigger and better. I think it is nice how personal that the thankyou letters make donating here also.

Tomorrow I shall be looking into media strategy a little more (hopefully finding I've learnt something in the previous two years at Cardiff) and spending a bit longer on the Cecily facebook and twitter site.

And must I say a lovely view from the office. You can see why New Yatt was the location of choice.

Day Four
There is something about this blog that makes me want to start with a geordie 'Day Four in the Cecily's Fund Office'... clearly have been influenced by Big Brother, despite claiming never to have watched it. Anyway sorry to have missed out on a day three blog.. I was basically working over the little jobs and bits as mentioned previously, and had a chat with Anne about her role as accountant and number crunching. Also had a chat with Caroline about her role as manager and found out what she had done previously, she really inspired me to consider International service in a few years.

I am back to complete my last couple of days volunteering in the office and final attempt at cracking on with some of the projects that I have been given. I am trying to finish my 'media strategy' research, which involves searching for some interesting publications to gain media attention on a national level, as well as getting into corporate magazines...accountancy etc. With the breadth of things that Cecily's Fund do, there are certainly lots of different angles for articles and different publications that could offer editorial content. I hope this can be useful for the team at a later date as I think it could be great publicity.

Other bits and bobs I have got done...Finally booked the pre-show drinks venue for the 'Crazy For You' preshow drinks, which will be at the Courthouse Hotel. See updates on the website for more info on that.

Had a nice chat with Helen about her role as fundraising officer, which was really interesting. Going to start working on some mail outs for her with the London Marathon and Crazy For You show. More tomorrow for my last day at Cecily's Fund.

Last Day and Final Reflections
It is sadly my final day in the Cecily's Fund office and so I thought I should make a final blog. I have really enjoyed my time in the office in little New Yatt, working alongside the very lovely team and learning all about how a small international charity operates. I will have a lot to take away from my experience, but am positive I will continue to fundraise for Cecily's Fund and get Stop AIDS as a national body more and more involved with the charity.

Today I did a mailout with Helen for the London and Brighton Marathon and have continued with the projects that I was given at the start of the internship...media strategy, 'how to..' guides and web updates.

I hope that I will get the chance to work for a similar charity, like Cecily's Fund, after I graduate as this is what I am really passionate about. I really think my time here will help me, definately something great for the CV. I recommend other students (and non-students) to come volunteer in the office for a short time at least, a long time even better! Or just generally get up and fundraise for the charity! In Cardiff we have had such fun doing so and will continue to in the future.

All the best to Cecily's Fund. Thanks very much for letting me come visit.

A blog by Tinkani, a Peer Health Educator

2009-07-19T04:46:00.000-07:00

This blog was written by Tinkani Ngoma in Kitwe, Zambia, between 19th and 25th July. She is a Peer Health Educator supported by Cecily’s Fund. I have added brief explanations or translations in brackets where necessary. You can read more about the Peer Health Education programme which Cecily’s Fund supports on our website

Sabita

Introduction
My name is Tinkani Ngoma. I am a seventeen years old. My father died three years ago in March when I was in grade ten. Ever since then, my life has been very difficult because my mother struggled very much just to pay for my school fees, provide me with the school necessities. (Cecily’s Fund helps children in Tinkani’s situation by providing them with shoes, uniforms, books, pens and help with school fees.)

My mother manages to look after the family by renting out one of the rooms of the house. On Sundays she goes to a certain lady whom she helps to do house chores and after she is paid she uses the money to pay for my young brother’s and sister’s school fees and some she uses to buy food.

Recently she decided to rent out the whole house. I decided to stay with my aunt so that I could keep my job, if I shifted with my mother it would have been very difficult for me to reach the place where I teach, it would have been a very long distance. My aunt also looks after my other cousin.

I am going to tell you how I will live my life and what I will be doing for the whole of this week from 19 to 25th July 2009.

Monday 19th July 2009
This morning I left home at half past ten for my teaching session at Mindolo Basic School. My partner and I (peer health educators run workshops in pairs) found our contact teacher who directed us to the class. We taught the pupils about tuberculosis (tuberculosis is very prevalent in Zambia, partly because of HIV which destroys people’s immune systems). The students posed many questions as they were eager to find out more. The session ended by 12:35 pm. By the time I reached home, it was half past one. I had my lunch and rested a bit. At 3pm, I decided to go and visit my friend. On my way, I met an old school friend. We talked and talked until we found our separate ways. Unfortunately, my friend was not at home, so I decided to go back home. Before going to bed, I read about ‘Life Skills’ in preparation for Tuesday’s class session.

Tuesday 20th July 2009
I woke up around 7 am and cleaned the bedroom and the entire house. I ate nshima (a thick paste made of corn flour, the staple diet for most Zambians) for breakfast because I did not want to eat sweet potatoes. I was at my Auntie’s place around 9 am. It was then that my mother called me and told me that she had decided to shift back to our house in Chimwemwe because our tenant was not taking good care of the house. My mother had decided to go back and rear chickens for selling. I was actually very happy because I miss her a lot. At nine thirty hours, I took my bath so as to prepare myself for work. My partner came to pick me up at around ten o’clock and we started off to work. Today, I had planned to have a lot of pupils and teach them a role play. Unfortunately, there was a parade in school and not many children attended my lesson. Despite having fewer pupils in class, I enjoyed teaching the grade eights because they were active and responsive in class. By 16.22 pm I am at home and planning to go to the salon to get my hair plaited. I returned home by quarter to seven, and we have just had load-shedding (a process for managing electricity flows which causes electricity cuts). Since supper is ready, I planned to eat and then prepare for tomorrow’s session.

I believe that tomorrow is going to be a nice day because I will be teaching a good topic; “love and relationships”. I know that the pupils will enjoy it, they like talking about such things, to do with love. When we teach them such topics they open up and ask questions like when is the right time to fall in love? What is love? Why is it that when a boy develops feelings for a girl they turn to feel shy? Is it possible for a boy or girl to be just friends?

Wednesday 21st July 2009
I will start my session by noon and am told will reach out to a large number of pupils. By 10.30am I am ready for work- waiting for my partner to come and pick me up for work. We reached the school premises hoping to find a large number of students; however we were met by a class that we were not scheduled to meet that day. We decided to see the deputy so that he could write a report for us stating the reason we could not teach the required students on certain days. We were then told to go home because of the situation.
When I reached home I relaxed and helped with some household chores. By this time it was already 17.00 hours. I decided to sleep for some time as I was tired. When I woke up I had some supper and that is how I ended my day.

Thursday 22nd July 2009
Today I am going to spend the entire day at home. I finish sweeping and take a bath after my breakfast at 10 am. I have just received a phone call from my friend saying that her brother’s wife is seriously ill. I feel bad because she is a good person. At 3pm I left for my friends house. I did not find her at home, so I decided to wait for her. After about fifteen minutes, my friend came and informed me that her brother’s wife had passed away. I was shocked as I did not expect that to happen so soon. She booked a taxi and told me that she would drop me off close to my place. I asked her if I could go to the funeral with her. She said that since there were a lot of people willing to go with her to the funeral, she would come and pick me up the next day as the funeral was being held in Chibuluma, a small township on the outskirts of Kitwe. I reached home and told my sister and mother about the sad news.

Friday 23rd July 2009
Today was a busy day. I woke up early in the morning, did the washing and prepared myself for work. When I got back from work, it was about 1pm and I had to get ready to go and attend the funeral in Chibuluma. Once I was back home, I went to my mother’s place from my Auntie’s place. It has been a long and hectic day.

Further reading
Cecily's Fund Peer Health Education programme
Cecily's Fund AIDS in Zambia
Funerals and Burial customs in Zambia

Thank you to Tinkani for writing this charming and informative blog for us. We are waiting to receive further blogs from our colleagues in Zambia and the young people that Cecily's Fund supporters are helping to educate. These will include a teacher in the community school at Bwafwano, a Contact Teacher (nominated teachers in each school who provide a link between us and the children we support there) in Kitwe, and more Peer Health Educators.

If you would like to support the work we are doing in Zambia to help young people like Tinkani, please visit our website for suggestion of what you can do to help.

http://cecilysfund.org/

Work Experience, by Molly

2009-06-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

First Day
My name is Molly, i am in year 10 at a local school, and i have come to work at Cecily's for a week for my work experience. My first day of work experience was very pleasant and interseting. I have learned alot about the history, for example, about Cecily herself. I have learned about her Gap year adventure to Zambia, and how it very unfortunatly and suddenly ended when she died in a car incident and how her parents realised that they have lost their child, but there are alot of children in Zambia losing their parents, so they wanted to do something about it. I have also learned about the different areas of the organisationand what they do and about the friends of Cecily's fund in America and Switzerland. This is my first time in a work place, so it has been very interesting to see what it is like, and how everything happens. I am greatly looking forward to the rest of the week, and the different jobs i will do. Today i have sorted out files and photos, to help make them easier to find, i have read through interviews from trips to Zambia, and put them into an interview form, put D.V.Ds into cases and done some photocopying. I have a feeling that i will learn alot throughout the week, about Cecily's Fund and what a week at work is really like.

Children who are helped by Cecily's Fund...
For the last 3 days i have done three/four time-consuming jobs. On tuesday i made an album of pictures, captions and bits of writing about the 10th anniversary of Cecily's Fund. This was fun and very interesting, as i saw alot of pictures of the children and the staff. I also learned a few things by doing this too, for example, about the beautiful flame tree that was planted in Cecily's memory. It also enabled me to see the children that Cecily's Fund helps, which gave me a greater sense of how Cecily's Fund helps them, and how its effecting them. Late on tuesday afternoon and on wednesday morning, i read through some more case studies and matched pictures up to them. This was very interesting, as i learned about alot of children who are helped by Cecily's Fund, their experiences and home-life. One story that i particulary found interesting was a little girl in grade four. She lives with her grandmother who had been suffering with malaria. From what Cecily's Fund can guess, she is a double orphan, and shares a 2 bedroom house with 3 other people. On wednesday after-noon and thursday morning, i worked on the data-base. I was reading through a list of everybody that attended this years Opera event, and making sure that everybody was in the data-base (and if not, put them in) and making sure that the entries all had that they had attended. This was quite time-consuming, but not dull. It showed me the large number of supporters Cecily's Fund has, and that they come from all over the place.

Last Day of Work Experience
Today was my last day of work experience. Through the day i have made two more display boards for various gatherings and fundraising events. I have greatly enjoyed my week here, and can't believe that its over. Whilst being here i have learned alot about the history and the jobs involved. I have enjoyed the experience of being in the workplace, loved meeting and working with the people here (who are lovely) and am sad that it's over. I'm one of those people who has no idea what i want to do when i grow up, and even-though working at Cecily's Fund has not particularly changed that, it has given me a definate option for a career. I think that Cecily's Fund is an amazing charity, which is well worth supporting in everyway possible.

Brave New World..., by Sabita

2009-03-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today we saw Brave, who Cecily's Fund has supported through school and college. He recently finished at COSETCO teacher training college and is now employed at Springboard private school in Kitwe. He is lucky to only have nine pupils for pure science but is nonetheless rising to the challenge of having no lab equipment with which to bring cathodes and anodes to life. Helen and I were enthralled in his electrochemistry lesson. He is brilliant. I might have chosen a different career had he been my teacher!

Caroline writes from Zambia

2009-03-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Helen and I met a young man called Andsen Shoma today. Andsen is about to complete his third year’s training at Kitwe College of Education (KCE). We have supported him since grade 8. After completing grade 12 he went on to become a peer health educator with CHEP and then to study at KCE. For the past year he has been doing his teaching practice in a community school for street and vulnerable children in Kitwe’s Mindolo compound.

As soon as Kasamba (Hodi’s Logistics Officer), Helen and I arrived at Salem Village community school, we set out to find the Head Teacher to make the usual introductions before proceeding to meet Andsen. You can imagine our surprise when we were introduced to the Head Teacher who was no other than Andsen himself!

Andsen is due to finish teaching practice next week and with that, the diploma course at KCE. The Director of Salem Village recognised Andsen’s leadership skills and was quick to offer him the Head Teacher position when it became vacant in January. Although he only receives a relatively small living allowance for this voluntary position (500 kwacha per month), the opportunity will provide 23-year-old Andsen with invaluable experience while he waits to be posted as a permanent teacher by the government.

Back to Cecily's Fund website

Counting Blessings...

2008-10-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

I was offered a lift back to Lusaka on Tursday. Cruising down the Great North Road in the aged Toyota Venture, reggae music blaring out for the entire four hour journey, I reflected on my last interview in Kitwe. It was with a young man called Blessings Zulu, a Cecily’s Fund graduate now grown up and settled with a good job.
People often ask me what the long term prospects are for the children we support through school. It’s a good question, since unemployment is high in Zambia (estimated at 50% in 2000). The economy is dependent on mining, particular copper mining, but even the mines can’t absorb all of Zambia’s tens of thousands of orphans, even the few thousand that we help to complete their schooling.
So what else is there for them to do? When you ask children here what they want to do, their responses are the stuff of dreams rather than reality; some as old as 18 and still in grade 8 or 9 say they want to be a judge or a pilot, or a television newsreader. Others aspire to emulate the professionals who have helped their families through terrible suffering; teachers, nurses, doctors. I tried changing my question from “What do you want to do?” to “What do you plan to do?” Even then none mentioned the most likely prospects for them, selling vegetables or bags of charcoal in the market, becoming a bus driver, a garden boy, or even a miner.
Then, on my very last day in Kitwe, I met Blessings Zulu. Blessings is part of the Youth Anti-AIDS Network, or YAN – a spin-off of the Copperbelt Health Education Programme through whom Cecily’s Fund delivers its peer health education training. Blessings’ story reflected that of so many of the children I’ve met on this trip; both his parents died when he was very young, he was brought up by his aunt, a widow caring for five orphans as well as two children of her own, plus her aging mother. She struggled to hold down a job and sell clothes in the market to pay for all their school fees. Then Cecily’s Fund started paying Blessings’ fees and providing the clothes and equipment he needed for school. He passed all his exams, and then went on to our teacher training programme. But this wasn’t his true vocation. Seeing what Cecily’s Fund, and our partners were doing for him and others like him, he was iinspired to do similar work.
While at college, he and a few others set up YAN to train young people to be peer health educators. They got funding from various organisations and with the small salary he drew from that, he left teacher training college and paid his way through a social work course at the University of Zambia. Blessings was apologetic for “letting us down” by dropping out of his teacher training course. But I reassured him that he had nothing to apologise for; he had used his education, his initiative and his determination to fulfil his aspirations. In the process he is benefitting countless others by helping them understand how to avoid HIV. Isn’t that exactly what Cecily’s Fund exists for? As Blessings put it, “Without you people I would have been a bus driver or someone very low. But because of my inner strength and my respect for the help that you gave me, I am where I am today.”
Tomorrow the flame trees will again be replaced by English Autumn leaves and I will begin the delicious job of incorporating all the touching and inspiring stories that I’ve heard from some amazing people, young and old, into our communications to you. I’ll also be putting the snippets of video film of Zambian children singing onto the website, to kick start our Make Music Give Hope fundraising campaign which will be launched on December 6th. I hope you’ll join us.

Traditions benign and not so benign...

2008-10-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my last day in Kitwe, and Friday, Independece Day, is my last in Zambia. I’ve interviewed over 40 people and taken hundreds of photographs and video clips which I’m really excited about sharing with Cecily’s Fund supporters over the coming months. I’m hot and exhausted and missing my daughter, but I’ll be sad to leave. Everywhere I’ve been, whether to class rooms, staff rooms, teacher training colleges or people’s homes (however humble), I’ve been welcomed with the same gentle, respectful warmth. No Zambian conversation can begin without an unhurried greeting and enquiry after each others’ health, properly answered and with a decent pause before the business begins.

Etiquette is always properly observed. Each school visit begins with a formal visit to the Head Teacher’s office where introductions are made, welcomes extended, mutual gratitude expressed. The Zambian handshake is a three-part manoevre, handshake-fistgrip-handshake. Children – boys and girls - greet their elders with a curtsey and their left hand over their hearts. Older people greet you with a serries of claps and murmured traditional welcomes which, sadly, I'm told are impossible to translate.

Some of Zambia’s traditions, however, are not so benign. Today we observed a peer education session led by Patricia, whose home I visited yesterday. She and her peer education partner, Melvin, urged the grade 9 children to question and challenge those traditional and cultural practices that increase the risk of spreading HIV; practices like the reluctance of parents to talk to their children about sexual issues, sexual “cleansing”, or circumcision using a single blade for multiple initiates. In a culture which reveres age and tradition, it takes courage for young people to speak out against them.

The pupils in the class were equally courageous in asking delicate questions; “Why do they say a woman has to be shy and quiet in front of a man? How can she deal with problems if she has to be quiet?”, “If you marry a man and he dies, and you are supposed to marry his younger brother, does that clear you of HIV?”, “Does circumsicion prevent you from getting HIV?” (the answer is No). Neither were they afraid to raise their hands to say whether or not they had had an HIV test or to perform dramas in front of their whole class about the highly sensitive issues that surround HIV, sex, infidelity, death... But then, from an early age Zambian children are never far from HIV messages; they are painted on walls, introduced in classrooms before each lesson, discussed at anti-AIDS clubs after school and in these peer education sessions.

There is a loud and heated debate going on around me in the internet café about the pros and cons of presidents past, present and potential. Truckloads of campaigners drive up and down with horns blaring. Whoever is voted in next Thursday will inherit a generation armed with impressive knowledge and understanding of how HIV is spread, with a growing awareness of their rights as children and their rights and duties as men and women. I hope they will be able to create an environment in which such brave, committed, knowledgeable children can thrive, in which benign traditions survive and not so benign ones are adapted to be safe.

In the meantime Cecily’s Fund, through our partners Bwafwano, Hodi and CHEP, is helping at least a sizeable portion of them to go to school, to learn and teach about HIV and to train to become teachers. From what I’ve seen and heard, it’s a good start. A very good start. Each child that has been through Cecily’s Fund support emerges not only more educated and aware, but more sensitive to the needs of the orphans and vulnerable children coming up behind them and more committed to doing what they can to help.

When I return to Zambia next year I will seek out the same children and young people as I’ve met this year and see how their lives have developed. As years go by we will hopefully build up a bigger picture of the long term impact that your support has on the lives of these children. From what I’ve seen and heard, the education alone gives them a head start in life and in avoiding the risks of HIV.

Why do all the people who seem to be cool lose their lives?

2008-10-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Today I have visited the homes of two of our Peer Health Educators; young people who have finished school and are volunteering to run sessions at schools, with training and support from Cecily’s Fund partner, CHEP. Yesterday I sat in on a session run by Laston and his female counterpart. The session, for a lively group of grade 8 students, mostly around 15 years old, focused on the dangers of drugs and alcohol. To illustrate these, the peer educators had worked with some of the children to prepare a drama – a hair-raising and hilarious tale of three drunken louts who persuade a virtuous wife to get drunk with them. It all ends in tears with the wife pregnant and infected with HIV, the husband suicidal and the drunken friends full of regret and wishing they’d listened to what their peer educators had told them at school.

Although the drunken louts – acted out with great gusto - got the loudest cheers from the class, Laston explained afterwards that this was only because they know people like that at home, and that the peer educators work with them to understand “Why do all the people who seem to be cool lose their lives?” The answer, of course, is HIV, sinc drunkenness leads to risky behavour. A lesson that the peer educators are drumming into young people again and again.

Both Laston and Patricia, who I also visited, had heartening success stories to tell. Patricia said they set the children a test when they start their regular sessions to see how much they know about HIV and other health and children’s rights issues. They test them again at the end of the year and see consistently improved scores. Accurate knowledge is probably the greatest weapon against HIV. But knowledge alone won’t help – only if it leads to changes in behaviour. And Patricia tells me that children now come up to her after sessions and say “Madam! That girl is having a boyfriend, you should talk to her!” showing that awareness is changing, leading to less risky behaviour.

For the peer educators themselves, the experience of being sponsored to learn the communication and training skills that come with being a peer educator have been really valuable. But more than what they are getting out of it themselves, Laston, Patricia and all the peer educators I’ve met have felt deeply gratified at the opportunity to help younger children. They were inspired by peer educators themselves, and they go on to inspire others. This is clearly a programme with a virtuous spiral of benefits to all concerned.

The orphans' manifesto...

2008-10-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

The air is buzzing with excitement about the Zambian presidential elections on October 30th. As we were lunching on nshima (a thick porridge made of maize or “mealie-meal”) and impala meat in the café opposite our partner Hodi’s offices in Kitwe, a lorry load of brightly dressed ladies singing the praises of the ruling MMD party’s Rupiah Banda, cruised by to the good humoured hoots and jeers of the opposition candidate Michael Sata supporters in the café. The ladies responded with more energetic singing, gestures and laughter.

I’ve been asking school children, trainee teachers, grandparents and teachers what advice they would give to the incoming president. Predictably, perhaps, the school children advise him to invest more in education, the teachers suggest better wages and conditions for teachers, and the grandmothers caring for their late children’s children urge him to look after widows and orphans and take care of the price of mealie-meal, the price of which is a barometer of poverty or wellbeing.
But the trainee teachers I met in COSETCO had more constructive advice; they advised expanding Zambia’s agricultural industry and investing more in tourism as well as making sure that Zambia gets a fairer share of the income from foreign investment in the copper mines on which the Zambian economy heavily relies. Linety, in her first year as a home economics teacher, pointed out that it’s poverty that drives the HIV epidemic, and improving the country’s economy would go along way to countering it. It was lovely to chat with these bright, engaged, committed young people who are soon going to go out and teach in schools all over Zambia. And hard to imagine that they came from the kind of homes I’ve been visiting where there is barely enough money for two meals a day, let alone school fees, uniforms and books. It really makes me feel proud to belong to the organization that’s helped them get there.
And to put the icing on the cake, today we got this email out of the blue; “I just want to express my sincere appreciation for the support you had provided to me and the entire family through CINDI* ZAMBIA. I was under your programme through my primary and secondary education as well as my tertiary education at Kitwe College of Education. I’m now a teacher at a private school and my life is now much easier. I just want to express my sincere appreciation for the support you had provided. You saw me through my academic life and am now a teacher. I thank you very much because you have given me something no one cannot take away from me. May God richly bless you as you continue helping others.
*Our original partners. We now work through Hodi to deliver our education programmes.

Tell Cecily's Fund supporters we really appreciate them...

2008-10-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

The flame trees are in bloom, looking like they've caught fire from the sweltering sky - 33 degrees today in Kitwe. Internet connection is as rare as cool breezes, but there is equal warmth in the messages that the children and teachers in Bwafwano and here in Kitwe have asked me to give you. Misozi, whose name means 'tears of sorrow' because her brother died the day she was born, says "My name is now tears of joy." because of the support that has enabled her to become the trainee teacher she now is. As an orphan who had lost both parents by the age of seven, her chances of success were very slim. Now she is a smartly dressed young lady, on teaching practice at her old school. Her smile, as she leads a class of nine year olds through their maths and then a song about being assertive and standing strong when friends try to lead you astray, is dazzling.

I've visited five or six schools and been to the homes of some of the orphans to meet their adoptive families and everywhere I've been, the message has been the same. "Thank you so much and may God bless you richly for helping us. Please continue the good work you are doing. Without it I don't know where I would have been". Children in neat uniforms, revising for their end of term exams, have told me of friends who dropped out of school and turned to alcohol, and said how easily that could have been them.

Being here in person, you really get a sense of the overwhelming level of need. For every child we support there are many others who need help. But it's also so gratifying to meet not only the children, who talk about education with such appreciation, but the dedicated teachers who co-ordinate our support for them. Like Mrs Kaira at Mukuba High School who said "I think of the children as my own. I think if my children were in their situation, would there be someone to support them?".

The most moving messages came from trainee teacher Violet Mwaba who is featured in our 2008 Annual Report. She said "I am very grateful for where I am - and i know I'm going somewhere and it's because of you." And trainee teacher Brave who said "With education Zambia will definitely improve. I feel proud and happy about where I am now. We have our final exams in December and I promise we won't let you down!"
Back to Cecily's Fund website

Messages from the children and teachers of Bwafwano to Cecily's Fund Supporters

2008-10-15T23:09:00.000-07:00

Again and again during the two days I have just spent at Bwafwano Community Centre, which incorporates the school for orphans and vulnerable children that is funded entirely by Cecily's Fund, people have said how much they appreciate what Cecily's Fund is doing by supporting them. I promised to pass their messages on to you - here are two typical examples; Margaret Kaira, one of the teachers said "I am so grateful not only for what you are doing for the children, but also for us teachers. With the money I get for this job I am helping my siblings to go to school. My mother died when I was very, very young and my elder sister worked so hard to put us through school. Now I feel I am able to give something back. Dominic (not his real name), who lives with his grandmother and eight siblings and cousins said "Thank you to those who are supporting me to go to school. May God bless them. They have made me what I am today" Today Dominic is a smartly dressed student at New Kabanana school who hopes one day to study law - and maybe even become a judge.

I have been so impressed with Bwafwano. It is a much bigger operation than the school, which itself teaches 650 children, crammed four to a desk, in shifts through the day. There is also a clinic, a home based care centre and another four programmes which act as a vital safety net for the impoverished families of Chazanga suburb. But everything works together like finely tuned clockwork. Today and yesterday I met children who had been taken out of school because their parents had become bedridden. Bwafwano found them, brought them back to school - free of charge thanks to Cecily's Fund supporters - in some cases parents had been referred to the Bwafwano clinic where they pay a small fee for treatment (children are treated free) and linked them with other organisations who could help them build a decent shelter to live in. Then when they go on to the government schools, Bwafwano continues to care for them, by keeping in touch with the teachers there.

This is done by Mr Kataso, the headteacher. Like a benign pied piper, he is greeted warmly by children wherever he goes - in Bwafwano itself and in the government schools elsewhere in Chazanga. He seems to know them all by name, although there are hundreds of them. And he can tell you the background of each one. The teachers in the government schools told me that of all the organisations helping them "Bwafwano is the best", and much of this is due to Mr Kataso's passion, committment and the way he includes everyone in decisions and discussions about what is best for the children.

But my biggest thrill was meeting Esther (11) and Ethel (8), two very bright and confident littles girls living in great poverty with their grandmother and several other siblings. They had told their teacher they were so happy to finally be in school that they'd written a poem about it. They recited it for me to film and I hope to be able to share it with you when I get back to England. They summed up perfectly the happiness and relief that being able to go to school brings these children. They live in a dry, dusty suburb, down a long, red dusty track where few of the adults have jobs, apart from selling vegetables or coal at tiny stalls in the local market, and the children have little to model their hopes on. At school they come into contact with teachers, and many say that's what they want to be. Even if this is a reflection of the fact that they meet no other professionals, it is also a reflection of the kindness with which the teachers give their
support, and the high value that the children place on the knowledge they gain from them.

Tomorrow I take the 5 hour bus journey to Kitwe to visit the children we support there through our partners Hodi and CHEP.

Preparing for departure, by Sabita

2008-10-10T04:32:00.000-07:00

By this time on Sunday I'll be looking at Zambian flame trees instead of the golden English autumn trees I can see through our office window. I'm very excited about meeting our children face-to-face and hearing their stories. The purpose of the trip is partly for me to become more familiar with our work so that I can answer any of your questions, but also to gather stories, photos and video footage to share with you all over the coming months. I'll try to add to this blog every day or so and let you know what I'm seeing and hearing. There may also be messages from the children, teachers and partners. Back to Cecily's Fund website