Zambia needs thousands of new classrooms and health facilities.

Your support in 2020 will help bring essential services to young people and communities living in Livingstone, in the country’s Southern Province:

Light of Hope School

Light of Hope School is an impoverished community of 250 households with approximately 855 people, around half of which are children. Recent crop failure has made rural life very difficult and has seen more families moving into this semi-urban area, situated on the edge of the town of Livingstone.

The children urgently needed a local school as they were travelling long distances to Nyanzabili town. In frustration, the community took matters into their own hands, building a very basic classroom on land gifted to them by the local Headman.

Within two years, school enrolment grew to 155 children, and will soon reach 200. The existing school structure is unstable and unsustainable.

The school currently has four volunteer teachers who are struggling to cope. Without a proper building and sanitation, the Ministry of Education will not send qualified teachers to educate the children. There are are no latrines or appropriate hand washing facilities.

With your support, we want to build:

• A three classroom school building, with office for teachers and strong room for exam papers
• A latrine block with four cubicles and hand washing stations
• A teacher’s house, which will enable the Government to send trained teachers

Maternity services at Libuyu Health Clinic

Skilled care before, during and after childbirth can save the lives of women and new-born babies. Maternal mortality is higher in women living in rural areas and among poorer communities, and young adolescents face higher risks of complications then other women.

We want to improve services for women around Libuyu Health Clinic. The clinic is situated in a poor, heavily populated community in Livingstone and serves an urban population of over 20,000 people.

The maternity ward currently has 1 doctor, 10 nurses and 9 midwives. The delivery room is small, basic and positioned next to the clinic reception area offering little privacy or dignity to women as they have their babies.

As a result, pregnant women prefer to wait until night time to go to the clinic putting themselves and their unborn child at risk of complications.

Due to the demand on beds and staffing, there is little time offered for aftercare once the baby is born.

With your support we want to build a new maternity unit, away from the clinic reception area with:

• 5 antenatal beds
• 5 post-natal beds
• Delivery room with 2 beds
• Sluice room
• Toilets and shower
• Waiting area
• Connection to mains electricity

Training into work

At both of these projects, we will train a group of young, unemployed people from the local community with skills in construction.

They will gain valuable, practical experience on the construction of these new facilities for their communities. Their new skills that will create new opportunities for them to find work and provide for their families.

Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about how your support can build brighter futures in Zambia.