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Mothers in Zambia

In developing countries such as Zambia much of the responsibility of bringing up children is left to the mother. Sadly, as a result of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, there are far too many young widows left with no income. The Butterfly Tree provides housing and sustainable income-generating enterprises for such women.

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Young Zambian mother and child

It is believed that if you educate a women she will educate the entire family. Certainly from my eight year experience of working with women in Zambia, they are ready to make the change. Traditionally, in villages like Mukuni, boys dropped out of school to become wood carvers and girls fell pregnant or were forced into early marriages. Times are changing and now both boys and girls are completing high school. Education is the key to overcoming poverty and disease.

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The Butterfly Tree house for young widow and children

At the beginning of May further houses will be built for these young widows, thanks to fundraising efforts by William Anderson of Teamworks, who will be going out to Zambia with his colleagues to help with the construction of four new homes. To date we have donated over sixty houses to widows and orphans.

Help us to reach out to vulnerable women on Mother’s Day:

  • Order flowers through our partner Charity Flowers – 15% will be donated to the charity
  • Buy a CD and listen to the powerful voices of the Mukuni School Choir
  • Place a bid on Ebay for our ‘teddy bear’ auction
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‘Teddy Bear’ Auction – knitted by an Inner Wheel Club member

Donate to any of the following projects:

WATER – FOOD – HEALTH – EDUCATION

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Education in Rural Schools

2014 has brought hope for thousands of orphaned and vulnerable rural children in the Southern Province of Zambia. We are now reaching out to twenty six schools in four Chiefdoms, spanning a radius of 200 kilometres from our base at Mukuni Village. Over ten thousand children have access to advanced education and many more have access to improved water and health facilities.

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River View Basic School – Sikute Chiefdom

The latest development is taking place at Muchimbale Community School, in the Nyawa Chiefdom, thanks to a generous donor. The school is very remote and has little support from the outside world. Last year The Butterfly Tree installed a bore hole and latrines, completed a teacher’s house and initiated a feeding programme. This year a further donation will enable us to restore an old classroom, purchase books and equipment and introduce a sustainable income-generating activity at the school.

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Muchimbale Community School – Nyawe Chiefdom

Further progress can be seen at Katapazi Basic School with the opening of a special education unit, another one is currently being constructed at Simango Basic School in the Musokotwane Chiefdom, making four in total. Rural children in Zambia, with special needs, have no access to education. Chunga Community School classroom will shortly be completed and our aim is to also build a second classroom at Ndele Community School.

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Mukuni Special Education Unit – funded by The Besom

We have forthcoming visits from a number of volunteers and philanthropists, who have helped us to grow. These include a group from Attraction Tickets Direct, a donor of our partner Just a Drop, who last year funded a bore hole and latrines. Besides international supporters we have engaged a number of local donors and fundraisers.

The ‘Mukuni Shining Stars’ choir, with the help of  Emma Kennedy, one of our UK volunteers, has produced a CD to raise funds to educate orphans. The music is performed A Cappella, which showcases the tremendous talent of these young performers. Several of them are on our orphan sponsorship programme and the choir has performed at some of the renowned hotels around the Victoria Falls.

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The Mukuni Shining Stars

The album can be purchased for just £7 – all proceeds will go directly to the cause. Please use this link to place your order and help raise funds for orphans.