WORLD MALARIA DAY – 25th APRIL 2020

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Today marks World Malaria Day. The World Health Organisation in partnership with Roll Back Malaria is promoting a grassroots campaign called ‘Zero malaria starts with me.‘

The Butterfly Tree has been providing support to Zambia for malaria prevention since 2007, offering interventions that are proving to reduce the number of cases of malaria and helping to save lives.

With the current COVID-19 global pandemic malaria must not be overlooked. In 2018 there were an estimated 228 million cases of malaria and 405,000 deaths, down from 416,000 in 2017, showing that interventions are working. Sadly, 67% of deaths were children under the age of five.

CHILDREN UNDER FIVE ARE AT MOST RISK OF CONTRACTING MALARIA

Thanks to the tremendous support we have received The Butterfly Tree now has malaria prevention programmes in Mukuni, Nyawa, Sekute and Moomba Chiefdoms. We provide universal coverage with the use on mosquito nets, a safe insecticidal coating, which is painted inside dwellings and larvicide. The latter when placed in ponds and streams prevents larva from developing into mosquitos.

HOUSES PAINTED INSIDE WITH SAFE INSECTICIDAL COATING

Our ‘mosquito nets for schools‘ programme is helping to provide protection for children above five years, as this age group rarely get protected. Every pupils and teacher is given a mosquito net and monitoring takes place. To date we have donated nets to thousands of children at River View, Sikaunzwe, Kauwe, Kamwi, Chuunga and Mambova Schools. We are very grateful to The Hilary and Neil Murphy Charitable Foundation, GOAC, Inner Wheel Clubs and most recently Royal Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon Rotary Clubs.

MAMBOVA SCHOOL – SEKUTE CHIEFDOM

We are delighted to announce that the International Service Committee Chairman for Inner Wheel Clubs of Great Britain and Ireland, for the the second year running, is supporting malaria prevention, in partnership with The Butterfly Tree and Medical Film Aids. This will considerably help us to expand our vital work in Zambia.

Tomorrow we are taking part in the 2.6 Challenge to raise funds for all of our projects, including malaria prevention. Details can be found on this link. Thank you to everyone who has offered to do a challenge and to those who have sent in donations. Any support will be greatly appreciated!

UPDATE ON THE 2.6 CHALLENGE

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

On Sunday, the 26th April to replace the postponed London Marathon, where over £60 million was expected to be raised for UK charities, we have been given an opportunity to do a fundraiser, called the 2.6 Challenge for which you can all take part and raise money for The Butterfly Tree.

The #TwoPointSixChallenge can be any activity you like incorporating the number 26, which is the number of miles run during a marathon.

Examble of activities can include:

2.6 mile walk, run, cycle
a virtual workout, quiz or party with 26 friends
jump 26 times on a trampoline
26 minutes of yoga, pilates or dance
For more ideas follow the link:

If you would like to participate and raise money to help The Butterfly Tree provide food distributions and medical supplies for Zambia, or any of your chosen projects that we support, please contact jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

100% of money raised, which will be collected on our behalf by Virgin Money Giving, will go towards our grass root projects. Our page, on their website, is now live please click on this link. You can either set up a fundraising page or make a donation to help us continue our vital work in Zambia.

Several of our Trustees and volunteers, including myself, are participating. Carolyn Howe, a volunteer and trained exercise teacher, is offering three back to back classes for just a donation of £2.6 for each at 11am on Sunday.

Zumba – 11am – link to follow. Session will include 26mins of fun Zumba moves, plus a warm up and cooldown
Strength & Stretch – 12pm – (please download Zoom ahead of the session): https://oracle.zoom.us/j/93438170690?pwd=M3l0ZkdwMkNRdjBnYVJ2V0t5Vm5YUT09

We will be adding further details and updates on our social media pages.

Please contact me if you have any questions: jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

Any support you can offer will be very much appreciated.

FUNDRAISING 2.6 CHALLENGE

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

The COVID-19 pandemic is having a devasting effect on charities, with thousands of fundraising events being cancelled, reduced salaries and staff being placed on furlough. Sadly, many charities may seize to operate.

The Butterfly Tree is in a fortunate position of being able to carry on as normal. The reasons are as follows

We have no paid staff – all members in the UK and Zambia are volunteers
We have no offices to rent – all Trustees and volunteers have always operated from their homes
We have no overheads – the UK Chairman covers the admistration costs

However, we still need donations to support our vital work in Zambia, with current priority needed to help rural health centres and communities get through the pandemeic. Zambia currently has 61 cases of coronavirus. There is a great deal of critism in the West due to the shortfall in PPE and other vital equipment. Compared to developing countries we have done a remarkable job to produce what we have in such a short space of time. As you can imagine this is not the case in countries like Zambia, that have very little in place for when the coronavirus numbers escalate.

FOOD DISTRIBTION – MUKUNI CHIEFDOM

The #TwoPointSixChallenge can be any activity you like incorporating the number 26, which is the number of miles run during a marathon.

Examble of activities can include:

2.6 mile walk, run, cycle
a virtual workout, quiz or party with 26 friends
jump 26 times on a trampoline
26 minutes of yoga, pilates or dance
For more ideas follow the link:

If you do not want to participate perhaps you would like to donate to one of our team, including myself, doing a challenge. Details will shortly be provided.

100% of money raised, which will be collected on our behalf my Virgin Giving, will go towards our grass root projects. Our page on their site will be live on Wednesday, 22nd April. You can have your own fundraising page and see how much you can raise to help The Butterfly Tree to continue its vital work in Zambia. We will be adding further details and updates on our social media pages.

Any help however small with be very much appreciated!

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Founder

HAPPY EASTER AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Posted on April 10, 2020 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

This Easter and the month of April are going to be different for everyone, whether you are celebrating or marking Easter, Passover, Ramadan or Vaisakhi public gatherings are prohibited in most areas of the world. Whatever your religion or belief try to use this time to reflect and hope for a better future once the COVID-19 pandemic is under control.

The Butterfly Tree has many new projects lined up for the orphans and vulnerable people in Zambia once it is safe to initiate them, bringing further hope of improved health and education facilities, safe water, community housing and sustainable feeding programmes.

Our team both in the UK and Zambia wish everyone of our donors and supporters a very safe and Happy Easter.

If you would like to make a donation please use this link.

OUR MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Amid the alarming, shocking and disturbing daily news due to the COVID-19 global pandemic I would like to bring you some good news. Yesterday we completed another financial year for The Butterfly Tree, and I am delighted to inform you that 2019-20 was by far the best year since the founding of the charity in 2006. We not only doubled last year’s donations but completed more projects than ever before, as well as providing emergency food relief to thousands of people affected by Zambia’s worst drought in 30 years.

1X2 CLASSROOM BLOCK – RIVER VIEW SCHOOL

In the next couple of months we aim to publish our annual report and accounts. In the meantime, these are some of the many projects your generous donations and grants enabled us to do.

Science lab – Nyawa Secondary School
1×2 classroom block – Muyunda Community School
1×2 classroom block and latrines – Kawewa Junior School
New satellite junior school – Kazungula
1×2 classroom block & 2 boarding houses – River View Secondary School
Boarding house for girls – Mukuni Secondary School
New health post and staff house – Bunsanga
Maternity ward and mother’s shelter – Simonga health post
Beekeeping project for 200 women in Muyunda
Farm project – Nakawa pre-school
Funding for 11 boreholes
Construction of 22 community houses
Sponsorship of hundreds or orphans at schools and colleges
Distribution of several thousand mosquito nets
Insecticidal coating and larviciding for malaria prevention
Food distribution to some 10,000 households

NEW COMMUNITY SCHOOL – MUYUNDA

We cannot express enough how grateful we are for your tremendous support that has enabled us to achieve so much. Every donor large and small has contributed to the ongoing success of The Butterfly Tree.

BOARDING HOUSE FOR GIRLS – RIVER VIEW SCHOOL

SAFE WATER – SENKOBO COMMUNITY

DISTRIBUTION OF MAIZE – BUNSANGA

Now as we start the new financial year, we face the biggest crisis of our time. Everyone, no matter what race or religion, is impacted by CORVID-19. We appreciate that some of you may not be able to continue your support, and for those who can we want you to know that we will protect our Trustees and volunteers both in the UK and Zambia, as well as our beneficiaries, to the best of our ability.

THE BUTTERFLY TREE VOLUNTEER PEER EDUCATORS

CORVID-19 has reached Zambia, as of today there are 36 known cases. At the weekend we started an awareness campaign to circulate details of the pandemic and advice or how to prevent contracting it. This is mainly to target remote communities who may not have heard of the coronavirus, due to having no mobile phones or internet access.

BEEKEEPING PROJECT FOR 200 WOMEN – MUYUNDA

In the past few days we have also raised money to purchase soap, hand sanitizing gel, disinfectant and masks for rural health centres and their medical staff after being told that they had no form of protection. As of today we have raised enough funds to support 30 clinics.

MATERNITY WARD AND MOTHER’S SHELTER – SIMONGA

Though our work stretches throughout the Kazungula and Kalomo Districts, many of our projects in rural areas are close to the Victoria Falls and Livingstone. The people in Mukuni and neighbouring villages rely heavily on tourism for their income. As is the case throughout the world the tourist industry is at a standstill. In Mukuni everyone who works at lodges, hotels, activity centres and curio markets has been laid off. Just when people had started to recover from the drought, CORVID-19 emerged, further burdening these vulnerable communities.

MUKUNI CURIO MARKET – VICTORIA FALLS

To help those most in need we will continue our appeal for the food crisis and while most other projects are on hold, food distribution will continue, ensuring that our volunteers are protected. A bag of maize costs £10 and will feed a family of four for one month. Donations can be made online using this link or directly to our The Butterfly Tree bank account, please email jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk for details.

Our thoughts are will all of you and pray that you keep safe and well.