Chair’s Report

After the severe drought in 2024, it was a relief to learn that the rains were plentiful between November 2025 and April 2026. In early March this year, I flew over the Victoria Falls before landing at Livingstone Airport, and the sight was spectacular. During peak season, approximately 500 million litres of water cascade over the Victoria Falls every minute. The mighty Zambezi River was filling up after the
drought – everywhere was lush and green. I was looking forward to visiting the many projects we had initiated.

Now, in our twenty-first year, The Butterfly Tree continues to flourish thanks to the generosity of our donors, trustees, and volunteers. 2025-26 was the second-best year since the charity’s founding. While the previous year focused on emergency food relief and drilling boreholes, this financial year we were able to include a variety of projects and reach more communities in Kalomo District.

Since the introduction of the new curriculum, under which grades 8 and 9 must be included in a secondary school, we have received numerous requests for classrooms. So many secondary schools are lacking in facilities, and some are having to share primary school classrooms. Riverview Secondary received a further 1×3 classroom block after their enrolment increased to over 1,000 pupils. Nguba
Secondary received a second 1×3 classroom block and a boarding shelter. Another boarding shelter and toilets were added at Musokotwane Secondary.

One of the highlights of the year in the UK was being invited to speak at the Lions 2025 Preview Lunch in aid of The Butterfly Tree. The event, organised by Victor Ubogu, was held in London on the 11th June. A staggering amount of money was raised. This enabled more development to take place at Simukumbwa Community School with the addition of a second 1×2 classroom block, staff houses, a feeding shelter, toilets, and a water system. All of the above schools also received desks for the new classrooms.

There were many highlights during my time in Zambia. One that I will always remember was a visit to Mukwela Primary School where we had built a special education classroom. With pupil enrolment at 1,267, children with physical and mental health challenges did not have a separate classroom block. The primary school had only two old classrooms and a newer one constructed by the community. Each classroom was being used to teach between 100 and 120 pupils per lesson. The local trustees who had accompanied me to the school all agreed with me when I proposed offering a second 1×2 classroom block to the school. We already had the funds to build this and could start within a month.

Another special occasion was to visit Riverview Secondary School, a facility that we built from scratch. Their annual prize-giving ceremony was being held. It was a privilege to be invited and meet up with several pupils, who had been sponsored by the charity, and were about to graduate.

Health projects are always in need, and a new facility at Katanda, a remote area in Kalomo District, was completed in June 2026 andwell-received by both the government and the communities. This included a clinic, two staff houses, a borehole with a water system, and a biodigester for waste and equipment. We also built a mother’s shelter for Nguba Health Centre in Kazungula District and provided medical equipment to rural clinics and community health workers.

The core of the charity is, of course, the orphan sponsorship. From its concept in 2006 to 2026, we have sponsored over 800 individual orphans and vulnerable children. Thousands more have been helped in many ways, including food donations, healthcare, housing and access to clean water. No orphan that we have sponsored has had to go into an orphanage. Our support has enabled them to stay within their communities – if a relative or friend can accommodate them, we can provide all their educational needs.

Our trained peer educators conducted workshops to sensitise children and young people about the dangers of HIV, teenage pregnancies, early marriages, and drug and alcohol abuse. In addition, we provided football kits and sponsored rural football tournaments. The Butterfly Tree combines sport with the peer education workshops to help keep vulnerable young people safe.

We built fifteen community houses for orphans, widows with children, and the elderly. Further support was offered to women for income-generating enterprises to provide food security for their families and communities. We were honoured to have been selected to work with the Universities of Zambia
and Malawi to participate in a 3-year programme entitled ‘Future Resilience of Home-Grown School Feeding Systems.’ This is being funded by the International Development Research Centre of Canada. Rural women’s groups that we help are receiving extensive training from the university’s agricultural
department in food production. The aim is to supply food to schools in Livingstone.

This has been an incredible year. I have only touched on a few of the many projects and activities that took place between April last year until the end of March 2026. These can be found on the subsequent pages. A special thanks to Ann, Jackie, and Victoria, our UK Trustees, and to David, Carolyn, Valerie, and
Katie, who offer their free time as volunteers, and also to Frank Maiolo, our US representative, who has helped and supported the charity for over sixteen years.

The overwhelming support that we have received from donors in the UK and from other countries, including Guernsey, Canada, USA, Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, who continue to place their trust in us year after year, has made these many achievements possible.

However, none of this could have been achieved without our incredible team in Zambia – Trustees, Presley Mulenga (Vice-Chairman), Stain Musungaila (Secretary), Natasha Mufeya (Treasurer) and Martin Mushabati (Ground-operations Manager). Lloyd Kasela, a Head Teacher and long-standing volunteer,
who manages our projects in Nyawa and the new ones in Kalomo District. Natasha, a beneficiary of the orphan sponsorship programme, manages this entire programme as well as the peer education projects.

This amazing team has been instrumental in implementing, managing and monitoring The Butterfly Tree’s
work in Zambia for over 20 years. every year a minimum of 96% of money raised goes directly into our grassroot projects in Zambia. Our transportation expenses appear higher than usual due to the shipment of donated educational equipment from the UK. The full cost of the transportation was sponsored by the donor and one of our major supporters.

All members both in the UK and Zambia are volunteers. The UK trustees all work from home, and we have the free use of an ofÏce in Livingstone. As a result, every year a minimum of 96% of money raised goes directly into our grassroot projects in Zambia. Our transportation expenses appear higher than usual due
to the shipment of donated educational equipment from the UK. The full cost of the transportation was sponsored by the donor and one of our major supporters.

Please click on the link a the top of the page to read the full report and accounts, and see all the inspiring images.

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Founder

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