It is now three years since I first went to Mukuni Village, which resulted in the founding of The Butterfly Tree. Having just spent three weeks in Zambia overseeing our programs and sourcing new projects it is very difficult to prioritize when there is so much need. However two of the most crucial issues are health and water and I am very grateful to Professor Doug Saunders from Sydney University’s medical school for assisting me at the clinic and Rachel Hemingway from W Charitable Foundation who spent a week with me giving advice on water and sanitation problems. The charity has funded three bore holes for schools through our partners Just a Drop. We put in a fourth bore hole at Kafekwa Village kindly donated by toursits from the US. This month starts the development of Katapazi from a grant received to improve their clinic, build a classroom and 4 pit-latrine toilets in addition to the new well for the school.

Our efforts have much improved the health facilities at the Mukuni Health Centre though there are many patients who are referred to Livingstone hospital and cannot afford the transport. We have started a new program to assist four children a month who need hospital care. Idrin Gani had ostemyelitis when she was just two years old; leaving her limping and disabled. Nine years later the infection flared up again and when I found her the leg was covered in sores. Since October 2008 we have provided funds for an operation in Lusaka, weeks of treatment and physiotherapy. Now Idrin is back home in Chise happily enjoying school and life with her family.

 
Jane with Idrin and her mother                           Bore hole and pump for Siamasimbi School

The Butterfly Tree received donations amounting to £7000 in memory of my late husband Lawrence. His favourite project was the community houses for the elderly and vulnerable; these funds have been used to built six homes as well as purchasing beds for the maternity clinic and the restoration of a classroom at Ngandu School. The school has been able to upgrade to grades eight and nine, particularly beneficial for children who previously had to walk long distances to Mukuni.

  
Community House in Mukuni Village                    International Women’s Day celebrations

Tourists from the US have generously donated 2000 t-shirts and shorts through The Butterfly Tree for the children of the Mukuni Cheifdom. We are providing sewing machines and materials for the orphans to make school uniforms, enabling the school to be more sustainable. It was heartbreaking to see so many new orphans; sixty more children from the Mukuni school are desperately seeking sponsors to pay for their education. We are currently supporting over 150 orphans, working to provide them with a future and teaching them the dangers of HIV/AIDS, how to avoid getting pregnant and health and hygiene. Please continue this vital funding for the orphan sponsorship program ,your help is greatly appreciated by both the charity and the orphans. We are currently raising funds for a Science lab at Mukuni High School to complete our project, until this is build the pupils have to sit costly external examinations – any contritbutions would be most welcome!

On the 8th March I hosted a day at Mukuni Village to celebrate International Women’s Day. Twelve groups came from all the surrounding villages walking some walking for over two hours; lunch and drinks were provided by us and the women sang songs, performed dances and drama. It was a rare treat for these hard-working people, many of which are widowed and have several orphaned grandchildren to care for. These women have a very tough life, especially when ther husbands have died and in many cases their children as well leaving them to be the sole provider. We are setting up a project for women to produce goat’s milk, a good source of nutrition and can be used to replace breastmilk in HIV positive women. We are currently providing formula but this is very costly and not always available in Zambia. Just another of the problems they have to overcome. Our under five’s feeding program is vital to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to infant.

I am delighted to say that in three years we have achieved a great deal and much more than any other charity working in the Mukuni Cheifdom. As always a special thank you to everyone who has supported The Butterfly Tree and enabled us to carry out these worthwhile projects. The photos from this trip can be seen in our Gallery.

Warmest regards,

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Today I am leaving for Zambia to oversee on The Butterfly Tree projects, catch up with all the children on our orphan sponsorship program and source new projects. It an exciting time for the Mukuni Cheifdom; thanks to generous donations from W Charitable Foundation through Just a Drop and a family from the US we are putting in four bore holes this month. Three of them will be for the schools of Mukuni, Siamasimbi and Katapazi. In the past these schools have had to share a bore hole with the community reducing the flow of water particularly through the dry season. The fourth is at the village of Kafekwa, where the community have to get there water form crocodile infested rivers. October to March is the rainy season, the rivers will be rapidly flowing and millions of tons of water will be cascading over the Victoria Falls as the mighty Zambezi River fills up.

Woman at Kakekwa drawing water from a stagnant pool

As always there are so many more villages needing help. Next month we will be starting a new project to expand both the clinic and school at Katapazi, a remote village some two hours drive most of it through the bush, from Mukuni. We are being given substantial funding to build four pit-latrine toliets and a new classroom to enable the school to upgrade so that children to not have to walk great distances to obtain a higher grade. At the clinic we are adding a new ward, beds, solar power and a fridge. The community will be freely providing labour to assist with these projects. The clinic is solely run by a midwife who has trained community workers to help her, once these improvements are made the government will offer additional medical staff. There are 5000 people who have access to this rural clinic.

The Butterfly Tree feeding program at Kafekwa Village

Once this is complete we need to source funds for an under five’s feeding program; during my last visit I learnt that many babies were suffering from malnutrition, several of them were critical. For mothers who are HIV positive is is essential that we provide formula to replace breastfeeding. By educating the women at Mukuni an increasing number are coming forward to be tested, more babies can be saved and to date no more infants are suffering from malnutrition. 

When I met Idrin Gani at Chise Village in the Mukuni Cheifdom last October she had a terrible limp and one leg was much thinner than the other. I enquired as to what was wrong with her leg and she lifted her skirt and showed me her thigh which was covered in sores. Seeking out her parents I learnt that from the age of two Idrin had developed a problem with her leg and had spent years having physiotherapy until her parents ran out of money. However she happily limped the three miles every day to Kamwi School to receive an education and is now eleven years old.

I sent her to Mukuni Health Centre to have the sores checked out; she had previously been the month before and given ointment which had no effect. The medical officer referred her to Livingstone hospital for an X-ray, where they discovered she had Osteomyelitis, an infection of bone or bone marrow. She was in a great deal of pain, put on a course of antibiotics and had to remain at Mukuni Health Centre until her fever had lessened. The outside temperature was 40 degrees, she and her mother had no money for food and were naturally very frightened; despite this whenever I visited Idrin she always had a smile on her face and never complained. She then had to live in Livingstone for several weeks to receive extensive physiotherapy before being sent to hospital in Lusaka.

Idrin with her mother at Mukuni Health Centre

Several months later having undergone an operation on her good leg to stop it growing longer than the other, Idrin is back in the village of Chise playing with her friends. She had been given a new pair of shoes one of which had to be raised. Had I not found Idrin and sent her to the clinic the infection would have been fatal. Even if she had gone to the clinic without my intervention her family would not have been able to pay for the lodgings, treatment and physiotherapy. The Butterfly Tree has paid for all her costs and the sympathetic doctor learning that she was a needy case performed the operation free of charge.