FOOD CRISIS IN SOUTHERN ZAMBIA

Posted on April 30, 2019 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

As many of you, who regularly read our newsletters, will know I always try to report positive news as we are saturated with shocking and depressing news. Therefore I have given it a great deal of thought before writing this post.

During the last thirteen years we have made a sustainable impact in water, health, education and sustainable feeding programmes throughout the Kazungula District, which covers a wide area and has a population in excess of 70,000. However, never before have we had to contend with a severe drought – this is a perfect example of climate change!

THIS RIVER IN NYAWA WAS SO FULL LAST YEAR THAT IT CAUSED THE MAIN BRIDGE TO COLLAPSE

This years rainy season did not really happen, which has resulted in crop failures and dry streams and rivers. Last month I drove hundreds of kilometers visiting remote schools, health centres and villages and everywhere was the same picture. One month on the situation has worsened. This is the time when food is normally in abundance, maize and millet ripening and vegetables readily available. There will be no rain before the end of the year as it is now the dry season.

MAIZE CROP FAILURE – MUSOKOTWANE CHIEFDOM

While the bigger organisations and government are conducting surveys children are hungry. What makes it worse is that schools, that have feeding programmes, are closed for the break. At Easter we made our first distribution in Mukuni and N’gandu. This week we asked one of our young volunteers to do a survey in Kamwi Village, where we sponsor many orphans to go to their school. Today he reported the following: ‘they just eat only lunch no breakfast or supper sometimes nothing.’ Tomorrow we will be giving out bags of maize to all of these children.

SPONSORED ORPHANS AND AN ELDERLY LADY RECEIVE MAIZE – MUKUNI VILLAGE

I have contacted some of the big charities, had two responses and waiting to hear further from them. I have appealed on Facebook and Linkedin and been overwhelmed by the response. I would personally like to thank everyone who has supported this appeal, most especially the Hilary and Neil Charitable Trust, whose donation will buy 2,500 bags of maize, and also to St Matthews Accountancy.

DONATIONS TO ORPHANS AND AN ELDERLY MAN – N’GANDU VILLAGE

However, we need to do much, much more. Though we cannot help everyone we can certainly reach out to the orphans and vulnerable children that we support, and also the elderly who have lost their children. If we can provide food until the World Food Programme or some other big organisation steps in we can prevent children suffering from malnutrition.

We are now buying the courser grain which is cheaper than the refined maize, and has a higher nutritious content. If you would like to donate a bag of maize it costs just £7. Please use either our secure online facility, Mydonate or send an email to request our bank details to jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Charity Calendar 2019

Posted on November 29, 2018 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

The Butterfly Tree 2019 Charity Calendar is now available to order. Companies generously sponsor each page of the calendar, which covers all printing costs. Miranda freely designs the calendar and all the pictures are ones which I have taken during my visits to Zambia in 2018.

The calendar is designed to create awareness and raise funds for our vital grass roots projects, including water, health including malaria prevention, and education. Now in it’s 11th year the calendar project is still in much demand!

These captivating pictures show just a few of the pages for 2019. The high quality desk top calendar measures 16cm x 21cm and can be bought for £4 or US $6 plus postal charges.

Each £4 raised from the sale of this calendar can buy an impregnated mosquito net, go towards a bag of dried maize, or a much needed text book for one of the twenty-five schools we currently support. All funds go directly to the cause.

The calendar pictures highlight some of our projects at Mukuni and several other schools and villages and of course, at the forefront is the orphan sponsorship programme. Virtually everything we do is for the benefit of these vulnerable children. Providing them with safe clean water, nutritional food, improved education and health facilities, including support for Malaria and HIV Prevention.

We would sincerely like to thank the following for sponsoring the calendar, their contribution covers printing costs and the remainder goes into our projects: Grenfell James, Touch Gold Racing, The Fell Group, Casa Colomba, Dawson Group, Vectorcide International, 2OC, Stuart Rivers Associates, St Matthew and Britelines. A special thanks to Miranda at Morphity for designing the calendar.

Postal Charges:

Second class postal charges in the UK: 1 calendar £1.40; 2-3 calendars £1.87; 4-5 calendars £3.45
Postal charges for Europe: 1 calendar £3.85; 2 calendars £4.90
US and World Zone 1, except Australia: 1 calendar £4.85; 2 calendars £7.10
Australia and World Zone 2: 1 calendar £5.15; 2 calendars £7.70
For larger international orders please send an email or use the link to refer to International Postal Charges

100% of all sales will go directly to the cause – To place an order please email jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk with your name, address and number of calendars you would like.

Charity Calendar 2018

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

The Butterfly Tree Charity Calendar is now available to order. Companies generously sponsor each page of the calendar, which covers all printing costs. Miranda freely designs the calendar and all the pictures are ones which I have taken during my visits to Zambia in 2017

The calendar is designed to create awareness and raise funds for our vital grass roots projects, including water, health including malaria prevention, and education. Now in it’s 10th year the calendar project is still in much demand!

These captivating pictures show just a few of the pages for 2018. The high quality desk top calendar measures 16cm x 21cm and can be bought for £4 or US $6.

Each £4 raised from the sale of this calendar can buy an impregnated mosquito net, go towards a bag of dried maize, or a much needed text book for one of the twenty schools we currently support. All funds go directly to the cause.

The calendar pictures highlight some of our projects at Mukuni and other villages and of course, at the forefront is the orphan sponsorship programme. Virtually everything we do is for the benefit of these vulnerable children. Providing them with safe clean water, nutritional food, improved education and health facilities, including support for Malaria and HIV Prevention.

We would sincerely like to thank the following for sponsoring the calendar: Grenfell James, Touch Gold Racing, The Fell Group, Casa Colomba, Stratford Audi, Vectorcide International, Black and White Accounting, Traditional Conservatories, St Matthews and Britelines. A special thanks to Miranda at Morphity for designing the calendar.

Postal Charges:

Second class postal charges in the UK: 1 calendar £1.25; 2-3 calendars £1.60; 4-5 calendars £2.90
Postal charges for Europe: 1 calendar £3.80; (US$6); 2 calendars £5.80 (US$10)
Rest of the World, except Australia: 1 calendar £5.00; 2 calendars £8.70

100% of all sales will go directly to the cause – To place an order please email jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk with your name, address and number of calendars you would like.

WORLD MALARIA DAY – 25TH APRIL

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

World Malaria Day 2017’s global theme is ‘End Malaria for Good’. The World Health Organisation is shining a spotlight on prevention, a critical strategy for reducing the toll of a disease that continues to kill more than 400 000 people annually.

Malaria Prevention is essential for young children like Mary

Every 60 seconds a child dies from malaria

212 million new cases of malaria, 90% in the African Region in 2015

An estimated 429,000 malaria deaths in 2015

The Butterfly Tree is totally committed to our vital malaria prevention programme in Zambia, where there is high a high prevalence of malaria. In addition to providing mosquito nets and funding malaria prevention workshops, our new intervention, which includes a safe insecticidal coating and larvicide granules, is proving to be highly effective. In November 2015, we coated over 700 dwellings in Mukuni Chiefdom – reports show that there are no new cases of malaria in villages where the application took place.

Coating used inside of dwellings is safe and lasts for up to two years

In the past twelve months we donated some 800 mosquito nets for Mukuni and Nyawa Chiefdom. These included donations from Marilee Gibson’s fundraiser event, which bought 300 mosquito nets for Mukuni and Singwamba clinics. Last year Singwamba clinic reported a staggering 3,450 cases of malaria. Sadly, there were twelve deaths in children aged between one and thirteen, due to lack of preventative intervention.

Pregnant women and children under five receiving mosquito nets – Kamwi Village

Earlier this month Anna Wilkie, a young school girl, accompanied by her father Jon, walked 47.5 miles from her home to the Welsh Border to raise funds for The Butterfly Tree to buy mosquito nets. This was a remarkable achievement for a young school girl – the money Anna raised from her ‘Walk to Wales’ campaign has bought 142 mosquito nets for the Nyawa Chiefdom. Our main target area for the distribution of mosquito nets are infants, children under 5 years of age and pregnant women.

Anna and John ‘Walk to Wales’ to raise money for mosquito nets

Donations from North Worcestershire and Stratford-upon-Avon Rotary Clubs, Inner Wheel Clubs District 6 and 21, and Nick Bousliman have helped us to purchase more of the Vectorcide Coating and Larvicide Granules. After the recent heavy rains high cases of malaria are predicted over the next three months. We are working closely with the Ministry of Health, the National Malaria Control Centre and local clinics.

Nyawa Chiefdom reported high numbers of malaria in 2016

There are so many outreach communities that do not receive any support. It is our intention to reach out to areas that desperately need protection. We are very grateful to all our donors and volunteers who are helping us to fight malaria. Most especially the Environmental Officers and community trained health workers – without them the malaria cases would be considerably higher. Below is a message from Zambia:

As the world commemorates World Malaria Day on 25″April 2017 I would like to acknowledge and appreciate the assistance that The Butterfly Tree has given in the fight against Malaria in Mukuni catchment area and beyond. In 2015, the Butterfly Tree donated Vectorcide Coating and Vectorcide Larvicide granules to Mukuni clinic. These products were used in areas with high cases of Malaria within the Mukuni Catchment area. Over 700 structures were coated with the coating while the granules were deposited in the streams in the same areas. A close follow- up of the Malaria disease trend in these areas yielded a reduction in number of Malaria cases. In addition no deaths due to Malaria were recorded during this period. It is my wish and hope that the Butterfly Tree continues rendering this valuable and effective support in the fight against Malaria. Thank you – Sibeso Maseka, Environmental Officer, Kazungula District.

To help us reach out to more rural communities please donate just £5, which could help save a child’s life.

Travel Philanthropy

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

From its concept in 2006 one of my aims was that The Butterfly Tree would to attract Travel Philanthropists from all over the world. The area where we are based in Zambia is close to one of the most magnificent sites, not just in Africa, but on the planet. Discovered by David Livingstone in 1855, the Victoria Falls, know locally as the Mosi-oa-Tunya (‘the smoke that thunders’) is the world’s largest sheet of falling water.

The Mighty Victoria Falls in March

The Victoria Falls is 1708 metres wide with a maximum drop of 108 metres. 50 million litres of water per minute drops from the Zambezi River, the fourth longest river in Africa, crossing through Zambia, Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before reaching the Indian Ocean. This spectacular site attracts tourists from around the globe and it is largely due to this phenomenon that we have enticed a number of travel philanthropists and volunteers to work with us on our projects.

The Zambezi River at the edge of the Victoria Falls

Last month I was in Zambia to host a group from Canada and Australia, led by Marilee and Grant Gibson, who I met when they were visiting the area in 2012. Ever since the couple have been regular fundraisers for our cause. In March this year they brought with them a team of retired doctors, nurses and teachers to volunteer at Mukuni School and Health Centre, as well as donating funds for mosquito nets, school desks and text books. After this experience they pledged further support.

Canadian and Australian volunteers watch the National Youth Day performances

John Staab, from Motive Real Estate, Texas also arrived to see the construction of the community houses, which his company is funding. For every house that is sold John donates a community house for the elderly or widows, looking after orphans. In the past nine months John has donated funds for seven houses with two more on the way.

John Staab lending a hand to the thatchers – Mukuni Village

For young people in Mukuni and other rural villages the challenges are abundant. Lack of education, disease, unemployment and poverty are some of the main issues. We have sponsored hundreds or orphans in education, a number of them are now in college or employment. For those who have left school and aim to seek further education volunteering is vital in helping them to gain confidence and experience. We now have a very powerful group, formerly trained under Meet Mutsa’s ‘Catch me I’m a Butterfly’ project, actively involved in helping to make a difference.

Mukuni Youth Empowerment Group

Now known as the Mukuni Youth Empowerment Group the members recently received tremendous support from donor/volunteer Leah Black. An experienced youth worker, Leah, spent two months further training this dedicated group of young people, to become mentors and coaches in matters concerning HIV prevention, risk taking, menstrual hygiene and alcohol abuse. Now the group can confidently mentor the orphans and advance the workshops they perform in schools.

Leah Black directed an event for National Youth Day

From Dubai we welcomed Katie Bezou and Katerina Player, who raised a considerable amount of funds to purchase school supplies and equipment for Mukuni Primary Section. Katie is currently teaching in the pre-school, while Katerina is helping out in the special education class, which we built in 2011.

Mukuni Special Education Unit constructed in 2011

This week Tracy and Charlie Flavell arrived in Mukuni. Charlie’s wish, for his 18th birthday, was to paint a classroom for orphans. His mother Tracey offered Charlie the chance to travel to Zambia to fulfil his wish – instead of receiving presents his family and friends donated funds to paint the classroom and to purchase school text books. Tracey will be working with bereaved children and Charlie will be teaching and painting!

Young Orphans Sponsored by The Butterfly Tree

These travellers have donated not only their time, but a considerable amount of money. This has given a huge boost to the local schools and clinics at Mukuni, Kamwi, River View and Singwamba. Travel philanthropy is a two-way objective, it not only gives you an opportunity to visit a developing country, but it can offer an incite into the lives of indigenous people, which can be a rewarding and often a life-changing experience. In 2006 I was a traveller to the Victoria Falls and became a philanthropist. I would like to thank all those who have followed in my footsteps!

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Fundraising at Christmas

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Christmas is a time for giving – many of your have been so generous in supporting our cause. We are extremely grateful for all the wonderful donations coming in, from both existing and new donors, during this festive season. We were especially touched to receive a donation from a ten year old girl who held a fundraiser, selling her and her brother’s toys along with their Mum’s flapjacks!

Widow looking after orphans in Kamwi Village

Your donations really do make a difference and this year in particular we have been able to expand our work in areas of great need. Our new malaria prevention initiative is working effectively, but much more needs to be done. We are currently targeting the Kazungula District, which recorded the nation’s second highest cases of malaria between January and June. However, Ndola District, in the Copperbelt was the worst hit areas. For the same period, a staggering 65,503 cases were recorded.

Safe insecticide coating is applied inside mud hut dwellings

Besides funding malaria prevention we have recently advanced a number of schools, adding classrooms, teacher’s houses and latrines. In addition to six new classrooms, N’gandu School has a new water reticulation system thanks to grant aid from Jersey Overseas Aid. Four more schools have bore holes, numerous text books have been donated, and ten more orphans are to be sponsored.

Further development for the 560 pupils at N’gandu School

After six months of drought the rainy season in Zambia has started, and sadly the period when malaria is most prevalent. This is the time for distributing mosquito nets and planting maize and other crops. We need to provide schools with seeds and fertiliser so that they can support a sustainable feeding programme. When you have to walk several miles to school, on an empty stomach, a school meal provides vital nutrition for growing children.

Young children need protection from malaria

If you are struggling to find an unusual gift then perhaps you could consider donating one of the following:

£4 will buy a charity calendar
£5 will buy a mosquito net for malaria prevention
£5 will buy a text books for schools
£10 will buy a bag of ground maize for a family
£100 will sponsor an orphan for one year
£400 will build a community house for a widow looking after orphans

There are many ways you can help. For as little at £5 or $7 a mosquito net could help save a child’s life. If you would like to donate using our secure on line facility please click on the link: DONATE

2017 Charity Calendar – The Butterfly Tree

Posted on November 21, 2016 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Our 2017 charity calendar is now available to order. Twelve companies generously sponsor a page of the calendar, which covers all printing costs and raises funds for the charity. Some of these companies also sponsor projects annually and have made an invaluable contribution to our work in Zambia.

The calendar helps create awareness and raise funds for our vital grass roots projects, including water, health, malaria prevention and education.

These captivating pictures show just a few of the pages for 2017. The high quality desk top calendar measures 16cm x 21cm and can be bought for £4 or US$6 plus postage.

Each £4 raised from the sale of this calendar can buy an impregnated mosquito net, a bag of dried maize, or a much needed text book for one of the twenty schools we currently support. All funds go directly to the cause.

The calendar pictures highlight some of our projects at Mukuni and other villages and our orphan sponsorship programme. We provide children with safe clean water, nutritional food, improved education and health facilities, alongside this the cause to fight against Malaria and HIV and AIDS is paramount.

Our sincere thanks to the following companies and groups for sponsoring the calendar:

A special thanks to Miranda at Morphity for designing the calendar.

Postal Charges:

Second class postal charges in the UK: 1 calendar £1.20; 2-3 calendars £1.54; 4-5 calendars £2.85
Postal charges for Europe: 1 calendar EUR 6; 2 calendars £7.45 EUR 8
Rest of the World, except Australia: 1 calendar US $6; 2 calendars US $10
Australia and New Zealand: 1 calendar AUD $10

100% of all sales will go directly to the cause – To place an order complete the form below:

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Fundraising for Education

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Last month I was delighted to learn from Gumtree that The Butterfly Tree was to be the beneficiary for a fundraising activity, taking place in April. The aim was to upcycle an old and unrepairable Beetle and turn it into a number of unique pieces of furniture and household items.

Max McMurdo ready for action

To achieve this Gumtree engaged TV personality Max McMurdo of Reestore and a team of designers, upcyclers and bloggers to report on all the action. They had just six days to complete the task, and then the items would go on sale.

Max and some of the designers

Several of the team, including Max, worked tirelessly throughout the week, with volunteers increasing over the weekend. I was invited over to Bedford to observe the production line and meet the team, it was so exciting that I returned on the Saturday to see the items taking shape. A bed, a dressing table, chairs, lamps and wall clocks were just some of the ingenious designs unfolding.

Garden seat in the making

Gumtree are now selling the items on their Beetlemania site. All proceeds, including an incredibly generous offer from the company to match the funds raised, with be donated to The Butterfly Tree. 100% of the money raised will go to to building a much needed classroom block for the 1,050 children at River View School, where there are as many as 80 pupils per class.

Beetlemania Table Lamb

On behalf of the charity I would like to thank Gumtree, Max McMurdo and all the dedicated volunteers who generously offered their expertise and gave up their time to support our cause in Zambia.

March 2016 Newsletter

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

I have just returned from Zambia after two weeks visiting the projects and sourcing new ones. Despite the drought, late rains provided a much needed supply of water, streams are filling up and the vegetation is lush and green. Millet and sorghum crops are growing well, but the early maize crops perished, the wet season is almost over and it will be at least six months before the next rains fall.

Jane with the Kamwi Twins

As always there are many projects to inspect, most especially the completed clinic at Mambova, funded by a private donor, which was a delight to see. The old crumbling clinic was infested with bats, so seeing patients being attended to at the new premises was a humbling experience. I also visited Musokotwane Clinic to donate blankets knitted by Inner Wheel District 6 Clubs and to offer them a Women’s Shelter funded by The Besom.

Newly opened clinic at Mambova

On other health issues we are getting great feedback from the new malaria prevention initiative, especially from Chuunga area where no new cases of malaria have been reported. In November we provided over 1,000 households with the safe insecticide coating – the results have been quite astonishing. More funds are needed to help other areas where there is a high prevalence of malaria. KarmaKarma‘s donation to purchase mosquito nets will give additional protection, the organisation also donated money to pay school examinations fees.

Malaria is prevalent in many areas in Zambia

As always I spent a great deal of time with the orphans and located new ones to be sponsored. Regrettably HIV is still on the increase, therefore we have stepped up our HIV prevention workshops using Meet Mutsa’s peer education method. It’s heart breaking to see so much loss. The younger generation must be protected. We have enrolled several of our former sponsored orphans, who have now completed high school, to be trained as peer educators.

HIV PREVENTION GROUP

It was a busy time at the schools, now on a month’s break. Sinsimuku Community School development is under way thanks to a further donation from Attraction Tickets Direct. We distributed more school bags at River View School through our partnership with School in a Bag, and Monde par la Main/Give a Hand donated funds for text books – Mukuni, River View, N’dele and Sinsimuku are the beneficiary schools.

School in a Bag donation – River View School

I am more determined than ever to create awareness and increase our fundraising efforts to provide much needed resources for water, food, health and education projects. We are very grateful to Colour Graphics who has kindly donated flyers, posters and banners to help with our campaign.

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Development News from Zambia

Posted on December 4, 2015 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

In January it will be ten years since I first stepped foot on Zambian soil. Little did I know that the country and its people would play such an important role in my life, that I would gain first hand and often heartbreaking insights into how people in remote areas cope with extreme poverty. This has enabled me to convey to you what is really happening on the ground and to continue our vital work to help these vulnerable people.

Two thirds of Zambians live on less than £1 per day

We have made tremendous progress in many areas, most especially by adding bore holes to schools, most recently to Siachabuki and Simuka. With the prolonged drought, which has caused considerable food shortages through the Southern Province, bore holes are essential, not only to provide safe drinking water, but also to enable irrigation for school gardens. This year thanks to a generous donation from Jane Keil and her family in Australia, fourteen schools are to receive seeds and fertilizers to develop sustainable feeding programmes.

New bore hole and hand pump – Siachakubi School

During my visit we hosted a wonderful group of donors from Attraction Tickets Direct. Their substantial donations have provided funds to expand Nampuyani, Singawamba and Kauwe Schools. The group brought with them vast amounts of school supplies and equipment.

Ollie Brendon and Attraction Tickets Direct Group – Singwamba School

One of the highlights of my trip was to distribute almost 500 football shirts, generously donated by Manchester United and organised by one of JOAC’s volunteers. Every pupil at N’gandu School received a shirt along with other items donated by JOAC. The school development at N’gandu is almost complete with the addition of a 1×3 classroom block, two teachers’ houses and latrines. This was funded by a grant from JOAC Community Works Projects.

Manchester United Donation – N’gandu School

Other schools that recently received funding are River View, who were given desks and text books. This school was also chosen as a beneficiary for a new project with our partners ‘School in a Bag’. 100 pupils received school bags containing all their educational needs. Kasiya School has new latrines, a teacher’s house has been restored at Kamwi and a new 1×2 classroom block at N’dele funded by BFSS. We are reaching out to 29 schools in four Chiefdoms.

School in Bag Partnership – River View School

So much development has taken place these past few months that I am going to write a separate post on our health projects. In the meantime to raise further funds for the projects, we are once again selling charity calendars. The cost is £5 per calendar, plus postage. In addition Manchester United has donated David de Gea’s kit from the pre-season tour, which we are currently auctioning. If you would like to place a bid or buy a calendar please contact jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk