WORLD AIDS DAY

Posted on December 1, 2013 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Today marks World AIDS Day – the following statistics can be found on The World Health Organisation website:

35.3 million people living with HIV in 2012
2.1 million adolescents were living with HIV in 2012
9.7 million people in low- and middle-income countries were receiving antiretroviral therapy

One thing I have learnt in the seven years I have been running The Butterfly Tree is that no lasting change can be made unless HIV Prevention is included in our work. Zambia alone has 710,000 orphans, with Mukuni Village along with Livingstone, having the fourth highest statistics in the nation. A staggering 27% of the population are infected with HIV. Although we have made a great deal of improvement in the provision of water, education, malaria prevention and maternity care much more needs to be done to reduce new infections of HIV.

World AIDS Day – one of the hundreds of orphans in the Mukuni Chiefdom

Mutsa Marau, our own HIV Prevention Coordinator, is currently in Zambia working with groups of school children. Her invaluable work through her ‘Catch me I’m a Butterfly‘ project teaches HIV prevention through Peer Education and is proving to be a great success. Gaining the trust of the children Mutsa trained her first group in 2011 who are now assisting her to ‘spread the word’.

HIV Prevention through Peer Education

In addition to Mukuni, Mutsa is targeting N’gandu Basic School and is delighted to have an increase in the uptake from the young people, who want to learn and know how to live healthy HIV free lives. To read more about Mutsa’s project click on this link.

Natasha, sponsored orphan, assisting Mutsa at N’gandu Basic School

Other HIV projects supported by The Butterfly Tree include orphan sponsorship, funding HIV Education workshops to invite people for voluntary testing, to reduce the stigma and counselling. We also provide help to woman and infants, fund treatment for people suffering with HIV and AIDS and provide community housing for widows and the elderly supporting orphans.

Widow in Kamwi Village receives community house

This week we have the opportunity to double donations through the Big Give Christmas Challenge for our orphan support programme. Thank you to everyone who has offered to participate- here again are the guidelines: Between the 5th to 7th December we need to raise £10,000 via The Big Give – if we reach this amount during that period our donations will be doubled to £20,000 – so we need your help.

When – 10am or as close to 10am as possible on the 5th, 6th, 7th December – as the donations close once an amount is reached.
Where – to The Butterfly Tree’s ‘Orphan Support’ project on the Big Give website
How – on line using a credit or debit card on the Big Give website

If you require any further details please send an email to jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk or telephone: + 44 (0) 1926 843699 ‘Like’ us on Facebook and receive brief news updates!

Orphan Support Needed

Posted on November 21, 2013 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

All the work of The Butterfly Tree is aimed at improving the lives of vulnerable and orphaned children. Since the charity started we have helped thousands of children in remote villages but many more are suffering as a result of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, poverty and malaria.

Orphan Support – River View Basic School Pupils

During the build up to Christmas we are increasing our efforts to raise further funds and there are two ways you can help:

Double your donation – Through the Big Give Challenge (5-7th Dec)
Buy a charity calendar – All funds go directly to the cause.

Double Your Donation

December is the time to donate to The Butterfly Tree as if you donate via The Big Give Challenge we can double your donation.

How does it work?

Between the 5th to 7th December we need to raise £10,000 via The Big Give – if we reach this amount during that period our donations will be doubled to £20,000 – so we need your help.

When – 10am or as close to 10am as possible on the 5th, 6th, 7th December – as the donations close once an amount is reached.
Where – to The Butterfly Tree’s ‘Orphan Support’ project on the Big Give website
How – on line using a credit or debit card on the Big Give website

If you would like us to keep you posted re The Big Give Challenge and when to donate drop us an email: jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

Charity Calendar

To highlight our work during the year and raise funds once again we have produced our lovely desk top calendar – on sale at just £4 plus postage.

The calendar is designed by Morphity Ltd and each page is sponsored, enabling all printing costs to be covered and all proceeds raised from buying a calendar go directly to the cause.

Big thank you to the following companies for their generous sponsorship:

Cunninghams – Epos Cash Registers
Morphity – Website and Systems Development
Saga
LCR Systems – Epos and Pos Systems
Casio UK
Executive Futures – Recruitment Consultants
Accountax
The Fell Group
INTL Global Currencies
Debt Clear Assoc – Debt Recovery Specialist and Insolvency Consultant
Black and White Accounting
Traditional Conservatories – Conservatories, Orangeries and Bespoke Joinery

To purchase the calendar follow this link to buy online or email jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

Orphans Update

Joshua Muumba was so young when he lost his parents that he cannot remember them. Sent to Mukuni from the Western Province Joshua lives with his grandmother who struggled to pay his schools fees. For the past few years Joshua has been on the orphan sponsorship programme and is presently sitting grade nine exams for entry to Mukuni High School. Though Joshua is not highly academic he has excelled in music and leads the Mukuni Basic Choir as a skilled singer, songwriter and conductor. Providing these orphans with an education gives them hope for a better future.

Orphan Sponsorship – Joshua Muumba sponsored by The Butterfly Tree

Currently volunteering in Zambia to help with the orphans are Emma Kennedy and Jess Varley, who recently completed a 50 kilometres sponsored walk from Mukuni to Zwanga Village and back. This is a route that children walk daily to receive an education. Doing this challenging walk in the Zambian heat Emma and Jess have raised substantial funds for our projects.

Last week one of our main volunteers, Mutsa Marau, arrived in Zambia to continue her ‘Catch me I’m a Butterfly Tree” project which provides peer education for HIV prevention – an invaluable part of our work with orphans. In addition Mutsa will be holding sex education workshops in an attempt to reduce the number of teenage pregnancies.

an Emma and Jess after completing their 50 kilometres walk

There are lots of ways to help The ButterflyTree and every pound donated makes a difference to the lives of those in need in Zambia.

Christmas Fundraisers

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

Once again it’s that time of year where we are approaching Christmas and all the pressures that come with it. What should be a joyous occasion, for many it becomes a nightmare. The expense of buying gifts, the ordering of food and the increased expectations of families getting together can cause a great deal of stress. For most families in Zambia life is much different to ours, and Christmas is no different from any other time of the year – food is in short supply, gifts are unheard of and an orphan has no family to visit.

Christmas Fundraisers – help children in Zambia

As always we hope to increase our funding during this period with a number of planned initiatives to gain further donations. Our popular desk top calendar will shortly on sale at a cost of £4, orders are now being taken. Each page is sponsored, which covers the printing costs. 100% of all copies sold will go into our grass root projects.

In December we have the opportunity to get donations matched thanks to our partner the Big Give, through their Christmas Challenge initiative. Already we have £5000 in pledges, now we need to raise a further £10,000 in donations from 5th December for a chance to get it doubled!

The Big Give Christmas Challenge details:

Where to donate – to The Butterfly Tree’s ‘Orphan Support’ project on the Big Give website
When to donate – at 10am or as close to 10am as possible on the 5th, 6th, 7th December
How to donate – on line using a credit or debit card on the Big Give website

For further details please contact: jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

The BigGive Christmas Challenge matched funding for orphan support

Currently we have two fundraising events taking place. Emma Kennedy and Jess Varley are two volunteers working with The Butterfly Tree in Zambia for three months. Emma is engaged in helping with the orphan sponsorship programme and Jess’s work as a nurse at Mukuni Health Centre is invaluable. I am so impressed with their hard work and commitment and between then they have achieved a great deal. They have now set themselves a challenge – to walk on the 11th November from Mukuni to Zwanga Village and back, to create awareness of just how far pupils walk each way on a daily basis, with no food and temperatures soaring to 40 degrees! The walk is sponsored, more details can be found using this link. On the 9th November A Dance Workshop, organised by Sheila Attah, is taking place in London.

Children walk over 20km each way to seek an education

If you are struggling to find that special Christmas present you may like to consider one of the following:

Sponsor an orphan – £110 ($180) per year or £10.00 ($16) per month
Donate five malaria testing kits £5 – $8
Donate four mosquito nets £20 – $32
Donate a blanket £15 – $25
Donate a bag a maize £10 – $16
Donate a wheelchair to transport a disabled child to school for £200 – $325
Donate a bicycle for a child living a long distance from school £75 – $120
Donate a football, netball, volleyball with HIV/AIDS awareness logo £10 – $16

October Newsletter

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

I recently returned home after another rewarding visit to Zambia. It is hard to believe the progress we have made. What started off as helping a handful of orphans has now expanded to over twenty schools, seven clinics and more than 100 villages in four Chiefdoms, throughout the Southern Province of Zambia. The distance we are covering is a radius of 200 kilometres from base and thousands more orphaned and vulnerable children are receiving a sound education, improved healthcare and drinking safe, clean water.

Jane with Kamwi twins, Elvis and Vincent now three years old

Bore holes have been installed at Kauwe and Muchimbala schools with a third one about to be completed at Kanimbwa. Not only do the pupils have access to safe drinking water, but the bore holes will be used to irrigate crops for much needed feeding programmes. I was horrified to learn that some of the food, provided by the World Food Programme, is rotten by the time it reaches the schools.

One Head teacher reported that this year the food provision had been delivered for term one, the second term the maize was stale and the beans were mouldy. When the Head complained he was told by the distributors ‘beggars cannot be choosers – they can eat it!’ Nothing was received for term three. It is heartbreaking, knowing that young school children have no food during the day. Many of them leaving home as early as 4am to return twelve hours later, on any empty stomach. Next month we will increase the number of donated seeds to support this project.

New bore hole and Indian hand pump for Kauwe Basic School

As the rainy season approaches so does the increased risk of contracting malaria. Though prevalent all year, malaria cases increase between November and March. I spent two days distributing mosquito nets to outreach communities. Due to the remoteness of these villages the government do not spray the mud huts putting the people at great risk. Our malaria prevention programmed is vital. Thanks to Saga’s generous funding and most recently Health Express we have been able to cover much of the Mukuni Chiefdom and beyond. Since January no new cases of malaria have been reported in under fives and zero deaths caused by malaria.

Malaria prevention – Ndele children receive mosquito nets

While I was in Zambia I was invited by Sky News to give a ‘live’ interview on the much anticipated malaria vaccination, which could be available as soon as 2015. Glaxo,SmithKline has developed the first ever vaccine and I was asked to comment on how effective this could be for our malaria prevention programme.

Malaria remains the biggest killer of man. Every year around 660,000 people, mostly children under the age of five in sub-Sahara Africa, die from this mosquito-borne parasitic disease.

Malaria prevention – mosquito nets donated to Siachalwa Village

On another serious matter sadly the HIV and AIDS statistics remain far too high, at 27%, in the Mukuni and Livingstone areas. We are continuing our support for children with HIV, increasing our funding for workshops, specifically targeting school children. Mutsa Marau, our HIV prevention coordinator, will return to Zambia next month to offer peer education for HIV prevention. As always I was presented with a long list of orphans who need help. Our sponsor an orphan programme has supported hundreds of individual children in education.

Orphan sponsorship – Enoch to be sponsored by The Butterfly Tree

Now it is back to raising funds for mosquito nets, classrooms, bore holes and orphan sponsorship through a number of planned initiatives. Our popular desk top calendar will shortly be available to order. In December we have the opportunity to get donations matched thanks through our partner the Big Give, through their Christmas Challenge initiative. Already we have £5000 in pledges, now we need to raise a further £10,000 in donations from 5th December. If we are successful, the £15,000 will be turned into a massive £30,000. Anyone who would like to help us reach our goal please contact jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

Safe Water for Schools in Zambia

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

I am currently in Zambia visiting The Butterfly Tree projects. The temperature is 38 degrees and rising as the rainy season approaches. Not a drop of rain has fallen for almost six months and the earth is parched, the rivers are low and the streams have run dry. Earlier in the week, accompanied by Mupotola, the secretary to The Butterfly Tree in Zambia, I drove to the Nyawa Chiefdom. The village we were aiming for was Muchimbale, 100 kilometers to Zimba then a further 36 kilometers into the bush.

Dry stream – Nyawa Chiefdom

Muchimbale has a small community school where children previously had to walk 5 kilometers every day to fetch water, which took 3 hours out of their time table. Thanks to a generous donor the school now has its own bore hole and it certainly was a joyful sight to see the children pumping and drinking safe clean water. In addition this donor has funded two double latrines for the pupils. In the same Chiefdom we have installed a bore hole at Kauwe Basic School through Just a Drop’s donor Epsom College. A third bore hole has been donated by Attraction Tickets Direct. Unfortunately, as yet, we have not been able to source water at Kanimbwa School. Such are the challenges when working in these remote communities.

New bore hole and hand pump – Muchimbale Community School

Heading towards the Botswana border I drove with Martin, our ground operation’s manager, to Mambova to check on the women’s shelter we have constructed at the clinic. This is for women who live in outreach villages to come and stay at the clinic prior to labour, ensuring a much safer place to deliver infants. After donating some bandages and dressing, which I gave to the resident nurse, I drove to River View Basic School where we recently completed a special education unit, kindly donated by the employees at ENRC Marketing AG, Zurich. This will open at the start of the new school year in January when thirty children, who had previously never attended school, can be taught by trained government teachers. In the meantime mainstream pupils are using it to prepare for examinations as their existing classroom is a tent.

New special education classroom for in January 2014 – River View Basic School

With only one week left before I fly back to the UK much has still to be done. The official opening of the new clinic at Mahalulu, the orphan sponsorship to update, mosquito nets to distribute thanks to Saga’s support to our malaria prevention programme and text books to buy. Most schools lack text books with some classes having only one to share among 60 pupils. At times the need is so overwhelming, but the progress we are making in the Kazungula District is considerable. During a recent survey on the Mukuni Chiefdom made possible by USAID and Share, The Butterfly Tree came out on top as the best contributor! Our work has now spread to the Chiefdoms of Musokotwane, Nyawa and Sikute.

Orphan Sponsorship in Zambia

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Jane Kaye-Bailey

It is difficult to comprehend the scale of the decimation caused by the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Zambia. With a population of barely more than 14 million the nation has over 700,000 orphans, primarily as a result of HIV and AIDS. Virtually all of the Butterfly Tree’s work revolves around the orphans and we strive to give them hope for a better future. Our aim is to provide a sound, basic education for as many rural children as funds permit. It is not possible for every child to be accepted on our orphan sponsorship program as there are so many, but we can help in other ways by improving the education facilities in these remote schools and helping them to generate sustainability.

Twin brothers Siakuba and Aaron sponsored orphans

Creating global awareness is paramount – the poverty levels are extreme. Under normal circumstances Zambian families can support themselves by living a simple lifestyle, but when they have the addition of several orphans to feed and educate they are pushed below the poverty line. Two thirds of the entire nation lives on less than £1 ($1.5) per day. Our aim is to develop sustainability in rural schools and communities so that every orphan has a chance to be educated.

Every child has a right to be educated

We have many people helping us to achieve this through fundraising, sponsorship and volunteering. Last month we welcomed Thomas Mills High School, whose pupils raised funds to build a sustainable school shop for Mukuni Basic School. Camping out in the classrooms, two groups totalling thirty pupils from Suffolk, set about building the facility, which will be used to make and sell uniforms as well as school supplies. Students assisted in the classrooms and participated in creative activities and on the sports ground. Furthermore in July we had Kayleigh Blake and Vicky Higgs, two UK volunteers, assisting at Mukuni Basic School, as well as Saga Volunteer Travellers Gill Waterton and Richard Reid, who have also just completed a month’s volunteering. Their support and generosity was invaluable to grades seven and nine who will be sitting exams later in the year.

Students form Thomas Mills High School

While it is essential for these vulnerable children to complete their education it is not always possible to seek employment once they leave school. Mukuni Village is close to the mighty Victoria Falls, a major tourist destination, but there are not enough jobs for everyone and unemployment is high. To take advantage of the surroundings and the abundance of visitors to the area we are initiating an Ecotourism project. In July I visited Zambia with Jonathan Sedo, an Ecotourism consultant from Costa Rica, who is submitting a project plan to The Butterfly Tree. Volunteer, Emma Kennedy, an International Development student will assist with the initial stages of the project. This is a great opportunity for Mukuni orphans and school leavers to be involved in an income-generating enterprise.

School leavers with Jonathan Sedo learning about Ecotourism

The orphan sponsorship program has been running since 2006, many of the children have now reached high school, some have already completed school whilst others are just starting. We have extended the program to help children in the following schools: Mukuni, N’gandu, Kamwi, Siamasimbi and Ndele and many more need help. If you would like to sponsor an orphan please click on the link.

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