Tag Archives: HIV/AIDS in Zambia

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Travel Philanthropy

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Happy New Year! Now is the time when we all start to think about holidays and getting away from the cold weather and grey skies in search of the sun. Perhaps this year you would like to try a holiday of a different kind by becoming a philanthropic traveller or volunteer. This is how my journey started with The Butterfly Tree. I first visited Zambia in February 2006 on an organised trip, which included boat rides on the mighty Zambezi River, micro-lighting over the spectacular Victoria Falls and exhilerating safaris through the African bush. Little did I know that something as simple as visiting a rural village would turn into a life-changing experience.

Many people are unaware that just a few miles from exotic hotels, such as the Royal Livingstone Hotel situated in one of the most stunning locations in Africa, live some of the poorest people on the planet. My visit to Mukuni Village left such an impression that I have spent the past five years raising funds and awareness in an attempt to improve the health and education of thousands of HIV and AIDS orphans in Zambia.

Rural life in Mukuni Village

A trip to Mukuni, although very moving, can be fun and rewarding. The people are humble and friendly and go about the daily chores in a dignified manner. Numerous tourists, after visiting the village, have contacted The Butterfly Tree and donated to one of our local projects or sponsor an orphan. Some of these travellers have returned as volunteers for The Butterfly Tree, where they have had the opportunity to teach at the school, assist at the clinic or work on one of the building projects. We do not run a volunteer organisation as such, therefore travel and accommodation arrangements have to be made by the participant. The charity can give advice on what is available and which projects to work with. Whether it’s just a visit to the village for a couple of hours or a stay of several weeks, becoming a philanthropic traveller or a volunteer can have mutual benefits for all parties concerned. Without exception everyone who has been involved longs to return.

Volunteer – work with the Mukuni children

 

If you like further information on philanthropic travel or volunteering please contact jane@thebutterflytree.org.uk

Join our Facebook page & see how we are making a difference.

I am saddened to announce that Shaun Crystal, one of the singers who donated his time and expertise for our charity song, ‘Change for the Better’ passed away in December. His memory will live on in his great music.

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Greetings from Mukuni

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Christmas in Mukuni will be very different to what many of us will experience tomorrow. Apart for going to church it will be like any other day sharing a meal of n’shima, vegetables and gound nuts with family and friends. There with be no turkey, Christmas pudding or gifts under the Christmas tree nor has there been weeks of preparations to make everything perfect for the festive Day. So who has got it right? Do we really need to put ourselves under so much stress for just one day? The true meaning of Christmas has been overshadowed by the need to spend more and more money on food, drinks and gifts, often resulting in bank overdrafts and credit card debts.

Working in one of the poorest nations on the planet, where thousands of children have been orphaned through the HIV and AIDS in Zambia pandemic, makes me realise that we have got it wrong.   These desperately poor communities need food, water, health and education. Fortunately for many people in Mukuni Village life has improved considerably this year. The charity has built extra classrooms, more orphans have been sponsored and much has been done to improve the education and health facilities for Mukuni and several other outreach villages.

Greetings from Mukuni: Lillian Mweene with her daughter

2011 promises to be another successful year for The Butterfly Tree kicking off with substantial grant aid once again awarded by the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission. This grant will enable us to build three new schools in remote areas; one in Mukuni and two in the Musokotwane Chiefdom. Saga Charitable Trust has also ensured that our Africa malaria program continues with another generous donation for next year. Many of our supporters have sent Christmas donations and some sponsor an orphan, making it our most successful year to date.

Jane with children from Mandandi Village

On behalf of the team and Mukuni Village I would like to genuinely thank everyone for your bountiful support and wish you all a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

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WORLD AIDS DAY

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The latest figures show that there are over 33 million people living with HIV and over half of them will die of AIDS before they are 35 years of age. A staggering 2.3 million children under 15 are infected. Although advances in treatment and HIV and AIDS Prevention have been made I have seen first-hand the destruction caused in Zambia, where every family, if not infected, is affected in some way. It  is one the worst nations with one in six adults being HIV positive. There are 33,000 children infected with HIV and over 700,000 are orphaned as a result of the HIV and AIDS in Zambia pandemic.

World Aids Day: An HIV positive orphan sponsored by The Butterfly Tree

HIV and AIDS education is the key, particularly in developing countries. Providing educational workshops, helping to remove the stigma and voluntary testing is crucial. Unlike malaria HIV is slow to develop, therefore many do not take it seriously. Women are four times more likely to be infected then men, not only putting themselves at risk but also their unborm babies. For the past four years The Butterfly Tree has successfully run an under-fives feeding program in Zambia for HIV positvie mothers. This gives them the opportunity to replace breast milk with formula to prevent mother to child transmission of the virus. This method has proved to be very effective as all the children on this program since 2007 have been tested free of HIV. It also encourages more women to come forward and be tested.

Children free of HIV on the under-fives feeding program

In the UK there are over 90,000 reported cases of HIV, many more are undiagnosed. Understanding the facts of HIV, removing the stigma and knowing your status are essential motives to not only protecting your own health but to the well-being of those close to you. Today in recognition of World Aids Day our charity is funding a workshop in Mukuni Village.

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Charity Calender 2011

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The Butterfly Tree’s fourth edition of our charity calendar is available to order. It has been so popular that the twelve companies who each sponsor a page have generously continued to do so every year. Some of these companies also sponsor projects annually and have made an invaluable contribution to our work in Zambia.

The calendar pictures highlight some of our projects at Mukuni and other villages and of course at the forefront are the orphan orphan sponsorship program. Almost everything we do is for the benefit of these vulnerable children. Providing them with clean water, nutritional food, improved education and health facilities to help the fight against Africa malaria and HIV and AIDS in Zambia is paramount.

I would sincerely like to thank the following for sponsoring the calendar: Executive Futures, The Fell Group, Three Counties Insurance, LCR Systems, INTL Global Currencies Ltd., Gardiff, Casio, ListersVolkswagon Group, Tommee Tippee, DCA, Cunninghams and Saga Charitable Trust. A special thanks to Miranda at Juggle Frogs for helping me to produce the calendar.

These captivating pictures show just a few of the pages for 2011. The high quality desk top calendar measures 21cm x 16cm and can be bought for £4 plus postage, US$10 including postage.

Second class postal charges in the UK: 1 calendar; 80p 2-3 calendars £1.50;  3-4 calendars £1.95 4-5 £2.35

Postal charges for Europe: 1 calendar £1.60; 2 calendars £2.40

Rest of the World: 1 calendar £2.40; 2 calendars £3.70

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

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2011front-calender

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june2011

sept2011

oct2011

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Annual Report 2009-2010

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‘Change for the Better’ is how I would describe this year, our most successful to date. We were awarded a substantial number of grants and received an increase in donations, which has enabled us to reach out to more rural schools and communities of the Mukuni Chiefdom of Zambia.

We have been asked many times, why after four years, are we still working in the same Chiefdom. The answer is simple, by doing this we can ‘make a difference’. Spreading ourselves too thinly on the ground would not have such a great impact. Concentrating on a specific area, providing the essentials in life – safe, clean water, feeding programs, improved health and education facilities leads to sustainability. Once this is in place, we can look further afield and spread our ‘wings’ to a new Chiefdom. Funds permitting, we are hoping that this will happen in the forthcoming year, though our base will remain at Mukuni Village.

All our projects have benefitted from these increased funds and many new ones have been introduced. Two additional bore holes have been put in place. Invaluable feeding programs at five more schools have commenced and each school has been given seeds to grow maize to supplement these programs. Vast amounts of stationery have been donated to six new schools in addition to the existing four we continually support. Bicycles have been purchased for pupils travelling long distances to school and donkeys have been offered to provide transport for disabled children. The classroom block and clinic at Katapazi, our biggest project this year, has been completed.

Despite the government’s efforts to curb the HIV/AIDS pandemic there are still far too many African children being orphaned. As always we continually seek new sponsors and many have offered support after visiting Mukuni Village, just seven kilometers from the Victoria Falls. We have put a substantial amount of funding into our health projects; one of the most rewarding, yet humbling results, is to learn that all the babies on our under-fives feeding program (part of our HIV and AIDS Prevention program) have recently been tested free of HIV. Diseases such as HIV, TB and malaria are prevalent in the region; malaria is the biggest killer of man.

Every forty seconds someone dies from malaria. 75% of deaths occur in children under the age of five in sub-Sahara Africa. The Butterfly Tree provides Malaria prevention; mosquito nets, malaria testing kits and educational workshops. This year to mark World Malaria Day we launched our own charity song, ‘Change for the Better’, to increase global awareness and raise funds for the fight against malaria. The song features three Zambian artists and a young woman from Mukuni, who has received sponsorship through The Butterfly Tree. I cannot stress enough how vital this program is. Our latest results have shown, that in areas of net distribution, no new cases of malaria have been reported, however many more areas need help.

Once again we have been able to fund several successful operations and treatment for children and the elderly. Nine community houses have been built for widows with orphans and a number of sustainable projects have been initiated, amongst them are poultry and goat rearing, vegetable growing and sewing.

With your continued support, 2010 is definitely going to be a ‘Change for the Better’.

Read more… Click for 2010 annual report and account

Jane Kaye-Bailey – Chairman

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Peace Day

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The UN International Day of Peace on 21 September is a day of global ceasefire and non-violence. It is not just asking aggressors in war-torn countries to disarm, but for everyone around the globe to refrain from violence – in the home, the work place, and school. It’s also about helping to save the lives of those less fortunate than we are. Although Zambia is a very peaceful country life for most people is an arduous challenge. With water shortages, incurable diseases and some of the worst poverty in the world for many life is certainly not peaceful.

In recognition of global Peace Day The Butterfly Tree is fundig a workshop at Mukuni to highlight the importance of our work in these remote communities.  HIV and AIDS in Zambia is a virus that can be caught at any age most especially for babies born to an HIV positive mother. One of our most successful projects is our under fives feeding program, which provides formulae to replace breastmilk. It has also encouraged more women to come forward to be tested. Today we will be inviting women and their families to participate in a workshop at Mukuni Village, further educating the people of the dangers of this devasting disease, helping to remove the stigma and to encourage more people to be tested.


Peace Day: Young children at Siamasimbi joining hands – a sign of love & peace

To enhance our work at Mukuni Brendan Mission is raising funds to build a music centre at Mukuni. This will be a great place  for the school children throughout the Chiefdom to perform music and drama to raise further awareness of HIV/AIDS. Concerts can be held to make the project sustainable and give the pupils a chance to ‘make change’ through music. Brendan is launching three songs and donating all the profits to The Butterfly Tree. On the 30th September Brendan will be doing a sponsored cycle ride from London to Devon where he will perform a gig. The songs can be pre-ordered for download on the 3rd October.

Two young American girls, Sammi Cohen and Madison Sacks have also been working hard to raise funds for The Butterfly Tree. Their initiative was to collect change from all their classmates and make it into a competition to see which class could raise they most money. They collected an amazing total of $3762. The staff at Natwest in Warwick completed a 10k walk on Sunday for the charity. Gordy Munro has been trying for two years to do a sponsored Skydive for the charity; after six cancellations due to bad weather he finally completed it on the seventh attempt. We are very grateful to all our supporters, the ones doing challenges and fundraising deserve a very special thanks for giving up their time to support our cause.

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Sponsor an orphan in Zambia

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Children don’t ask to be born and when you are born into a Zambian family the chances of losing your parents at an early sage are very high. The HIV and AIDS  in Zambia pandemic has infected or affected almost every family. One in six adults have the HIV virus and 710,000 children have been left orphaned. What happens to these orphans? The luckier ones have family members who look after them, others have guardians, while the unlucky ones who have lost everyone close to them, have to fend for themselves. Many of the have to drop out of school as they can no longer afford the school fees and need to earn money to buy food.

Sponsor an orphan: Elena Malala lives in Kamwi Village with her elderly grandmother

The Butterfly Tree orphan sponsorship program has given hope to almost 400 children and the numbers are rising. Last month an association in Australia – the Mukuni Village Inc. Generously offered to sponsor twenty orphans in addition to the 30 they sponsored last year. This has given the program a huge boost. We have many donors sponsoring between one and ten orphans, some have been with us since 2006 coming from several different countries. We are extremely grateful for this support and hope that this continues as we need many more people to sponsor an orphan.

One man who was so touched by the plight of the orphans after volunteering at Mukuni is doing a fundrasing event to build a music centre for the school. Brendan Poynton, a musician, will cycle from London to Devon to perform a gig to raise additional funds. Chiswick TV are filming the story and event which is to take place on 30th September.

Mukuni pupils on the orphan sponsorship program using the guitar donated by Brendan

Virtually all of our projects in health, education and community work are for the benefit of these vulnerable children. By offering them a chance to go to school, eat a nutritous meal and drink safe, clean water they have a chance in life. Education is the most important aspect of an orphan’s life. Our aim is to get as many of these orphans back into education as possible and to build classrooms in areas where there are no schools. Ten schools in the Mukuni Chiefdom are receiving our support and it is hoped, funds permitting, that we can develop schools in the Musokotwane Chiefdom in 2011.

Victor Simango securing a job after being sponsored by the charity

In December we had our first school leavers after completing their A levels at the high school built by the charity. Although umemployment is extermely high one young man who had been on ourorphan sponsorship program secured a job with Sun International. Victor Simango works as a security officer at the Zambezi Sun Hotel alongside the Victoria Falls and is very grateful to his sponsor who gave him the chance to improve his situation. Help us to help more of these vulnerable children.

August Newsletter

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August is usually a quiet month for charities and fundraising, not so for The Butterfly Tree and Mukuni. I have just returned from a visit to Zambia and the development taking place in several of the schools is amazing. My first stop was to Kamwi, a village just five kilometres from Mukuni Village, but so underdeveloped that it could be fifty. As soon as I pulled up in my 4×4 Sylvia, the deputy head teacher said ‘Come quickly Jane your children are waiting for you’. As we turned the corner of our newly built classroom, the entire school members were waiting, holding banners – then the pupils broke into songs especially written to praise and thank The Butterfly Tree for the bore hole, the 1×2 classroom, the teacher’s house and the feeding program. I was overcome with emotion, tears filled my eyes as I listened to the children singing, knowing that this long awaited project was now complete, which will enable the school to upgrade, shortening the distance many pupils have to walk.

Pupils at Kamwi Basic School                 Classroom for Special Education

Driving some fifty kilometres north west of Mukuni took me to Siamasimbi, a very remote village, which gets cut off during the rainy season when the rivers are too full to cross. The main bridge was destroyed through flooding and sadly has not been repaired by the local authorities. Numerous members of the community were providing unskilled labour to help with the construction of a new classroom and teacher’s house we have funded; here these African children finish their education around fourteen years of age, soon they will have an extra two grades along with the feeding program we are have introduced. Mandandi, half way between Siamasimbi and Mukuni has no such luxury, there is no school! This month the construction of our first entirely new school is taking place, it should be completed for the start of the new term in September, along with the teacher’s house. To improve sanitation all these projects will have pit-latrines added.

Siamasimbi Community Participation           Mandandi eagerly await new school

Machenje Village, another particularly poor village will have a new pre-school. Not leaving out Mukuni a 1×3 classroom block has been added for the over-crowded grades 8& 9 who currently have four pupils sharing a desk. This will also have two offices and storerooms. All these building projects have been made possible thanks to the grant aid from the Jersey Overseas Aid Commission. In addition to this is a classroom for Special Education, kindly donated by The Besom. Children with physical disabilities can go into mainstrean school, now children with mental health problems or impaired vision and hearing can also go to school.  The Butterfly Tree pre-school will also have an additional classroom to cope with the ever-increasing number of attendees, which has now reached over 250. This has kindly been donated in memory of Sandra Challenger, a former employee of Saga, whose charitable trust support our African malaria program.  There are also six community houses being built for widows and orphans.

As always funds are needed for the Mukuni Health Centre for the HIV/AIDS in Zambia and malaria programs we support. A number of children have been sent to hospital for treatment and physiotherapy. We have just added a new water pump and paid for new pipework at the clinic. N’songwe Village will be able to open their community built clinic once the staff house we are funding has been constructed. With so few supplies from the government we have also sent out a shipment of medical supplies, some eighty boxes contain dressings, autoclaves and other equipment, besides clothes for the orphans and books and stationery for the schools.

Girls’ 100 metre sprint Jane presenting ‘Change for The Better’ CD

Mukuni Basic School played hosts for the Kazungula District Sports held over three days at the end of term. The Butterfly Tree provided food for the competitors and transport for pupils from outreach schools. Sport is an essential part of the schools’ curriculum; unfortunately the facilities are very poor with most of the playing fields being dirt tracks. I was shocked to learn that the volley ball that we purchased in Livingstone cost £23 ($34), the only one available locally. All the children ran in bare feet and very few had team shirts for the athletics or ball games. I saw several children collapse at the end of a race, possibly due to lack of food and fluid before they took part. Energy drinks, so commonly used for sporting activities in the west are rarely seen. Despite all the problems the standard was excellent and many Mukuni pupils will go through to represent the Kazungula District in the Southern Province’s competition. I am delighted to say that some of the competitors on on our orphan sponsorship program, proving once again the importance of being able to receive an all round education.

Jane Kaye-Bailey

Listen to the Mukuni children singing on YouTube

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Music Supporting Charity in Africa

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Africans are born with rhythm, so it is not surprising to come across many talented people during my trips to Mukuni; song and dance play an influential role in their culture. The forthcoming Lwiindi Ceremony, the ‘Cutlural Feast of the Spray Ceremony of the Victoria Falls’ scheduled for the 2nd August. This is a great spectacle of colour showing many aspects of tribal life, most especially through music. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Live Aid, the famous Fundraising Concert for the famine in Ethiopia. I recently watched a biography of Bob Geldof and a recording of Live Aid, this shows the power and lure of music from every corner of the world. I have always been inspired by the incredible fete acheived by the organisers of this event and believe that music is a great media for fundraising.

Charity Music: Crystal Shaun & TY2 & Leya Tribal Dancing at Mukuni Village

This year we launched a charity single, called ‘Change for the Better’ on World Malaria Day to increase global awareness and raise funds for Malaria Prevention and the fight against Africa malaria. Although Zambia is not a famine area, there is hunger, poverty and sickness and the continual battle against malaria and HIV and AIDS Prevention, lack of safe, clean water and medical supplies. The Butterfly Tree has concentrated its work in the Mukuni Chiefdom to improve all aspects of life and not just walk away after putting up a new classroom. It is vital to improve the water and health facilities along with advancing the edcuation to really make a difference, after which Mukuni Village can attempt to be more sustainable.

HIV/AIDS in Zambia  under fives’s feeding program     outreach clinics in Mukuni

A student from North Carolina recently visited our projects on behalf of GlobalGving US. Troy Smith has written a wonderful report highlighting our work and the difference we are making to the lives of the orphans and our programs for HIV/AIDS in Zambia. A volunteer from the UK, Brendan Poynton, recently spent some time at Mukuni, Ngandu and Kamwi Schools holding music workshops for the pupils. He was so inspired by our work and the response from the children that he has offered to raise funds to build a Music Centre at Mukuni. With this in place we can hold events in Zambia and who knows we may even be able to host our own mini ‘Live Aid’ concert.