malaria | The Butterfly Tree Charity

Despite our efforts to support the universal fight against malaria more needs to be done to overcome this destructive disease. Malaria is the biggest killer of man. According to the World Health Organisation an estimated 3.4 billion people are at risk on malaria, of which 1.2 billion are at high risk. 90% of all malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa, which of course includes Zambia.

WHO estimates from 2012-13

207 million cases of malaria
627 000 deaths
77% occur in children under five

Malaria Prevention – early testing for malaria is vital

In recent years The Butterfly Tree’s malaria prevention programme has produced some great results. Now we need to increase the distribution of preventative methods to reach out to many more rural communities. Currently it is the rainy reason in Zambia and the rains are heavy and prolonged, which is great for the crops but not for malaria! To step up our work we have partnered with a SkintoSkin, the company has produced a t-shirt, impregnated with a WHO approved insect repellent. Through a crowd funding initiative a of target £50,000 has been set, which will provide us with invaluable t-shirts for our malaria prevention programme.

One t-shirt costs as little as £10 ($16) and and be bought using this link

Unprecedented rain in Zambia has caused an increase in malaria cases

On a happier note we are having great success with our education projects at Mukuni. Latest reports show that virtually all grade seven and nine pupils, many of which are on our orphan sponsorship programme, have passed their exams. Mukuni Basic School received the best result for the Kazungula District. Our supporters must take some of the credit for this due to the increase in text books donated to classes where previously one text book had to be shared between forty pupils. In addition a number of volunteers, two of which came through Saga Volunteer Travel, gave extra tuition to grade seven and nine pupils prior to their exams. A generous offer from Video4Books will provide the schools with further reading material.

Mukuni Basic School gets best exam results in the Kazungula District

This year we aim to increase our malaria prevention support, further expand Meet Mutsa’s peer education project for HIV prevention and open more special education units for children who are unable to attend school. As always we are very grateful for your support and hope that we can encourage more donors and volunteers to join The Butterfly Tree. Our entire team in both the UK and Zambia still consists of volunteers, most of them have been with us since 2006!

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One of the great things about running a charity to help orphans is the enormous amount of interest and support it attracts. Now that we have been operating for over four year and have been able to achieve a great deal, we are getting a considerable amount of offers from individuals, schools and churches who genuinely want to help us make a difference. Besides collecting donations, they are doing their own fundraising activities to assit our programs in communities such as Mukuni.

On the 2nd May Mike Kaye and Nigel Birch set off at 06.00, from London’s Trafalgar Square, to cycle 165 miles to Nottingham. Much of their journey was cycling in torrential rain, facing north-easterly winds with temperatures barely reaching eight degrees. An arduous challenge to complete in one day. At 22.10 they finally arrived at Escucha in Nottingham to down a few well deserved pints! Mike is now on his way to Zambia with Lucy Machin to volunteer at Mukuni Village, the funds raised will be used for sport and educational materials. Later this month Jake Wilson-Gunn and Andrew Mottram will be cycling from Lands End to John O’ Groats. Others have done sponsored walks, swims and the iron-man challenge. Several schools have raised funds to sponsor an orphan and supplied bicyles for children in outreach villages to travel to Mukuni schools. Several churches have donated their collections to buy educational materials as well as supporting the orphan sponsorship program.

Fundraising for Mukuni: Mike & Nige cycled 165 miles from London to Nottingham

The local Rotary and Inner Wheel Clubs have also been a great support, particulary building hokmes for the vulnerable. This month Basement Entertainment and the UK Zambian community held a fundraising event in London, where our charity song ‘Change for the Better’ was launched to increase global awareness and raise funds for our malaria program. One new fundrasing initiative we have started is to collect empty ink cartridges and old mobile phones for recycling. Empty Cartridges will provide a pre-paid envelope with The Butterfly Tree logo for you to send to them for recycling; in return they will donate to the charity for every item received. Any amount, however small or whichever way you chose to help, can improve the health and education of the those less fortunate in Zambia.

Donated bicycles for long distance travel New home for widow with orphans

If anyone is interested in doing a challenge or an event, it need not be as strenous as a marathon or a cycle ride, a sponsored walk or simply making cakes as Lucy did and raised almost £100 by selling them to her office colleagues! We can provide you with advertising material, sponsorship forms and suggest ideas. The Butterfly Tree team is very grateful to all those generous people who have already participated and especially to the ones who are offering on going support.