As you can probably ascertain from our slogan, RN believes in empowering communities with knowledge in order for them to be able to create sustainable income generating activities. In a bid to encourage communities to sustain the activities that they start up through our sensitization, it is important to give them all the necessary knowledge and tons of encouragement and motivation to show them that they are more than capable of starting and running clubs that not only help them earn a livelihood, but also clubs that aid the community and make it a better and cohesive environment for all to live.
Community Schools started and wares made by various clubs
Some of the self-help activities that the communities carry out include organic vegetable gardening, starting up of community schools, women’s clubs where they make various items ranging from brooms to clothes, animal rearing, beekeeping and many other activities.
Women’s clubs, Organic Vegetable Farming, Goat Rearing and Beekeeping
As much as community members and clubs try to carry out their activities, circumstances beyond their control can deter their progress. Southern Province and Zambia at large have been experiencing unprecedented soaring temperatures and a drought that just would not quit. Though some rain has been received this year, it hasn’t been nearly enough to offset the effects of the drought. Smaller rivers, lakes and dams in the rural areas are quite dry and villagers have to dig in the river to get to the underground water. Gardens are also not thriving as they are supposed to because of this. However, people are nothing if not resilient and though times may get tough, they are managing to come up with some innovative ways to keep their heads above water, no pun intended.
Water is scarce leading to digging in river beds and struggling gardens
That’s it for this week’s blog, if you read to the end, twalumba kapati (thank you very much) and catch a fresh blog post next week! Too long of a wait? Follow us on our socials: Facebook- Response Network ; Instagram- response.network ; Twitter- response_netwrk
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day but teach
him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime. This sentiment can be applied to
many facets of life and can also be applied to education. If a child does not
go to school, he/she becomes heavily dependent on their parent or guardian for
essentially their whole lives. Whereas if a child is given their basic human
right of education, they are able to morph into well-adjusted individuals who
are able to not only creating a better future for themselves but for their
families as well.
Prospective sponsorship girls at their homes
Response Network currently has 611 children
enrolled on our sponsorship program. This is a program where vulnerable (single
or double orphans) children are provided with school fees and other school
requirements such as books, bags, uniforms, etc. in order for them to access
education that they may not have otherwise been able to access without RN and
our partner Academic Work of Sweden as well as several other generous
individuals who sponsor a child or two.
Parents/Guardians of kids going into first grade
have been coming through to the office to apply for sponsorship. After the
application process, a designated team conducts home visitations to assess
whether the candidate meets the criteria for sponsorship. These home
assessments are currently being conducted. Stay tuned to our social media
platforms for more updates!
Jokwe is a name of the School with an enrollment of more than 250 pupils and it acts as a central place for 8 villages in Chief Simwatachela Chiefdom of Zimba district. It is about 75 Kilometers from Kalomo town, along the road going to Mapatizya, an Amethyst mining area in the district.
Getting ready for market day
The first permanent structure for the School was a 1 by 1 and office Classroom block by Response Network in 2007. This community had very little developmental activity before the intervention by the Organization. Later in 2017, the organization went back and carried out a full program in the area, which led to starting up of various self-help activities by the community and the extension of the School to have 1 by 3-classroom block and a teacher’s house. This time it is a registered School under government office of the DEBS. What started as a “by-the-way thing” among the community members of Jokwe after Response Network held their Sensitization meetings two years ago has now changed the appearance of the community. Jokwe was among the target communities in 2017, when Response Network went round sensitizing communities on self-help initiatives. The community members started various activities just to try out the knowledge they got during meetings. As they continued, they trained how they can make money from the activities they were doing and improve the quality. The clubs members realized that, since they started engaging in various income generating activities, their lives have improved and they can now have money to pay for their children in school and even buy food and other household necessities. They now faced challenge of how to sell their products within a short time so that they could continue making money to continue supporting their families especially during the drought period of 2019. They idea of mobilizing themselves (an idea they got after seeing the exhibition of activities held at Jokwe where many clubs from surrounding area participated) and build a market where all clubs would come and sell their products was supported.
Farming activities at Jokwe
They asked for land by the roadside from the headman, where even vehicles to town pass so that many people can easily access their goods and it was given. This time, the market has attracted many people who come to buy and even spend time during their leisure, as they do not have a nearby shopping place. The market is run by 8 clubs who have already moved to the sight and doing their business although Jokwe has 12 clubs that are active. Four have not yet moved to the market. The community is extending invitation to people who can bring some business and other structures hoping to develop their area. The hosting head-person is very happy about the turn of events in her area and appreciates the initiative and education given to her community. Everyone is now busy finding ways to support their family. The women are overjoyed and feel motivated because now they can earn their own money, and control over unlike before. They feel more empowered to add their voices in making decisions at family level and community.
Check out the gallery below from our partner organization, Academic Work’s recent visit to Zambia where we went into the rural areas of Southern Province to the villages of Chinkonzya and Mabwa and the barbeque with the sponsorship girls that they so generously support through their #onepercent movement!
As most of us know by now, RN in collaboration with SMISO Tromso has been running an exchange program called HOPE, which is an acronym for Hope, Opportunity, Participation, Empowerment. Two participants from Zambia are sent to work at RN and two Zambian participants are sent to Norway.
The idea being to exchange knowledge on sexual abuse and incest between Norway and Zambia. Our two Norwegian participants, whom you may have already met via this blog and also social media, Preciosa Luras and Amy Andersen conduct lectures on sexual abuse and incest in selected schools around Livingstone. I recently accompanied them to Maramba Primary School where they had a meeting with senior teaching staff where they discussed their results, findings, and experiences while running the program in the school.
The key areas they aimed to target are awareness and prevention. When it comes to awareness, the aim was to find out how conversant the students are in issues of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and incest and prevention looked at among other things, whether or not the school had an obvious reporting system for these types of cases.
GBV, incest and related issues are very important and schools and communities need to work hand in hand in conjunction with organizations, not just RN, but organizations in general to spread awareness and develop systems and processes that will help protect our children and safeguard them in all ways. This task will not be an easy one, but as Amy said, we never stop learning, and learning new ways and improving upon existing systems and relationships will go a long way in curbing this scourge. For more on the HOPE program, follow HOPE on Facebook: HOPE- Hope, Opportunity, Participation and Empowerment and Instagram: @hopenorzam
Amy and Preciosa presenting their findings to staff at Ngwenya Primary School
Who doesn’t love a good exhibition or fair or pop up market. Knowing me, I wouldn’t miss the opening of an envelope at this point. So when the Community Education Program (CEP) team told me that they would be heading out to not one, but two exhibitions, I just had to tag along.
Exhibitions were held in the villages of Jokwe and Mafumba where RN has been running various activities. We arrived in Jokwe to much fanfare and a warm reception from the participating clubs, some having covered wide distances to be able to showcase their wares at the exhibition. The exhibition in Jokwe was held at a sporting field, nearby a school that is being supported by Academic Work of Sweden.
The exhibitions took place on August 29th and 30th under the theme “Resistance through self-help initiatives”. The meaning and symbolism behind this theme is that in these tough economic times in Zambia and with the challenge of lack of rainfall, how have these clubs and how do they build somewhat of a resistance to all these seemingly insurmountable challenges. How do they adapt their self-driven self-help activities to the current reality they are facing. There were numerous and varied self-help activities carried out by the groups and clubs, including but not limited to farming activities, skills based activities, i.e. carpentry, basket weaving, place mats, floor mats, reed mats (traditionally called museme (sing.) or miseme (pl.), pottery, bricks, clothing items, grass brooms, etc. Other groups showcased other edible goods such as wild fruits, traditional cakes and homemade beverages.
The groups were judged in several categories, including creativity & innovation, product display & neatness, interpretation of the self-help concept and confidence. The women and gentlemen belonging to the winning groups were beyond thrilled and even performed celebratory dances as they walked up to claim their well-earned prizes which ranged from 50 to 300 Zambian Kwacha.
All in all, the exhibitions were a success and everyone seemed pretty happy with how it went. Some of the winning clubs actually received drip kits which will surely ease their burden when it comes to tending their crops. More on this later though.
For pics and video on this and more, follow us on insta @response.network, twitter @response_netwrk and like us on facebook at response network.
Fire safety is an essential topic and it is imperative that
one know what to do in case of a fire. You know the old saying, and I’m
paraphrasing here, better to know something and not need to use that knowledge
than not to have that knowledge and actually need it.
With the extent of know-how a lot of us have when it comes to fire safety, if a fire of any classification did break out, I’m sure a whole lot of us would be up the proverbial creek without a paddle. We were fortunate enough to have fire experts, Lexka Fire Equipment & Services Ltd, who are situated in Livingstone’s 217 area, along Mosi-Oa-Tunya Road, visit our office for a crash course on fire safety procedures. First off FIRE is actually an acronym, who knew right. So here’s the breakdown:
F – FIND I – INFORM R – RESTRICT E – EXTINGUISH
Those are pretty self-explanatory right? First you find
where the fire is, then you inform everyone in the vicinity that there is a
fire and assist anyone who is not able to evacuate themselves. You then
restrict the fire and lastly extinguish it, if you are able to. We also learnt
that there are different types of fire, which are categorized into classes.
Class A being solid fires, i.e. involving paper, furniture, cardboard, most
plastics, etc. Class B is for fires involving flammable or combustible liquids,
i.e. gasoline, kerosene, grease or oil. Class C is for fires involving
electrical equipment, like appliances, wiring, circuit breakers or outlets.
Class D is for fires most commonly occurring in chemical laboratories, these
involve combustible metals, like magnesium, titanium, potassium or sodium.
Class K is for fires that involve cooking oils, trans-fats, or fats in cooking
appliances, typically occurring in restaurants or cafeteria kitchens.
Now color me ignorant but I had not the foggiest idea that there were actually different types of fire extinguishers for different types of fires. Check out the diagram below.
We should all look into equipping ourselves with the necessary implements needed to combat fires because you never know when disaster can strike. There is such a thing as knowing too little, there is never a point at which someone knows too much…#themoreyouknow #firesafety #educateyourself #stopdropandroll
VERY good jobs
require better education for children and adults all throughout life, says
Academic Work’s Michael Broms.
And Ddabali
Educational Zone Head James Nanjame says without the support of Sweden’s
Academic Work the community of Siakabanze would not have managed to have a
teacher’s house constructed at the school.
Speaking when a delegation of 11 Academic Work visitors handed over a teachers house at Siakabanze Community School in Zambia last week with the collaboration with Response Network, Broms said his delegation was happy with the participation of the community in the construction of the house.
Response Network,
a non-governmental organization based in Livingstone, also works in Zimba, and
Kazungula districts.
“To have very
good jobs we believe that it is very important to have very good education for
children and adults all throughout life. We are here to visit you and hand over
the house because of the very good
collaboration we have with Response Network,” Broms said.
He said it was
pleasing to see that the school also built through financial assistance from
Academic Work through Response Network was in good shape and the children of
Siakabanze were very happy and
accessing the much needed education.
Siakabanze
Community School is located 50 kilometres east of Kalomo district.
And Nanjame also
appealed for more support from Academic Work so as to complete a classroom
block extension.
“We have a lot
of work that needs to be done,” he said.
Chawila councillor
Roy Sialubala appealed to Academic Work to build more teachers houses in the
area.
He said building
a school and a house was an expensive undertaking and thanked Academic Work for
the financial support.
Sialubala appealed
to parents and Siakabanze community to work hard and develop the school saying
government does not help those who don’t help themselves.
“We need more
houses so that we can have more teachers,” Sialubala said.
Siakabanze
Community School head teacher Wilton Chifuwe told the delegation that spent a
night in camping tents at the school that the institution catered for over 300
children sharing two classrooms.
The delegation
also visited Siamwaamvwa Community School and presented footballs and skipping
ropes.
The delegation on
Saturday had lunch with vulnerable girls who are receiving 100 per cent
financial support for their education in Livingstone.
The Swedish-based
organisation funds the vulnerable girls all their educational requirements
until they complete university or collage, while those who don’t make it to
university or collage are paid for skills training.
As it appeared in The Mast Newspaper of Friday January 11,2019
Thando (r) with her mother
A 14-YEAR-OLD girl who hopes to be a neurosurgeon one day is on the brink of never ever making her dreams a reality as there is no-one to pay for her school fees at Njase Girls Secondary School.
Thando Ngwenya obtained 511 from her Grade 9 examinations.
In a her appeal for assistance, Thando whose father died when she was only a year-old said she is failing to sleep always thinking that she will never see the inside of a Grade 10 classroom.
“At school, I used to frequent the library and liked to research on science related jobs, because I love staff to do with science…this gave me courage that I should pursue this career path (neurosurgeon). I want to save lives because most people don’t survive such surgeries. I like challenging issues but it is sad to think that I may never be able to do this,” she said with a smile but visibly emotionally disturbed.
She began her primary education at Malima School up to grade 2 and then moved to Starlet Private School for her Grade 3 stint.
Thando the 3rd born out of a family of four, did her Grades 4 and 5 at Indeco Primary School but was fortunate to have been taken up by later father’s sister to continue with her studies in Lusaka.
“In Lusaka, I had to repeat Grade 5 at Ndabeni Academy where I completed my Grade 7 and qualified to Njase Secondary School in Choma where my auntie continued to pay for my school requisites,” she revealed.
Thando said she knows some of the ex-Njase Girls pupils were now prominent women in society and appealed to any of them or as a group to assist her.
“If people that have been at Njase such as Honourable Sylvia Masebo and others that I don’t know by name but are respected in society and may have the means to assist me with my school fees, I would be the most grateful girl on earth. I just want them to or even men and women who may have never been to Njase Girls to find Grace in God and assist me get back to Njase,” she said holding back tears.
“I promise never to fail them and I will work very hard to ensure that I grow up to save my country and also be able to help other girls in need, who may be in my situation. It is sad for me having lost my
father when I was only 1-years-old,” Thando lamented.
However, her mother Mampi Salome Simwanza, aged 45, who was looking more devastated, said her sister in-law has since indicated that she also wants to educate her children and would thus not be able to help the brilliant young Thando.
On Wednesday, Thando’s mother visited Response Network an NGO that assist vulnerable girls through the financial assistance of Sweden’s Academic Work, but was turned down on grounds that the organisation was only focusing on vulnerable girls eligible for Grade 1’s so as to have up to 50 girls up to grade 12 by 2025, but will continue to assist those it had enrolled earlier for further studies and not new entries such as Thando who has never been the organisation list of supported girls.
Simwanza said that she is appealing for assistance for her daughter because she currently is not in any gainful employment and takes care of her children through selling flitters once in a while.
“The cost of doing business is too high and sometimes I don’t make ends meet, it is by the Grace of God that I get on by daily life,” she said.
Simwanza of Namatama residential area said her eldest child is not in gainful employment, while her second born has just completed a teacher training course but was yet to get the results.
“My youngest child is in grade 2,” Simwanza said.
Since the publication of this story in Zambia’s independent newspaper (The Mast) Thando has recived assistance from well wishers and has since reported for school.
LIVINGSTONE AFFECTED BY THE ZIMBABWEAN RIOTS
DESPITE the heavy security forces in major towns of Zimbabwe, the neighbouring town of that country with Zambia, Victoria Falls is relatively calm.
However, the town has had no fuel for weeks now forcing many Zimbabwean motorists including government officials to drive into Livingstone to purchase the commodity.
The other calamity that affects the residents of Victoria Falls town is that there are no shops stocking school requisites such as books and also there are no stationary shops to service the business community and offices.
This scenario has led to an increased influx of Zimbabweans into Livingstone causing long queues as at last week into this week at a major stationary shop in Livingstone called Bhukhans.
It is reported that Zimbabweans resale the school books for as much as US$ 3 to 10, while a ream of paper is fetching as much as US$30.
Many of the Zimbabweans have also found it easy to buy food from some take away restaurants such as Hungry Lion and also buy some groceries from Shoprite Chain stores in Livingstone as most shops in that city are either closed for fear of looting or have no products to sale at all.
