Under the Zambian Sun

TRANSPORT INITIATIVE: Some parts of Southern Province parts of Zambia have in the past few days been experiencing heavy rainfall activities which have made some roads especially in rural areas of Kazungula, Zimba and Kalomo districts were Response Network operates impassable.
This on Tuesday (February 27) led to Norwegian students to abandon the luxury of the Toyota Rand Cruise for an Ox-drawn carriage to Nampongo village.
Picture-courtesy Biemba Mubanga, Response Network transport officer

Initiative; under the challenge of impassable roads to vehicles

TWENTY-ONE youths have joined the Livingstone Judo Club administered by Response Network bringing the total number to 379. During a by-weekly Response Network staff briefing, Hilary Mutemwa who is the organisation’s deputy Judo coordinator, said the youths have since commenced training every Mondays, Tuesday and Thursdays at Maramba Community Hall in Livingstone, Zambia’s tourist capital.

Judo for Fred attracts youths

“In our continued effort to improve Judo, we have intensified our recruitment drive among the youths; we have managed to capture 17 boys and four girls who have joined our team. The total number of judokas is now at 379,” Mutemwa said. He added that the club which operates under the name Judo for Fred (which means ‘Judo for peace’ in Nordic) will soon embark on a belt-upgrading activity. Mutemwa said Judo for Fred has also intensified training for the National League Tournament scheduled to be held at the Olympic Youth Development Centre (OYDC) in Lusaka on March 10. And National Sports Council Southern (NSC) Provincial Sports Advisory Committee secretary general Amos Macha has praised Response Network for helping develop sports in rural parts of Kazungula, Zimba and Kalomo. “Response Network is doing very fine in rural sports development, but we need many more to come on board. The major challenges we face is sports development. We have a lot of talent but due to lack sponsorships a lot of sports disciplines such as volleyball and basketball have suffered. These sports disciplines are virtually non existence,” he said. Macha added that basketball, badminton and netball teams from the Copperbelt or Lusaka fail to travel to Livingstone for off-season trainings because there are not local teams to play with.

As it appears in The Mast Newspapers of February 24, 2018-02-28
By Edwin Mbulo
A 46-YEAR-OLD Kazungula woman Florence Muntanga has initiated a skills training programme in tailoring for her village colleagues.
In an interview, Muntanga of Nalombe village said she first got interested in helping develop her village in 2014 when a group of villagers informed her about an organisation that was specialising in teaching rural communities in self-help projects.
The mother of one said she then initiated the formation of self-help clubs which led to the construction of a community school in her area with the help of a non-governmental organisation, Response Network working in Kazungula, Kalomo and Zimba.
“We were taught on various issues by Response Network who also encouraged us to be self-reliant and motivated instead of depending on donor aid. After these trainings we formed clubs that specialised in savings and borrowing. Our Self-Help Groups (SHG’s) raised over K1800 out of personnel contributions,” Muntanga said.
“Response Network then built a 1X2 classroom block, but we also started our own classroom block which is at window level. Last year I was privileged to be selected for training in tailoring which I started in April and completed in December last year. Thereafter I started to make uniforms for a primary school and later on managed to buy another sewing machine. I then realised that I can make a difference in my community and I then invited women and girls for training in tailoring and a lot of greatly improved.”
She adds that after a while she decided to diversify from tailoring in to livestock.
“I called for a meeting in January this year and asked my friends what they wanted us to do so as to improve our lives. I suggested poultry which was agreed on. I am still making school uniforms with many of my colleagues while, at the same time building a piggery,” Muntanga said.
She says the group is making uniforms for Mulanga Primary School and Nalombe Community School.
Muntanga says with the piggery project she has linked up her self-help group to an organisation in Zimba districts that specialises in rearing pigs.
And Elizabeth Banda Maimbolwa, who is Response Network deputy sponsorship officer, says Muntanga’s story was one of a few success accounts that has seen a woman get trained and embarks on a retraining of her peers.

“We are very proud of Muntanga and her initiative to train her peers in her village

Muntanga: Giving back to her community

is very impressive,” Maimbolwa said. “This is a true realisation of a saying that if you empower a woman, you train the entire community.”
She added that Response Network has trained several women in various skills at Zimba Skills Training Centre and the Youth Training Centre
in Livingstone, while others have ended up in teaching and nursing.

As it appeares in the Mast Newspaper of February 27, 2018

RN to sponsor vulnerable girls in unversity, college

By Edwin Mbulo
A LIVINGSTONE based non-governmental organisation has offered to sponsor four vulnerable girls for higher education training at any university or college.
And Response Network sponsorship officer Frayor Chabauni who is says her organisation is currently enlisting vulnerable girls for skills training sponsorship.
“We have about 85 vulnerable girls who completed Grade 12 last year under our educational fees sponsorship programme with the aid of Academic Works which operates in Europe. We under our sponsorship programme aim to ensure that vulnerable children whose guardians cannot afford to pay school, university or college fees get the desired education as long as they perform very well,” Chabauni said.
“For those girls who cannot make into university or college we encourage them to get skills training, so that they can be able to work on their own or finding a job. We have catering, tailoring, power electrical and auto mechanics skills training slots. We don’t want them to be so much dependent on the government for employment.”
She added that in 2016 two girls performed so well at Grade 12 level, and now studying medicine and adult education at university.
Chabauni further added that the girls who would successfully complete the tailoring course would be assisted with sewing machines as a starter pack.
“We will also contract them to make school uniforms which they can sale locally,” she said.
Chabauni added that Response Network had assisted thousands of vulnerable school children attain education and get skills training.
And addressing the vulnerable girls at a meeting held at Response Network offices in Livingstone, Chabauni urged the girls who completed school last year to decide what they wanted to do in life.
The girls who individually gave Chabauni their results said they want to pursue nursing, military clinical medicine, tailoring, catering, banking and finance.
Responsible Network under the country management of Håkon Spigseth Response Network also spearheads self-help projects education, health, agriculture, education, sports and micro-economics.
It currently operates in Zimba, Kazungula and Kalomo in Southern Province with the support of Academic Work (Sweden), Norwegian Church AID (NCA), the Joint Country Programme (JCP) formerly Norwegian Association of the Disabled (NAD), Norwegian Olympic and Paralympics Committee and Confederation of Sport (NIF), Judo for Fred, and several other organizations.

UNLESS children are given the will power to raise the alarm against sexual abuse the number of child defilement cases may never reach a zero rate in Zambia, Africa.

Latest Zambia’s child sexual abuse for the period January to September 2017 stands at 1,466, according to a police report.

Despite that these figures are lower by 168 cases over the same period last year; the fight to end this vice has been intensified by Norway’s

Arja Beruang during a sexual abuse lecture to Grade 5 children of Holy Cross Primary School in Livingstone

Support Centre for Survivors of Incest and Sexual Abuse (SMISO in collaboration with Response Network.

SMSO representatives Ms. Preciosa Lurås and Ms. Arja Beruang working are conducting educational lectures for school going children in Livingstone and other neighbouring districts to bring an end to this vice.

At one lecture session Ms. Beruang told Grade 5 school boys and girls of Holy Cross Primary School in Livingstone that they were the masters of their bodies and that they should report any cases of defilement or improper touching of their bodies to the police.

Lecturing the averagely 11 year-olds in the presence of their class teacher Mary Mwaanga and a visiting Norway/Fredskorpset (FK) representative Ms. Nina Zimmer, Beruang said one out of four children are defiled in Zambia.

And Lurås told the children those that are defiled take about 17 years before they report of their ordeals.

And the Zambia Police in its third quarterly news update revealed that Lusaka province leads in defilement cases with 136 acts reported as the end of September followed by Central and Eastern Provinces.

The report made available by police spokesperson Mrs. Easther Mwata Katongo shows that a total of 416 child defilement cases were reported countrywide representing 8.2 per cent of the reported cases, victims all being girls.

“Lusaka Province recorded the highest number of defilement cases with 136 cases translating to 32.7 per cent of the reported defilement cases, Central recorded 50 cases, Eastern recorded 44 cases, Copperbelt 42 cases, Southern Province 39 cases, North-Western had 27 cases, while Muchinga and Luapula had 26 cases each. Northern Province had 11 cases while Western with nine (09) cases.”

The report added that the 2017 defilement cases reduction from the 2016’S 1,634 recorded in 2016 translating in to a reduction 10.3per cent.

“The country also recorded 9 cases of Defilement of imbeciles or persons with mental illness.  80 cases of Rape, 12 attempted rape and 22 indecent assault cases were also recorded during the period under review. 20 cases of incest were reported out of which 14 were females and 6 girl victims. Also recorded were 5 cases of unnatural offences out of which 3 were female victims, one 1 male adult and one male juvenile,” the report revealed.

NB: This story has since been used in Zambia’s independent Newspaper-The Mast of Thursday, November 16th.

Response Network team in Zambia is gearing up for Academic Work visit next week, November 15.

According to Academic Work assistant sponsorship officer Elizabeth Banda the Swedish delegation will first meet pay a courtesy call on Response Network members of staff in Livingstone before heading to Zimba where they will pass through the District Educational Board Secretary’s office for a brief briefing.

“We expect the delegation here on November 15, and then head out to Zimba, en-route to Nampongo village and later to Chilaba village where there shall be a night stop,” Banda said.

She also said the delegation will also have a meeting with the Kubala Girls.

Academic Work has been collaborating with Response Network to ensure that vulnerable girls access education.

Many girls have since accomplished record breaking high school results such as 20-year-old Ndano Lubasi who last year got Zambia’s highest results and earned a place to study medicine at the Copperbelt University.

Many others have ended up becoming teachers and nurses while a big number of girls continue being assisted in attaining education from Grades 1 to 12.

And the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) has also visited Response Networks projects in Nalombe after having a courtesy call at the Response Network office on Tuesday November 7.

Response Network director Håkon Spigseth briefed the NCA delegation of the organisations operations and activities being undertaken in Zimba, Kalomo and Kazungula districts.

Response Network director Spigseth briefing the NCA delegation at the Livingstone office on November 7

FRIDAY November 3, 2017 was a memorable day for Response Network as Tore Schulze’s memories were rekindled through the hand-over of a school built using his life savings.

The school has also empowered surrounding communities with clean and safe drinking water from a borehole.

Before this, residents near the school used to share water with domesticated animals such as cows, goats and dogs from a nearby dam.

Schulze who succumbed to cancer at the age of 60 on May 5, 2015 in Kragerø, Norway, worked at Response Network, which is under the directorship of Håkon Spigseth.

The school was handed over to the Zambian Government by Spigseth through Ministry of General Education’s Permanent Secretary Henry Tukombe.

Spigseth told Mr. Tukombe that Response Network was founded under the ideals of self-help programmes.

Response Network (RN) which operates in Zimba, Kalomo and Kazungula Districts of Southern Zambia under the patronage of Zambia’s Justice Minister Given Lubinda specialises in educating rural communities in Skills Training Clubs, Community Governance Clubs, and Community Women’s Rights Clubs aimed at mitigating Gender Based Violence, Community Mental Health Clubs, Disability Clubs and also Organic Farming Clubs among others.

Mr. Tukombe said Zambia’s President Edgar Chagwa Lungu was committed to ensuring that all children regardless of their social status have equal access to quality education.

He added that Government will endeavour to work very closely with Response Network to ensure that more educational programmes are implemented and that the rural communities are taken out of dependency.

Tore Schulze at the Victoria Falls in Zambia before his death

PROFESSOR Nina Emaus of the Actic University of Norway in the department of health and care sciences says students visits between Zambia and her country are a long log term investment on building competence.

In an interview after visiting Nampongo village North-West of Livingstone City South of Zambia, Prof Emaus said she would like to see more Norwegian students visit Zambia.

“Students visits between Zambia and Norway must continue because it is a long term investment on building competence,” Prof Emaus said.

She added that she was happy to learn how Zambians live in rural areas.

Prof Emaus further added that she wanted to get an impression of how Response Network works with rural communities.

“I am happy to see the school (Nampongo Community School which  is receiving aid from Response Network) and the challenges that people
face, I now know what our students are doing and for me to be a partner in this and to discuss what we can do on the steps ahead,” she
said.

“We put emphasis on cross professional training and learning and this can be expanded here,” Prof Emaus said.

And Helen Egestad who is the head of the Radiography Programme at the Actic University of Norway also visited the Livingstone Central
Hospital.

Meanwhile, Marianne Olsen who is the International coordinator for Occupational Therapy at the Actic University of Norway said the students’ visits help in enhancing Zambia’s development.

Professor Nina Emaus in Nampongo village, Southern Zambia

And Regina Swana who is the host mother for Norwegian students who visit Nampongo village said the students in Occupational Therapy have assisted a six year-old to walk and at a time their families had given up.

Swana added that another woman who was using walking sticks due persistent back-ache was now walking upright and says the pain had
gone after the Norwegian students commenced therapy.

Sarah with Response Network Frayor Chabauni sponsorship programme manager

By Edwin Mbulo

GROWING up without knowing her father, losing a mother at the age of 6 and not having any siblings didn’t dissuade Livingstone’s Sarah Mainza to put education first ahead of persuasions that lure youths in Zambia.

In an interview an upbeat, Sarah aged 19 based in Livingstone said she used the influence of her family life situation to draw the passion to work hard in her academic work so that she could better her life.

“I got a distinction in Mathematics and English, while i managed to get credits in History, Religious Education, Biology and Science. In Agricultural Science and Civic Education I managed to get credits. I got the zeal to work hard in my studies after taking an audit of my situation, i realised that being an orphan being kept by grandparents it was incumbent on me to work hard and better my future and the only way to do this was through studying hard,” Sarah said.

She added that she would have loved to do far much better that what she got in her final secondary school examination results.

Sarah who has been accepted by the University of Zambia (UNZA) to study a Degree Course in Adult Education also added that she has always been interested in a career that has to do with calculations hence her distinction in mathematics.

“I have never seen my father and my last name Mainza is my mothers, she was born Queen Mainza and died when i was 6 years-old, thereafter i was taken up by my grandparent, my grandmother is a retired nurse and currently my grandfather is a businessman at Maramba Market engaged in tyre mending,” she said.

Sarah who attended her junior education at Shungu Primary school and later did her senior education at St Marys in Livingstone further added that she initially wanted to study law but eventually lost interest.

She said her acceptance to the University of Zambia is just a stepping stone for her to pull off her dreams of being an accountant.

“I have always wanted to be an accountant from as early as Grade 7, so this is a stepping stone to my dreams,” Sarah said.

She further praised Response Network for having offered her financial and material assistance through Sweden’s Academic for her to complete her Primary and Secondary School education.

“Response Network assisted me from Grade 6 to pay for my education and i am very grateful to them and Academic Work. It is my dream that they can continue to assist me even as i go to UNZA,” Sarah said.

Asked what her advise would be to Zambia’s girls with regards education Sarah urged her peers especially those in wretchedness a to put God first in all they do and work hard in academic work.

“I would advise girls especially those in a situation as mine, to work very hard if they are to attain their dreams. Those in my shoes of uncertainty, misery and a solitude to turn to education in order to secure their future,” she said.

Asked what her hobbies were, Sarah said she love singing and read.

She added that at Response Network a non-governmental organisation which operates in Zimba, Kalomo and Kazungula on various human development projects targeting the girl child, people living with disabilities, children living with HIV and also encourages the construction of community schools on self-projects she was involved in a programme known as Kicking Out AIDS.

Zambia’s Minister for General Education,  Dennis Wanchinga who is also the chairperson of the National UNESCO Commission in his foreword to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO’s)  2016 Zambia annual report published in May 2017 said: “Education can only be deemed to have achieved its purpose if it equips learners with the necessary skills they will need for both personal and national development.”

According to the demographic and health survey (2013-2014) 29 per cent of girls aged 15 to 19 in Zambia are either mothers already or pregnant with their first child.

“Teenage pregnancy is much higher in rural areas (36%) than in urban areas (20%). Zambia’s North-Western Province has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy (41%), followed by Western Province (40.4%). Its lowest rates are in the more industrialized Copper Belt, where teen pregnancy stands at 16%,” the survey revealed.