Opportunities Zambia

Beginnings - we started Opportunities Zambia 9 years ago having been introduced to Vincent Luwizhi born in Zimbabwe and now a Zambian citizen. His goal is to alleviate poverty wherever he can.

 He asked us to set up a feeding program in a school of 250 in one of the poorest community compounds called Kabanana in Lusaka. He knew it would help the school to grow and flourish, he was right. It quickly grew to over 700,  building the extra classrooms as we went along, as well as a sewing room for the ladies. As the ladies graduated they were given their sewing machines and we replaced them with 11 more, all treadle as there is no electricity. This will give their extended families a much better life. We have done this 3 times.

Building Schools - we finished another school in Lusaka West that had been built and never opened, opening it in February 2021.

We then moved on to a rural community Chongwe and in 2021 built 2 schools starting with a hand operated water pump, now replaced with a solar pump, water storage tanks and tap, 4 classrooms and a kitchen.

Within a year we added 3 more classrooms to Umodzi school, a sewing room with a teacher for unmarried teenage mothers and an office.

Feeding Program - we feed the children in 3 schools every day and due to the severe drought have committed to feeding them during all the school holidays for the coming year, as Zambia didn't receive its usual rains. All the standing corn has died before the harvest as the rains were not sufficient. The next harvest will not be until April 2025.

Secondary School - we plan to add 3 more classrooms enabling the start of a Secondary School on the same site for January 2025 and have bought the land. The importance of this is to prevent the children having to move to live in the city to enable them to go to Secondary School, often living in very unsuitable and often unsafe locations away from their families. 

Funding Teachers - we also fund all the teachers monthly gifts, partly by the building of a chicken farm next to one of the schools. This has proved incredibly successful. We will help them employ their first ever degree qualified teacher to Head the new school and are extending an existing house for his family. Each year we hope to extend the school classrooms up to Grade 12.

Business Opportunities - 5 years ago we built a chicken farm which after a few hiccups in the early days, is now funding 8 teachers a month.

We have also gifted them a Hummer mill to grind maize and a commercial peanut butter making machine. 

Louis has in early June 2024 travelled to the extreme Eastern side of Zambia to buy 120 huge bags of whole maize, peanuts and beans. This will give all our schools and the orphan children food security for the coming year. We have built them a shop to sell these products as well as cold drinks and other household needs, right next to the main Pan African highway, all proceeds going to support the school. There are plans to extend to a row of 4 more shops on land we already own and possibly a restaurant with all rental income helping to fund the schools.

How do we do it - most of the funds are raised from a monthly 'Sukie's Scones' coffee morning and bake sale in Darnick in the Scottish Borders on the last Saturday of every month, as well as the sale of Zambian crafts brought back in our empty suitcases in May 2024.

Washable Sanitary/Incontinence Pads  - we teach the women and school girls to make washable sanitary and incontinence pads and to knit baby clothes taking all the materials with us. This is really transforming lives as currently the girls are missing up to a week a month of school. We give them each a paper bag with a pair of black cotton knickers, all the materials to make 5 pads along with a sewing needle, pins, poppers and reel of cotton.

Next Steps, an Orphanage - we met a 'family' of 20 orphans taken off the streets by Pastor Abraham who currently live in the city of Lusaka in rooms rented by him. The 12 girls sleep on a concrete floor all together with 8 boys in another room. Their house mother currently sleeps on a dirt floor between the 2 rooms. When we met them their biggest need was for food and washing powder, for more than a month they had washed their clothes in cold water with no washing agent. We did what we could immediately and have already set up a monthly feeding program budget. Whilst we were with them one of the girls, Maisie, on the right of the next photograph went into hospital and the next day she died of anaemia and suspected meningitis, from a lifetime of an insufficient unhealthy diet. She was 13.

We plan to build them a home with their house mother Dorothy, 25, near one of our rural schools and their foster Daddy Pastor Abraham and his wife Sarah have already bought the land. 

We want to give them a bunk bed for each child made by Louis who works on the ground for us, as currently 12 girls are sleeping together on a concrete floor.

Louis has many skills as well as a talented builder and he will build this house for them, he has already built all our schools and desks. We have seen the land and there will be space for a vegetable garden and where they can keep village chicken and ducks for eggs. Local Aunties will be found to help look after them. All safety procedures have been put in place.

Our Most Pressing Need - we would really appreciate your help with this latest project of building these children a home, which will cost £6,000. Bunk beds for 2 children will cost £160 each and of course all the other items to give them a comfortable home. A water bore hole with hand pump will cost £760 and £300 for a solar panel and battery for lights. We would really like to enable them to create their own large vegetable garden and area for village chickens and ducks, £500 would enable this to happen.

Thank you very much for your kind consideration.