Since 2010 INTO Giving has been working with In-Community Care for Orphans (I-CCO), a Zambian charity set up to provide education for orphans and vulnerable children.

INTO Giving raised funds for the construction of a new school, the Chawama Centre for Education and Empowerment, located in the Chawama township on the edge of Lusaka.  The school was finished in November 2012 and received official government approval to operate as a primary school, grades 1-9, from January 2013.

INTO Giving hired BuildIT, a UK charity, to oversee the building of the school, and to provide 10 young locals with a building skills training course and certificates, accredited by the Zambian government. The school has running water, electricity, toilets and a shower.

The school opened on 14th January 2013 with 30 children (and very swiftly afterward, 70) and five teachers. All of the children are orphaned or acutely vulnerable, because of poverty. The cannot attend other schools because they can't afford uniforms or school fees. 

The centre also provides valuable community space for women's groups, evening literacy classes, counselling sessions and after-school activities.

INTO Giving also supplied text books for each child and each subject (rare in Zambian schools), teachers' text books, stationary, filing cabinets, games and reading books.

Making a Difference

The aim is for the orphans to attend school regularly, benefit from the smaller classes, complete their schooling and graduate to secondary school. Only 20-30% of all school children in Zambia go on to secondary education and the percentage of orphans who do so is much lower.

Nine of the BuildIT apprentices passed the building skills course and were awarded the government-approved certificate, giving them a much better chance of finding work. They have since made all of the desks and chairs that are now at the school.

BuildIT ensured that the construction of the school complied with government standards by adding extra security, fire escape doors, improved soakaways and grilles on the windows. BuildIT specializes in building schools in Zambia and providing training in building skills for young local apprentices. They work closely with the Department of Education in Zambia.


'My name is Idah Miyoba. I am 11 years old. After school I go at home and I start reading with my sister and I go to my grand mothers house to start cooking nshima and fish for her. When I have finished cooking I go home to start washing the uniforms and bathing. After bathing I sleep. The end. I love my teacher.'

Grade 5
26th March 2014
 

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