zamcog newsletter 2011

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Zamcog Newsletter Autumn 2011

Its been over a year since we sent out our last newsletter, and things here at

Zamcog have been rather busy! The growth and success at Shitima school has been

unimaginable in the last year. We have really managed to secure our place in the

Kabwe community and are now making people realise education really is the key

to change in Zambia! Our school has now expanded to over 300 hundred boys and

girls, who as you know have come rom the poorest homes and the streets.

My proudest moment so ar however, has to be seeing 4 o our original intakes

graduating and securing places at Zambian national universities, all with 100%

government scholarships. Without your continued support, Zamcog would not

have been able to see such achievements, something these children could never

have dreamed o! We have recently received enough unding to embark on the

completion o our grade 10-12 acility. This will allow all the students at Shitima to

work towards a place at university or gain a secure and sae job. For this I would like

to thank you all or giving and urge you not to stop!

This newsletter is just a quick insight into the latest developments and upcoming

projects here at Zamcog. I am so proud o all we have achieved and hope we can

continue to grow stronger together!

Julie-Anne Uggla.Founder and Director

[email protected]: @zamcog


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One o the other exciting projects that I had the chance to be involved in was the

development o a micronance initiative with the Assistant Carpenter at the school,

Elias Banda. Thanks to the generous donation made by Finolas mother, Elias was

handed the opportunity o a lietime. The money was to be used to buy the tools

that would allow Elias to develop as a proessional. Together with Mr Mwelwe, Elias

and Cluny set down the terms o what could be a model or other recipients in the

uture.

It seems that the school is growing out o its inancy at a rapid pace and itsdevelopments are testament to how your help can kick-start an entire community!

The latest at Shitima

Shitima School is always busy and the classrooms are always lled with eager

minds. Other than the general teaching, there are a number o updates rom

Shitima.

There is a new Reading Program at Shitima School, another o the impressive

programs that are in place at the school. Run by Br Silvio, along with his helpers,

Justin (Muma) and Esther, this program works with grades 2 through 5 on a daily

basis, giving lessons that introduce the students to basics and the joys o reading. In

the uture the school may want to explore getting the homeroom teacher involved

in these classes, to allow them to coordinate the reading program with their own

curriculum.

As Shitima continues to grow, it is common to see contractors and outside workers

engaged in their crat at the school. The sports eld, the guardhouse, the outdoor

kitchen, and the just begun new Dorm D, are all encouraging signs or a bright

uture at Shitima.

The renovations in the sports area turned out to be more extensive than initially

thought. However, the school will boast, in the very near uture, a ootball pitch

that will truly be the envy o Kabwe (rivaling even that o the proessional team, the

Kabwe Warriors). Likewise, the basketball court is looking splendid, and the netball

court and beach volleyball court should be ne sporting acilities or the students.

Furthermore, we purchased and planted 31 young banana trees, building a mini

orchard behind the water tanks. Development o new types o crop in the garden

acilitated by your money to purchase more seeds and young plants. The school

has begun selling tomatoes and cabbage to local marketers and stands, and have

sorted a deal to sell to Kabwe General Hospital. This is something that will require

the co-operation o management and the garden sta to ully realise.


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The roads in Zambia are very bumpy and it took us nearly 3 hours to get to Kabwe

in a truck. On the way I noticed people carried things on their head. There were lots

o children playing by the road, many o them had no shoes and torn clothes. I also

noticed their were not proper houses, just small huts.

When we nally arrived at Shitima School I noticed that there were lots o happy

children, they were very riendly to me. My riends were called Kasmir, Peter, Edgar,

Ester and Lanson. We played basket ball. When we played they took their shoes o

because they didnt want to get them dirty or damaged, they even did this when

they walked to school. Some o my riends didnt leave the school because they

have no amily or homes. They had their own bed at the school and took lots o care

to make their bed each morning. They didnt have many things, no toys or posses-

sions. I gave them lollipops, and they were really happy.

I really loved my trip and hope to go back and visit my riends one day

Five days later and it was time to leave. I was let in no doubt that every penny

raised is squeezed to get the most out o it ! Smiling aces waved us o and our

departure elt bittersweet. We were sad to say goodbye but already looking orward

to our next trip to see those children grow and develop into responsible young

adults who will ultimately support themselves in adulthood.

So....the answer is still yes- what we are all doing continues to make a very real and

important dierence to the lives o the children at Shitima. Our support is oten the

dierence between lie and death.

Finola McManus- visit to Shitima February 2011

I rst wrote about the impact my rst visit to Shitima in 2010. Some six months

later and I returned or my second visit in early 2011. I was interested to see what

had changed and i I would continue to eel that what we were doing to help thechildren at Shitima really was making a dierence.

What a dierence 6 months makes ! As soon as I arrived I could see Maize growing

tall in the gardens and ready to be used in the school kitchens. The children now

had a basketball court to play on and the school was ull o both our older children

and a new intake o 7 year olds in desperate need and a thirst or learning. This time

I had brought along my 8 year old son or the visit and must admit to being anxious

with how he would cope. Within minutes, my son was making riends and playing.

O course, he couldnt understand why ood was considered a luxury and was

bemused at how all the children seemed eternally excited at the prospect o going

to school and would happily spend two hours walking to school and arrive beore

8am every morning ! A ar cry rom his own lie where he chooses what to eat and

has to be hauled out o bed every day to be driven to school on time!

My son, Luke was really moved by his visit to Shitima, I think his interaction with

children o his age, rom an entirely dierent world had an unprecedented eect on

him. He has written a small piece or this newsletter:

In February hal-term I went to visit the Shitima School with my mum. I was very

nervous and didnt know what to expect, I had never been to Arica beore.

Ater 10 hours on the plane, we rst went to the Brothers house, where I played

basketball with the cook. It was very hot even though it was the rainy season.


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The sound o the packed grandstand nish was incredible. The last 200m brought

a great sense o relie, and joy and the words belted out by the announcer over

the speakers Martin Rashdi - You are an Ironman were most welcome. The nish

line was awesome. My total time was 13hrs 36mins (swim - 1hr 38mins, cycle 6hrs

44mins, marathon 4hrs 54mins)

It was a great day and an amazing experience and even though I will not rush to do

it again I would never say never again!

As i this wasnt enough Martins wie, Anna completed the London Triathlon

raising over 1500!

We are so grateul or their eorts, both physical and nancial. The money has

indeed gone a long way to continue acilitating an education or the children o

Shitima School.

This summer, Martin Rashdi, Principal Partner at

St Jamess Place Wealth Management took on a

mammoth challenge, rightly named the Iron Man.

He did this in aid o Zamcog, raising nearly 13,000.

He has written a short piece outlining the day:

On Sunday 2nd July my morning alarm went o at 4am and butterfies started

early. I orced down some toast beore getting on the coach which was taking us to

the lake - the coach was ull but deadly silent.

The day started with a mass swim. 2800 bodies hit lake Worthersee, Klagenurt,

Austria at exactly 7.00am. Ater being k icked, punched and nearly drowned I ound

some Clearwater and settled in to a 1hr 38min 3.8km swim (my weakest event) but

great experience all the same.

The bike consisted o 2x 90km loops with total climbing o 1700m. The rst loop

elt good and went quite quickly but the second loop was tough with the heat o

the day taking its toll, and I practically crawled up the last hill passing only a ew

people who had got o their bikes and were walking. Eating and drinking on the

bike is crucial and every hal an hour I was eating a gel or jam sandwich. I drank

about 6l o water during the bike. The support on the hills was in the style o the

Tour de France and the shouts o op oop oop and the sound o cow bells, which

are still ringing in my head!

Eventually T2 (transition rom bike to run) came and I waddled out on to the start

o the marathon. By the time I started the run the overall winner had nished (and

broken the world record I was determined to not walk during the rst hal o the

marathon which I somehow managed. The second hal was pure pain but I oten

thought o the money I was raising and how my one day o hardship paled into

insignicance compared to the children the money was going to support.


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People ignoring each other in the street,

yelling or honking at some perceived

oense, and eyeing each other with a

suspicion stemming rom a material world

that sometimes gets the best o us. I am

now preparing to return to Kabwe, to

continue working at the school, and it

is, in part, the warmth o the culture that

draws me. People who do not have much

sometimes enough, sometimes not who

will invite one to join them or a meal, and

song or a s tory. There is an understanding

o lie in that place that seems lacking here, an inherent connection to community

and amily that teaches and comorts as much as it eeds and clothes.

However, the economic reality o the region places an enormous burden on the

people o Zambia, and it is as much as most amilies can do to get by, with not

much surplus to invest in education and its accompanying costs. This is where

Shitima School plays such an important role in the local community, oering a

ree education to those most vulnerable. I eel ortunate to have spent time at

the project and to have the chance to return. As much as we have a role to play

in helping to educate these children in Kabwe, we have also the opportunity to

learn lessons that have long been orgotten in parts o our own world. By getting

involved one has the chance to teach, but perhaps more signicant is the

unbelievable chance to learn.

Volunteer update: Cluny MacPhearson

At rst there were nerves and apprehension, ear o a land so completely unknown,

and the negative impressions let on me rom a lietime o seeing the Arican

continent through the Western, disaster-ridden, medias lens. I had no idea what to

pack, no idea what I would eat and, most disconcerting o all, not a clue what kind

o reception I would receive rom the Zambian people. I was committed to working

at Shitima Community School or six months, but knew very little o what awaited

me. Would I eel sae, would I be sae? I had been vaccinated against illnesses that

I had not known existed a ew months earlier? It was not without reservation that

I stepped o the plane in Lusaka and inhaled my rst breath o Arican air, as we

embarked on the two hour drive up the Great Northern Road, to Kabwe.

A ew months later, I would look back on these moments o doubt and laugh to

mysel. At Shitima School, and in Zambia, I ound much more than I had hoped or

and very little o what I had eared. From the quaint streets o Kabwe to the un-

lled, ull o activity, schoolyard at Shitima, I was continually aware o the beauty

and warmth o my surroundings. Living with the resident students gave me the

opportunity to share in their lives or some time, to get to know them as a people

and as individuals. Visiting the homes o some o the other students introduced me

to the typical liestyle o the local community.

Zambia seemed to embrace me with open arms. Everywhere I went; people would

approach me, shake my hand and ask me where I was rom. Did I like Zambia? I

certainly did. What was it like in Canada? Cold, was my usual response. And it is.

Returning to the Western world came with its share o culture shock.


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Shitimas First Alumnus at University

Jackson Limande was one o the original

group o children who joined the Shitima

Street Kids Project when it was launched

back in 2002. Over the years Jackson

persevered in his studies and successully

completed the Zambian equivalent o GCSEs

at Kabwe High School in 2009. Thanks to

a generous sponsor in the UK, he then

undertook sixth-orm studies at Hillcrest

Technical High School in Livingstone.

In February 2011 Jackson was delighted to learn that his A-level results in physics,

chemistry and maths placed him third in his year group at Hillcrest. On the basis o

those outstanding results, he was accepted to the University o Zambia where he

began studies in engineering on 13th July. Best o all, Jacksons academic record

and his background o poverty made him eligible or a government bursary or

100% o ees! Zamcog, however, continues to support his education by unding his

basic living expenses and incidental educational costs.

Jackson is now happily established with three roommates on the Universitys main

campus in Lusaka. He writes, Words alone cannot adequately express how grateulI am! Words also cannot express the pride that we eel in Jackson, the rst member

o the Shitima amily to enter university!

It is Jacksons success that has pushed us to commission the building o a grade 10-

12 acility at Shitima School we want all o our kids to have the same opportunity

to urther education!

Dont Walk, 10th March 2012

This year, Zamcog is very lucky to be the chosen charity o the DON T WALK ashion

show at the University o St Andrews. The show, that will take place in March, is a

student run ashion show that is the highlight o the student calendar. The show

was brought to the medias attention when, the now Duchess o Cambridge, Kate

Middleton was ound out to have modelled in the show. Each year the show aims to

raise a signicant sum or its chosen charity, and at the same time raising awareness

to the charity in the media and to the shows corporate sponsors. In depth meetings

between Zamcog and the shows organisation committee have already begun and

we hope, here at Zamcog, that we will orm an invaluable bond between the show

and the kids at Shitima.

Zamcog events calendar

Bonhams, London, 21st September 2011

Christmas Auction, 7th November 24th December 2011

Enduro Arica Challenge, January 2012

Dont Walk Fashion Show, 10th March 2012

zamcog newsletter 2011

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