Welcome to Steph & Phil’s fundraising page! In August this year, we’re heading to a place called Chipulukusu, on the outskirts of Ndola, Zambia, to work with the Zambian Development Support Foundation (ZDSF) towards improving life for some of the world’s least fortunate people. We’ll be building on years of previous work delivering teacher training seminars, as well as business literacy training, and computer training. We’ll also be continuing work to supply additional books, teaching materials, and laptop computers. With no electricity or water supply, sewage system or refuse collection, Chipulukusu is one of the poorest and most deprived places on the planet. Life expectancy hovers in the mid-30s, and HIV and sickness are rampant. Orphaned children make up over 10% of the population and unemployment is almost universal. At the same time, the people are full of hope. They are kind, patient, enthusiastic, helpful, very funny, and very welcoming! The locals' joy and zest for life amid such inconceivable hardship is profoundly shocking. Zambia is a country where there are almost no libraries or bookshops. Even schools cannot acquire books for teachers. People are desperate to learn, but they have little to no chance. Locals commonly become teachers without themselves ever having access to books and may have undertaken very little or no teacher training. As a result, the quality of education is very low – and students commonly leave school unable to read, and thus hamstrung in furthering their own learning, or finding any gainful employment. To date, ZDSF has shipped out three 40-foot containers (with a fourth currently being prepared) from Ireland, filled with over 20 tons of books and teaching materials. Once on-site these containers are transformed into local libraries, distributing books to local schools, and acting as small learning centres themselves. Just this year, ground has also been broken for the construction of a large permanent library many times the size of any one shipping container, where a much greater quantity of books can be kept, and which will provide a safe study space for a huge community of students and locals alike. In addition, Irish volunteers provide jam-packed training seminars to over 70 local teachers each year. The seminars provide in-depth training on the use of books and teaching materials, teaching practices, and student engagement, based on our excellent education system in Ireland. ZDSF also provides a micro-finance project, complete with business literacy and mentoring, to help widowed mothers establish small businesses so that their children can remain in school; and has established several computer training programs to equip locals with the skills needed to find jobs. From a standing start of a few years ago, and where there were no books available at all in any school near Chipulukusu, literacy has taken root. School exam grades have dramatically improved, and it’s heartening to see students graduating able to read and write, the ability to continue learning beyond school, and real opportunities to find work and provide a brighter future for themselves and their community. The living conditions for our team will be the same as for the locals - we will have no running water, showers, toilets, kitchen facilities, electricity or furniture. We will sleep in sleeping bags, cook over an open fire, and generally live as our neighbours do. We will have the benefit of mosquito nets, vaccinations, and daily meals, which they do not. We are covering all our costs while volunteering, so any money donated will go to the initiatives and people who need it most – and even the price of a few coffees can make a life-changing impact for a great number of people whose lives are currently unfathomably hard. If you’d like to read more about the various projects and see the ongoing work and tremendous progress over the years, please have a look around the team leader’s website - mnugentzambia.com. Thank you!
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