Anna and her Family
BACKGROUND
This project became a focus for members of this Club when one of our members, Pamela Kimber who is a loyal and honorary member of RASC met Anna Nawa from Zambia and to put it in her words ‘walked in her shoes to understand how she lived’.
Anna, Zambian by birth, is 35 years of age and a widow with two children aged 5 and 9 is an extension officer for Mwrembeshi Settlement Village, a Christian community just off the main highway to Kafue, Zambia . She is a trustee of the school there with a peripatetic enrolment of 1250 pupils ranging in age from 7-18, many are vulnerable AIDS orphans. Some of the children have so far to travel to get to school that basic housing is provided for them to stay in until their food runs out when they return to their villages to seek more and then they return to the school. Poverty sets not only the agenda but the school curriculum as well.
Anna’s job as an extension officer means that she covers an area on 10 km radius and is responsible for approximately 250 emerging farmers. She advises on cooking, health, marketing, and most of all on water management—that is if there is any water to manage.
As with most African families the extended family descend—Anna’s brothers have died from AIDS so nephews, nieces, Mother aged 72 all live and depend on Anna for their livelihood. Anna was able to buy 10 acres of land several years ago and was growing reasonable crops, maize, soya and brassica, on her land irrigated with water from a borehole.
This is a picture of Anna and her dead crops
Visit by a Member of the Club
Pamela Kimber visited Anna in October 2005 and found that the pump serving Anna’s land and that of 30 other farmers had fallen into the bore hole and was irretrievable and both Anna and the other farmers were waiting for the rains to come so that they could replant the crops. Until the pump is replaced Anna and many others in this area will have to rely on rain fed crops for their food, and their supply of stored maize was diminishing, Annas children were sent to school with just a cup of tea in their tummies. At that time Anna had 1000 small lemon plants growing in plastic sleeves which when they were big enough she would graft onto orange shoots - then she would have orange trees to sell. The loss of water put this project in jeopardy but somehow she managed to get a well dug 15 feet down and with a bucket managed to get sufficient water to keep the plants going.
A sum of £1500 was needed to purchase a new pump, to get it installed and working.
How we Helped
Members of Soroptimist International of Southampton and District with help from the Royal Agriclutural Society of the Commonwealth raised the money and the Zambian Show Society did the work.
the smile on Anna’s face with the pump that had been repaired generating water for irrigating the ground.
Once again Anna is now able to produce the crops so badly needed to feed her extended family and to irrigate the land of the neighbouring farms. It also ensures that projects like the Orange Trees can continue to generate an income.
WHAT NEXT
This is only the beginning of the story. Pamela Kimber has returned to Zambia with a variety of ‘goodies’ including clothing for the children.
While there Pamela was shown the local school where children come from all around. It is not a boarding school but because the children have to travel so far to get there, they ‘board’ until their food runs out and then they return home, get more food and go back to school.
Once again the need for funding was apparent, welfare facilities are in dire need of up-dating as are the facilities for the ‘boarders’. They have no books of any kind.
A quiz night in March raised over £1000.00 for this project, which has been spent on educational materials and decorating the school, and beginning to building latrines.
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WHAT HAS HAPPENED RECENTLY
Pamela recently received news from Anna that the village and all the surrounding area has suffered badly from recent floods, so that the crops once again have been destroyed, so we have a feeling that Anna, her family and the school will need our help for some considerable time.