Chikumbuso Women and Orphans Project looks for better solutions in helping our grandmothers. Every month we reach out to 23 courageous women who care for their grandchildren left to them after their own children died. Each of these grandmothers has their own story of struggle to share but each, in their own way, strives to give life in its fullest to these orphans. As part of Chikumbuso’s mission statement “to remember to do for others” we have incorporated grandmothers in our support program hoping to lighten their load. Twice a month the grandmothers are visited by a caregiver and given a 25 kg. bag of mealiemeal, oil, candles, soap, salt and charcoal. In an effort to be environmentally friendly Chikumbuso would like to eliminate this donation of charcoal (our Zambian forest) and give each of our grandmothers a “rocket stove”. These stoves are part of Zambia’s National Forestry Service to educate the population on the need to get away from charcoal and find more fuel efficient alternatives. It uses for each meal only a handful of kindling. Each stove costs $200. If you would like to help with this grandmother project you would be helping a family and the natural beauty of Zambia

Enjoying juice!

The end of the year approaches quickly at Chikumbuso.  We have had lots of visitors, lots of bags being made and lots of orders being filled. This has not given us a lot of time for “quiet” contemplation.  Last Wednesday at our women’s group we grabbed a moment on the rug of the community hall to refocus on who we are and what we are doing as women at Chikumbuso.  We looked at our mission statement:

“To remember those who died,

To remember where we came from,

To remember to do for others.”

And we asked ourselves are we holding fast to this mission?

As a women’s group we often get caught up in the daily business of Chikumbuso and the endless production of bags and bracelets completely forgetting to stop, look up and see those around us.

As a first step I challenged the widows to come up with one word to “illustrate” where they came from. Just one descriptive word of their past.

Kulibe sangalala… not happy … no food…..too much thinking… sad… no friends… not free… any knowledge… not bathing (could not afford soap)…not stable.

Next, we searched for words to explain how they feel now as a group of women working together. There were wonderful examples such as good food, peace, no worries, sitting together, and friendship. My favorite description was gonabuino  “peaceful sleep”.  A widow’s mind is full of worries that keep her from this peaceful sleep.  She worries about her children, her shelter and her food. She worries about sickness, violence, death.   Chikumbuso has helped these women to sleep peacefully by bringing them friends and a protected community center where they and their children can spend their days. Through the community center they have been given a means by which they can support themselves and protect their homes. Verbalizing the differences between before and now brought laughter, singing and thankful hearts to all of us in the meeting.

Now we ask ourselves as a group of women are we ready to reach out again?  There are many widows out in Ng’ombe. So many that are not sleeping peacefully.  Ng’ombe, where AIDS still runs rampant, poverty wreaks havoc in families and children are often left alone.  I believe as a group we have clearly seen the changes in our own lives and family and are ready to reach out again.

We would like to thank each one of you for your support in this project and for helping us to reach out, again, to those widows and families in need. We could not do it without you.

A special thanks to all those who made all of this possible.  A very special thanks to Catie Chess who organized a community in Fairfax, VA to provide shoes to the neediest of our children.

We had a great Christmas party this year filled with dancing, gifts, games and laughter.  Thanks to all of you who helped make this possible.

September has found all the children back at Chikumbuso. It seems to me that there are many more students then when I left in May although Gertrude assures me that we have not yet met the 300 mark. Perhaps it is because they are so healthy and growing so big that they just seem to be taking up more of the courtyard!We have had one set back returning to school and that is that Michael our third grade teacher has been “called up” by the government to teach in a public school. Although he was sad to leave Chikumbuso he is happy to move out to Mazabuka and closer to his family.  We will be interviewing for his position on Friday.

Yesterday we had a farewell party for Kelley at the community center, her dad and sister were able to be here for it. Everyone took a part in telling Kelley how much she has meant to them. Lots of laughter, songs, dances, gifts and tears.  Kelley has been an integral part of the lives of everyone at Chikumbuso this past year. It seems that each one, in some special way, was helped by her.  We will all miss her.Our grandmother project has continued through faithful support from the States. I was happy to come back and find them all healthy. Five of them attended Kelley’s party.The Single Moms Project has received two new contracts for the womens sanitary pads. The “factory” is in full swing trying to keep up with the demands of Changes II and International Youth Foundation. It is wonderful that the project has this income and work that is fulfilling as it works to keep girls in school throughout the month.

I am happy to be back working at Chikumbuso after a summer in the States.  It was a good summer with family and I was able to tell more people about the project and how Chikumbuso empowers these widows and orphans to care for each other. I had many opportunities to speak to various groups and I thank each one of you for allowing me to do that.Lives continue to be changed here in Ng’ombe and we appreciate your help in this.  Zikome Kwabiri!

I know that it has been a long time since some of you have heard from us. No, we didn’t get eaten by crocodiles and no we didn’t go crazy with life in Zambia BUT we have been incredibly busy helping to “build” one of the best community centers in Lusaka! Seriously, so much has been going on at the center and lots of visitors have added to the excitement.

The school reopened with 250 very happy students. It was especially fun for our fifth graders to have a new classroom with Andrew as their teacher. Seventy-five of these children are sponsored and were thrilled to receive their blankets, mattresses and food and school supplies. Seventy children in upper grades are sponsored at local schools, we cannot thank you enough for all of this support. The new school year brings with it a new fifth grade classroom and a special shelter built “for kids only” to hang out it in, sheltered from the sun and rain. We are calling it the “Khala Pamodzi” which means “Sit together”. It is amazing how many kids actually fit in the shelter. The first day of its completion there were about 60 kids inside performing skits, drumming, and dancing. What a gift for them to have a place to call their own!

Thanks to Voluntown Elementary School we have been able to dig our borehole. We are now just waiting for a play pump to put on it. This should happen soon as the woman who is in charge is up this week visiting from South Africa.

The widows at Chikumbuso have added 30 new women to their group bringing the total to 60. This really fills up our community center on Wednesday afternoons. The bag project is growing and we hope to do more and more exporting of the bags. Over these past few months we have been able to sell bags at AIDS conferences around the U.S. which has really boosted the womens morale and our production of bags. Mary Fisher also returned in January to start another bracelet project with the women. We were all so happy to see her again and the women continue to be busy with the making of these bracelets.

The single moms group graduated at the end of December with 11 beautiful young women. These women have moved in with the vita goat production of soy milk and peanut butter. A new tailoring class of 20 single moms and four young gentlemen started in January. It is actually quite enjoyable having these four men. Not only are they successful with the sewing machines but they are also very helpful when it comes to moving 25 kilo bags of mealie meal and chopping wood for the stove!

Our 23 grandmothers continue to be cared for with monthly food, water cards, and health cards. We distributed mosquito nets to them again as many of the nets have worn out or been torn. Generally speaking they have all been in good health. Over the next couple weeks we will begin a microenterprise project with 7 elderly men in significant need. This project will teach them skills in wood carving beginning with canes and walking sticks. We are encouraged that they want to join the Chikumbuso community and hope their influence on our children will be good.