Chitungulu Foundation community outreach - nature conservation

Newsletter # 6 October 2017

Chilubezi’s brand new 1x3 classroom block! In front: planks are

being planed for the school library in the Old Classroom block

Dear Friends of Chitungulu,

Introduction

We take great pleasure in presenting you our

report on our activities in Chitungulu in 2017.

Like the previous year, it has been a rather

eventful year. Construction projects that were

started in 2016 saw their completion in 2017,

whilst our more regular projects were further

extended. Development tends to set off new

developments, we observed, and in this

process we strive, together with the people of

Chitungulu, to pursue sustainable develop-

ment paths, which balance people’s needs

with the protection of their environment.

We wish you Happy Reading!

Education: support to community schools

New 1x3 classroom block for Chilubezi

Finally, many years since its foundation in

2004, Chilubezi Community School has the

beautiful classroom block that its pupils and

teachers so deserve! In September, on the

first day after the August holidays, the new

classroom block was opened to loud applause

and cheers by the pupils. The completion of

the new classroom block demonstrates the

results of a truly intercontinental cooperation

between many partners. Of course, the

project could not have been realized without

the fantastic contributions of our donors in

the Netherlands, in particular the develop-

ment organization Wild Geese, alongside

In this Newsletter:

Education

� Support to community schools

� Sponsorship Program secondary pupils

Income-generating projects

� Poultry project

� Organic vegetable gardening

� Hot Chili Peppers

� Vegetables & Crafts Shop

Nature education

� Birding Course

Other projects

� Solar Lights

� Support to Albinos

� Cooperation with Luambe Camp

� New borehole

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many private donors and other foundations

who all kindly stepped in to make our shared

dream come true. In Zambia, meanwhile, our

partners wasted no time in ensuring that the

building was done in an efficient, professional

manner. From our contractor and his zealous

building team to the highly motivated

teachers team and the schoolchildren’s

parents: all contributed to a successful

building project. A huge Thank You to all!

Obviously, our support to Chilubezi com-

munity school has not come to an end with

the completion of the new classroom block.

The new infrastructure is only part of our

strategy to raise educational standards at

Chilubezi. Light and spacious classrooms,

decorated with educational charts and

drawings made by the children, are just a first

step in our goal to create an inspiring learning

environment.

The new classrooms of Chilubezi Community School

Safe and lockable storage rooms within the

building have enabled us to embark on a new

project: the use of educational iSchool tablets.

These solar-powered tablets, the use of which

is fully endorsed by the Zambian government,

offer the full primary school curriculum in a

series of pre-downloaded, attractive lessons.

As an additional learning tool, the iSchool

tablets offer various benefits. To some extent,

the tablets compensate for the notorious

shortage of books in Zambian schools. The

tablets encourage an interactive way of

learning: pupils work in small groups and are

stimulated to think actively. If necessary, they

can repeat lessons in their own pace. The

attractive lessons and the fact that the tablets

are a first acquaintance with computers for

the children in Chitungulu, makes them fun

and interesting learning tools. We certainly

hope to extend the tablets project in 2018.

Usage of ordinary textbooks, meanwhile,

remains important. A donation by the Paulien

Foundation enabled us to stock up on the

school’s collection of math books, atlases, and

English primary school dictionaries.

A new way of learning for the pupils at Chilubezi

Renovation Old Chilubezi classroom block

Apart from the new 1x3 classroom block, our

building team also managed to complete

renovations of the Old Chilubezi classroom

block, made possible by the Dutch Rotary Club

Bladel, Reusel-De Mierden. The old class-

rooms have been plastered and painted in

light colours, and one of the classrooms has

been turned into a school library – the first in

Chitungulu! Thanks to a large donation of

children’s and adults books by the Reading

Club in Lusaka, our library is already well-

stocked and we hope it will, in time, help to

develop a reading culture at Chilubezi.

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Old Chilubezi: school library and conservation classroom

Completion construction Chocha school

When the work was done at Chilubezi, we

turned to Chilubezi’s sister school Chocha to

assist this school in its final building stages of

their own new classroom block. In 2014,

Chocha managed to secure some local funds

through the Community Development Fund,

and the school started building in the course

of that year. However, as funds dried up, the

building stagnated and we therefore decided

to help the school with the plastering and

painting of inner and outer walls in 2017. We

expect to complete this project in 2018.

September 2017: plastering of the walls of Chocha school

Tree planting project for the schools grounds

The tree saplings which we planted on the

school grounds of Chocha and Chilubezi in

2016, have survived the dry season thanks to

the good care of the pupils and teachers. This

year, we planted an additional 50 trees,

especially for the large school grounds of

Chocha. For next year, we intend to extend

our tree planting project to other areas of

Chitungulu.

School vegetable gardens

As part of our promotion of organic vegetable

gardens (one of the very first projects which

we initiated in 2012), we have started setting

up two school vegetable gardens in 2017 with

the assistance of the Dutch Uden WereldWijd

Foundation. Starting with Chilubezi, we

organized vegetable gardening lessons for the

pupils of the higher grades, and helped them

planting a wide variety of vegetables and

pulses. Chocha will start its own garden in

April 2018, after the rainy season. Next year,

we plan to use part of the gardens’ produce

for an experiment with school lunches (soup).

Pupils sowing vegetable seeds, supervised by an experienced

organic gardener

Promotion girls’ education

This year, the gender support manager of the

local NGO Project Luangwa assisted us with

the distribution of reusable/washable sanitary

pads to the girls of the higher grades of the

two community schools, in order to encourage

them to attend school every day. The

distribution took place during a two days’

workshop, attended by the girls, their mothers

and the so-called ‘Alangizi’, mostly elderly

women who perform initiation rites for the

girls. Much of the discussion centred on the

prevalence of teenage pregnancies in

Chitungulu, and the need for concerted efforts

in order to tackle this problem.

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In 2016, we introduced girls’ soccer in order to

help the schoolgirls building confidence. We

were happy to note that the girls are still

playing football and that they even have

inspired the elderly ladies in the village.

Soccer match between girls’ teams Chocha and Chilubezi 2017

Teacher Training program Chocha/Chilubezi

Two of the first teachers in our Teacher

Training Sponsorship program graduated in

the course of this year, becoming fully

qualified teachers. Both teachers have

resumed their work at the two community

schools in Chitungulu.

Hendrix (Chocha) and Stephen (Chilubezi) fully qualified

teachers since 2017

Two other teachers from Chocha and

Chilubezi are expected to graduate by end of

2018, and one teacher (Chocha) will start his

training in the course of 2018.

Education: Scholarship Program

This year we sponsored the secondary school

education of four girls and five boys.

Unfortunately, two other girls we used to

sponsor have dropped out from school due to

pregnancies. A counselor will guide the four

remaining girls in our sponsorship program.

Income-generating: poultry project

Thanks to a donation of De Paardestal

Foundation we were able to buy 50 new layer

hens for Chitungulu (the previous batch was

sold due to old age). The hens started

producing eggs from August onwards. Eggs are

in high demand in Chitungulu, being the only

source of affordable protein. Experiments

with guineafowls suggest that these birds are

less suitable for a continuous egg production.

Two other chicken shelters which were built in

2015 for the production of village chicken

meat, are also performing well, providing a

stable income for the owners of these

shelters.

Income-generating: organic vegetable

gardening

Our support to Chitungulu’s organic vegetable

gardeners was extended to both experienced

and beginning gardeners. Garden utensils and

treadle pumps have been provided to four

experienced gardeners. Starting gardeners,

amongst whom two ladies, received a training

in organic gardening. All gardeners bought a

variety of subsidized vegetable seeds.

Some gardeners suffered crop damage caused

by elephants who feasted on tomatoes, sweet

potatoes and bananas. We aim to help the

gardeners in 2018 with the setting up of

various elephant barriers, such as strategically

placed beehives, and the planting of sisal,

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combined with existing practices such as chili-

burning.

Other Income-generating: Hot Chili Peppers

The cultivation of hot chili peppers, a project

which was introduced in 2016 by Luambe

Camp (which finances the project) and the

French NGO Awely (providing expertise), has

proved successful. People show much interest

in the cultivation of this cash crop, which does

not require the use of harmful pesticides. The

peppers are bought by Awely to be processed

in hot chili sauces. We expect the number of

chili farmers to rise in the next growing

season.

Bountiful chili harvests in Chitungulu

Other income-generating: Vegetable & Crafts

Shop

This year we also completed the building of a

‘Vegetable and Crafts Shop’, which we started

last year September. In August 2017, the Shop

was officially opened in the presence of Chief

Chitungulu. The Shop is located along a tourist

route which connects the South and North

Luangwa National Parks, and enables local

crafts(wo)men to sell their crafts to passing

tourists.

Shopkeeper Elisabeth has proved to be an

excellent salesperson and administrator. For

2018, we plan to hand out flyers at the park’s

gate to draw even more tourists to the shop.

Shopkeeper Elisabeth selling locally produced souvenirs

Nature education

Our annual Birding Course, which we offer to

the higher grades of Chocha and Chilubezi

community schools, was this year extended

with a beginners course for government

school Chitungulu Basic. Thanks to a great

donation of second-hand binoculars by the

Netherlands Birds Conservation Association,

we were able to train many enthusiastic young

birders in the use of binoculars. At the end of

the course, children were treated to a game

drive in Luambe National Park, organized by

Luambe Camp.

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Binocular training for young birders in Chitungulu

Other projects: solar lights

Like previous years, we have sold solar-

powered reading lights at affordable prices.

Part of the income was used to buy solar light

kits to illuminate the classrooms of the two

community schools. This will enable the

teachers to prepare for their lessons in the

evenings. The project will continue in 2018.

Other projects: Albinos

Like the previous year, two albino sisters in

Chitungulu received several liters of sunscreen

from the African Albinos Foundation as well as

the Luambe Camp management.

Other projects: cooperation with Luambe

Camp

Luambe Camp, the only tourist lodge in

Luambe National Park, has officially opened

this year, and kicked off with a good season.

The lodge organized various game drives for

the school children in Chitungulu.

Other projects: borehole

Thanks to a donation of De Paardestal

Foundation we were able to round off our

year in Chitungulu with the building of one

borehole in the Chilenje neighbourhood,

which provides many households in this area

with access to safe drinking water.

Finally.... Our sincere thanks!

2017 has been a successful year in which we

completed our building projects, extended

existing projects and even started new ones.

Obviously, our work would not have been

possible without the interest and continuous

support from our donors. Therefore, on behalf

of the community in Chitungulu, our very

sincere thanks to everybody who has assisted

us in ‘making things happen’.

We hope you enjoyed reading this Newsletter.

Should you have any questions or comments,

please let us know at: info@chitungulu.nl

The Board of Chitungulu Foundation

Our sincere thanks to:

� Our donors and supporters in the

Netherlands, Zambia, Germany, Switzerland

and Italy

� Wild Geese Foundation

� Luambe Camp

� Bladel Municipality

� Rotary Club Bladel, Reusel-De Mierden

� De Paardestal Foundation

� Uden WereldWijd Foundation

� Africa-Enga Choir

� Alle Beetjes Foundation

� Casterenshoeve Foundation

� De Johanna Donk-Grote Foundation

� De Hofstee Foundation

� Ontwikkelingshulp D.A.S. Foundation

� Paulien Foundation

� Netherlands Bird Conservation Association

� Liliane Foundation

� African Albinos Foundation

� Project Luangwa (Mfuwe, Zambia)

� Comaco (Chipata/Lundazi, Zambia)

� Chunyu Nursery (Mfuwe, Zambia)

� Makolekole Drilling & Water Solutions

� Awely / Red Caps program

� Wieke Biesheuvel (Katete, Zambia)

� Suntech (Lusaka, Zambia)