In Zambia, everyone has to pay a fee for their children to be able to attend school, but in reality, the majority of the population live on $1.25 per day or less, and so most people cannot afford to do this. As a result, many parents cannot send all, or in some cases any of their children to school. Most families also have to carry the burden of AIDS orphans, and when a family is already struggling to make ends meet, these most vulnerable children are the very last in a long line to receive a paid for education. Consequently, the most vulnerable children grow up without an education and, desperate to survive, end up resorting to risky behaviour - such as transactional sexual relationships - in order to get money to feed themselves.
Lack of access to education also causes other problems: if parents cannot afford to send their children to school they invariably end up taking care of them at home, which prevents them looking for work and traps them in a vicious cycle of poverty. Ultimately, this results in some parents resorting to desperate measures to provide for their family – for instance, a mother might purposely send her daughter to collect food from an older man knowing full well that this would come at a price – usually a sexual favour - but unaware of any other way in which to get food for her family. The impact of these ‘transactional relationships’ are reflected in the HIV prevalence statistics: females aged 15-19 are around six times more likely to be infected with HIV than their male counterparts.
Educating children in Zambia is clearly a challenge – but SAPEP’s work has shown us that it is a vital lifeline out of poverty for many children and their families. If a child is being educated, parents are free to go and look for work so that they can receive an income that can sustain their family. An educated child is also much more aware of HIV/AIDS issues and is more likely to get work and be able to care for their parents as they get older. Education is also important for the most vulnerable children in Zambia: the growing population of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Zambia is estimated at 710,000 out of a population of just 12 million. We cannot afford to leave this generation of children floundering without an education.
SAPEP has worked closely with AIDS Action Clubs to help them establish community schools that are completely organised and run by the community members themselves. These schools provide an immense amount of hope for the parents in these communities as they desperately want their children to be able to access education. SAPEP has also supported clubs to apply for funding from the government and other NGOs so that they can build their own school buildings and provide their school with educational resources.
PEPAIDS wants to make sure that the children attending these schools receive a good quality education that is also well resourced. As part of our Schools of Good Hope Project we have linked eight schools in Zambia with eight schools in the UK. The UK schools provide their Zambian partner school with fundraising support as well as sending donated items such as shoes, toys and writing materials that the children and the school need.
Through the project we are really keen to forge strong links between the UK and Zambian schools and make donating to charity really tangible for the pupils involved. A key part of the process is regular communication between the schools involved through newsletters, videos and photographs and already the schools have started to see each other as friends instead of just having a donor and recipient relationship. We hope to strengthen this idea by offering teacher exchanges to the schools involved as the project develops. Not only will this give UK teachers the chance to visit their Zambian partner school, but we hope to run a training session for all the teachers, both UK and Zambian, who are involved in the programme so that they can share skills and discuss teaching techniques. Many of the teachers in these community schools have not received any formal training and so we are currently in the process of delivering our own teacher training for the teachers at our Zambian schools that covers literacy, the basics of teaching practice and pupil engagement techniques.
The schools involved in PEPAIDS’ Schools of Good Hope Project are:
- Chorlton High School, Greater Manchester
- Abraham Moss High School, Greater Manchester
- Suckley Primary School, Worcestershire
- Davyhulme Primary School, Greater Manchester
- Loxford School of Science & Technology, Essex
- St Philip Howard Catholic School, Glossop
- Prestwich Arts College, Greater Manchester
- Cheetwood Primary School, Greater Manchester
- Rupert's Day Nursery, Greater Manchester
- Chisila Community School, Monze
- Mujika West Community School, Monze
- Cecilia’s School of Good Hope, Monze
- Matimbia Community School, Mazabuka
- Kafwefwe Community School, Monze
- Mapondo Community School, Mazabuka
- Mabanze Community School, Mazabuka
- St Patrick’s Community School, Monze
We have also involved other schools who are fundraising for the Schools of Good Hope Project in general.
If you are a pupil and you would like to get your school involved in PEPAIDS Schools of Good Hope Project, here are a few things your school could do to make a difference. You could:
- Fundraise for us! - Run awareness raising days about the work that we do.
- Do an assembly on PEPAIDS
- Check out the PEPAIDS Facebook page and get all of your friends to join!
- Tell your teacher about what we do and see if your school would be interested in getting involved in our work.
Finally, we are always looking for trained teachers to come out to Zambia and volunteer with us so that they can share their skills and training with their Zambian counterparts. If you are interested in volunteering with us, please download our information packs.
Due to circumstances, we are unfortunately not able to offer volunteer placements in Zambia at Present!