What do you take for granted every day?
Running water and a toilet?
Clean drinking water?
A bed to sleep in?
3 meals a day?
Electricity – lights, TV, fridge, stove?
A cupboard of clothes?
Access to decent healthcare?
Life in rural Zambia is a struggle for our children and their families. A typical village home has no electricity or running water. Firewood has to be cut and hauled in order to cook food. Water has to be fetched and carried from nearby streams or hand dug wells, which often dry up in the dry season. Outdoor living exposes high risk to malaria. Most families have been affected by HIV. A large number of our children are old for their class as they did not have the opportunity to go to school before. Many of our children are orphans, suffering from malnutrition and vulnerable – all are poor.
Philip Makaloni
Age: 11 years
Date of Birth: 15th Oct 2004
Grade: 4
Phillip is a brave, resilient child who loves football.
He and his siblings were abandoned by their mother. He used to live with his Grandmother but she died last month. He and his older brother have to cook and fend for themselves. He has no one in his life who cares for him, provides for him or encourages him. His only clothes are those he has been given from school. More often than not his school meal is his only meal of the day.
Nsobe Trust School is his only hope.
In the past he has struggled in class, and was often absent, but this year we have seen a change in him and a commitment to school. We hope that you can sponsor him so that he knows that he is special and cared for.
Kennedy Mbimbi
Age: 16 years
Date of Birth: 2000
Grade: 7 (last year of primary school)
Nsobe Trust School is Kennedy’s home and his identity. He loves his school and his classmates and teachers are his family.
Kennedy came from a home of traumatic domestic violence and drunkenness. His mother died 5 years ago, and his father abandoned him and his younger sister (also at Nsobe Trust School) nearly 2 years ago, and has not been seen since. Kennedy is a wonderful, positive boy who is always quick to offer to help and to shoulder responsibility. He loves playing football and being one of the boys, but is also so good at looking out for those younger than him.
He is a House Captain and leader of the Nsobe Scouts.
He is growing into an honourable young man, committed to God and determined to forge a better future for himself.
Miriam Sebenty
Age: 8 years
Date of Birth: 14 July 2008
Grade: Reception
Miriam is a quiet girl who struggles academically.
She lives a 7km walk from school and comes from a very poor and large family. She and her siblings are stunted from malnutrition. She is often absent from school due to the distance and her poor health. She is tired, unwell and sad most of the time, and I feel the weight of her struggle with hardship on her small shoulders, even though she never complains. She is repeating reception class this year and is doing much better.
Her family have great hopes of her and what Nsobe Trust School can do for her. Our teachers are doing their best to encourage her and stimulate her brain, gross and fine motor skills and to ensure that she eats well when she is at school.
We trust that school is a place of hope and joy for her.
Rachael Musenge
Age: 11 years
Date of Birth: 2nd Dec 2004
Grade: 4
Rachael is a calm girl who loves being in school. She enjoys the love and interest she receives there.
Rachael lives with her disabled mother who is a single parent and unable to work. Rachael does all the chores at home from cooking to cleaning, working in the garden, drawing and carrying water from a distant well.
She lives far from school but walks faithfully each day. She is not excelling in school as she battles to concentrate and is always dozing off from being tired and hungry.
When she grows up she wants to be a nurse.