We Needed a Physiotherapist

I met Busiku at the Mama Bakhita School in 2017 where she worked as an assistant teacher. She shyly approached me one day to say that she wanted to study to become a physiotherapist. The Mama Bakhita School has had a physiotherapy room since 2012, but there was never money to pay a salary.

Happily, the AACDP found a worthy couple who agreed to sponsor her education at the University of Zambia. In 2018 Busiku bravely embarked on an educational journey that stretched her spotty childhood education to its limits. Several times she needed a tutor and had to repeat a course.

Many, maybe most children in Zambia suffered from the years of political corruption that refused to use government funds for free public education through high school, as mandated by law. So the unfunded public schools had to require fees to cover teachers' salaries, books and other necessities. Many children could only attend when their parents could afford to pay. This, and unstable home situations created big gaps in Busiku's schooling, but she was determined to succeed.

In 2024 Busiku graduated. The AACDP took on the cost of her monthly salary and she became the first physiotherapist to work at the Mama Bakhita Cheshire Home, finally getting use from the equipment that had been there all along.

Nice story, yes?

PS I am thrilled to tell you that the new president, Hakainde Hichilema announced on his first day in office in2021 that public education up through high school would be free.

Caring for the Forgotten

15% of all Zambians are people with disabilities.

1996 a group of Franciscan Sisters convened in Livingstone to focus on this widespread problem. After visiting health clinics and interviewing families, it was clear that hte need was there.They bought an Indian merchant's house and 5 acres in the town and began to offer simple physical therapy and education for parents with disabled children. They worked hard to dispel the common myth that these children were the result of the parents sins.

Bit by bit, people began to bring their young ones to the Mama Bakhita Cheshire Home, named after a black 19th century Saint.

Making art is an important part of the curriculum

In 2006 a school for 25 students was built with 2 classrooms, a physiotherapy room, large covered porch for making art, a playground and a kitchen to provide breakfast and lunch. These parents were relieved and grateful to know that their children deserved to enjoy the company of others and a right to education that suited their needs. But the funding that built this school did not continue. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world and until 2021, the national government did not support free public education or any other kind of training. The Home has not found enough support to maintain the property. Besides the school there is the original house built in 1945 where the director and a few other Sisters live, a laundry room, an office and a guest house, which was built to bring in money because the school and other services are free.

Life skills are built into the day

The years have taken their toll and there is much to repair. The ceilings in the classrooms are falling down, the roof has leaks, the kitchen is not useable. Lunches are prepared the traditional way on cooking fires using charcoal, and causing air pollution. Lastly, the old school van, which brings everyone to and from school, is falling apart.

We want to help this unique source of education for disabled children to continue. We want it to be an example of what should be happening in other parts of Zambia. So many of the 15% go through life with no opportunity for education or socialization or the chance to be part of an educational community. Please donate as generously as you can to repair and restore this precious space through this website at the "DONATE" on the opening page.

Attending school means learning social and communication skills,

as well as two nutritious meals a day

My Favorite Florence Tours

In 2004, my family decided to spend a year living in Florence, Italy because I was determined to try to learn another language before it was too late. I was already over 50. My husband was able work as a teacher there, so the three of us, myself, Paul and Nora who was 15, moved to Florence.

It ended up taking me a very long time to become conversational in Italian. I tried to return every year for a stay because being among the Italians, some of whom had become friends, was by far the best way to become more fluent.

In 2013, my oldest daughter who had led a couple tours in Morocco where she had lived, suggested I try doing the same in Florence to help raise funds for the AACDP. Why not, I thought?

The tours are small from 6 to 8 guests. I take 2 small groups in the fall and sometimes in the spring as well. I am thinking hard about hosting an artists' tour for this spring. We'll see.

My theme is always "Marsha's Favorite Florence", and below some tour participants have shared their favorite moments.

My favorite moment of each tour is the tour goers' first sight

of Santa Maria delle Fiore - Santa Maria of the Flowers, AKA the Duomo.

Santa Maria delle Fiore - the Duomo

"I appreciated the balance of art/museums/churches with walks out side of town in Fiesole and Settignano with its spectacular views of city and vineyard. And the country air."

"The comradely dinners each night eating pasta with truffles, or fried pumpkin flowers that were as light as butterfly wings."

"The natural hot springs outside of Pienza were pure pleasure, soaking in the sulfurous hot water watching the sun set over the hill before us."

"Walking in the evenings through the outskirts of Florence knowing that we were safe and could enjoy the beauty of these neighborhoods without worrying about getting lost."

"Tea at Manuela’s house high on the Pian di Guliari feasting on oranges, torta di albacoche (apricot) and a view that has not changed in 500 years."

"The hike to the 350 yr old Queen Cypress at the end of a hilly country road."

"Country walks with views of sherbet colored farmhouses spread out between neatly plowed fields, grey blue olive orchards, vineyards undulating with the hillside, and thinking how it would be to live in such a beautiful, timeless place where little seems to have changed in spite of the tourism."