A Home for Holliness Moomba

This all took place in 2011, but I am unable to change the date on the original blogs which were moved from an earlier AACDP website. A lot has happened since that terrible event. She and her husband succeeded in building a brick house with a rental apartment attached for income. The AACDP helped to support Holliness in several years of nursing school and once she began to work, she sent her younger sister, who lost both of her young children in the terrible accident, to nursing school as well.

Holliness lost 4 family members last January when a drunk driver crashed into the house they were renting in Livingstone, Zambia. No charges were ever filed against the driver, who, no doubt, paid his way out of certain conviction.

Her late mother, a charcoal vendor, had managed to save enough money to buy a small plot of land outside of town. So Holliness and her sisters moved out to the land, and with $500 from the AACDP built a temporary house, seen in the back of the photo. Holliness continued to work as a charcoal vendor, as her mother before her, enabling two of her sisters to continue in school. And now, they are fabricating cement bricks to built a permanent house.

What spirit in the face of such terrible adversity.

A lot has happened since that terrible event. She and her husband succeeded in building a brick house with a rental apartment attached for income. The AACDP helped to support Holliness in several years of nursing school and once she began to work, she sent her younger sister, who lost both of her young children in the terrible accident, to nursing school as well. I am sad to report that the drunk driver who destroyed the lives of 3 children and one adult was never brought to account. Such is justice for the poor.

Here is the finished house.

The Mama Bakhita Cheshire Home

The Mama Bakhita Cheshire Home in Livingstone, Zambia, is part of a group of 11 centers for the care of disabled children named after Leonard Cheshire, an Englishman who began these organizations in India in 1955. Each center in Zambia seems to be organized differently. Some are actual living situations others are referral centers. All are run by local Zambian Franciscan Sisters trained for this work by the Franciscan order. They all provide physiotherapy, medical attention and education according to the child’s disability.

The Mama Bakhita Center, named after a black Catholic saint, Josephine Bakhita, opened in 1995 with five children in a private house in Livingstone. These Sisters went into the community and sought out families with handicapped children who were kept out of sight. They convinced these five families to bring their children to them for physiotherapy, medical referral, and limited education.

The facility has grown to include a small school with an excellent trained teacher, Evelyn Kazoka, a small hall for large group activities, a physiotherapy room, a covered porch for art making, and a guesthouse to help raise money.

In the last two months fourteen children were taken to Lusaka to receive medical attention and operations at the Italian Hospital. People come from great distances in hopes that they can avail themselves of the state-of-the-art physical therapy room and to find hope for their children.

They also have an extensive outreach program providing help for disabled children who live too far from the center to attend. Whatever needs the children have are met, including food and clothing and sometimes grants for small business start-ups for the mother.

The percentage of the disabled population that these children represent is very small. The majority are still kept at home and rarely seen, though this is changing. The lucky ones at the Mama Bakhita, instead of being a source of shame for their families, exude confidence and joie de vivre as a result of their participation at Mama Bakhita's small school. Children who might formerly have been excluded from society are part of a small community where everyone is unique and has abilities where they shine. This alone is enough to keep me going.

Sisal Bags Empower Rural Women

At our first World Market Monday sale we ended with a fundraising event for special guest Sr. Immaculata Mulyei who described her women’s income initiative in Secute, Zambia. She named it “Mpekala” meaning “Where We Live” in the local language, Lozi. In gaining the means to produce income, the women are able to send their children to school. This is especially important for girls who often stand second in line to their brothers when a family can only afford to send one child.

Last year Sr. Immaculata spent several weekends walking from village to village assessing the needs of the women and then considering what endeavor might be best suited to those groups that showed serious interest.

Here in the US we were able to raise money for a pilot training program. Two professional basket makers from a nearby village were hired to teach the women how to make the baskets with prepared sisal. Step two was to plant sisal, a desert plant requiring very little water, to eventually provide the raw materials.

Sr. Immaculata brought with her from Zambia 16 finished bags to sell at our market and a power point presentation to tell the story. At the end of the presentation, people crowded to her table and bought all but three of the bags which is very good news for the women in Secute and will motivate them to further improve the details of the bags.

Because this is a sustainable project and can weather the vagaries of climate change, we are looking to find funds to start an eager second group. If you would like to contribute to growing this project, these women can gradually improve the quality of life in their home and community and educate their girls, reducing the need for early marriages.