Help us buy a school in Zambia

Our Children, Our Responsibility

GoFundMe Fundraiser: https://gofund.me/8d32214c

We currently rent. Help us buy our own place. We want to buy an existing community school in Kamatipa, Kitwe, Zambia. There are two buildings, one building has two classrooms and an office, the other building is a house. There are on a 40m x 20m block.

Our company Nilina Hope Limited is based and registered in Zambia. The majority of us met on Facebook in 2015 with the intention of giving back to others, primarily giving food to children. In 2016 we registered the company Nilina Hope Limited. Our mission is to make a difference in the lives of children, especially vulnerable children and create the next generation of volunteers.

We are working on fixing our own challenges. But doing this with limited resources makes it more challenging. While we make efforts to build our own self-reliance capacity, we need help now. We believe "The future is already here - it's just not evenly distributed." – William Gibson, we are therefore making efforts to reach out to find others willing to do this remarkable and important work.

Having our own place will mean:

1. Ownership and responsibility - we will be owners
2. Stability - we can't be made to move
3. Improved quality - we will invest heavily in upgrades and maintenance e.g. install power, lighting and internet access
4. Increased capacity - construct the much needed extra space

We run a basic numeracy and literacy programme, Monday to Friday for about two hours per day in the community of Kamatipa in Kitwe. We do this for kids that are unable to attend school for various reasons including parents being unable to meet the financial requirements of either government or community schools.

Reaching our goal will mean being able to buy the school, and exceeding our goal will mean moving onto phase two in which we install power, lighting, internet access and other improvements. Ideally settlement of the property will be before or by the 9th of April 2021. Help us bring the future to the children of Kamatipa in Kitwe, Zambia.

Our kids deserve more

Our Children, Our Responsibility

In September 2019, we bought new school shoes and socks for all our 110 kids. Thanks to our team for making this possible, our donors and to Zamshu for supplying the shoes. Our work was well received in the community.

I run a makeshift store next to my house. I don’t make much money. My son John stopped going to school because he was mocked about being old for his grade. So I am really thankful because your learning centre has placed him in the appropriate class without first looking at his age or height. It is also a blessing that my son now wears expensive school shoes. Shoes that I cannot afford to buy him from the money that I make. – Mr. Phiri, Kitwe

Kamatipa, in Kitwe

Kamatipa needs assessment report

In July 2019, we conducted a needs assessment of the Kamatipa community. Below is an extract from the report.

Kitwe is the second largest city in Zambia. The city covers a total area of 777 square kilometers stretching from the south where it is bordered by Ndola and Luanshya, upto the north where it is bordered by Mufulira and Kalulushi Districts. Because of its centrality and proximity to other districts, Kitwe is aptly called the 'Hub of the Copperbelt' (KCC 2002a). There are a number of low-income and informal settlements in Kitwe.

Kamatipa Community, which is a selected area for the assessment is among the list of informal settlement and low-income communities in Kitwe on the Copperbelt Province. It occupies a total area of 131.64 hectares of state land north of Kitwe (KCC 2002a). In addition, Kamatipa has the population of 19,050 with 3,175 number of households (CSO, 2011). Kamatipa community is characterised by high levels of poverty compared to other places in Kitwe. The community faces a lot of challenges ranging from poverty, sanitation, unsafe clean drinking water and air pollution. Garbage collection is another problem, people throw plastics, papers and waste food anywhere due to lack of services from the Kitwe municipal council.

Furthermore, the community lacks other necessities like children’s play parks, kindergartens, health services (health post) and security (police post). The community has high unemployment levels, overcrowding and poor standard of houses. The area is basically a residential area with a few economic activities taking place such as trading at markets, welding, and carpentry activities.

We have plans to do a bit more work on the assessment report on Kamatipa. If you would like to buy a copy of the report, or would like to fund further work on the report, please email us at [email protected].