I was very honoured to spend a few days visiting the
Mwandi Orphans and Vulnerable Children Project in Western Province of Zambia on the Zambezi River. Mwandi is a village of 10,000 people and 1,300 children have been orphaned mostly due to HIV AIDS. The Mwandi OVC project is run by an Australian, Fiona Dixon-Thompson. My family and I helped with the feeding program (feeding 270 children for lunch) and the preschool program (singing, storytelling, and sharpening pencils!). However, most of the time we played and talked with the children. The children particularly loved having their photographs taken, then seeing themselves in the camera display (we have permission to upload their photographs here). OVC has a number of buildings adjacent to the village school. There is a playground, hall (used for the daily feeding program and preschool), kitchen, garden, carpentry centre, sewing centre, administration block (including a counselling area and computer room with 4 computers), and storage. Staff housing is currently being built.
We were shown through the Mwandi village by Gertrude, and visited homes, the market, and the chief’s compound. We were greeted with enthusiasm, particularly after we said "muchwani" (how are you?), and we were thanked on behalf of the Australians who had sponsored the children in their village. The village homes were made of mud, poles and grass, and each family's compound was surrounded by a hedge. We had a chance to pump some water, and to watch as even the young children skilfully carried the water on their heads to their homes. We also got involved in a soccer game. We visited the mission hospital and school and met the Zambian teachers and students at Mwandi Basic School (grades 1-9) and High School (which opened in 2009 and will have children in grades 10-12 in the future). The children were taking their exams in history, maths, chemistry and Silozi, English when we visited.
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This sign means friendship:
A gesture that was offered to us frequently during our visit |
