AOET~Zambia Activities

Zambia is a nation of approximately 12 million people. The nation is primarily rural but over a quarter of the population lives near 2 urban areas.

Zambia has had a history of peace since it’s independence in 1964 but remains one of the world’s poorest and least developed nations. Zambia’s HIV/AIDS epidemic has exacerbated the economic plight of the nation since the 1980s.

As in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, women and girls have been the hardest hit. Families have disintegrated. In Zambia, there are presently estimated 800,000 orphans resulting from AIDS.

AOET~Zambia is building on the successful strategies of AOET~Uganda in caring for families affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS.

AOET~Zambia presently carries out HIV/AIDS awareness and education activities at the community level especially directed at youth. Support services and care are coordinated and provided for children either affected and/or infected by HIV/AIDS. Moving these children from the streets into school is a primary objective.

AOET~Zambia is implementing programs with the partnership and guidance of AOET international leadership to build capacities of widows providing a path from the household poverty for themselves and their children along with broadening the concept of family to include extended family, informal foster arrangements and address child-headed households. The programs will enhance partnership approaches that strengthen community based organizations cooperation with other social welfare institutions and organizations. Programs providing monitoring and evaluation prepare families and communities for ownership, accountability and sustainability of community level projects.

 

Outside AOET Zambia Offices. Hundreds of Children are being Educated by AOET in Zambia 

AOET Zambia’s prime mandate is to provide an education to orphans and vulnerable children by helping them access good quality education.

Orphans Placement.

AOET Zambia believes in solving the orphans’ problem with an African strategy. Basically, orphans in Africa have not been institutionalized as tradition believes that every child belongs – not only to the immediate family, but to the community as well. Orphanages and all other forms of institutionalization have come over the past few decades.
So as we pick children from the streets, we identify extended families to take care of them. where this is not possible, we place children with foster families providing a mother and father figure who care for them responsibly.

Orphans Education

We support children with direct school sponsorship and school supplies. To answer the cry of the need to promote the girl child, we deliberately have 65% as girl children on the sponsorship. This reduces early marriages and levels of prostitution among the girl child.

Jacob Phiri; AOET Zambia Country Director

Feeding Program.

As a result of increased poverty in many households, children have been exposed to many vices including child labour, child neglect, child prostitution, defilement, child trafficking, early pregnancies and marriages and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS infections. No doubt poverty prevents children from enjoying their basic rights. They often do not have enough food available to them. Consequently they may suffer from malnutrition or other illness, which may hinder their full development.
Because of the above concerns, Action for Empowerment-Zambia runs a feeding program, which caters for our sponsored children.
When the children finish their community school lessons, the centre provides nutritious food for them.

Household supplementary food.

Action for Empowerment – Zambia having seen the poverty levels in the homes, has decided to provide basic food stuffs to several families. These homes have been attacked by adult malnutrion. Failure to supply these homes with supplementary food supplies will result in deaths.

A package normally includes;
• 1 bag X 25kg of maize meal
• 1 bag of Rice
• 1pkt X 2kg sugar
• 1 X 750ml of cooking oil
• And other products as they are availed.

Women Empowerment.

We provide life saving Vocational skills to widows. As a result we are seeing widows earning an income which enables them to look after their children and their families at large.

All this is possible ofcourse because we were able to purchase a large building that is our project center right now.
However, we are also looking at expansion.

Plans for 2008/2009.

AOET Zambia has just acquired a piece of land on which we plan to build a Health center and a School.
From time to time we provide mobile clinics to the most impoverished areas. In such places, government healthy facilities are not available or people have to walk about 15km to access a healthy facility.

Due to high levels of poverty, and many more children still not accessing quality education, AOET Zambia plans to open another center in place called Shimabala area. This will bring the total number of centers to 3.
Contacts have already been established and local leaders are willing to give us space in local council buildings to run a community school.

THANK YOU for supporting the Vision of AOET in the different African Countries!!

Jacob Phiri
Country Director
AOET ZAMBIA