Chibobo, Zambia

Back in 2008 I was fortunate to travel with a group from St Marys Anglican Church to Zambia to visit and work with the locals of the chibobo community and orphanage. While we were there we completed a playground for the basic school, and started the koala club with the careers of the orphans.

The playground was one of the major projects to be completed and with many set backs we were able to finish in time. The children would watch day after day with anticipation of what was being created in front of their eyes. As Chibobo is located 450km from the capital Lusaka and 30km from the closest town Serenje, many of the children have never seen a playground before.

Since the playground was constructed the number of children attending the school has increased!!!

It was noticed that the careers of the orphans had little to do during the day when the children were at school. A need for sawing and knitting was noticed as been not only a source of making clothing for the children but also as a possible source of income for the orphanage.Which started out as a small group of 8 ladies and 2 men the group increased daily as the word spread amongst the community, with very little supplies some were using sticks as knitting needles.

 

A few years down the track the group now meets weekly with some members walking up to 10km to enjoy the time shared together. They won 1st prize in Serenje with their placemats and other items made from local fabricand made uniforms for the children to attend school in. It is such a joy to see how far they have come in this time and I hope one day that I will return to Chibobo to share with them once more.