ZAP - Zambia Allocation Program

NEWSLETTER 12 - july 2011

Dear Founding Fathers and Friends of ZAP, Every donation is badly needed. You will do us a great service by sending this Newsletter to your friends and acquaintances. We would also very much appreciate your forwarding to us the e-mail addresses of people who might be interested in our work. We are proud to present to you the attached video of the official Hand-over Ceremony of the Teacher's accommodations and the waterwell with its manual pump at the Big Concession School. ZAP's second project has been realised!!! As a consequence, the Big Concession School has already been able to recruit 5 qualified teachers for their 250 pupils and more. Without your continued assistance, this would never have been possible! After extensive consultation with the teachers and the community, it was decided that ZAP would contribute the local beer and two goats to the Hand-over Ceremony. The community offered to do the cooking and the Head Teacher was given the task of taking care of the invitations. And what a party it was!! From Mumbwa we welcomed a large delegation consisting of several Ministers including the DC -District Commissioner-. He is a very important contact for ZAP as he reports directly to the President about everything that happens in his district. The various regional Headmen and Head teachers also attended. The Ceremony started at around 11.00. There were lots of speeches and the children had carefully rehearsed a number of songs and a dance. The District's Headmen gave me a variety of gifts as a token of their appreciation, which this time included not only a chicken but also a goat. After an extensive guided tour, the actual opening took place. Afterwards, the day was rounded off with eating and drinking. That was done entirely according to the local protocol and hierarchy! The DC and the representatives of the various Ministries were seated in one room, the Headmen and Head teachers in another and all the ZAP workers also had their own room. © ZAP Foundation UPDATE ON THE CURRENT PROJECTS The School in Nkulumazib Nkulumaziba is a village situated in the middle of the bush at about 40 km from Mumbwa.It is a fairly large community with some 300 children who, as of now, have not been getting a proper education. ZAP is building a school there comprising two school rooms, an office and four toilets. The construction is going entirely according to plan and it looks as though the school will be finished before the start of the rainy season. The community is very cooperative. Every day people turn up to hack stones or do other jobs. The clinic in Kaindu This is the only clinic in a radius of 60 kilometers. Patients sometimes have to travel for more than a day to reach the clinic, but there was no shelter available for them. It therefore gives us the greatest of pleasure to report that ZAP has meanwhile completed a shelter, as well as an outside kitchen and 2 washing areas. The renovation of two houses for the medical staff is also as good as finished. This means that it will shortly be possible to recruit one more doctor and one nurse. They are badly needed, for at the moment there are only two doctors and one nurse, who work round the clock 7 days a week. Moreover, this month, we will start the construction of a schoolroom for the use of medical staff who will instruct the community on aids prevention, nutrition, personal care, childhood diseases and the importance of innoculations for babies and toddlers. This is of the utmost importance as to this day a lot of babies and toddlers die of malnutrition, diarrhea, malaria or similar diseases. ZAP continues to work hard at the completion of current projects and the selection of new initiatives. This selection is done in close consultation with local Ministries and organisations as well as with the Foundation's Board. I shall be returning to Zambia at the end of June to pay another visit to the proposed projects which we feel answer to ZAP's criteria. Subsequently we will decide, after close consultation with those concerned, what projects ZAP is going to concentrate on in the near future. We will give you more news about these developments in the next newsletter. With my very best regards, ZAP (Zambia Allocation Program) Josien Dudok van Heel