The last two weekends I have been very busy – first I travelled to Kabwe to stay with my friend Steve for the weekend which was great. It was nice to be able to chat with someone from a similar background as me about everything that we have seen while working here. Then last weekend Steve travelled up to Kitwe to see what goes on here. We went out to ‘Klub Vegas’ on Friday night with the family I stay with and one of the ladies I work with, it was quite an experience (haha)!
I decided on the weekend that after all I have seen here, and especially the great relationship I have with one of the older boys at the orphanage, that I am going to sponsor one of the children. His name is Mapalo (which in English means Blessings) and he is 14 years old, in grade 8 at Valley View government school in Kitwe. This kid is the greatest kid I have met – always so happy to see me when he gets home from school, always excited to show me what he has done in school each day, and even more excited when I helped him with his algebra and long division homework. I’ll admit that I had to take the question into the office and try my hardest to remember how to do long division, luckily I figured it out!
Mapalo is a single orphan who’s mother passed away when he was very young. His father did not have the resources to take care of him, so he stayed with his Aunt after that. The poor boy told me that when he lived at his Aunt’s house she used to beat him constantly, she would even take him down to the river and hold him underwater and threaten to throw him into the deepest part (he can’t swim). Some of the beatings were so bad that he has permanent damage to his ears/hearing. Finally the department of social welfare removed him from the Aunt’s house and he was placed at Ubumi in 2009 when he was 12.
Basically what I am going to do for my little pal Mapalo is pay for him to attend a private school starting in the next term of school as well as for a portion of his clothing and food costs at the orphanage. I am also going to set up a college savings account for Mapalo so that when he is done grade 12 he has some money to help him start college – funny enough he already knows what he wants to be – an accountant (and he decided this before he knew I was an accountant)!
I’ll also pay for 2 uniforms and pairs of school shoes, which are mandatory – even at government schools. The cost for the clothing and shoes is less than $200 per year and even the poorest families need to pay these costs to have their kids in school. This is one of the reasons why there are a lot of kids that can’t attend school – government schools here require the uniform and if you can’t afford it, and you don’t have an NGO helping, you are out of luck. Additionally, there are school and exam fees that have to be paid – even in public schools which cost anywhere from $100-$200 per year – for a country with so many people living on $1 or $2 per day, this is ridiculous.
The total cost of what I am planning to do for Mapalo is a bit higher when compared to the World Vision sponsorship programs – but I can think of a lot of things I have spent this amount of money on which are nowhere near as good as this. Additionally, when you think of what I’m paying for – particularly private school fees, this is a steal. A little money can go a very long way here. There are 8 other kids at the orphanage that would benefit immensely from any money that people can give – when I am back and settled, I will try and set something up to facilitate this. If you are interested, please let me know!
Now I am off on the vacation side of my trip – Steve and I will head down to Livingstone, Zambia on Saturday to see Victoria Falls and I will be attempting the 3rd highest bungee jump in the world (ahhh!). After that we head into Botswana on safari for 3 days, then we fly to Johannesburg, South Africa to meet up with some friends. Our trip ends in Cape Town for a few days to meet more friends, see the sights, and hopefully do some scuba diving (great white sharks!).
Stay tuned…
