September 14, 2011
Dear friends and family,
Arriving at Birdland school today I met with Olive Mumba the principle and founder of the private primary school in Lusaka. Olive is an inspiring woman who as an educator is committed to providing a quality education to Zambian children no matter what their background or needs.
After three weeks of touring many different schools and organizations in Zambia, I have chosen Birdland to be the recipient of our donations of $750.00. I met with Olive today and proposed my idea - to use the money to help underprivileged girls with their tuition. I specifically asked her if any girls have withdrawn from the current school term due to finances. After thinking for a moment, she decided on one girl named Zelesi Mwanza. Zelesi is in the 7th grade and was preparing to take her exams which will determine what secondary school she will begin next year (high school.) She is a bright student, and determined to learn despite her recent family hardships. Her father has passed away and her mother is now a widow with very limited income. Zelesi is considered an 'orphan' now since her father has passed, and Olive is pretty sure the mother, Mrs. Mwanza, is also HIV positive. She withdrew from school this past Fall (our Spring) and did not return to school this term - which started last week.
Olive phoned Mrs. Mwanza in front of me and told her the good news, that "a good samaritan" had just offered to pay for Zelesis's term this year as well as last year's term which they still owed as well. I could hear Mrs. Mwanza crying on the phone from across the room. Then, Olive handed me the phone to say 'hello.' I could not understand a word she was saying because she was crying and thanking me in a mixture of Chinyanga and English :) I told her we were happy to help her family and also explained that my friends and family had donated the money - I was just the messenger. Olive herself had tears in her eyes - it was such a magical moment. Olive had no remaining scholarship resources this year to help them and so it meant a lot to her to be able to give this news to Mrs. Mwanza. She finished the phone call - telling her to send Zelesi to school tomorrow, that everything has been taken care of. After hanging up the phone, she asked if she could hug me!
Olive then took a few moments to think of another family in need. She called a student named Lisa out of her fifth grade class and asked her to run home and bring her mother. The poor child looked scared to death from being called into the principle's office (!) She must have lived close because her mother arrived within 5-10 minutes. Before she arrived, Olive explained to me their circumstances - Mrs. Katebe's husband was a butcher and lost his job and has had a difficult time finding work since (Zambia's unemployment rate is 90% among young men.) So Mrs. Katebe has been forced to work selling vegetables to support the family. As a young woman in her twenties, she is struggling with working in addition to raising her kids. She is beautiful and appeared so closed in age to me that we could easily be friends (despite her lack of English!) And so Olive proceeded to explain to her that both of her daughters' school fees for last term and this term were going to be paid by 'this woman Emily.' Another heartfelt thanks as we hugged and held hands. Olive explained that Mrs. Katebe's 12 year old daughter Betty had stopped coming to school since her parents could not afford to pay fees, while Lisa the 11 year old is "headstrong" and kept coming! Both girls were invited to attend school tomorrow and for the rest of the term.
I hope have captured the moment well enough for you to imagine their faces and grateful tears as I presented your donations. I wish you all were here to see it! I plan to return to school tomorrow afternoon to meet the three girls and take a photo with them to share with you all.
Thank you on behalf of Olive Mumba and Birdland School, and Mrs. Mwanza and Mrs. Katebe, for your generous donations.
Love,
Emily
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