After two years of planning and fundraising, on Wednesday 23rd October a group of 15 girls, along with teacher and Housemistress Mrs Baldwin and Mrs Paddock, flew out to Zambia, giving up their Half Term to help to build dormitories and classrooms in the remote Chipata and Chama region. The region is so remote that the nearest secondary school is located over 80km away.
The trip was organised in conjunction with The Livingstone Arts, Cultural & Sporting Events Development Organisation (LACSEDO) and The David Livingstone Bicentenary & Livingstone 2013 Initiative (set up by a St Mary’s Old Girl) to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Dr David Livingstone, and was focused on helping The Anglican Street Children’s Programme, the Initiative’s Official Charity. The aim of the project is to bring children back into the education system and away from child labour and life on the street and, in particular, to help girls who are often denied an education and forced into marriage at an early age.
On arrival the girls were greeted by Father Katete, Director of The Anglican Street Children’s Programme, members of the press and the ‘Mothers’ Union’ who sang a traditional Zambian greeting. The group was also introduced to the District Commissioner and the Minister of Education. The following day the girls were thrilled to hear that the Minister of Education had officially announced to all the local villages that, once the school is built, any girl under the age of eighteen who has been forced into early marriage (some as young as ten) will be allowed to legally divorce their husbands and return to education.
The girls used the brick-making machine they had purchased to make bricks, collecting water from the village pump some 2km away for the cement. They had to rise early to get as much work done as possible in the mornings, as the temperature soared into the 50s in the afternoons.
As well as helping to build the new school, the girls visited a local primary school where they played with the children and taught them how to cartwheel and catch, having a lot of fun with them – so much so that many of the children followed them back to camp to continue playing! Another memorable event was being summoned by the Village Chief, who had arranged traditional music and dancing for the group. Invited to perform a dance in return, and having nothing prepared, the Upper Sixth Form girls led the others in the Macarena, making the whole village erupt in laughter!
The girls were also fortunate enough to see some of the incredible sights by going on a safari, where they encountered elephants, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, wart hog, baboon and a pride of lion with a male, three females and six cubs. The girls had also been collecting bras (327 of them!) back home which they handed to the managers of Project Luangwa – the Project had been helping local schoolgirls to acquire blouses and discovered they were also much in need of bras.
The girls worked hard while they were away but had an incredibly rewarding experience, coming home with many lifelong memories. St Mary’s Calne will continue to support the new school (to be called St Mary’s!) and children in Chama in the future, with plans already underway for the next trip.