Project for the Delivery of Disability aids for Copperbelt in Zambia

A brief background

I was born in Zambia (then Northern Rhodesia) and lived there until my mid-teens when my family returned to the UK. I was not able to re-visit until a couple of years ago when, along with my 2 brothers and our wives, we arranged a trip to Ndola, the town in which we lived, and visited all of the places we remembered so fondly. It was an amazing trip and a reminder of how wonderfully warm and welcoming the Zambian people are, but It was no surprise to find that things were not as we remembered them. This really struck home when we visited the Itawa Primary School which the three of us attended in the '60s and early 70s. We saw a dedicated staff doing an amazing job for keen students with very limited resources.

Shortly before the trip, I had rejoined Minehead Rotary Club after a long break and on my return from Zambia I suggested that I might contact a Club in Ndola to see if anything could be done to assist the school, now called Itawa Combined School. With the Club's agreement, I reached out to the Rotary Club of Ndola Central who welcomed the opportunity to have a connection with us, and to cut a long story short we embarked on the joint “The Price of Being a Girl Child” project with them. This project involved three schools in Ndola and is continuing to be rolled out by the Ndola Club. There is more information about the project here: https://www.mineheadrotaryclub.co.uk/international.html/#ndola

The next project

When we were discussing plans for this year, IPP Nkonde Chola, who will continue to be our contact for our joint projects, mentioned that there is a desperate need for equipment for people with physical disabilities in Zambia. Further discussions between us and investigations at my end have led to the new project proposal, details of which can be seen here: https://www.mineheadrotaryclub.co.uk/outline-proposal.html

If you're still with me, well done and thank you! As I mentioned in the introduction, I am hoping that some Clubs in District 1200 might consider helping us to reach the quite challenging target of approximately £10,000 to enable the shipment of a 40' container of much-needed equipment. This will make dramatic improvements to the lives of both adults and children in the district who are currently excluded from many aspects of everyday life. A modest donation (possibly backed by a District Grant?) from a number of Clubs could help us to reach our target.