Inverness County Cares

In less than a month, six members of Inverness County Cares will be travelling to Zambia. Preparations are well underway, with special attention given to bringing items that are either more affordable in Canada or very difficult to obtain locally in Zambia.

To ensure students are protected from the intense sun, we have already pre-ordered a generous supply of sunscreen within Zambia. This will be delivered to both schools before our arrival.

The schools we support primarily serve students who are blind, visually impaired, or living with albinism. With their needs in mind, our focus is on adaptive tools and resources that will enhance learning, independence, and enjoyment of school life.

We will bring balls with bells inside so blind students can participate in sports. Reading glasses and magnifiers in a range of strengths will help partially sighted students read more comfortably. White canes will also be provided to support mobility training for blind students.

To strengthen braille learning, we are bringing a supply of braille slates and styluses, allowing more students to work independently at the same time. We have also received a generous local donation of safety sunglasses, which will offer much-needed protection from the sun.

Games are always a favourite for children of all ages. We will be purchasing braille playing cards locally and bringing large-print and standard playing cards. These will be embossed by Joseph, a teacher at St. Mary’s School, using the school’s braille embosser. Braille dot stickers will be used to adapt additional games.

Thanks to the generosity of a donor with a 3D printer, several braille adapted games have already been created, including two sets each of Scrabble, dominoes, dice, and other braille learning aids. We will also bring games for partially sighted students such as Uno cards, Checkers and Snakes and Ladders. All games will be taught and practised with the students, with clear instructions left behind for continued use.

At St. Mary’s School in Kawambwa, there are currently two 5,000-litre water tanks. Plans are in place to dig a well to supply water to most buildings, enlarge the piping to improve water pressure, and construct a tower to support the tanks. A solar-powered pump will be installed as part of this project to provide a reliable source of power.

We are also collecting medical supplies, including blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, medical reference books, bandages, adhesive bandages, antibiotic ointment, alcohol swabs, and other unused items often distributed by homecare workers.

We were fortunate to receive six valuable books from the ‘Hesperian Gratis Book Program Society’ in California: five copies of ‘When There Is No Doctor’ and one copy of ‘A Book for Midwives’, which are currently enroute. The Nova Scotia CNIB has also donated items that we will be picking up soon.

For community members who wish to support this work, monetary donations are always appreciated, as they allow us to purchase exactly what is needed.

Each traveller is permitted 50 pounds of checked baggage, and we welcome donations of non-prescription reading glasses, sunglasses, magnifiers, Sharpie markers, crayons, pencil crayons, sharpeners, pencil cases, stocking hats, bucket hats, safely cut tin can lids, and lightweight children’s books.

Gently used phones, tablets, or lightweight laptops (with charging cables) are in high demand. All electronics must have personal data erased; we are happy to assist with this if needed.

Smaller musical instruments such as recorders and harmonicas are also greatly appreciated and instrument strings, for violin, guitars and ukuleles are always needed.

Donations may be dropped off with any Inverness County Cares traveller: Charlotte Rankin, John Gillies, John MacInnis, Winnie Rankin, Betty Jane Cameron, or Colleen MacLeod. We are also happy to arrange pick-up. As we depart on February 2, we kindly ask that items be received at least one week prior.

For more information, please email invernesscountycares@gmail.com or call Charlotte (902-787-3173) or Colleen (902-227-5425).

Our team will depart Halifax on February 2, 2026, arriving in Lusaka on February 3 at 1:10 p.m. We will divide our time between both schools, with two days in Lusaka upon arrival and two more days there before departing for Canada on March 16, arriving back in Halifax on March 17.

We will be sharing our journey through a blog, continuing from our 2024 updates. You can follow along at icczambia.blogspot.com.

Inverness County Cares (ICC) is a local charitable organization, founded in 2012 and based in Inverness County, NS, Canada. ICC works in partnership with Chalice.ca, a Canadian charity, based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Chalice provides guidance and assistance to help ICC provide a better life for the children at the Kawambwa schools. The Kawambwa Project involves supporting two schools for albino and visually impaired students, in Northern Zambia. Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website   https://invernesscountycares.com When using E-transfer, please include your mailing address for CRA tax receipts and a thank you message.   E-transfer address:  invernesscountycares@gmail.com or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, 5414 Route 19, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided.

 

Six Inverness County Cares members will be traveling to Zambia, February 2^nd to March 17^th.  John Gillies, John MacInnis, Charlotte Rankin, Winnie Rankin, Betty Jane Cameron and Colleen MacDonald MacLeod will revisit the two schools supported by Chalice and Inverness County Cares.  They will personally pay for all the costs of their trip, accommodations, health insurance, flights, transportation in Zambia and food.

Site visits are an important part of keeping realistically connected to the needs of the schools. Being there on the ground ICC members can assess the needs and understand the priorities set by the school administration. Making personal connections with the staff and students are a way of cementing our relationship and understanding the dynamics and culture of the Zambian people. There is no replacement for actual on-site visits where they actually see how the people live and what works in their culture.

Upon arrival in Lusaka, they will spend two days there to get their feet under them and then fly to Mansa where they will be picked up and driven to Kawambwa, in the province of Luapula.  The second school, St Odilia is located Mporokoso in the Northern province where the capital is Kasama. All distances between these locations are about 170km and about 2 hrs 30 min apart… in good conditions!

 

Inverness County Cares (ICC) members will spend time at St Mary’s School in Kawambwa and St Odilia School in Mporokoso. These two schools work with students who are blind, visually impaired and dealing with albinism, a condition which severely limits sight and, in many cases, causes pain and discomfort. ICC has chosen these two schools because, of all the site choices presented by Chalice, these communities had the most challenges. Besides their visual limitations they have to deal with superstitions which target persons with albinism as a shame to their families, and makes them victims of kidnappers who assault them or in some cases kill them for their body parts which will be used in black magic potions. This is a fear which follows persons with albinism throughout their lives.

When on site, ICC members will assist the school community by sharing their talents and working with administration to improve infrastructure to make the schools safer and more comfortable for the staff and students. The schools are in need of so much, there will be no problem finding ways to help.

For supporters who wish to assist with this undertaking, financial support is the universal gift. On this trip, ICC members will each bring a 50-pound bag, to carry items which are not readily available in Zambia and will prove most useful and bring joy to the community. 

ICC will be accepting items that pack well (not too heavy) and are suitable to the schools’ needs. These items include; reading glasses, sunglasses, gently used smart phones, tablets, computers; stocking caps, bucket hats (which protect ears), flutes, harmonicas, tin whistles, deflated soccer balls and antibiotics.

Before they depart Canada, ICC members will purchase, white canes, balls with bells inside (for blind students), magnifier sheets and braille playing cards. When they arrive in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital city, they will purchase sunscreen.

The group of crafters who meet at the ‘Story Teller’s Gallery’ in Judique, have generously created dresses which will delight little girls ages 4-7. ICC will be carrying these to Zambia.

ICC will be posting a daily blog again this trip. It will be the same blog address as the 2024 trip. https://icczambia.blogspot.com

Inverness County Cares is pleased to say they have sold out, the 2025 garlic crop. This year the crop came from 800 bulbs planted last November. This November 1,428 garlic cloves were planted to provide for the 2026 harvest. Thank you to all our faithful customers for your support of the Kawambwa schools for the blind in Zambia. Enjoy your garlic.

To illustrate the importance of our sales, this year’s garlic sales of $1,200 CDN can provide one school with a maintenance crew for a year, which ensures that maintenance issues are taken care of before they escalate into major repairs.

On the other hand, $1,200 CDN can buy fifty-four, 25kgs bags of mealie meal to feed 105 children for five weeks. Mealie meal (or maize meal) is a coarse flour made by grinding white maize (corn) kernels. It is the primary ingredient used to prepare nshima which is the staple food of the country.  Many thanks!!

Inverness County Cares (ICC) is a local charitable organization, founded in 2012 and based in Inverness County, NS, Canada. ICC works in partnership with Chalice.ca, a Canadian charity, based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Chalice provides guidance and assistance to help ICC provide a better life for the children at the Kawambwa schools. The Kawambwa Project involves supporting two schools for albino and visually impaired students, in Northern Zambia. Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website   https://invernesscountycares.com When using E-transfer, please include your mailing address for CRA tax receipts and a thank you message.   E-transfer address:  invernesscountycares@gmail.com or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, 5414 Route 19, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided

During Inverness County Cares’s visit to Zambia, we met many remarkable individuals who worked very hard and did the best they could with the opportunities available to them.

Alice Chongo is one of these people. She is a mother, a farmer, a government worker, and nurturer. She also works for Chalice.ca in a role where she aids in communication between the sponsored children and their supporters in Canada.  She is a single mother of five wonderful children, three sons and two daughters.

Quoting Alice, “From the moment I held my first born, I knew my life would be a journey of love and labor. Raising five children alone in Zambia was not easy. There were days when the weight of responsibility felt overwhelming, but my children’s future kept me going. I taught them early, ‘Education is your ladder, climb it no matter how shaky it seems.’

While nurturing my family. I also nurtured my country. I worked as a caregiver, combining my skills in secretarial duties and administering medicine at the St Mary’s school, for the blind. Every pill I counted, every report I typed, was a step toward providing for my children. In 2015 November, I retired from government service, but my hands were never still. Family has always been my backbone. I grew ground nuts, beans and crops that filled my children’s plates and paid their school fees. The soil taught me patience. A seed planted today will feed you tomorrow. Even now my farm reminds me that growing takes time just like raising my children into thriving adults. Today I stand proud of the people they become; a doctor who heals others just as I once cared for my patients; a teacher who shapes minds like I shaped theirs at our kitchen table; a driver who steers his own path, mirroring my resilience; two more waiting deployment, their future bright with promise. (Waiting for deployment in Zambia is when a student has finished their higher education, they wait for the government to call them up for their first job.)

My children are now 43, 39, 33, 27, 22. I raised my children alone. No one helped me. I used to get loans from lender institutions and I started a small business of keeping broiler chickens. The money I raised was used for my children to go to school, buy school requisites and to purchase food stuff. At the same time, I started building a house and cultivated land to grow different crops. I sold some of the crops to the government and kept some for my family. I used just a hoe for cultivation of the garden (no machinery of any kind). With the little money I got, I used part of it to buy fertilizer to make the soil fertile. Sometimes I added chicken manure to make the soli richer. I would spend two hours walking to my garden and one hour and 30 minutes working in it in the hot sun. Then I walk back home for two hours.”

Life is always a challenge in rural Zambia. Recently Alice’s clay brick home sustained serious structural damage due to heavy rains. The bricks of her home absorbed water and became uninhabitable. She is now in the process of rebuilding.

Alice is resourceful and focuses on the positive. According to her,  “I’m happy my children and I worked hard, hand-in-hand in the garden. My biggest challenge was when growing crops, sometimes people I employed, failed to do the work nicely.

My most difficult situation was when I lost both parents and had to remain here in Kawambwa without a mother and a father. The good people of my community were always on my side, especially my fellow Christians. When I want to do something, I have to pray to God to give me directions and strength, for in God everything is possible.

My proudest moment is to see that all my children are independent and they’re taking care of their lives. Thanks to the Sisters of the Child Jesus for encouraging me to continue working with them and for showing me different types of work. I always pray for them.”

While in Zambia we visited Alice at her home. Her house is surrounded by lush gardens, as lawns surrounding many Zambian homes are productive not decorative. Alice’s yard was profusion of large squash leaves with sizable fruits as well as groundnuts, sweet potatoes and other crops to feed her family. Alice is an example of resilience. She represents the many strong women in her country, including many who are mothers of children with albinism. They were abandoned by their partners because of the perception that albinism brings shame to their families or that the mother has been unfaithful, because of the whiteness of their child’s skin.

Thank you to supporters of Inverness County Cares for assisting those in need, by your monetary donations and by filling our bottle and can donation trailers with refundables. Your goodness is much appreciated.

Also, many thanks for purchasing our garlic. We have sold out!!

Inverness County Cares (ICC) is a local charitable organization, founded in 2012 and based in Inverness County, NS, Canada. ICC works in partnership with Chalice.ca, a Canadian charity, based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Chalice provides guidance and assistance to help ICC provide a better life for the children at the Kawambwa schools. The Kawambwa Project involves supporting two schools for albino and visually impaired students, in Northern Zambia. Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website   https://invernesscountycares.com When using E-transfer, please include your mailing address for CRA tax receipts and a thank you message.   E-transfer address:  invernesscountycares@gmail.com or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, 5414 Route 19, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided.

 

 

Inverness County Cares (ICC) is a local organization which has been working toward improving the lives of students at the St Mary’s Special School in Kawambwa and the St Odilia School in Mporokoso, both located in Northern Zambia. For six years ICC has put great effort into providing a better life for the students in the schools. These children are some of the neediest in the country. They are blind, visually impaired and are living with albinism, a condition which destroys their vision, and is very painful. Besides this they are constantly in fear because of the risk of assault and kidnapping, since their body parts bring in a very high price on the black market.

Inverness County Cares provides $30,000 per year to cover education costs, clothing, food and shelter. Funds gathered over and above this amount are designated for needs which the Sisters who administer the schools, determine are most important. Over the past two years these extra funds are responsible for significantly upgrading the living situations of the students and their caregivers.

In 2024 ICC contributed toward projects which improved conditions at the schools. Plumbing was upgraded in the dormitories and wash buildings, to provide running water, functional toilets and sinks for the students. Previously the students carried buckets of water to the wash rooms and filled a barrel for personal ablutions. Broken sewer pipes were replaced to make indoor toilets usable again.  One-hundred-sixty broken window panes were replaced and the locking mechanisms on the windows repaired, to prevent more breakage of windows in windstorms. One-hundred-forty light fixtures and bulbs were installed in classrooms, dormitories and other buildings used by the children.

The sisters who lovingly care for the children in Kawambwa, needed repairs to the chapel in their convent. ICC provided the funds to paint and repair water damage sustained when the roof leaked. The sisters in Mporokoso lived in a convent without running water or a well. ICC dug a well and installed indoor plumbing for them.

The St Mary’s school depended on their 28-seater bus for all errands to buy groceries, building supplies and trips about town in addition to conveying children to and from school at the beginning of the school year and the end. A Toyota Tacoma was purchased for all about town runs and for reaching students in remote areas, where the bus could not travel because of poor road conditions.

Ceiling tiles were installed in classrooms and dormitories as buildings with only a metal roof, without a barrier to the interior of the building below, became unbearably hot in the summer season.

Recently funds were sent to provide repairs as determined by the sisters who administer the schools. Sixty-five bunk beds will increase the capacity of the dormitories and the ongoing renovation of the ablutions building will continue and fifty-four new desks will improve classroom conditions. These buildings had fallen into disrepair because of lack of funding for regular maintenance. Food for the children was the main priority. Following the afore mentioned repairs and renovations, ICC is running a pilot project where money is provided every six months for regular school maintenance and ongoing repairs as needed to ensure the schools stay in better condition. 

All this work was made possible because of your direct donations to Inverness County Cares and indirect donations to the bottle and can collections in the trailers in Port Hood and Mabou.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making the Kawambwa schools a much better place to live and study. These children are some of the most vulnerable as they must contend with the challenges of blindness and reduced vision and in addition cope with the dangers faced by people with albinism. They are never free of the fear of assault and abduction because of the high prices offered for the body parts of persons with albinism. Witch doctors and makers of potions use their body parts to provide guarantees of good luck and success in business, love and success in elections.

Their key to a brighter future is the education provided by the Kawambwa Schools. Here their special needs are takin into consideration and with their hard work and determination they are able to look forward toward success and independence.

Inverness County Cares (ICC) is a local charitable organization, founded in 2012 and based in Inverness County, NS, Canada. ICC works in partnership with Chalice.ca, a Canadian charity, based in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Chalice provides guidance and assistance to help ICC provide a better life for the children at the Kawambwa schools. The Kawambwa Project involves supporting two schools for albino and visually impaired students, in Northern Zambia. Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website   https://invernesscountycares.com When using E-transfer, please include your mailing address for CRA tax receipts and a thank you message.   E-transfer address:  invernesscountycares@gmail.com or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares, 5414 Route 19, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided