Tag: Zambia Page 7 of 8

New Bus for St Mary School

On July 16, 2021

By Wyclef Kaunda, July 2021

Our struggle was real before the coming of the newly acquired bus transport. The school used to hire local transporters to drive pupils to school and back to their home villages. Many were the times when the school was disappointed by the local transporters who were not coming for the assigned task. I remember one time when I was a pupil at St. Mary’s Special School, we closed school and it was the time to be taken to our various destinations. As pupils we got up early around 4 AM to wait for the bus to transport us. We waited and waited until 9 AM that’s when the bus came to pick us up. It was really a frustrating experience for pupils who are so excited to go to our homes, only to be delayed by the transporter. Many are the times the local transport hired would breakdown along the way before reaching the destination. It was always a worry for the school authorities to make sure that learners reached their destination safely and on time.

As time went by and after long pleading with the government of the Republic of Zambia to help the school with the transport system, Chalice (an aid organization based in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada) stepped in and helped the school with the purchase of a small minibus which came as a relief to the school. Transportation remained a challenge despite the coming in of the small minibus because the seating capacity was limited to 15 pupils. This made it necessary to make multiple trips when picking up students at their homes and on the trip back to school. The gravel roads in areas where the pupils come from, are not standard and the small minibus would fail to reach those areas because of its low undercarriage. Sr Bwalya continued to petition Chalice to help the school solve our transportation problems. In May 2021 Chalice and their partners Inverness County Cares, answered her plea and helped the school by purchasing the new Mitsubishi Rosa bus with 28 seater capacity. This larger load size enabled more children to be transported per trip reducing the number of trips needed.

I was the first person to behold the newly purchased bus and what my eyes saw was magical. I thought I was dreaming! I tried to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, but nah it was reality or I can say is that it was a dream come true. I was more than happy and I captured the pictures and sent them to Sr. Bwalya telling her how delighted I was. I reached the bus and inquired on how it all come to pass that the school had a stable and reliable transport. They told me Chalice and Inverness County Cares had provided the bus.

When our Bishop, entered the school grounds driving the new bus, the entire school community come to a standstill unable to believe our good fortune. There were many screams of joy as the pupils jumped up and down in gladness and some ended up crying tears of joy. This moment was of great jubilation and appreciation by both the members of staff, the pupil’s populace and the community at large. The Bishop sounded the horn all the way, as he drove the bus into our school compound. He was met by cheers, songs, tears and lively festive dancing. Pupils were taken on a celebratory first drive on the bus and were driven around the town waving excitedly with beaming smiles. Our whole community celebrated with enthusiastic singing and dancing to express our joy and happiness.

We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Chalice and Inverness County Cares for the help given to the school. Surely God as seen your works and will continue blessing you for helping the most vulnerable in societies. The delivery of the new school bus has helped the school in many ways. Just recently the government of the republic of Zambia closed schools due to the increase of Covid-19. It came at the end of our term and pupils were transported to their homes in style with the new bus, feeling like VIPs. Thanks very much to our supporters in Canada, we truly appreciate the amazing gift of the bus. Thank you also for all the help given to our school. God will continue blessing you and adding more years to your lives. Once again thank you.

Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Those 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. E-transfer address: [email protected]

or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares Box 99, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided for USA and Canada.

New Mitsubishi Rosa bus with 28 seater capacity

Stop the Stigma: An Albino’s Story

By Inverness County Cares

On May 16, 2021

In Uncategorized

By Wyclef Raphael Kaunda

In 1995 Wyclef Raphael Kaunda was born in Mansa, 950 km north of the Zambian capital city of Lusaka, the third child in a family of four. He was born with an absence of melanin in his skin, caused by Albinism, a condition which caused his vision to be severely impaired. In 2002 when he was seven, tragedy struck when both his parents were killed in a car accident, leaving their four children orphans. All properties and belongings of the family including their home, were confiscated by people who took advantage of the vulnerable situation of the children. This left the children without a home or guardians.

Wyclef and his siblings became beggars and were rejected by their community. Their widowed elderly grandmother took the children to live with her, despite her own dire poverty. Life was very difficult and often they would go to sleep with an empty stomach and no blankets. Their clothing was tattered but despite all these hardships their grandmother managed to send them to school where Wyclef proved to be a bright, hard-working child.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith Botha came to his rescue when they found him on the streets asking for help to buy books to support his education. They were moved by his situation and especially by his love of learning. They decided to adopt him and his siblings (and grandmother) and pay for their education. In the year 2005, at the age of 10, Wyclef started attending St. Mary’s Special School in Kawambwa, which is run by the Sisters of the Child Jesus. He studied there from 2005 to 2010 and gained many valuable life skills. St. Mary’s played an important role in shaping his future and he remains forever indebted to his guardians and school staff, especially Sr Agnes Bwalya.

Wyclef worked extra hard academically knowing that the only equalizer in life was education. He excelled in Junior High and the government of Zambia recognized him as the best performing pupil in Grade 9 National Examinations. Wyclef took part in many extracurricular activities during his secondary school years; debating, quiz, jets (junior engineering and technicians’ scientist), poetry and drama which gave him a broader understanding of the world. He continued on to perform exceptionally well into Grade 12 levels. He is now a graduate of Mansa College of Education and is currently tutoring students to earn money for his grandmother’s medical bills. Wyclef has many ambitions and a love of learning. He is interested in medicine, creating software and working on website design.

He is grateful for his good fortune and plans to be the voice of the voiceless in society. The help given to him by the Botha family has greatly changed his life and inspired him to help others. He values the support of his best friend Nathan Botha who has been there for him through thick and thin and Sr Agnes Bwalya at the Kawambwa School who is so very proud of all he has accomplished.

Wyclef’s albinism has made his life extremely difficult. Where ever he went he was called terrible names and people, would boo him and spit on him. Living with albinism is quite a challenge in Africa for people believe the superstitions that Albinos are spirits of the living dead and Albinism can be caught through close contact. Many of his friends have been murdered due to the promotion of the myth that Albino body parts and blood are a good luck charm capable of generating great wealth.

In the city where superstitious beliefs concerning Albinos are less, Wyclef feels somewhat safer, especially when he is out with his most trusted friends, but every night he lives in fear of attack. When in his home village the fear is magnified because a lot of people in that area living with Albinism have already been killed, (to supply the body parts black market). Although he never feels totally safe, he is most secure when in his own home with people he trusts most.

My voice must be heard by Wyclef Raphael Kaunda

I felt anxious last year when we were being poached like wild animals and I wrote the words below:

Each and every moment I walk in fear because I do not know who will take away my life.

It is not like I am a fugitive No! But because I am an albino,

Some do not even want to seat next to me,

Eating with me is like they are feeding on vomit,

They do not want to rub shoulders with me, as if a am a curse from God,

But listen to me even as I speak with tears in my eyes,

My tears shall no longer be in a bottle, I am spitting out the bitter truth.

Let the silence be broken now, we will no longer be silent like a rock cost hit by the waves.

Segregation is bad; we are humans like you are

God created man in his own image and likeness, of which we all know.

Why kill albinos for rituals, why discriminate and laugh at us?

We say we are a Christian nation and our deeds to people living with albinism are destroying the Christian name….

Love us, care for us and hear our cry.

To all the parents out there, remember that having an albino child isn’t a curse but a full blessing from God, and to all those who kill albino children please change for better, because God is not a God of discrimination but a God of love to everyone….

Blessed are those that are close to people living with albinism. Remember we are not ghosts, but normal people just like you.

My fellows are living in fear because of knowing not about their safety.

The government seems to be silent or pays a deaf ear over the same issue and the cry of innocent albinos who have been brutally slaughtered because of being albino.

My voice must be heard we have taken it upon ourselves to fight because the system seems to be busy with its work of governing, forgetting albinos

Clergy men are busy preaching about prosperity, forgetting preaching on love and care for one another

Wyclef Raphael Kaunda

January: Elizabeth, an Albino Child Tells her Story

By Inverness County Cares

On January 6, 2021

In Uncategorized

Elizabeth an Albino Child, Tells her Story

By: Elizabeth Mulenga, Sr Agnes Bwalya and Mr. Telesphore

Albinism is a hereditary condition, resulting in the absence of melanin pigment causing an individual being born with the white skin, light hair and vision problems. There are two types of albinism. Oculocutaneous albinism involves the eyes, hair and skin and Ocular albinism which is less common involving only the eyes, while skin and hair may appear similar or slightly lighter than that of the other family members.

I am Elizabeth born from two parents with very light skin, (Ocular Albinism). We are seven in the family, 5 are black but with light skin and 2 (*John and myself) are Oculocutaneous, with very light skin and hair. My eyes are not stable the eyeballs move and sometimes even my head shakes involuntarily.

My family surname is Mulenga but now my nickname is my surname…”Manda”, in English it means grave, meaning my brother *John and I are already dead, in other words we are not human beings. People in society continued calling us this, at first secretly but as days went by, it became a famous surname.

When I was born my parents were separated but my father could visit my mother, however when my youngest brother was born, my father ran away and he told my mother that,” I will go now forever”. My mother was disturbed and she dumped us. My widowed grandmother from my father’s side came to our rescue, she took us and we stayed with her for some years, where the care was not up to date. When I was ten years old my grandmother died and we went back to our mother who couldn’t manage because she was sickly and she died when I was 13yrs old. I started staying with my aunty to my mother’s side.

People in the village where we were living didn’t accept us and we were considered as “Ghosts”, because only “Ghosts” are found in the grave. When we were passing, especially a pregnant woman she would spit saliva on her chest “pupuu”, which they believed prevented them from having an albino child, even elderly women and young girls did the same.

As an albino we can’t share plates with others, I should eat alone and my plate should not be mixed with other plates. My bedding (an old coat of my grandmother) was kept outside the house and it was a bad experience with no shelter in the rainy season. I was denied family socialization and no one will touch any object that I touched or eat the food or drink I have prepared, because they believed Albinism is contagious.

I will never forget this day: I went to the river to draw water, and as I was coming back a middle-aged woman called me and said “Elizabeth from today onwards do not pass here or touch my children because when you pass here, they dream of you and hallucinate at night”, I didn’t say anything, I cried the whole night, and said to my God, “God why create me as a Ghost! Why?” That was how I vowed not to visit any home in the village, I was living in isolation, I felt lonely, unloved, useless and unworthy to live.

When I entered the classroom in our village, the female teacher never accepted me, she never talked to me or give me any work. That time I had sores on my body and one day I heard her telling others that, she cannot stand the situation it’s better she teaches other classes, her negativity made me more passive and I decided to stop school.

One day the light shone, I was called by an old lady in the village and she asked me to help her wash plates, at the river side. She held me by the hand and whispered in my ears “Elizabeth, one day your problems will flow away like the waters in the river and they will never come back again. Look at this water as it flows it will never turn back and flow in a different direction, this is how life is, once you understand life, you will not be the same and the solution is education. This old woman made me feel loved, comforted, accepted and fully human.

A few days later, she decided to take me to St. Mary’s Special School (Sponsored by Chalice.ca) with the help of St Vincent de Paul Movement. When I reached school, I saw my friends wearing shoes, sleeping on beds, eating while sitting on a bench/chair, within myself I couldn’t believe it.

I was happy, in fact more than happy, especially when I saw other Albino children. To be sincere it is St. Mary’s Special School that introduced me to the wearing of shoes and sandals, I really felt uncomfortable, since eating while sitting on the chair was something I never thought of and many other traits that makes a human being feel human and comfortable.

Today I am so positive about my life, I am in grade 9 and just finished writing my junior secondary final examination. I promise the world that I will pass. * John has also found peace at the St Mary’s school and is in grade 3. I remain a good dancer, I live healthy with no sores on my body, I wear decent clothes, I have Braille and Braillo paper for my education.

An albino child is fully human, fully alive, we send thanks to you so many people.

Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website https://invernesscountycares.com

Please include mailing address for CRA tax receipts and thank you, when using E-transfer. E-transfer address: [email protected]

or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares Box 99, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided for USA and Canada.

Christmas at the Kawambwa schools

By Inverness County Cares

On December 13, 2020

In Uncategorized

Kawambwa site sends Christmas and New year greetings to the Inverness County Cares team, donors, sponsors, and volunteers. May the New Born Christ give you all the graces you need in your lives. We love you all. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. Sr Agnes and Kawambwa team.

THE HIDDEN JOY OF CHRISTMAS.

By: Sr Agnes Bwalya, Kawambwa, Zambia

Christmas is a season that everyone waits for and is the Hidden Joy of Christmas that we long for!

Christmas is celebrated with a lot of symbols and its celebration starts with a lot of preparations. In the village and at every home, parents start by preparing what to eat and what their children will wear. The children, they think of what they will receive from their parents and what they will give to others. Village chickens, goats, cow, dried fish, local beer and local drinks are set aside just for Christmas. Everyone thinks of what will be shared with others.

The asking of a gift is done in a symbolic way, very early in the morning, one will move with branches and visit a home, knock and shout “Christmas” and leave a branch at the door. The owner of the house comes out, gives the one who brought the branch anything she/he has. If one doesn’t have any food to give, he/she will come out with a cup of water, the other person receives it and drinks, and the games continue.

On the very day of Christmas, families, friends will visit and eat together during the family meal. It is the responsibility of an elderly person to explain to others about the importance of sharing. Food is served and visiting of grandparents is commonly done. The old grandparent will prepare something for whoever visits them, if they do not have anything to give at the end of their visit, they will bless their children by touching their forehead and saying, “Be disciplined and grow old as I am.” It is now that grand children get wrappers and bracelets from their grandmothers, who has been receiving but not wearing. Grandparents feel happy for the visits by young ones. During the visit what is avoided, is to recall any conflict that occurred before, to individuals or among family members. Each one makes sure that joy of Christmas is maintained. It is very common that a dress, shirt, wrapper, shoes, is kept in a suitcase for so many months, just waiting to be put on at Christmas. It is a long preparation which calls for patience as well.

In some areas like Kawambwa and in other parts of Zambia there is a flower which is named ‘Christmas flower’ because it grows and blossoms during the early rains. This is a precious flower that young adults look for and gives to their loved ones as an engagement for marriage. It is commonly done in our village during Christmas and New Year time. When a young girl is given a Christmas flower by a young boy, the girl takes it to her grandparents or aunties. It is self-explanatory that the boy wants to marry their daughter.

The celebration of the New Year starts at Christmas, parents bless their children by word of mouth and by exchange of gifts. The size of the gift does not matter, what matters is the exchange and the eating of food together.

At our two schools, the traditional way of celebrating Christmas and New Year is practiced, and it is a long preparation for everyone. On the last day of the term, each child has to look for something good to do to the other child, or to a friend. Exchanging of branches is done (it must be a branch from a tree that gives us food; such as from a mango tree or a guava tree.) It means a sign of taking care of my friend, giving him/her fruit that can sustain one’s life. Each person finds time to help a friend in some way by washing clothes, sweeping, helping with lessons, but without someone asking for help. Members of staff teach students the importance of sharing. Sometimes elder children on behalf of small children go out to help old parents in the nearby village, visiting the hospital and other charitable works. In the evening they come together for social recreation, sharing of water is commonly done and everyone longs for this time. Small actions are performed to one another silently the main aim of doing these actions is to tell another person that I can help with my free will.

At church, the traditional way of making a kraal (a traditional African village of huts, typically enclosed by a fence) is done as we do at home. Banana leaves and plants surrounds the kraal and model of Jesus, Joseph and Mary and the stars are inserted. It is a sacred and holy place for us, because it reminds us of the place where Jesus was born. During Mass a basket of assorted fruits and seeds covered by branches is offered. It is a good sign of sharing the togetherness and oneness as we worship, EMMANUEL meaning GOD IS WITH US AND AMONG US FULL OF LIFE.

Inverness County Cares always welcomes new members. Individuals who wish to donate, can use the donate button on our website https://invernesscountycares.com

e-transfer to [email protected]

or send a cheque to Inverness County Cares Box 99, Judique, NS, Canada, B0E1P0. Taxation receipts provided for USA and Canada.