Community Work
At Gems TV, we are passionate about supporting the miming
communities in areas where we uncover gemstones. We are currently funding
projects, Madagascar, Tanzania, Inner Mongolia and Zambia. The later is by far
our largest project and we currently are supporting two schools, a clinic and a
farming project.
We recently sent Natalie McKay along to see how our funding
and projects are progressing.
Previous to the construction of Nkana clinic, the ten
thousand people living within in the catchment area would walk miles to the
nearest town, Kalulushi. One Government clinic was available; however it
provided little facilities and medical care, which subsequently lead to
constant referrals to the General Hospital far away in the nearest town Kitwe.
Due to lack of transport, money and employment, the
communities would rely on a weekly visit from health personnel. This was not a
permanent solution and was hugely unreliable. The health personnel would also
struggle to find transport, adequate facilities and medicine to meet the
demand. Thousands would wait in a local church, poorly constructed and
unhygienic, in wait of the medical assistance which may or may not arrive. With
lack of transport and communication, those sick would wait crowded amongst
others in an unhealthy environment for long periods of time, increasing the
likelihood of air borne diseases. Otherwise, those sick would remain sick,
praying to God for their health, many would eventually would die in their
homes.
Since the construction of the clinic at Nkana, there is
another option for those communities (approximately six thousand people live in
mud huts and basic brick houses in the area). Funding from the Colourful Life
Project (100% funded by Gems TV) to date has been utilised to rehabilitate the clinic
in order to meet the Governmental health standards, thereby receiving
Government approval and funding. The first phase was to ensure the roof and
plaster was completed accordingly. The building has been extended to include a
store room for cleaning equipment and “bikes” etc. Once this is finished, the
ward room which is currently being used a store room can be used to accommodate
patients! Also construction is currently taking place to rehabilitate the
foundations for a waiting room outside the clinic.
The future priority is to ensure that the clinic becomes
available twenty four hours a day. This will be reliant on funding and the
construction of staff accommodation, as currently the staff must leave the
clinic at 4pm to ensure they can return home by foot. The significance of
ensuring twenty four hour accessibility is to accommodate mothers in labour. At
present it is still a difficult process for those in labour to attend the
clinic, however if this occurs out of the hours of 7am-4pm, they must rely on
community assistance in unsanitary conditions, with no medication. Mothers
often loose their babies as a result of this. Ideally the clinic is to be
extended to improve on the current situation of one maternity room and one
post-natal room, which is often used as a second maternity room. Once extension
takes place, the rooms available will be used for admissions, with at least one
male and one female ward, allowing for six beds per room.
The community approached Gemfields (our charity partners and
the biggest Emerald mining company in Zambia) and us for assistance and
recently we have been heavily involved with providing labour. This enables the
community to have ownership and a duty of care to the school and feel they are
part of the improvement of the community.
The nine hundred children who come in two shifts (7am
-11.30am/12.30pm-5pm) are crowded; this will be exacerbated by the community’s
will for the school to be graded to a higher school.
Currently classes 1- 9 attend, it is hoped in the near
future that the school will include all grades up to 12. Funding was given to
create a new block to accommodate the high volumes of children, however before
work commenced it was considered a higher priority to renovate the current
building, which was collapsing. Using the foundations of the building
constructed in 1935, a new block has been developed providing three big
classrooms and two offices, which will accommodate the teachers who currently
work “under the tree”.
The Teachers board agreed to the renovation, in which all
damaged walls have been removed, along with the roof, which has been raised to
ensure over crowding of the classrooms does not result in an over heated and
unhealthy environment of work. Old parts have been removed and many pieces have
been recycled and given to the community to improve their standard of shelter
(homes), this includes wooden beams and corrugated iron sheets.
Of the twenty eight teachers, who are all Government teachers
and therefore paid; only a quarter can be adequately accommodated. Those coming
from Kitwe cannot rely on transport in a specified time frame and may not reach
the school in time for the children, who have walked up to 7km to get there.
Ideally there will be the construction of more staff accommodation on site;
this will be reliant on us providing more funding, time and labour.
All materials: Timber, Iron sheets, plaster etc. have been
paid for and as well as labour from the community, contractors have been paid.
Once the renovation of the old building is complete, there is still the
previous funding, which is hoped to assist in a new construction of two
classroom blocks.
Work has also commenced on the landscape, in order for the
school to “look habitable” and encourage the pupils to come. Previously the
ground has been levelled and poor landscape removed. Once the rain season
arrives (approximately late Oct-March) it is hoped that flowers can be
introduced.
Kaplia School has been constructed in the heart of the
community, previously surrounded by “bush”. Previous to its construction, young
children would have to walk alone from up to 10km distance, through the
dangerous environment with no transport or footwear. Consequently, they simply
did not attend!
The school has undergone extension, now consisting of three
classrooms and an office. A water well has been constructed at the school,
which has proved vital for the children and the surrounding community. The
community have had full engagement with the school, especially providing
labour. The school has 15 hectares of which it is possible to build upon.
Currently staff accommodation is under construction, the foundations for three
rooms have been laid.
At present, there are three teachers: Head teacher Mr Mondo
Chola, a Government trained and paid teacher. Deputy Head teacher Mr Peter
Joseph Kaponda and Chrispine Mubika, are both unpaid community teachers.
These three teachers alone look after up to 300 hundred
children in three classrooms. In order to receive more Government funded
teachers, accommodation must exist. All the materials have been funded by
Gemfield and Gems TV and are at the location and work is commencing slowly. The
community teachers work exceedingly hard, despite being untrained and working
for no pay.
The school accommodates grades 1-6, with the youngest
children being between 6-7yrs. Grades 1-3 attend school by 7.30am, often
leaving very early and walking alone through the dangerous environment and
roads. Grades 4-6 attend at 2pm and will stay until 6pm, when they will have to
walk long distances home. It is exceedingly over crowded. However, the building
is beautifully constructed and a pleasant environment.
On request, the parents and teachers, including the chairman
and vice-chairmen of the Teaching Association met with me to discuss their
grievances. Speeches were conducted from the teachers present and myself, all
expressing thanks and appreciation for working together for the good of the
community and the children. I was touched that the parents had walked far
distances along with their children, away from their livelihoods to meet with
me. This is essential to improve the education of the parents, as well as the
children, to see the value in schooling the young and allowing them to attend
school, especially in the rain season. Without compulsory education, it is a
priority to motivate the parents to cooperate and be involved in their
children’s education. We discussed setting up a permanent parent’s board whereby
they could meet; discussing problems and solutions, how they could be involved
and how to encourage more of the community to get involved in the development
and labour of the school, in addition to supporting them to send their
children.
Priorities:
• Staff accommodation
• Community staff
pay
• Possible another
school block
Twelve farmers have been given the land, education and
equipment to start a farming project. The equipment has ranged from tools,
hoses, fertilisers, chemicals, sprayers etc. This has offered a significant
livelihood which otherwise would not exist. The produce they harvest is
purchased directly by the Gemfields Emerald Mine (to feed it 400 workers) at a
price that represents the market price. All surplus is then taken and sold at
market. This gives the farmers capital and a fair price on their produce and allows
them to grow more.
Theoretically the business composition works well and they
have a comprehensive irrigation system, at the moment the farmers are in a
drought. They are unable to water their produce and therefore watch as it rots.
The stream has dried up and the little water that remains cannot reach the
extent of the land. They have attempted to construct wells themselves; however
they have also dried up and are therefore relying on a small reservoir and
buckets to transport water to the “gardens” over an 18km distance. As the river
is also drying up, the solution of a dam was revised, thinking it would empty
the river completely.
Although it is prohibited, the farmers have taken to
planting directly within the stream itself. This is not only an environmental
health hazard, but it also reduces the stream further. Conservation rules state
that crops have to be grown 300m away from the stream; however this has to be
overlooked for the survival of the farmers.
There is no immediate solution except to wait until the
rainy season, which will not adequately regenerate the problem until late
December.
As it is difficult to provide water to all twelve plots, the
future solution is to move all twelve farmers to one plot and allocate them a
section. One reservoir would provide water to the plot which would be pumped on
a schedule at different times, in three stages. This would be the solution for
the dry season, however it is not ideal and the farmers want the opportunity to
farm their own land. This is also expensive, costing $30,000 and is not a
permanent solution. Experts are due to be brought in next week. They will
assess the situation, land, soil and acidity, which will be the first stage of
this process. The latter stages could occur in any time scale.
Ideally three wells would provide water for the entire area;
however these will have to be between 200-300m deep. This will be hugely
costly, require a great deal of equipment and labour.
Priority:
• Water
Problem
• Water
• Sustainability
Proposal: The excess water from the mine, be pumped,
filtered and safely transported to the farmer’s project
No comments:
Post a Comment