Nurturing young people's talents

By Derrick Silimina

When Tisa Mumba was devastated by hopelessness after her father's death, she had no option but to dream beyond her circumstances and work toward a brighter future.

Mumba, 23, opted to take a risk and migrate from Kabwe town to Livingstone, about 470 km south of Lusaka, Zambia's capital, in search of "greener pastures."

"I struggled to do odd jobs in Livingstone to survive. I plaited people's hair [and] baked cakes and scones for resale at the market. And with my little savings, I decided to enroll at Livingstone's Youth Community Training Centre (YCTC) for a short course in food production since I had a passion [for the] confectionery business," Mumba told Global Sisters Report.

In an economy stifled by high living costs and diminished purchasing power, Mumba began her studies thanks to the Zambia Association of Sisterhoods with support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. (The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation also funds Global Sisters Report.)

She embarked on a transformative journey at the training center, where young people acquire valuable skills in electrical engineering, plumbing, electrical power, carpentry and other vocational fields.

The Sisters of St. John the Baptist (Baptistine sisters) manage the training center, nurturing young people's talents in Livingstone, a tourist town near the mighty Victoria Falls, one of the world's largest waterfalls. Built in 1999 by Celim and the Livingstone Diocese, the center is in Libuyu township.

Mumba's academic journey at Youth Community Training Centre almost ended halfway into her studies because of her inability to pay tuition fees. This further depressed her as she worked to hone her skills in food production and find a stable job among Livingstone's top hoteliers in the flourishing hospitality hotspots.

After Mumba failed to report for the second semester due to lack of funds for tuition, the Baptistine sisters immediately asked the registrar's office to put her on a scholarship to support her studies.

"Having lost my dad, who could have provided whatever I needed, was not easy. If it were not for the scholarship, I would have ended up in bad behavior," Mumba said.

Zambia has a booming youth population and a lack of academic support, and employability is a pressing concern among the viable but vulnerable youths, particularly amid a shrinking economy in the southern African country.

After a two-month internship following her nine-month course, Mumba's hard work and discipline paid off. She was offered a full-time job as a chef at Woodlands Lodge & Tours.

"Had it not been for the sisters' intervention, I wouldn't be where I am today. And even with what I am earning through my current job, I am now able to support my mother and siblings back home in Kabwe."

Millions of young people in Zambia are trapped in a cycle of unemployment and poverty. HIV infections, early pregnancy, gender-based violence and a host of other social ills are common.

Zambia also struggles with an energy crisis marked by relentless load-shedding that shuts down power, threatening socio economic stability.

Creative minds like Elizabeth Namfukwe, a young beneficiary of the training center, found an opportunity to acquire a skill and find solutions to the country's energy situation.

"I was super excited to be accepted at YCTC, especially since I was also awarded a bursary [scholarship] in 2023. It's a game-changer for my dream career," Namfukwe told GSR.

Fascinated by electricity generation in Zambia's Kariba Dam, Namfukwe saw an opportunity to become a highly sought-after electrical engineer.

After Namfukwe's internship at Dennis Turf Irrigation Systems, her exceptional performance earned her a job as an assistant technician before the attachment period elapsed.

"It was my first time at a tertiary institution after years of trying to source for academic support. Considering our country's socioeconomic challenges, I would like to commend the sisters for this skills training initiative, which will go a long way to reviving young people's dreams."

The initiative has extended its impact beyond Livingstone. Eleven congregations with skills centers across Zambia have also collaborated, aiming to empower 840 youths in the first two years of the project.

The Zambia Association of Sisterhoods has allocated funds to various skills training centers across the country, including the Holy Rosary Sisters Skills Training Centre, the Bauleni Special Needs Project in Lusaka, and St. Mary's Skills Development Centre Kawambwa in Luapula Province, among others.

"When I came here, my first duty was to look for sponsors and help many vulnerable youths finish their studies. Otherwise, if I just sit, they will not have quality training," said Baptistine Sr. Evelyn Bwalya, the coordinator of Youth Community Training Centre.

After working at other learning institutions with minor vulnerable youths, she was transferred to Livingstone in 2021.

Bwalya, a teacher by profession, said the skills center has more than 240 learners pursuing various lifelong skills. Since 2023, 160 vulnerable youths have benefited from Hilton Foundation scholarships, inspiring higher enrollment levels at the skills training center from 50 students per semester to more than 200. The center has a capacity of 500 students.

Bwalya, 44, finds joy in fulfilling her mission as a Baptistine sister, which follows the congregation's charism of caring for the young and the poor. She said a distinctive feature of the program was the emphasis on real-world exposure, which enabled the students to undergo practical internships at various reputable companies, lodges and hotels in Livingstone.

As the project approaches its culmination in 2024, early signs of success are evident as dedication and hard work secured full-time jobs for many youths, a testament to the program's effectiveness.

Bwalya is happy because before the Hilton Foundation's collaboration, vulnerable students couldn't pay the fees for their training, and the school couldn't buy the training materials for them.

"Now, our students can find jobs, and some are able to set up their own businesses."

A refuge for the sick and dying

By Derrick Silimina

Moffat Tembo, who has HIV/AIDS, remembers the day he was hospitalized at Mother Theresa Hospice after gasping for breath due to the devastating effects of the virus.

The Mother Theresa Hospice, a refuge for the sick and dying, is on the outskirts of Kabulonga, an exclusive suburb adjacent to Kalingalinga, one of Lusaka's slums. The facility is managed by the Missionaries of Charity, a community founded by Mother Teresa of Kolkata in 1950.

The congregation is dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor, irrespective of social class, creed or color. Since 1989, the hospice has followed the words of its founder, welcoming people of all ages who knock at the gates, welcoming and giving them care, medicine, food, school amenities, shelter and love.

Tembo, 34, said that living with HIV/AIDS in a country already grappling with poor health care services is arduous, a dilemma that has thrown thousands of families into extreme poverty.

"I always thank the sisters day and night for saving my life. Without them, I would be dead by now," Tembo told Global Sisters Report.

He was brought to the Mother Theresa Hospice in early 2007 while very sick, and the sisters immediately put him on antiretroviral treatment. He later regained consciousness after nine drips of medication.

Tembo discovered his HIV-positive status at the age of 17. The thought of being on medication depressed him, and he lived in denial for some time. But his immunity couldn't withstand the ravaging effects of HIV.

After his mother's untimely death, Tembo lost hope in life. Living in Mandevu township, a slum a few kilometers north of Zambia's capital, Lusaka, Tembo experienced the harsh reality faced by orphaned children in the country, which forced him into extreme poverty and further deteriorated his health.

After he sought refuge at Mother Theresa Hospice, Tembo's health improved. Following this he enrolled in a community school based at the center to revive his academic journey.

"After I recovered, I dedicated my life to helping the sick here, counsel patients [to] take [their] drugs consistently and encourage the hopeless to have a fighting spirit in life," said the father of four, touched by the sisters' tireless care.

Like him, several others who once came in need of emergency health care are now healthy and working at the facility as drivers, teachers, carpenters, tailors, security staff and caregivers.

Mirriam Chisha is a young woman with an extraordinary story. She is still in disbelief that her life is back to normal after surviving life-threatening surgery after her unexpected ectopic pregnancy.

Chisha, 25, became homeless at the age of 15 after her parents divorced. When her father remarried, she said she couldn't cope with her stepmother's abuse, forcing her to endure life on the streets of Lusaka.

"I discovered that I was two months pregnant at the age of 18, and [suddenly], I got very ill while living on the streets of Lusaka. My fellow street kids organized transport and help [for me] at the Mother Theresa Hospice," she said.

Chisha said that had it not been for the sisters' immediate referral to the University Teaching Hospital for surgery, she would have lost her life.

Sr. Mercy Kanyoro is in charge of the Mother Theresa Hospice. She is excited about her calling because she enjoys witnessing terminally ill patients gradually return to life.

"We see them coming in despair, in hopelessness, and worn out physically. We take care of them and restore their health. We also restore faith in their lives, and we see them get up to resume their normal lives," Kanyoro told GSR.

Coming from a humble background in Kenya, Kanyoro is glad her mission at the 35-year-old hospice has been life-changing, acknowledging that divine providence has made the facility operate smoothly.

She added that many patients who recover from poor health choose to give back as a form of appreciation from the facility that houses a hospice, novitiate, a community school for vulnerable children and a skills training center for vulnerable teen mothers.

"When our patients recover, some usually come and say, 'Sister — you have cared for me, and I want to give back.' Whenever we can, we offer them a job to help them get reestablished in life," she stated.

Kanyoro, 44, said the facility goes beyond its mission of taking care of the poorest of the poor, restoring their physical and spiritual health, and offering capacity building through lifelong skills so that they are not dependent on anyone.

With almost 300 beneficiaries taken care of each day, the facility has its share of challenges since the hospice alone accommodates 60-100 patients suffering from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses, most from Lusaka's surrounding slums.

Although Zambia has made significant strides in reducing the HIV/AIDS infection rate in recent years, the southern African country still has a very high rate of infectious diseases. Estimates in 2021 showed that 1.3 out of almost 20 million Zambians are living with HIV, and women are the most affected.

Kanyoro, with her vast experience in humanitarian work in other countries including Kenya, India, South Africa, Madagascar and now Zambia, said her congregation's quest to serve Christ through their fellow humans is in line with their charism, "To labor for the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor."

"I get inspired to instill hope in the hopeless, provide for the needy, and see terminally sick people back to good health because I get bothered to see how vulnerable people struggle to afford the basic needs in a world of plenty. My hope is to see a sharing world that will transform humankind!"

Grappling for survival on the frontiers of climate change

By Derrick Silimina

In the face of prolonged droughts due to the effects of the El Niño weather pattern, the agriculture sector in Zambia is battling for survival on the frontiers of climate change. 

Recently, the Zambian government even had to declare a national state of emergency.

Braving the sweltering afternoon heat, Adrian Munsanje walks for about ten kilometres every morning in search of pasture and water – a journey his herd of cattle must cover to avoid starvation. 

Munsanje, 50, has seen four of his cows slowly die because of the recent droughts ravaging across Zambia which also left more than 4.4 million people in the southern African country without access to food and clean water.

“This drought is more severe compared to a few years ago, when we could see green pastures nearby for our animals to graze, but that's no longer the case this year,” Munsanje told Rural 21. 

He noted that in his home area of Gwembe district, southern Zambia, local people’s entire way of life revolved around rearing livestock. They were dependent on them for money, for food, for labour and even for paying dowries.

National disaster and emergency declared

 Over nine million people are suffering from an El Niño-induced drought that has crippled the country since late 2023, according to the Zambian government’s crop assessment data. 

For this reason, in the face of prolonged droughts, the agriculture sector in Zambia is battling for survival on the frontiers of climate change – a crisis that has made farmers' way of life increasingly difficult, leaving little food and water for their animals.  

“With heavy hearts, we’ve declared a national disaster and emergency as our country faces severe drought, caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, influenced by climate change. The prolonged dry spell has impacted both Zambia’s food & energy security,” Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema said recently during a national address. 

The Zambian government affirmed that the country had gone without rain at a time when farmers needed it the most as the drought hit 84 of the country’s 116 districts, affecting more than a million farming households. 

Zambia’s most cultivated and thirsty cash crop – maize – is one of the hardest hit. Others include cotton, soybeans, tobacco, groundnuts and peppers.

Oxfam warns that over six million people from farming communities in Zambia are facing acute food shortages and malnutrition until the next growing season, which is twelve months away. 

Environmental experts say Zambia’s once vibrant agriculture sector is falling victim to rising temperatures, prolonged droughts and erratic rainfall that are threatening crop yields and livelihoods. 

Ironically, Zambia’s rivers, lakes and underground reserves account for 40 percent of southern Africa’s water resources, but the water is not always available in the right place or at the right time.

“With this crop failure, I am really in trouble because I have a family of ten people, and I depend on farming to maintain them. I support my children’s education through agriculture and my little children need food the most, for their nutrition,” says Mable Mwanza, a smallholder farmer in Kafue district.

Irrigation systems should be prioritized

 

It is therefore emphatic that more needs to be done to serve smallholder farmers in Zambia. Moreover, this southern African country is only a minor emitter of the gases that drive global warming. 

With steadily rising temperatures, prolonged droughts and erratic rainfall threatening crop yields and livelihoods, Zambia’s once vibrant agriculture sector is falling victim to climate change. 

Agronomists say it's high time to prioritise irrigation in order to boost yields to between two and four times the levels of rain-fed agriculture, which could be an important part of the solution to a shortfall in productivity in the sector. 

In particular, drip irrigation is to be promoted because it is particularly affordable and effective. Even though drip irrigation is relatively inexpensive, small farmers still depend on government agricultural programmes and NGO programmes to help finance the systems.

Constance Mulenga, a smallholder farmer based in Chibombo district, central Zambia emphasises that with the onset of climate change, she is now eager to invest more in irrigation systems as a way to improve crop yields and enhance her household food security. 

“I cannot imagine how I would have managed to earn income without irrigation,” says Mulenga.  “It keeps my horticulture business running all-year-round.” 

Mulenga has been irrigating her winter maize crops with a combination of underground water sources and irrigation equipment for several years, as the impact of climate change has become increasingly clear.

Zambia's liquid gold

 Notwithstanding being stung by drought, some smallholder farmers in the patched dry lands of Kazungula District, Southern Zambia, who had recurrently suffered poor harvests of maize (Zambia’s staple food) due to unpredictable rainfall, have turned to beekeeping as an alternative source of income. 

“Despite the challenges of droughts, I have seen firsthand how honey harvested from my beehives supports my family’s well-being. I use some of the honey for home consumption and sale, while the surplus is exchanged for maize, providing enough food for my home,” says Ronica Himambo, a full-time honey producer from Kabwe district in central Zambia.

But the honey sector is also increasingly suffering because it is being affected by charcoal burners cutting down trees to meet the ever increasing demand for charcoal. 

Moses Chishala is a small-scale farmer in Mkushi district of central Zambia. Additionally he has been trying to grow his honey business for years. 

“Every day, piles and piles of trees are cut down and transported to make charcoal, an industry that is depriving bees of their natural habitat and threatening the production of honey,” Chishala says. 

This is because Zambia, which is heavily reliant on hydroelectricity, is currently experiencing a power shortage such that the widespread drought which hangs over much of southern Africa has left water levels in dams worryingly low, and charcoal is the cheapest energy alternative available, but the bees need the trees.

According to the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF), Zambia loses between 250 and 300,000 hectares of forest every year to charcoal burning, and the government is heavily investing in energy alternatives such as solar, whilst preserving the honey sector.

In view of these challenges, it is clear that only a decisive change in agriculture and the sustainable use of natural resources can enable the people of Zambia to have a resilient future that can meet the demands of climate change.

Chinese holistic healing

By Derrick Silimina

When Tom Dambudzo was bedridden due to ill health in his rural village, taking painkillers was the only option for him to relieve pain. “I couldn’t walk properly when I had severe backache for six months and my dependence on anaesthetic drugs was quite stressful,” Dambudzo told ChinAfrica. 

Dambudzo's decision to relocate from his rural home on the outskirts of Bulawayo to Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, in search of quality health care turned out to be a roll of the dice that would eventually pay off in spades.  

“I visited a local traditional Chinese medicine practitioner. He pricked me with small needles, which were removed after 30 minutes. After 10 days of treatment, I feel better now!” he said. 

Following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Zimbabwean and Chinese governments on cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), thousands of Zimbabweans have turned to the ancient Chinese therapy to get their ailments treated. 

In 2020, the Zimbabwe-China Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Centre at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals was established in Harare and the facility, which houses the country’s largest TCM training school and research centre, has treated more than 150 people suffering from various ailments such as hypertension, lumbar pain, diabetes, and hernia. 

Local medical practitioners are enthusiastically studying the healing power of the ancient Chinese therapeutic technique, a medical system that has been used to diagnose, treat, and prevent illnesses in China for thousands of years, which is proving to be a beacon of hope for access to quality health care in a country grappling with obsolete medical facilities.  

Affordable alternative 

A group of 10 Zimbabwean medical professionals graduated as TCM practitioners in 2022 from a TCM training programme offered by Chinese doctors, the first of its kind in Zimbabwe. Their training comprised theory and practice including acupuncture and moxibustion, as well as diagnosis and treatment of diseases. 

After graduation, some of them started private practice to provide alternative medication at a lower cost, after witnessing the wonders of ancient Chinese medical treatment. 

Tatenda Chimbunde is among the 10 Zimbabwean licensed acupuncturists who got the skill to fulfil her passion for relieving others from pain. Chimbunde started a mobile clinic to provide acupuncture, a component of TCM. 

“I have seen in my practice that after I administer acupuncture, where one had to depend on taking a painkiller every 4-6 hours needs to take those drugs once in five to seven days, and with more acupuncture sessions, some of the patients can completely go off these painkillers, as acupuncture therapy would have helped in treating their ailments,” Chimbunde told ChinAfrica. 

The 26-year-old pharmacist who also works at a private clinic in Harare noted that TCM is more cost-effective than Western medicine, and it does not discredit the value of Western drugs as they work as adjuncts to enhance treatments. TCM also does not have side effects like Western medicine does,” she said. 

“In my own experience as a certified acupuncturist, where cost is concerned, I have observed that there are certain ailments like arthritis, back pain, and knee pain for which patients would spend a lot of money on buying different painkillers. The painkillers would relieve the pain just for a while, with no long-term cure. But with acupuncture, the recovery is quicker and the ailment is cured, which cuts the cost of medication.” 

Richard Mutingwende is another certified Zimbabwean acupuncturist who runs a private clinic located in the Stoneridge suburb of Harare, where he receives about 20 patients each day, and hopes to raise the number to 50.  

“Acupuncture works wonders, especially for conditions that cannot be treated using other systems of medicine,” Mutingwende said.  

Chris Chatunga, a teacher from Mashonaland, said he recently travelled to receive treatment at Mutingwende’s TCM clinic and the trip was worth it as he got cured. “Despite spending a lot on painkillers, my chronic headache continued. After hearing about TCM, I tried acupuncture therapy and it worked like magic,” Chatunga said. 

With TCM techniques including moxibustion, cupping, acupuncture, herbal products and mind-body practices, local patients with conditions such as arthritis, sciatica pain, back pain, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, and even infertility and digestive disorders have received treatment.  

Among the wide range of Chinese ancient cures on offer, acupuncture has received maximum acceptance. In this traditional Chinese therapy, needles are inserted onto affected points on the body to relieve pain and cure illnesses. 

Cooperation with China 

According to the World Health Organisation, TCM has a long history of contributing to conventional medicine and continues to hold promise, and in most developing countries, herbal medicines are the first line of treatment for more than 60 percent of children with high fever. 

Arguably, some advocates of TCM say the Chinese therapeutic practice saves more lives compared to modern medicine as it avoids many side effects associated with modern medicine. 

Zimbabwe and China recently committed to increasing cooperation on the use of TCM to give people more medical choices. 

Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora recently expressed appreciation for China’s technical support which has greatly enhanced Zimbabwe’s health care footprint, adding that there was more that Zimbabwe could learn from the Chinese in harnessing traditional medicines. 

“We are also making strides in strengthening traditional medicine and we now have a council to regulate this sector,” Mombeshora revealed. 

Indeed, China’s ancient healing arts are gaining a strong following in the Southern African country as patients are increasingly flocking to local TCM clinics offering a variety of cures. 

Brighton Chiwenga, a truck driver from Harare’s Arlington suburb, was full of praise for the effectiveness of moxibustion - a Chinese medical therapy which brought an end to his unbridled fatigue whenever he took a long drive. 

“After I drive hundreds of km every week, I get stressed and fatigued. I tried modern medicine but it didn’t help much. But moxibustion therapy worked perfectly,” Chiwenga affirmed. 

Chimbunde, the TCM practitioner, said acupuncture has been a game changer for many. “In cases like stroke for example, some patients lose their mobility and cognitive abilities, but with the help of acupuncture and physiotherapy, I have seen lives change and people who had lost hope experience a renewed life.” 

Laughter, singing reverberates through a girls' orphanage

By Derrick Silimina

As laughter and singing reverberates through a girls' orphanage in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, the surge in orphans is adding to the hardships of a population already struggling with an economic crisis.

"Not that I am not affected by being a double orphan, but I feel safe and secure being here," Anita Kachinga, a 15-year-old resident of Home of Joy orphanage, told GSR.

Kachinga vividly recalls her depression and anxiety after losing her mother to illness after a stay at Lusaka's Mother Theresa Hospice.

Narrating her ordeal, Kachinga disclosed how she got abused by her mother's relatives, an experience that traumatized her and robbed part of her childhood. "I found myself living on the cold streets of Lusaka until I took refuge at the Home of Joy orphanage."

In 1999, Archbishop Medardo Mazombwe, at the time head of the Lusaka Archdiocese, saw an urgent need to help the vulnerable children found dumped at the Marian Shrine Campus. 

The Congregation of the Immaculate Conception sisters from India who were in charge of the facility took up the challenge to establish the Home of Joy, also known as Nyumba Yanga Orphanage, on Aug. 7, 2000.

In the face of poverty and the untimely death of parents due to HIV/AIDS, among other maladies, nearly one-fifth (18%) of children in Zambia aged 0-14 years are orphans, one of the highest orphan rates in the sub-Saharan Africa region, according to the World Bank.

For this reason, Immaculate Conception Sr. Theresa Kulandai, director of Home of Joy, works to provide education, food, clothing and shelter among others to double-orphaned girls nestled within the Marian Shrine Campus, 15 kilometers east of Lusaka city.

_____

GSR: Tell us about yourself and the work you do.

Kulandai: Initially, I was sent to Zambia as a missionary from India in 2015, after completing my final profession. In 2020, I was moved and assigned at our other foster home called "Future in My Hands" which is based west of Lusaka, where I also helped to teach vulnerable girls at our school, called St. Joseph's Future in My Hands.

Professionally, I studied engineering with a major in electronics and communication back in India. While I was working at the children's home, I pursued a primary teaching career at Kasiya College of Education because of my passion to impart knowledge to the children.

Twenty-four years ago since the orphanage was established, we are still relying on well-wishers to feed, clothe and sponsor the children to school, among other needs, as we currently have no income-generating venture to sustain and manage the home. I am glad that other people, including Catholic Women's League from different parishes, do pitch in to contribute with groceries, clothing and foodstuffs, among others.

What does it take to manage the vulnerable and double-orphaned girls?

Obviously, it is not an easy task to take good care of young orphans from a diverse background, considering their different age differences being put in one place. It takes passion to take care of the orphans who mostly come from hostile environments.

We house a total of 35 girls from 5 to 17 years of age and they all attend school from baby class to grade 7. It is a complex duty to manage both young and older girls in one facility for a long time and this is why we have another home — "Future in My Hands" that was established in 2017 to cater for the matured girls above 18 years.

At Home of Joy, we only keep girls from baby class up to grade 7 and then we transfer at least seven girls every year to [the Future in My Hands home] after they write their junior school examinations in readiness to go to high school, from grade 8-12.

How does your charism line up with your humanitarian work?

Since our congregation's charism is to "help the poor people in simplicity and love," I got touched when I found little ones that are in need of care and love. In fact, after I came to Zambia from India in 2021, and upon seeing the vulnerable children, I really got the desire to offer my life for them and finally it became my passion to carry out this mission.

Further, we strive for the girls' integration with their relatives, such as uncles, aunties or grandparents, and during school holidays we allow them to familiarize with their extended family members before they get integrated after they graduate from our facilities.

How has your ministry evolved with time?

Since 1994 when our ministry came to Zambia to do pastoral work, there was no specific plan to establish an orphanage. But thereafter, a need arose and we took up the responsibility, since we also run several orphanages and other homes of poor people in India.

For this reason, our ministry is strategically positioned to take up orphaned children, especially from hospices that look after terminally ill and dying parents, especially from the Our Lady's Health Centre, Mother Teresa Hospice and among others, not only from Lusaka but from other towns countrywide where our ministry is serving. 

How many girls have benefited from the orphanage from inception?

So after 24 years of the orphanage's existence, we have supported over 160 girls into higher education. After they graduate, some have gotten married, some come back to work as "mothers" at Home of Joy [where two are now working].

Recently, after a realization of some of the big girls' poor academic performance, especially those that we took to government schools, we decided to establish our own school, St. Joseph's Future in My Hands school to cater for the primary and high school.

I am excited that most of our graduates are now well-established and doing fine in life. Others have pursued their academic journey through other donor sponsorship. Some have done medicine, teaching and engineering, among other careers. 

What challenges do you face in the daily operations of the orphanage?

It is evident that such an undertaking of managing an orphanage does come with its own prominent challenges each day. Before my current position, I used to be an assistant to my predecessor, but after she left, I had to get used to managing all daily duties seamlessly.

Since the facility is run like a family setup, with each house housing 10 children who are taken care of by a "foster mother," we have four mothers each taking care of around 8-10 girls.

Some of the challenges include lack of transport to ferry girls to and from school, inconsistent donor support, and limited supplies of basic needs to cater for the increasing number of girls annually.