Day 15 - Village of Hope visit - Lusaka, Zambia
Lusaka, Zambia
This morning we drove to Chongwe village to visit the Village of Hope - an orphanage, school and clinic that is run by charity organizations. We met with various organizers of the organization including Samuel who is a nurse who works in the clinic. He is the first nurse I have met in Zambia who runs a clinic independently from a doctor. On average they see 50 patients per day including children and adults from the school and orphanage as well as people from the community. All services at the Village of Hope are free.
The village houses several orphans - most of whom are classified as "double orphans" meaning both parents have died. Most are orphans due to AIDs. In one house, up to 8 orphans live with a house mother (Aunt). 4 girls share one room and 4 boys share another with the house mother living in a room that separates the two. There are two bathrooms - one for girls one for boys - and a common living room and kitchen. Each house cooks their own meals according to a menu that all houses follow.
After a tour of the facilities we were introduced to about 300 children who sang songs to us, cited poetry and a tongue twister (I couldn't repeat if I tried!). I have included a video of the children singing to us. We presented them with some health related activities including a nutrition game, physical activity demonstration, and a hand washing song. As we left many of the children wanted their pictures taken with us an we were swarmed with children as you will see in some photos attached.
Further blogs might be few and far between for the next week as we head out to Monge and Senega in western province of Zambia.
Maryo