Secondary School & Supplies for Excelling Students

Esther is as in love with Chikumbuso as I am, maybe even more. Her eyes water when she speaks about it unable to hide her emotions. Yesterday I rubbed her legs and asked her to think about Chikumbuso with her eyes closed. She closed them, hesitated, and then smiled. She said, “Chikumbuso is a Light.” Her chest heaved, eyes twittered, smile eased not sure whether her audience could be trusted to hear her truths.

“When I wake in the morning and contemplate the day I’m not sure where it is going. Washing clothes I fight with my soul who calls me to Chikumbuso. Why didn’t I go today?” No I have things to do. I continue washing and my mind wanders to the community center. I wonder who is there that morning, which of my friends. I am comfortable with these friends who understand me inside and out. Then I begin to “worry”. What if there are not enough people to cook the lunch meal? Perhaps I should go and see. When my chores are finished the pull to go to Chikumbuso is so strong that I can no longer ignore it. I pack up my crocheting, grab my scissors and hook, lock the door and go.

Esther’s husband died of AIDS when she was 22 years old and had been married four years . They didn’t acknowledge that it was AIDS and they didn’t want to know whether it was or not. When he died Esther was 3 months pregnant with her first child. Her husband’s family came and took almost everything leaving her with just a few kitchen items. This forced her to move in with her brother and his family making 8 in the house. After the birth of her baby she began to get sick. It was blamed on the fact that she was “not clean”. This “cleansing” refers to a traditional cleansing ceremony that every widow should go through. Esther tried healing at the clinic and she tried African medicine. When she finally was tested for HIV and got herself and her son on ARTs she was stigmatized by all. She was stigmatized especially by family due to lack of their understanding of the issue. They refused to eat out of the same bowl with her or drink out of the same cup. Her sister in law refused to even use the same basin that Esther used to wash her clothes. Esther ate alone and lived alone in her head without a support group of any kind. This is where I met her. Now at Chikumbuso both her friends and the money she earns from making plastic bags has changed her life. We all rejoiced when Esther's son went to his first day of school. Esther is an integral part of her community. Her courage is contagious to others that are trying to make it on their own. When commenting on women with AIDS her counsel comes as a direct result of the isolation she felt,

“What is most important is that those with AIDS just need love. Love in the family, love in the community, for without it the drugs will do nothing.”

As Esther enters the gate at Chikumbuso and signs in she smiles, “I am just like that moth continually drawn in by the light. This place makes me happy, it is life for me”.

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Troy Smith, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is currently an In-the-Field traveler visiting GlobalGiving projects throughout Zambia, Malawi, and Tanzania.

The Chikumbuso Project is right off the beaten path. The beaten path, it turns out, is actually a well-maintained, smooth ridin’ Lusaka street. Veer off to the left, and suddenly you hit a pot-holed, pock-marked dirt path and the struggling neighborhood of Ng’ombe.

Ng’ombe has been struck hard by AIDS, as has the entirety of Zambia, a nation whose infection rate can reach as high as 25% in some areas. Imagine 120,000 people packed into an area of just a couple of square miles; certainly a heck of a lot smaller than the subdivisions and gated communities we all take for granted. Not to mention, the area is also home to almost 10,000 orphans, many of whose parents died from the ever-present virus.

While in Chikumbuso I was told the children are all guaranteed one meal a day. Turns out, some of the children had only been eating every other day.

Despite all of these factors weighing in, Ng’ombe remains one of the better compounds. After visiting a single-parent home in Ng’ombe, just a simple mud-brick house with iron sheet roof, my friend turned to me and whispered, “You should’ve seen where she moved from.”

However, swing open the gates of the Chikumbuso project and it’s like crossing over into another world. Started in 2005, Chikumbuso has provided education to neighborhood orphans and microenterprise opportunities for local widows.

Walking through the gate, it’s like getting punched with love. Seriously. The happy faces of the children and the bustle of activity is enough to make anyone overwhelmed. There I was, having been in Zambia for one day, with my camera and my notebook not knowing what to expect. A mere 3 hours later, I left with a true connection with those Chikumbuso folk.

It is definitely a town all its own, with a clear mayor—baby Kelly. This bright-eyed two-year-old girl runs the community, moving from lap to lap until everyone does her bidding. Seriously though, I am probably going to steal her and bring her back to North Carolina.

All joking aside, the real leader of the project, Linda Wilkinson (or “Mama Linda” as she’s called), has created an amazing organization. An assortment of buildings, which just 4 years ago was a brothel and a bar, has been transformed into a smoothly functioning non-profit, providing support for countless widows and orphans.

Some of the highlights--The Chikumbuso project provides K-5 education for local orphans, and on top of that, helps to fund secondary education for local children. Irene, a ninth-grader, stated “I never would have been able to go to school had it not been for Chikumbuso. I am so grateful for them.”

Irene is pretty shy and one can tell she has certainly faced some serious challenges in life, but mention Chikumbuso once, and her eyes light up. After that, it’s a task to get her to clam up.

The main attraction of this oasis of sorts is the microenterprise operation. At Chikumbuso, the widows work making extremely elaborate, beautiful bags crocheted with recycled plastic. It is really something else, seeing the amazing products they can turn out with such a common material. These bags are quickly becoming a fashion statement around Lusaka, and are doing very well abroad.

By selling these bags at Sunday markets and abroad, these women are able to earn a comfortable living. All of these women have surely faced some huge challenges. Having lost children and spouses, Chikumbuso now allows them an opportunity to find some ease of mind, without appealing to direct charity.

The project also helps train single moms in life skills, as well has reach out to 23 local grandmothers, who are given food assistance, home visits, and medical care for both themselves and their grandchildren.

The project even provides a “safe house,” a place where children with AIDS-inflicted parents can stay if necessary; a bit of insurance should someone pass.

“Mama Linda” is known throughout the Lusaka NGO scene. Honestly, I have yet to meet anyone who doesn’t know of her work. Why so popular? Obviously something is working. Her time with the Chikumbuso Project is inspiring others throughout the Greater Lusaka area to stand up and change their communities.

While I was leaving, I spotted a quote on a blackboard.

“Dance, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the Dance said He.” Well they certainly are dancing down in Ng’ombe, thanks to the work of the Chikumbuso Project.

Links:

• Follow Troy's trip on our In-the-Field page!