Skills for Life Centre in rural Zambia

It's a brand new year and we are excited to be starting this year on track to complete phase one of the new Skills for Life and Climate Justice Centre in Sinazongwe over the next few months! This includes finishing the new tailoring centre and demonstration garden. 

It has undoudbtedly been a difficult year for fundraising and running the projects in general. The drought which started last November when the rains failed to arrive, have crippled the communities that our organisation works with in rural Zambia. One teacher summed up this year by telling us "this has been the worst year for hunger that I have ever experienced. As tecahers, we have been using our own money to buy porridge for the most affected children in our classes but we cannot sustain this situation if the rains fail to come again".

Climate change remains the most pressing issue in Sinazongwe, where most families rely on the land or small scale fishing on Lake Kariba for both their income and food. This year the low lake levels made fishing almost impossible and the lack of rains meant that people's crops perished under the swelting heat. We saw children fainting in class with hunger and a huge surge in illegal charcoal burning, as families had no other means for survival.

We are so thankful for everyone that has stood with us this year to help provide a different future for young people living in these extremely difficult circumstances. The new Skills for Life and Climate Justice Centre will be a beacon of hope in the communities that we work with, providing training in tailoring, weaving, entrepreneurship, IT and climate smart agriculture. We have already seen how farming tehcniques that work with the new high temperatures in the Zambezi Valley (40 C+) and collect rainwater are changing families lives.

We look forwrad to updating you all again once the tailoring centre is complete in April.

A huge twalumba kapati from all of us at the School Club Zambia 

We are pleased to report on the progress of the new Skills for Life and Climate Justice Centre being built in rural Zambia. The first step of securing the land has been completed with your support, and this month we were able to host volunteers from a school in the UK who fundraised to build the first part of the centre, the tailoring room, to slab level. 

The 18 volunteers worked in partnership with a skilled contractor over 8 days to make this project a reality. Next month, we will be fencing the property and have begun fundraising for a borehole to start the centre's demonstration garden, which will teach young people from 11 surrounding schools how to farm drought-resistant crops and adapt to the challenges of climate change.

The current drought in Southern Zambia, the worst in 100 years, highlights the urgency of this project. We are grateful to our donors and supporters who continue to contribute to this critical work. With their help, we aim to have all 7 buildings of the centre completed by the end of 2025. These buildings will include a tailoring room, weaving hub, entrepreneurship and IT centre, and demonstration garden.

Thank you to everyone who has kindly supported us in this important initiative so far, as we continue on the path of making this centre a reality!