It's Hard to Learn When You're Hungry!

Zambia has experienced an extreme drought over the past year, causing widespread hunger and malnutrition. The ongoing drought is affecting millions of people and significantly impacting the most vulnerable, including women, children and persons with disabilities.

Given the low rainfall and the unsatisfactory harvests, the cost of corn, the main staple food, has increased, forcing poor and vulnerable families to live on one meal a day and adopt negative coping strategies. Children are struggling to attend school and if they do, they lose concentration in their classes due to a lack of food.

Hands Around the World (HATW) works in partnership with Pamodzi Ndi Ana (PNA) in Zambia, and to provide some relief to vulnerable families during these unprecedented times, has been providing essential food relief to children with disabilities and their families.

During 2024, PNA distributed a total of 750 bags of maize to vulnerable families. Children with disabilities have been provided with a 25kg bag of maize when they visit the PNA centre for their wheelchair check-up and maintenance and to register for their disability Zapid ID cards. A Zapid ID card is specifically for people with disabilities. The card certifies the type of disability and contains important medical data in case of emergencies. It also certifies eligibility to obtain assistive devices, tax exemptions and access to social services, such as cash transfers and education support.

The distribution of maize has been a great support to these vulnerable families, particularly families with many children and single mothers who are taking care of a child with disabilities alone. By providing food relief during these unprecedented times, these vulnerable children have been supported, malnutrition has been reduced and these families have been prevented from falling further into poverty. Food relief has also enabled these children to keep attending school.

Thank you for your support to these vulnerable children during these challenging times.

Hands Around the World projects are located in areas vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and it is important that our work is delivered in a way that promotes a sustainable future. As a result, HATW began an exciting new initiative in 2023 to provide expert training in sustainable agriculture. In collaboration with Marshal Papworth, HATW support people from our project communities to attend a 10-week course on sustainable agriculture at Harper Adams University, a top agricultural university in the UK.

This course has been designed for students who can demonstrate a strong hands-on commitment to agricultural development and are motivated to making a difference within their communities.

This year HATW supported a dedicated teacher, Jean-Damascene, at G.S. Saint Paul Muko School in Bugarama Rwanda to attend the course. At G.S. Saint Paul Muko school, Jean-Damascene is responsible for supporting the street children that attend the school and also overseeing the school garden. Produce from the school garden supplement the daily meals provided to the street children attending the school.

He believes that the Marshal Papworth scholarship has been instrumental in developing his agricultural knowledge. He said, ‘growing up with a deep passion for agriculture, I recognized the need for enhanced expertise to effectively manage our school garden and improve our feeding programme, which includes providing meals for street children.’

During the 10-week course at Harper Adams, training was received on Integrated Pest Management (IPM), crop production, land preparation, and the fundamentals of beef, pig, and poultry production. Jean-Damascene was very keen to learn about IPM and its sustainable approach to pest control. By using this technique, he believes he will be able to reduce the use of pesticides which will consequently reduce environmental contamination, protect essential wildlife and ecosystems and reduce health risks associated with exposure to chemicals. He also believes that IPM is an economically efficient approach, that is not only cost effective but will also reduce crop damage and promote biodiversity.

The training at Harper Admas also included learning about techniques for managing cereal diseases, which will be used to enhancing maize production at G.S. Saint Paul Muko School, which will supplement the daily meals given to the street children. Providing two nutritious meals a day to these children has increased their school attendance and concentration levels, leading to improved academic performance.

‘I am eager to apply these skills at G.S. Saint Paul Muko and to share this knowledge with other schools and the street children. This will greatly improve food security and foster sustainable farming practices, benefiting our community and future generations.’