April 2025 news from The Mutende Project in Chingola, Zambia
It’s so good to be able to provide another positive update on life at Mutende, after our visit in February. The children (and staff) seem well and happy, and we always have a lot of fun. The end-of-visit water fight has become a tradition. If only there was a quicker way of filling all those water balloons – it takes ages! It’s well worth it because the children love it and start asking about it almost as soon as we arrive. Our visits are spent doing activities with the children, dealing with practical issues like maintenance, and catching up with staff and the Zambian board overseeing Mutende.
There are a couple of new children settling in, although time will tell whether they stay more long-term. The children are placed by the local Social Welfare Department, and it’s not always clear when they arrive whether Mutende will be looking after them temporarily or whether they will need to stay longer. Occasionally children also leave Mutende to go to a home situation as family situations improve, or an extended family member offers to provide care.
One of the benefits of regular visits over the years is that we can see the children progressing, which is such a joy. On our recent visit we were having a closer look at the provision for the older children, as the transition from school life to the next phase of education or employment can take a year or more.
The children enjoying a play session outside one of the houses
We’re looking at ways of helping to bridge this gap as this is a critical time in their young lives. They need emotional and financial support as they develop the life skills to become independent.
We’re so grateful to all the supporters who give to the children throughout their time at Mutende, and for those who are continuing their support as they face the joys and challenges of adult life.
Ian (team member in Feb) had some help in the kitchen. I’m not sure whether we had power for cooking at this moment. It was in short supply!
We were hoping that the power situation might have improved since our last visit, but unfortunately it hasn’t. Even with much better rain during the wet season, it’s going to be a while, possibly even several years, before the hydro-electric supply is back at the level it was a couple of years ago.
Solar installations are becoming a necessity in Zambia if you want to have consistent power. We’re in the process of getting solar panels installed on the main Mutende site, which will provide continuous lighting and enable the office to keep functioning.
We won’t be able to provide power for cooking at the outset, but there’s hope that we’ll be able to develop this in the future. We’ve already received some donations towards this cost, but if you’d like to give money to fully cover these costs, please see the links on our website below.
We’d already begun the work of expanding the school, and foundations had been laid for a further five classrooms and a toilet block. Originally this was intended for lower secondary provision, but changes in the Zambian school curriculum mean that it will be staying as a primary school and taking in more children at this age.
The first classroom of the school expansion
At our trip in February we agreed that the building of the first classroom should be started, and progress is good as you can see from the photo. We’ll continue with the other classrooms at a later stage. In the meantime, two of the largest classes are splitting their sessions to ease the pressure, so half of the class attends in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon.
It’s not just the school that’s expanding, the goat population at Mutende is increasing and there are now five. Goats make excellent lawnmowers and also serve as the local food waste recycling service!
The goats will continue to be bred and will be used for meat and milk. These smaller projects all help to make Mutende more self-sufficient.