Local Partner: Kabwata Orphanage & Transit Centre
Local Partner Director: Angela Miyanda
Area Served: Lusaka and Kaweza District, Zambia
Program Goal: To provide for the care and education of over 400 AIDS orphans and to provide service outreach to people of the Kaweza District.
Program Services Provided: Orphan care, health care, clean water, school construction and HIV/AIDS education and outreach.
Number of Program Beneficiaries: Around 60 children in the Home (the number of orphans in the home fluctuates regularly), and 120 within the community, 17 elderly, More than, 4,000 individuals through the clinic and mobile-clinic.
Current Needs: Funding for orphan care program, anti-viral medications, and salaries for two teachers to come and teach at the local primary school.
Program Summary:
The Kabwata Orphanage & Transit Centre was created by Mrs. Angela Miyanda to provide shelter and care for AIDS orphans in Lusaka, Zambia. In addition to the orphanage, the program has expanded to include a school, a mobile clinic, a small farm, and support services for widows and the elderly. Mrs. Miyanda and Kabwata’s 11 staff members run a well-organized orphanage and a successful foster care program that integrates the surrounding communities into the nurturing and care of these vulnerable and needy children. The program has become a model for children’s programs in the area. Kabwata also operates a mobile health clinic, founded in 2000, which treats an average of 200 people per week in the Kaweza District. The clinic has changed the lives of countless local community members for whom the nearest government clinic is simply too far to access on foot. In addition to providing basic health care and anti-retroviral drugs, the clinic also conducts community educational sessions that emphasize the need for changing the attitudes and behaviors contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Their forward-thinking efforts have made small but strong and consistent strides toward a truer understanding of the disease and the need for birth control, condoms, and honest communication in relationships.
In 2007, Kabwata and Bread and Water for Africa® developed a long-term plan for self-sufficiency, and decided to begin operation of a banana plantation near the orphanage, with profits going towards the orphanage’s good works. Six years later, the banana plantation has been a huge success, with four employees and many helping hands from the older students at the orphanage. Kabwata and Bread and Water for Africa® are teaming up once again to expand the plantation, with construction to begin this year.
In 2011, the Kabwata Centre completed construction of a new school for up to 400 local children and set up an early childhood learning support scheme to help children with homework and to address learning difficulties.
Currently, school fees, medical care costs and other operational fees are supported in part by Bread and Water for Africa®, costs which will diminish as Kabwata continues on the road to self-sufficiency.
