Countries We Serve: Bulanda Trust

Bulanda church is located in the Jembo district, about 70 kilometers from Choma. It is a rural, village-based church. An estimated 1000 people live within the village area, and the church itself ministers to approximately 200 members. Within the village, hunger and lack of water provide constant daily stresses. The pastor of the church remarked that as many as 50 people could die this year due to hunger and malnutrition. The Jembo health clinic, the only opportunity for regular health care, estimate that 1 in 4 babies die before the age of 5 due to preventable diseases. The HIV prevalence rate is estimated to be nearly 20% with 1 in every 3 households caring for chronically ill family members.

There exists only 1 small stream that provides the bulk of the water source for the village. Most people walk nearly 5 kilometers ( 3 miles) for water. The nearest health clinic is more than 6 kilometers away at Jembo mission. The village relies almost exclusively on maize farming with most households subsisting through home agriculture.

Resources existing within this community include developable land, potential for boreholes (trust support provides drilling a borehole), and the people of the village skilled in the area of agriculture and animal rearing.

Estimated Impact for Generic Trust

Number of Caregivers: 65
Number of Orphans: 60
Vulnerable Children: 120
Total Number of Children: 180
Extended family benefited: 1750

Community Mobilization

The trusts will be launched through a 3 step initiation process:

• Initiation meeting: World Hope staff meet with the church congregation to explain the trust concept and begin the process of selection of projects and registration of caregivers and orphans.
• Follow up meeting: Held between the WHIZ staff and the Bulanda trust. During this meeting consensus will be built for the selection of caregiver projects and leadership for the trust nominated and selected. The World Hope Zambia staff responsible for caregivers and OVCs surveys will also make their follow-up at this meeting to ensure that all the eligible beneficiaries are identified and registered.
• Launch ceremony: Resources are provided to the trust to formally begin the income generation projects.

Projects under review for this trust:

1. Vegetable garden
2. Goat multiplication
3. Sewing and tailoring

Mobilization schedule:

Initiation meeting 12/07
Follow up meeting 1/08
Trust launch 1/30/08

Trust Benefits

The future of the caregivers and their vulnerable children can be bright, given support of a Community Trust. With initiation of a Trust, caregivers can begin receiving regular livelihood distributions which include food, hygiene products an school supplies from the profits of their livelihood activities. During distributions within existing trusts, many caregivers well up with tears in their eyes - not tears of sadness but tears of joy and gratitude. Caregivers usually receive a standard pack of supplies including a 10 kg bag of maize meal (corn meal), cooking oil, sugar, salt, laundry soap and other essentials.

In addition to agricultural projects, training in community health, OVC support and HIV related home based care will provide tangible support to the burden of sickness, disease, and death.