A father of the fatherless, and protector of widows,
is God in His holy habitation. Ps 68:5
This school was Agnes' idea. She came to me one evening and said,
"Ralph, supposing we were to take the children who are walking past, one by one, hoist them up with a fishing rod, give them each a bath, wash and mend their clothes and then let them go again.." "Then my dear wife" I interrupted, "by tomorrow they would look just as filthy and ragged as before"
The children here run about half dressed in just a thin blouse and no shoes. They chew carrots to stay the pangs, go from their cold homes (under the bridges) out into the cold streets. Yes, it has even gotten so bad in Zambia that countless children stop the passers-by and beg for K100.00 With this money they can only buy a carrot. The picture could not be more grim.
We have a girl called Mwaka at King World School. When Mwaka was one and half years old, both her parents died due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The children in the family had to be parceled out to the kind-hearted relatives.
And when things get tough there because the relatives are economically challenged, too, the children discover that the so called "kind-hearted" relatives are not so kind after all. It is at this time that children then run away from their homes and out into the streets.
Mwaka is now 3 years old and attending pre-school at King World School. You can help to put as many such children into school. When you give these kids a piece of yourself, there is a feeling they give back, something obvious, something I can not explain that is priceless.
It was Jonathan Cutler who said " If you are a mentor, even if you can be one for only one kid at a time, I promise that you will leave this earth a better place than you found it".
Welcome again to my community and King World School.
Below are pictures of the present school in a rented building at
Plot 119, Mutendere. Isn't the sign welcoming?
The children love learning as you can see
by the smiles on their faces.
A bridge has recently been made to cross the ditch to the school. Out door toilet is shown below.
These are urgent needs as of the first part of 2008. . Several other needs on the existing school are still outstanding, the most important of which are:
Constructing a bridge: -ZK 645,000 (done) (Approx. $135 USD)
We are inspired by the children’s determination to live and go to school against considerable odds.
When we see them wake up each day to start their daily struggle for survival amidst heavy obstacles and uncertainty, it gives us the power and drive to intensify our efforts to network and collaborate with others to help make a difference.
Our plan for the future of Mutendere and Kalingalinga is to put in place a fully fledged school that will give education to the vulnerable children that have been left out in the main stream education for obvious reasons.
1. Help renovate the current school in Mutendere
2. Help build a new school for the underprivileged Children in Mutendere and Kalingalinga
We would appreciate help by providing input on some alternative strategies for start-up and the ongoing support of the project.
We need Neighbors who can partner with us and help search for organizations that can assist in training and affiliating with us.
We also need ideas for fund raising for our organization, so we can raise money to build the big school on our plot that will take in more children.
It is not easy for us to realize this dream without help from fellow minded people, who will deliberately, despite the economical challenge in the world today, decided to stand with us and the children here in Mutendere.
