|
summary The Kaloko Trust
is a successful organisation working since 1989 to alleviate
poverty in Luansobe, a remote rural area of the Zambian Copperbelt.
In 1996 Trade plus Aid made a donation of £625 towards core funding.
In 2000, Trade plus Aid donated a further £1500 towards supporting
children who had graduated from the primary school to achieve
a higher education. In 2002, having watched Kaloko develop
into Zambia's most successful secondary school, Trade plus
Aid agreed to donate a total of £21,450 over five years to
contribute to school fees.
Zambia has a chronic unemployment problem. Originally the
inhabitants were hunter/gatherers but when copper was discovered,
able-bodied men moved to work in the mines. Copper brought
a degree of prosperity until prices crashed internationally;
the mines were no longer viable and closed down. This left
vast unemployment from which the country still suffers. Now
there is minimal industrial growth and little future for young
people.
Kaloko serves one of the poorest rural areas in Southern
Africa. Kaloko's programmes affect the daily lives of some
15,000 people.
Originally there was no school in the area so, in 1990,
believing that no lasting progress can be made without
education, Kaloko built a primary school with boarding facilities
for the children who come from a longer distance. In 2002 there were
700 pupils at the School.
In Zambia, primary education starts at seven and continues
to the age of fourteen then, nationwide, everyone sits a final
exam on the same day. Those who pass this exam are entitled
to move into secondary education... if there is a secondary
school available. The average pass rate into secondary school
in the Copperbelt is 25%. The first year Luansobe pupils sat
the exam they achieved an amazing 97% pass rate but there
was no secondary school for them to move on to locally. In
response, Kaloko has now built a school for Grades 8 and 9.
The community is very poor and it is very difficult for parents
to keep their children in school after the age of 14. This
is particularly so with girls who are of marriageable age
or are expected to stay at home to look after younger brothers
and sisters, care for sick relatives or to work in the fields.
Kaloko makes a big effort to keep girls at secondary school.
They need these further years to secure their education. A
true saying is "if you educate a man you educate one
person. If you educate a woman you educate a family."
It is Kaloko's policy and endeavour to support all children
who pass Grade 7 to continue into secondary education. For
Grades 8 and 9 most stay at Luansobe but for various reasons
some move to other areas, where for example they may have
relatives with whom they can live. For Grades 10, 11 and 12
all children must enrol at other schools as Kaloko is unable
to offer these. However, if the children stay in education,
Kaloko will support them by paying their school fees and at
Luansobe by providing uniforms, food and boarding facilities.
In 2002, the annual cost of running the Luansobe School was
£35,000. Kaloko particularly needed help in enabling those
who have passed their grade seven exam to continue in secondary
school until they reach twelfth grade. Trade plus Aid
therefore agreed to a five-year funding programme to help
meet these costs. From 2002 to 2007 Trade plus Aid will donate
a total of £21,450 to Kaloko.
For more information on the work of the Kaloko Trust visit www.kalokotrust.org.
Saffery Champness has donated £6500 to help finance
this project. Without their pro
bono accountancy advice there would not have been the
funds available to finance this project.
Project Update Reports:
|
