Zambia – Wastepickers

In 2010, the Unforgotten Fund opened a field office in Lusaka, Zambia. Since then we have been the only NGO providing aid to the mothers and children living off the trash dump in the Chingwere district.

Boy picking dump — This young boy spends his days in the dump picking through the trash. This is what we are trying to prevent.

In collaboration with the Mapalo School, we educate children who otherwise would be scavenging in the dump to help their families survive. Educating the children provides an opportunity for them to live healthy, fulfilling lives.

A class photo with our sponsored children in Zambia — An old class photo with our sponsored children in Zambia

UNFF-sponsored graduates — Shown here are nine of the young UNFF-sponsored scholars who have graduated from Mapalo School

Our longtime supporters may recognize the faces of the children. When we started, they were child wastepickers, about the age of preschoolers, but now they are grown students with bright futures. School is currently out, and may be suspended again because of COVID, but there is no holding them back.

Despite the difficult circumstances created by the COVID pandemic they are contining their education in public schools, some of which are many miles from their homes. UNFF continues to support them with school fees and encouragement. In December 2020 we hope to have our first high school graduate, Christine Phiri. Our scholarship fund will continue to assist Christine and her schoolmates as long as they remain committed to learning and advancing in school.

Our sincere thanks to all our donors, board members and volunteers for changing the lives of these children forever.

Background: Wastepickers in Zambia

68% of Zambians live below the national poverty line and unemployment is widespread. Due to its dependence on the mining industry, the Zambian economy suffered greatly from the 2009 economic depression. Furthermore, the HIV epidemic, while in decline in Zambia, still has an estimated prevalence rate of 13.5% among adults. These socio-economic conditions affect all genders and age groups, but they disproportionately affect women and youth. Many disenfranchised families turn to wastepicking at dump sites as a source of employment (in recycling) and dangerously, for food.

The working and living conditions of wastepickers are unhygienic and dangerous. At dumpsites, wastepickers are often exposed to raw sewage and toxic chemicals while they scavenge recyclable materials to sell and food to eat. This exposure can cause disease and injury. Families that rely on wastepicking are impoverished, malnourished, and vulnerable. Malnutrition is an underlying factor in over half of childhood deaths. Many children who eat food from the dumpsites suffer diarrheal diseases, which can cause death. Housing is another danger at the dumpsites in Zambia. One-room houses are often poorly constructed and lack access to toilets, running water or electricity. Overall these conditions are dreadful. Childhood mortality is very high and malnourishment and truancy has a major impact on the physical, cognitive and emotional development of the surviving children.

Projects

The mission of the chapter is to improve the lives of the unemployed, undernourished children and their mothers, who live in dumpsites or inhabit the neighboring dwellings (slum areas). The Unforgotten Zambia Chapter specifically targets wastepickers living in the Chingwere District of Lusaka as well as several orphanages throughout Zambia. The Unforgotten was able to identify these beneficiaries after partnering with Bwafwano, a community-based organization that had been in the area for over six years.

The Unforgotten currently aids 30 families in the Chingwere District. Most of these families in the program are female-headed households — there are 30 children and 24 mothers in the program. We have enrolled the children at Mapalo Trust School. The Unforgotten pays for primary schooling for the children and provides a monthly bag of maize meal to each household to supplement the families’ nutritional needs. Additionally, The Unforgotten subsidizes lunch during school for all students in the program, which provides them a healthy balanced diet.

Overall, our sponsored students are improving in school and on their performance reports. The children range from Grade 1 to Grade 7. Three of them will soon take their Grade 7 examinations—two girls, one boy. If they score high enough marks, then these three will go to Secondary school. Last year, two out of four of our sponsored children were able to graduate to high school. The Unforgotten’s Children Scholarship Program provides financial support in secondary school for these most outstanding students.

Unfortunately, some children struggle to leave the dumpsites and stay in school. Recently, The Unforgotten had to remove a student, John, from the program because of his continued absenteeism. His younger sister, whose twin brother died due to food poisoning after eating food from the dumpsite, replaced him.

We have an active microlending program, in which the mothers have started small businesses, including jewelry making.

We have also completed two drinking water projects: one in the village of Ngwerere and one in the village of Kabanana. Our program there is at a critical juncture — we would now like to see the women become independent and support themselves and their families. To enable this, The Unforgotten purchased an Agricultural Plot and provided training on how to raise chickens, pigs and crops. The construction of the pigsty is now complete. The women have also begun plantation of vegetables on the agricultural plot.

To date, the women have successfully planted onion and Chinese cabbage. With the coming rainy season, there are plans to plant Maize as well. Additionally, the pigsty is almost finished now and will have 6 different compartments. This is critical because the women will be able to generate more income from selling piglets than produce.

The team and women in Zambia are excited about the progress that has been made. The roofing is done and the process of plastering the walls is underway. The completion of the agricultural project will be an enormous accomplishment for the women in Zambia, and the beginning to a self-sustaining future.

In 2014, on the recommendation of Mercy Kids, another Non-Governmental Organization active in Zambia, the Lusungu Children’s Home in Chingola, near the northern border with Congo, was selected as the beneficiary of a capital water project.

For detailed information about The Unforgotten Projects in Zambia, please visit the Projects section of this website.

Project Staff

Project Manager, Rabecca Machiya, leads The Unforgotten team in Zambia, along with field coordinator, Kangwa Chewe.

Project Manager, Rebecca Machiya, delivers a loan check to a sponsored mother — Project Manager, Rebecca Machiya (left), delivers a loan check to a sponsored mother

Partnerships and Stakeholders

The Unforgotten Zambia Chapter works with several local partners, including:

Ministry of Agriculture
Ministry of Community Development
Kabanana Orphanage
Lusungu Children’s Home
Bwafwano Organization

Personal Stories

Let’s meet some of the young women and men in the program today:

Theresa and Grace are Grade 7 pupils. They both aspire to be nurses because they would love to take care of people someday. They like school, they said with a coy smile, “at school we don’t have to do chores.”

Boyd and Robert are best friends. They are both in Grade 6 and have great ambitions. Boyd is in love with the sky and wants to fly someday. He wants to be a pilot when he grows up. Robert on the other hand sees Soldiers as strong and cool. When he grows up, he wants to become one as well. In this way they will support their parents when they are old.

Bisa wants to help her family when she is older and for this reason she enjoys going to school. She is 12 years old and would like to be a nurse when she grows up.

Young boy — Given is a charismatic young fellow with a laugh that begs teachers to enforce silence. Somehow when Given laughs everyone else is infected with laughter. He is 13 years old and would love to be a teacher when he grows up.

Jeremiah and William are interesting boys. Jeremiah is loud with a booming voice and unapologetic confidence. He says he will be a great soldier some day. William loves his mathematics; “One day I will have my own office when I am an Accountant,” he told us.

Agness is a Grade 3 pupil who loves being around her friends. She enjoys learning new things. Agness also wants to be a doctor when she grows up.

Purity and Fidess are friends who like to take care of each other. They have quick minds and push each other to study. When they grow up, they want to be doctors in order to help their community.

Paul and Isaac are in fourth grade and sixth grade, respectively. Paul wants to be able to help sick people when he is older and so he wants to become a doctor. Isaac says he is strong and brave; therefore, he wants to become a soldier when he is older. In fact, Isaac used to be a litter picker in the dump. He wasn’t too keen to come to school when Ms. Musonda found him in the dump picking litter. The story goes that he ran away when she called him and wasn’t at all interested. With persistence and involvement with his parents, however, he now likes coming to school.

Israel and Andrew are inseparable best friends. They encourage each other to study as they are both in Grade 7. Israel wants to be a soldier when he is older and Andrew wants to be a doctor. They cannot wait to graduate to secondary school next year and they are confident that they will pass their exams.

Lilian and Mary are both fourth grade pupils. They want to be able to take care of people when they are older. Lilian wants to be a nurse and Mary wants to be a doctor. They love the people in the community and want to help them by serving them.

Elijah and Zacheaus are in second and sixth grade, respectively. They both want to be soldiers when they grow up and were eager to demonstrate their marching skills, marching together as a unit chanting with smiles pasted on their faces, ‘Soldier! Soldier! Soldier!’

Primary School Pupils — These are the primary school pupils who are in the program. They are very happy to be getting an education and like coming to school. “Here we eat food together. Next time you come, come and eat with us!” Hope said to us while her friends shouted in agreement. Ms. Musonda, the Country Director, makes sure that all the children come to school, with extra attention provided to the girls. Outside the school, these girls are at risk of early pregnancies and early marriages. Keeping them in the program is imperative to preventing the cycle of poverty from being perpetuated while fulfilling the potential that lies in each of these children. As all children do, they dream of an exciting and fulfilling future. But their circumstances make that impossible without your help.

Beatrice Mwangala and her children

Beatrice Mwangala has two children in The Unforgotten program, Imakando Stenge and Mwangala Stenge. She is married with seven children, five of whom are now going to school. Her husband is not formally employed and usually digs latrine pits for neighbors for about $20USD, which he splits with a partner. In a good month he manages to dig about 3 latrines, so money is tight. In fact, they have been completely unable to send their youngest child to school due to lack of funds. Beatrice Mwangala and her family have been on The Unforgotten program since March 2011.

Family house and Toilet & Bathroom — Family house (left) & Toilet/Bathroom (right)

Previously they lived in a house made out of plastics, which was continuously infested with rats and mosquitoes. Inside the house they had made a demarcation for the parents bedroom and the rest of the family slept in the other room. During the rainy season the family would spend sleepless nights putting buckets/dishes in leaking areas. The children continuously suffered from colds and diarrhea, and the family was never able to provide three meals a day.

Mwangala and Imakando — The children – Mwangala (left) & Imakando (right)

Imakando and Mwangala used to spend most of their time in the dumpsite area where they would pick items of value like toys as well as food stuffs, which they would take home for the family to cook and consume. Stomach upsets and diarrhea were common. After an assessment, The Unforgotten picked this family as one of its beneficiaries. Mwangala and Imakando were enrolled in a private school.

Vegetable Stall and Grocery shop — The first vegetable stall (left) & grocery shop (right)

The Unforgotten began providing a 25 kg bag of maize meal every month to the family. Furthermore, Beatrice received entrepreneurship training and a K300 loan ($60 USD). After receiving this loan, Beatrice put a stall outside her home and started selling vegetables and charcoal. With this business she was able to earn K10 ($2) a day. This income, along with the monthly maize meal, is a tremendous contribution to the well-being of the family. Beatrice eventually upgraded her outside stall to a small grocery shop.

Beatrice has done well and has managed to repay back approximately 70% of her loan. Today Beatrice is a happy mother who plans to expand her business in her next loan cycle. She wants to order reed mats, rice and fish from Mongu for resell in Lusaka. She has managed to send her son to Mapalo Trust School to redo his Grade 9 and hopes to send her other children once she raises enough finances.

For more information about our Zambia Chapter, please contact Sepo Imakando Musokotwane ( : sepo.musokotwane@gmail.com )