Chitungulu Foundation

community outreach - nature conservation

Newsletter # 1 October 2012

In this Newsletter:

Education

Renovating Chocha &

Chilubezi

80 new school desks

Food security

Project Chicken Eggs

Nutritious Yummy Soy

Organic vegetable gardening

Conservation education

Education on elephants

Fuel-economic stoves

Direct links:

Comaco

Titukuke Rural Community

Chipembere Wildlife Education

Our updated picture gallery

Dear Friends of Chitungulu,

It is with great pleasure that we present our first Newsletter, bringing you the latest from eastern Zambia where our

project coordinator, Chris Brugman, stayed with the Chitungulu residents in July and August 2012. Aim of Chris’s visit

was to get an update on the latest developments regarding Chitungulu’s educational facilities and food security

situation, in order to embark on a targeted fundraising campaign in the coming months. In addition, useful contacts

have been made with various local organizations with which we hope to intensify our cooperation in the years to

come. In particular, we are happy with our cooperation with Comaco (Community Markets for Conservation), a

reputable Zambian non-profit company which supports farmers in the Luangwa Valley by offering them higher price

incentives, loans for seeds, and training in conservation farming, in return for compliance to eco-friendly producer

methods. Comaco managed to transform a substantial number of former poachers to conservation farmers since they

started their operations in 2004. By buying local produce from rural conservation farmers, Comaco not only

guarantees a more profitable and sustainable lifestyle for many households in and around the valley, but also

effectively contributes to the conservation of wildlife areas – a well thought out approach with fantastic results, linking

rural households to the rest of the country with a range of high-quality, organic products sold in supermarkets under

the brand name It’s Wild! - like delicious, creamy village rice (Chitungulu is one of the major rice suppliers), tasty bush

honey, and the most honest peanut butter you’ve ever eaten. Further on in our Newsletter more about our

cooperation with Comaco.

Needless to say that, even in far-flung Chitungulu, life does not stand still and we are therefore able to report you a

few interesting, new developments which show that this community is determined to move on, despite their

challenging environment. We hope this Newsletter makes for interesting reading!

General

One piece of good news is that the Zambian Ministry of Health will be sending more doctors to Chitungulu’s Rural

Health Centre by end of 2012! This will be an enormous relief for dr. Bornface Hamusonde who, for many years, has

been running the clinic practically on his own, aided by his wife Doris and a small support team. Hopefully the arrival of

two additional doctors will also bring a much-needed means of emergency transport. This year, by lack of any

alternative, our project coordinator again had to make a few emergency trips to Lundazi District Hospital in order to

save the lives of mothers or their babies. The assignment of two more doctors will no doubt give a major boost to the

improvement of health care services in this area.

In the month of July, Chris worked together with a measles vaccination team sent by

the Lundazi department of the Ministry of Health. In the course of six days, this team

managed to vaccinate close to a thousand children in some remote areas, quite an

achievement which confronted us with the huge impact of poverty induced problems

and social peer pressure, such as big families, teenage pregnancies, early marriages,

and polygamy. It was encouraging to see that, whenever possible, the team members

took the opportunity to urge school girls to finish their education and focus on a job,

before thinking of starting a family. Measles vaccination campaign

Less good news relates to this year’s low cotton prices. Encouraged by high prices in the 2010/2011 season, many

households resorted to growing cotton, instead of cultivating maize or rice, hoping to raise enough income to buy not

only food but other items such as clothes as well. However, due to the large supplies, prices decreased and,

consequently, many families ended up without sufficient cash or food. The fact that quite a few farmers have now

turned away from growing cotton may, actually, be called a blessing in disguise as conventional cotton growing has

some serious negative side effects. In particular, the use of dangerous pesticides poses real health hazards, including

contaminated ground water. In addition, cotton will, contrary to plants like groundnuts, eventually deplete the soils,

and is also far more labour-intensive than most other cash or food crops. For the coming rainy season, it is expected

that more rice and groundnuts will be cultivated, and hopefully this painful experience will help averting the tendency

towards monoculture in this ecologically sensitive area. Comaco, meanwhile, has contacted one of the more eco-

conscious cotton buyers active in the valley to see how affected families can be compensated.

Compared to last year, more houses in Chitungulu are decorated with wonderful, artistic designs and it is suspected

that many of its owners are engaged in some sort of competition as to

which house ‘looks best’ – indeed, the work exhibited is skilled and

tasteful, as can be seen in the picture gallery on our website. By Chief’s

order, regular inspections of the villages take place to make sure that

each household has a proper toilet and a separated waste dump. It was

further noted that more vegetables are offered for sale, especially along

Chitungulu’s Main Street. Some problems, however, remain pressing:

schools are notoriously ill-equipped, and malnutrition impedes growth

and development in children. Human-wildlife conflicts are on the rise:

notably elephants, but also buffaloes, regularly pass by the village -

especially at night - damaging crops and granaries. Indeed, there´s still lots of work to be done!

Education

Some interesting developments took place with regard to education. To start with, the residents of the Chocha

neighbourhood took matters into their own hands and, through their Community Resource Board (CRB), received

funds for the renovation of Chocha Community School. As the pictures on our website show, the current wattle-and-

daub school building is pretty much on the verge of collapsing. Renovations follow the official building plans as

specified by the Zambian Ministry of Education. As the CRB is dependent on income derived from trophee hunting by

professional hunters in the area, the building is carried out gradually, and the new school is expected to be ready in

the course of 2013. Despite the community’s laudable initiative to rebuild one of their community schools, there is still

an urgent need for assistance to renovate its other community school, Chilubezi. This school, too, in order to become

eligible for further assistance by the Zambian government, needs to be renovated according to official building plans.

For 2013, our foundation hopes to raise sufficient funds to assist with the building of more solid foundations, with

enlarging the classrooms including a teacher’s office, and replacing the old, tattered thatched roof with rainproof iron

sheets. Hopefully, the approx. 320 pupils of both schools will be having a new, stimulating learning environment by

end of 2013, after which we can focus on improving the quality of Chitungulu’s basic education.

In July our project coordinator took four teachers, two of each school, to

the District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) in Lundazi, with the aim to

renew and intensify the contacts between both schools and the DEBS. For

lack of communications and transport, both sides had been largely ignorant

of each other for years. However, for the community schools in particular,

it is of utmost importance to be ‘in the picture’, as they are entitled to the

allocation of teaching and learning materials, which are distributed by the

Zambian Ministry of Education amongst the 3,000 community schools that

are registered countrywide.

Teachers of Chocha and Chilubezi

To our delight, it turned out that our arrival in Lundazi was well-timed, as the DEBS was busily giving away school desks

to community schools in the district (this, actually, is a perfect illustration of how much both schools are missing out

just because of lack of means of communication and means of transport). Obviously, we did not hesitate to seize this

opportunity and within a day, transport was arranged to get 80 two-seater desks to Chitungulu. As, up to then, the kids

of Chocha and Chilubezi had to sit in their classrooms on nothing more than heaps of clay, one can imagine their smiles

on seeing their first real desks!

Unfortunately, we were less successful in obtaining learning materials from the DEBS: despite their helpful

cooperation, there were simply not enough materials available. Nevertheless, we were happy to carry back one box

full of English story books which, we know, the kids will greatly enjoy. With the DEBS officials we also looked into

possibilities to enable the teachers to pursue a Teacher Training College. Almost all of the Chocha and Chilubezi

teachers have been teaching as volunteers without official teacher´s qualifications since the community schools

started in 2006, a situation that all stakeholders wish to change as quickly as possible to uplift teaching standards.

Currently, only one teacher meets the requirements for entering a formal training course (Mr Hendrix Phiri of Chocha),

and hopefully we are able to raise sufficient funds to enable Hendrix to start his training soon. As regards the other

teachers, as from 2013 we will assist two of them each year to upgrade their secondary school exam results, so that

they too become eligible for a teacher training and can gradually be enrolled once Hendrix has completed his course.

All in all, we are glad that both schools are now firmly ‘in the picture’ with the District Education Board, and for the

coming years, we will be happy to remind both parties of their mutual rights and obligations!

In order to learn more from experiences of other foundations in the area, we contacted the Titukuke Rural Community

Development Association which, with the aid of a sister foundation in the Netherlands, has helped improve the

educational standards in many community schools in and around Petauke, a small town along the Great East road.

Our project coordinator had some interesting talks with the energetic local contact person, Getrude Soko, who

accepted our invitation to visit Chitungulu in 2013 in order to address the Chocha and Chilubezi parents committees

and share views and experiences. It is our hope that both our foundations will benefit from this mutual exchange of

experiences. Would you like to contribute to the renovation of Chilubezi Community School? Please contact chris@chitungulu.nl

Food security

Project Chicken Layers

As explained elsewhere on our website, the impossibility to practice animal husbandry in this region of the Luangwa

Valley severely restricts the animal protein intake by the Chitungulu community. This, combined with lack of

knowledge about healthy food habits, has led to chronic malnutrition especially in young children. In 2011, Mrs Doris

Hamusonde (the local doctor’s wife) initiated a chain of so-called Nutrition Clubs: five groups from various areas of

Chitungulu, each consisting of about twenty young mothers with their ‘under five’ infants, come together on a weekly

basis to prepare a nutritious meal for their children whilst receiving information on food-related health topics. Our

project coordinator was pleased to see that, one year after introduction of the clubs, the meetings are well attended

and the number of participants is still growing.

For maximal efficiency, the Nutrition Clubs are now gradually being linked to so-called producer units such as vegetable

gardens, to enable the clubs to buy part of their food from these units at a reduced price. For 2013 we aim to set up

four chicken layers producer units. Up to now, the production of chicken eggs has been rather erratic in Chitungulu,

and the potential of eggs, both as valuable source of protein and as a source of income, is therefore greatly

underutilized. In July this year, discussions were held with poultry manager Luke Lungu of the Mfuwe branch of the

earlier mentioned company Comaco. Luke is one of Comaco’s dedicated and knowledgeable staff members who has

gained a lot of experience with setting up similar projects elsewhere in the valley, and we are happy that he has agreed

to assist us in Chitungulu.

Now what exactly does this Chicken Layers project entail? For each production unit 20 vaccinated chickens will be

bought in the provincial capital of Chipata – in total 80 chickens will be transported to Chitungulu. Each production unit

consists of four caretakers, and we have taken care to include at least two widows and/or orphans in each unit.

The units will be trained in the handling of the chickens, as well as administration and bookkeeping of sales. Some of

the caretakers will also be trained in administering the vaccinations against poultry diseases. In exchange for chicken

layers, chicken-friendly shelters, locally-made cold store rooms, vaccinations, locally produced chicken feed and some

smaller items including disinfectants and stationery, the production units are asked to give 25 percent of their yields to

their Nutrition Club for free, in their first year. In their second year of operation, 25 percent of the chicken eggs will be

sold at a reduced price to the Nutrition Club, whereas the rest can be sold at the market or to the nearby lodge (which

is always in dire need of eggs!), or to passing tourists. In order to promote this project’s financial sustainability, each

production unit is expected to save enough money to fund a new investment in 2015, taking into account the birds’

average life expectancy of two years. Depending on how successful our fundraising is going to be, we have offered our

assistance to set up this new project which, it is aimed, will boost entrepreneurship and help to improve this

community’s diet.

Would you like to help us setting up this (chicken-friendly!) Chicken Layers project? Please do contact chris@chitungulu.nl

Yummy Soy

One of the organic products marketed by Comaco is the highly nutritious breakfast cereal Yummy

Soy, made from maize and soya beans. Add a little water, and in no time an affordable, nutritious

breakfast is ready, with lots of added vitamins and nutrients. Our project coordinator, who often

had Yummy Soy for breakfast herself, was impressed and approached Comaco to see how Yummy

Soy could be promoted in Chitungulu, where it was not yet known in 2012. The retail price of one

packet varies between ZMK 8,000 to ZMK 10,000 (€1,20 - €1,50), however, Comaco is willing to sell

Yummy Soy to our foundation at wholesale price. This is fantastic, as many more children in Chitungulu can now enjoy

the benefits of this locally made health food product, whilst a ready market is found for a product that stimulates

farmers to cultivate soya beans and maize in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.

Meanwhile, we have found a donor to fund the purchase of Yummy Soy at reduced price in 2013.

Mothers who have joined a Nutrition Club are invariably highly enthusiastic and indeed, the effects on the well-being

of their infants are almost instantly visible: all underweight children show a marked increase in weight gain in the

course of only several weeks. Yummy Soy especially was very well received. To encourage a further transfer of

knowledge, the concept of nutrition trainers was introduced in 2012: two women from Chitungulu receive on-the-job-

training during the club meetings and should eventually be able to assist Doris with the information sessions. In 2013,

our foundation will contribute to the information sessions with lectures about vitamins and other nutrients, the

negative effects of high salt and sugar intake, and the benefits of certain food items such as garlic and peanuts. We will

also start introducing new recipes, such as the preparation of soya cakes. Further, we will look how we can promote

the use of moringa tree leaves, which is an excellent source of vitamins and other valuable nutrients. In many parts of

the tropics, the moringa tree has been used successfully to combat malnutrition. More information can be read on

Moringa oleifera

Would you like to contribute with an interesting ‘food fact’ please let us know at

info@chitungulu.nl

Organic vegetable gardening

Compared to last year we could notice a marked increase in the growth and sale of

vegetables all over Chitungulu. This is, of course, a welcome development and in

time, we are sure that more variation will hit the market stalls. However, despite

obvious advantages, knowledge about organic vegetable farming is still very scant

amongst the Chitungulu gardeners. Our project coordinator contacted compatriot Annemieke de Vos in Lusaka, who

may safely be called an expert on organic vegetable gardening. Annemieke’s vegetables, especially her lettuce, are of

high quality and well-known in Zambia’s capital. A visit to her garden (depicted on the previous page), just outside the

city centre, proved to be an inspirational experience. Quite different from conventional vegetable gardens, which so

often are set apart from their surroundings, Annemieke’s garden seems to blend in perfectly with the Zambian bush

landscape. As Annemieke explained, it’s all about copying nature, enabling the garden to regain its natural balance: no

monoculture but crop diversity, and a clever use of organic recycling and organic pest control, such as trap crops, and

specific herbs against pests and diseases. Organic vegetable gardening may require more attention and knowledge

compared to conventional gardening, but will definitely pay in terms of efficiency and health benefits. Aimed with this

knowledge, a start was made to sensitize the Chitungulu gardeners on this topic. With the help of nearby Luangwa

Wilderness Lodge, organic waste was gathered and, enriched with elephant dung, given to gardeners as a basis for

their free compost. Two of the most talented and respected gardeners, Robert Phiri from Mutamula neighbourhood

and Margareth Mwale from Chilenje, were asked to become lead gardeners, whom we would like to enable to pursue

a short training course in organic vegetable farming in the provincial capital of Chipata, so that they can pass their

knowledge on to other gardeners and children with vegetable garden school projects. Robert Phiri has also begun to

farm red chillies, which are to be used in a pilot project chilli fencing to keep marauding elephants at bay (the chilli

seeds will be ground into a paste to be smeared on pieces of cloth hung on the fences – the chemical substance

Capsaicin in the seeds causes great irritation and trigeminal discomfort in elephants, and has proven to be an effective

elephant deterrent in many parts of Africa).

Vegetable garden Robert Phiri Vegetable garden Marareth Mwale

Conservation education

Finally, this year conservation education was taken to a more proactive plane. Various families were visited to educate

on elephants, animals which impact greatly on village life in Chitungulu. Contrary to popular belief, knowledge about

wildlife is disappearing quickly in African communities (one consequence of the vanishing, traditional hunting way of

life). By showing some new and intriguing sides of the so-called ‘problem animals’, it is aimed to foster the idea that

not only humans but also animals are part and parcel of Chitungulu’s ecosystem, and worth protecting. Thanks to the

Chipembere Wildlife Education Trust in Mfuwe, who assisted us with colourful, bilingual brochures on elephants, the

information sessions were attended with great interest, particularly by the kids. In 2013, we will further expand on

conservation education by showing various wildlife documentaries. The pilot project Chilli Fences is another example

of our conservation education efforts.

Further within the framework of nature conservation, we contacted the Zambian NGO Thandizane (literally: Let’s help

each other) in order to find a way to reduce on fossil fuel consumption. Thandizane has developed moulds to produce

fuel-economic clay stoves, which they will introduce to women’s groups in Chitungulu in 2013. The production and sale

of these stoves will enable women to earn an additional income, whilst a first attempt is made to cut back on wood

consumption. Deforestation rates in and around Chitungulu have reached alarming new highs, aggravated by

population pressures on the higher plateaus, which is forcing people to move further into the valley. Clearly,

eventually more sustainable forms of energy consumption will have to be found, but for the time being, the economic

fuel stove project is a first, and necessary, start.

Finally

Meantime, over the past months we received the first donations and support for our projects in and around

Chitungulu. We are very grateful for this and would like to thank everyone for their interest and contributions. Despite

the current economic crisis hitting Europe hard, there are still many people who take an interest in, and feel genuine

concern about our lesser-fortunate fellow human beings with whom we share our world. In the coming months,

fundraising will be our main activity so that we can hopefully continue to assist the Chitungulu community to gain

more benefits, in a sustainable way, from their challenging environment. Your support is most welcome!

Depending on which hemisphere you are, we’d like to end this Newsletter by wishing you a happy summer or winter

season!

The Board of Chitungulu Foundation © Copyright Stichting Chitungulu