Written by our Livingstone intern Zoe Chambers
Nambo Kawana came onto the Happy Africa Foundation’s radar 5 years ago when he was 10 years old. His mother had died when he was young so he was living with his grandma in a community in Livingstone, Zambia. With his grandma struggling to afford his school fees he was selected for our Sponsor A Child Program and soon he had a sponsor.
Unfortunately, after two years of sponsorship the sponsor was unable to renew their contribution. A teacher at Nambo’s school stepped in and offered to take over the payments instead to continue Nambo’s participation in the program.
In 2014, Nambo’s teacher was transferred to another school and was unable to continue his sponsorship. Thankfully, The Happy Africa Foundation was able to support Nambo till the end of the school year.
In October, Nambo’s grandmother passed away leaving him with no home, no close family members, and nowhere to go. An uncle came forward but he was already struggling financially and had no space to accommodate Nambo. Nambo’s father lived in Kafue, a village almost 500 km from Livingstone but Nambo had never stayed with his father. On hearing of Nambo’s grandmother’s passing Nambo’s father offered for Nambo to come and live with him but he was unemployed and wouldn’t be able to afford to send Nambo to school.
That December, a volunteer named Dominik met Nambo and upon hearing his story, he wanted to help. Although it would be great for Nambo to be sponsored to go to a school near his dad, we do not have the funds to travel there and monitor as needed. Nambo couldn’t be sponsored to go to a school in Livingstone, as he had nowhere to live here. So there lied the issue.
A solution was found in the Zimba Boarding School is just 45 minutes outside of Livingstone. Fees to attend the school include lodging and food so it is more expensive than the usual day schools found in our SAC program. Despite this fact Dominik agreed to pay the extra price for Nambo to go to school there. On passing his grade 7 exams Nambo was accepted to the school.
Nambo now has a safe place to stay with the certainty of three meals a day and a bed at night. He will stay at Zimba during term and live with his father during the holidays. On his first day of school our sponsor a child coordinator, Sharon took him to the school to get him settled. He expressed how grateful he was in saying, “I am so happy that I can continue my education and stay close to where I grew up.”
When we asked his father how he felt about the arrangements made for his son, he said, “I am so thankful to the Happy Africa Foundation for all they have done.”
Nambo’s story is sadly not an uncommon theme to come across in the communities we work in Zambia. This is why our work here is so vital and so many of us are fully invested in what we do here.
If you would like to find out more about our Sponsor A Child program or how to become a sponsor please visit Sponsor A Child or email zsac@happyafricafoundation.org.