BACKGROUND

The 'Chibobo Orphans Project' began in May 2003 as a joint scheme between a group of overseas donors (friends & family) represented by an AVI volunteer, Mr Kevin Gilbert (AVI or 'Australian Volunteers International', an Australian non-government volunteer organisation), and HMP ('Help Ministries Project', a local Zambian-registered and approved NGO based in the Chibobo area in the Central Province of Zambia).

The scheme now falls squarely within the activities and responsibility of the dynamic HMP organization.

Contributions from overseas donors continue, and are welcomed by HMP, but we hope that these should eventually be viewed simply as a vital 'kickstart' on the road to self- sustainability by the Chibobo and other communities that will be motivated by this project, and will adopt it as their model to assist the most vulnerable in their district.

Chibobo is a very rural area, with no electricity nor water supply. Our project has been operating (with 32 orphans) since early September 2003, and a new building to house the children was opened on 13 October 2003 - the structure was completed using bricks made locally and the local community helped a lot with the work (moulding, firing and carrying bricks etc).

The long-term goal of the scheme is to improve the lives of the approximately 100 orphans identified within a 6km radius of the HMP Chibobo Centre through the provision of facilities and procedures involving the vital care of these orphans (e.g. feeding, clothing, educating).

HMP is well known in the area and has the key understanding & knowledge of the local setting, its people, and its particular needs. Mr Abeauty Chibuye, the founder and overseer of HMP (which falls loosely under the umbrella of the Mkushi Christian Community) has been at the forefront of developing local sustainable agricultural practices in the community.

e.g. the Chibobo Centre has a diesel-powered hammer-mill (for producing meal from local maize), a manual oil-press (for producing vegetable oil from local groundnuts & sunflower seeds), a small shop (to provide basic provisions to the fairly isolated community which is about 20km from the small Serenje township) and a community school (since the local Primary School cannot accommodate all local children.

His initiatives (since founding HMP himself back in 1993) have been partially supported financially through donations from individuals and church organisations in the UK. A substantial area of land at Chibobo has recently been released to HMP by the local Chief - it is being cultivated to provide a food 'safety net' for the local community (in times of drought etc).

Buildings have also been erected to house volunteers (e.g. a VSO volunteer will soon be managing the food production section), for the community pre-school (already catering to many orphans), to feed orphans, and for conducting workshops for the locals. One gauge as to the high profile now beginning to be enjoyed by HMP is that we have recently received a shipment of 25,000 books from Books for Africa in USA - we are now responsible for distributing these to local schools and libraries. UNICEF has also donated some 600 treated mosquito nets to us for distribution to the vulnerable in our community - another sign of the confidence and trust being placed in our organization.

HELP MINISTRIES PROJECT crjuska@helpministriesproject.org