Originally, the trip to Zambezi, a town on the border with Angola, was not planned in our itinerary. Due to the enthusiastic story of Trees (Eggenkamp) on the project ‘Agape Orphans Home Based Care’, we changed our travel plans and departed from Mongu to Zambezi to visit this project. The road was very diverse and on some pieces, very challenging for MiladyLandy. On the stretch between Manyankwa and Watopa Pontoon. Milady had to endure hard knocks but Gert Jan writes this blog 😉
We were looking for a place to sleep in Zambezi and eventually we could camp on a site nearby the Riverview Lodge. Speeking of a lodge you probably think of a luxury residence, but this was rather the case. There were no toilets and no showers. We are fortunately self-supporting 😉
We told the owner of the property, Jeannet Kelly, why we were in Zambezi and who we were looking for. She knew Clement Chinyundy and he came to meet us that same evening. He introduced us the next day to the ladies who run the project.
The meeting with Mrs. Machune Chivunda and Mrs. Winfrida Mweema was heartwarming. These two women working as a volunteer on this project, told us enthusiastically about the origin of the project and their motivation to carry out this program.
Trees and Kalle (Kallervo in Zambia) from Etten-Leur started this project in 2000 and volunteers from Zambezi run the project now. The whole program is about supporting orphans of HIV-deceased parents. Children are financially supported until they have obtained their secondary school or a vocational diploma. The special feature of this program is that the children remain in their own community so they don’t have to stay in an orphanage. At present about 100 children are supported. Information about HIV is also in the program, among other things by theater. Actually, on our way we noticed several places in Zambia adressing HIV.
We were very impressed by the passion with witch Machune and Winfrida carry out their work. The attention and love for these children are the motivation for their work. Also nice that they told us that the word ‘Agape’ actually means “give love without expecting to get something in return.” These women are deeply religious and are convinced that God will reward their work, here or later. For us, again this was a heartwarming meeting with two beautiful people!
More information about the project can be found on www.steunaanzambezi.org