Who are the people?
Once a British protectorate, Zambia has been independent since 1964. It is headed by a president elected by the people. Most Zambians are of Bantu origin. The country’s official language is English.

Life in Zambia can be difficult for both adults and children. Even today, almost half of the population lacks access to safe water. This leads to medical problems and affects the quality of life for individuals, families, and entire communities. Recurring droughts also are a concern because they threaten the food supply.

Rural Zambians usually live with their extended families in huts that are clustered together. A spirit of cooperation prevails as family members share work, assets, and the experiences of daily life.

Some Zambians want to have as many offspring as possible because they are highly valued. A large family means more hands to help on the farm and assures that parents will be cared for as they age.

In Zambia, cousins are sometimes referred to as “brothers” and “sisters.” For this reason, the number of siblings that your sponsored child writes about might change from letter to letter.
Once a British protectorate, Zambia has been independent since 1964. It is headed by a president el

Country Comparison	Zambia	United States
Population	11.4 million	295.4 million
Land Mass	471,011 sq. miles	3,537,439 sq. miles
Life Expectancy	38 years	78 years
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000)	102	7
Literacy Rate	68%	97%
Primary School Enrollment	68%	92%
Access to Safe Water	55%	100%
Average Annual Income (GNI per capita)	$450	$41,400

Religion

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What is it like to live there?
Zambia is the third most urbanized country in Africa, with 60 percent of its population iving in urban areas.The country is named for the Zambezi River, which flows from its source in northern Zambia to the Indian Ocean, approximately 1,600 miles away. The famous Victoria Falls are located along the Zambezi River. They boast a drop twice as long as that of Niagara Falls.

Zambia consists largely of high plateaus with elevations ranging from 3,000 to 4,500 feet above sea level. The altitude produces a pleasant climate in much of Zambia, even though it is located in the tropics. Changes in temperature and precipitation mark the shifts between the country’s three seasons: the warm, wet season (November to April); the cool, dry season (April to August); and,the hot, dry season (August to November).

Zambia is a beautiful nation that is home to antelopes, zebras, monkeys, and elephants. One of the largest concentrations of wildlife in Africa can be found in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley National Park.

Zambians sometimes encounter special problems because their country is landlocked and heavily dependent on road and rail transportation. For example, people living in rural communities might wait as long as two months for mail to arrive.

World Vision Involvement

The ministry of World Vision began in Zambia in 1981. Early in that year, World Vision, represented by General Hamidu, Africa Regional Director at the time, and Jackson Mwano hosted a conference of the Christian Council of Zambia in Livingstone. During the conference, the ministry of World Vision was introduced to church leaders and possibilities of working in partnership were discussed. Response was good and Jackson Mwano then made several feasibility survey trips. He returned in April to take up responsibility as Program Director for World Vision Zambia. A program office was opened in Lusaka. The very first Zambia project funded meetings with church leaders and a small sum to provide support to evangelistic and leadership efforts. Child sponsorship was initiated in that first year and three Sponsorship Development Projects in Mkushi were started: Kapana, Chiwefwe and Bwafwano. The Zambian government was welcoming and supportive to World Vision.
1983-1985

The new ministry of World Vision Zambia experienced rapid growth. By the end of 1982, there were twelve sponsorship community development projects and three non-sponsorship development projects operating in partnership with six mainline denominations. The estimated impact of the work was to 50,000 people in rural locations. The number of children in sponsorship was 3,237 by the end of 1982. There was extensive staff training at this time.

Major factors during this period were a four-year drought in the Gwembe Valley and the influx of several thousand Mozambican refugees into Zambia's borders. Severe economic problems of inflation and recession were also significant. Zambian currency devalued 20% in 1983 alone, causing the cost of living to soar and creating major hardships for Zambians as well as affecting World Vision projects. In 1985, with the prices of some goods increasing up to 500%, Zambia's Christian President Kenneth Kaunda called for a week of prayer in order to pray for economic recovery in the country.

Some projects of that period included:

Bwafwano Community Development

Conducted in partnership with the Anglican Church, Bwafwano was one of World Vision Zambia's earliest community development projects. Begun in 1981, the life span of this project was 11 years and provided the following ministries: facilitation of the community to build primary school classrooms on a self-help basis, teaching vocational skills, increasing food production through the use of improved seeds and training in agricultural methods with farming seminars and follow-ups, the improvement of community health through the ministry of a health care nurse carrying out weekly health programs and teaching mothers family planning and nutrition to prevent common diseases, immunizations and support for the local health center. In addition, the local church branches were headed by lay leaders in the absence of trained ministers and World Vision sought to enhance their efforts in Christian nurture and evangelism through providing theological education by extension. Evangelistic campaigns and seminars were conducted.

Gwembe Drought (1983)

The Gwembe Valley of 92,000 residents had been experiencing drought conditions for three years when World Vision began this relief effort in October 1983. Conditions had deteriorated to widespread crop failure, dried up rivers, starvation and illnesses among the most vulnerable of people and death of livestock. This project sought to prevent starvation among 20,000 residents seriously threatened by the drought by providing grain, therapeutic feeding of children in selected centers and the facilitation of food production in the anticipated rainy season by widespread seed planting in the most fertile areas. Lack of good roads posed a serious problem in getting food supplies to some areas. The original budget was set at US$100,000 for an initial three month period. Reassessment at the end of that period revealed the need for continued assistance as drought conditions prevailed for the fourth year. Additional funding extended assistance through August 1984. The Gwemebe DAC was then started to provide development assistance.

Litera Leprosarium Development

World Vision sought to address the unique problems of discharged leprosy patients trying to resume a normal life with this 6 year project begun in 1984. The fear and social stigma (leprosy being oftentimes considered a punishment from God) that patients leaving the Litera Leprosarium encountered were such that a person could be rejected by family and community and end up destitute in spite of a medical declaration of being cured. World Vision provided vocational training for the self-sufficiency of released patients with a special emphasis on poultry and small scale farming. Trained patients were also then able to qualify for rehabilitation loans available from the government. Income raised from the farm and poultry helped support the maintenance and expansion of the services this government-run leprosarium offered. Participating lay church leaders were given training in personal witnessing/evangelism, Bible study, counselling and leadership. Various Christian outreach activities including a one-day women's seminar conducted for 50 women, crusades, the distribution of Bibles and literature, as well as adult literacy classes were provided through this project.

Gwembe Valley Evangelism Project

This major evangelistic project sought to address the spiritual darkness of many people throughout the Gwembe region, evidenced by the practice of witchcraft, idol worship, demon practices, destructive lifestyles etc. In partnership with the mission group, The Gwembe Evangelism Team, and in cooperation with local churches, the goal of the project was to demonstrate God's love to people in the region. Begun in 1985, it included the showing of The Jesus Film in the Toga language, counselling, follow-up, the organizing of small group Bible studies, the enhancement of existing church ministries, the training and equipping of church leadership, church planting, distributions of Bibles and literature and the development of culturally appropriate Christian literature. It sought to address juvenile delinquency though youth clubs which combined Bible teaching with recreational activities such as football, netball and volleyball. The annual average budget for the work was US$25,000. The life span of the project was 4 years.

Mozambique Refugee Relief

More than 4,000 Mozambican refugees had crossed into Zambia by November 1985 due to fighting between government and National Resistance Movement rebel forces in that country also partially due to drought conditions. In partnership with the Reformed Church of Zambia, this project sought to address the needs of 1,200 refugees in the Petauke District with food, blankets, clothing and medical supplies. Originally proposed to end in 1986, additional funding extended this project through December 1987. World Vision worked in collaboration UNHCR and the Red Cross.
1986-1990

Zambia's economic problems continued and forced the government to introduce economic recovery programs such as the removal of government subsidies on essential items such as the staple food of maize and fertilizer for farming. School boarding fees were also introduced and the decontrol of prices. These and other measures affected the poor of rural areas the hardest. World Vision Zambia worked in 53 community development projects by 1986. Sponsored children, 7,081 by that year, got direct clothing, feeding and educational assistance. Interest free loans were offered in an effort to boost agricultural production. The serious unemployment problem among youth was addressed in offering IGAs like carpentry, welding, sewing and knitting. Support was supplied for rural clinics and clean water projects sought to prevent water borne diseases. Projects done jointly with local churches offered Jesus, the Hope of the World.

Zambia was one of the first counties in which DACs or Development Assisting Centers were implemented. By 1986, World Vision Zambia had established ten of these centers. DACs were an important innovative concept in World Vision's approach to development work with the goal of upgrading and accelerating rural development work through grassroots level training networks. Core concepts to this approach included: the definition of a development area, the establishment of a development assisting center in the area which served as a training center and meeting place to continuously train village development workers (VDW's) and to deliver technical and management training to village people, and the utilization of VDW's living and working closely with people in designated villages building relationships and trust. The DAC had the normal activities of community development but a major focus on the holistic concept of development (that of addressing not only physical but spiritual, emotional and social needs of individuals), placing development facilitators closer to poor communities (a result of important learnings from World Vision's experience) as well as emphasis on training, and having those trained train others.

Relief to Mozambican refugees continued well into this period. A sampling of some projects of that period include:

Gwembe Drought Relief (1987)

In 1987, a drought resulted in the scorching of crops before fruition in most parts of the Gwembe Valley. 105,000 people representing 21,000 family units of 5 each were affected. The goal of this project was to supply food to 5,000 out of the 21,000 family units. World Vision worked in cooperation with the local government authority, the District Council, in distributions of food.

Mozambique Refugees (1989)

In 1989, raids by Renamo rebels in Mozambique near the Zambian border resulted in 5,000 Mozambicans moving into Zambia's Katete and Luangwa districts with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. Their situation was serious. World Vision mobilized to provide food rations of beans, Kapenta and maize meal to 2,500 of those refugees. The UNHCR, Red Cross, MSF, LWF and the government were other agencies involved in providing assistance to refugees.

Zambia Flood Relief

Torrential rains fell in southeast Africa for almost one month in early 1989. Zambia was the hardest hit. Severe flooding took place in the Lusaka, Luangwa and Gwembe districts. Washed out roads and bridges resulted in the complete isolation of some areas. Approximately 100,000 people were left homeless. Devastating crop damage occurred. The Zambian government appealed to the international relief community for assistance. The goal of this project was to assist 65,000 seriously affected people with food distributions, blankets and needed drugs and to combat malaria by spraying insecticides in pools of water in the Lusaka area. Conditions presented major obstacles such as lack of availability of suitable transportation vehicles for hauling of food and blankets, lack of usable roads, bridges missing altogether or in very poor condition as well as shortages of blankets. These situations caused frustrating delays for workers seeking to expedite all facets of relief to flood victims. World Vision worked in cooperation with the local government and the Reformed Church of Zambia. A total of US$50,000 was budgeted for this project for a three-month term of emergency response.

In the later part of this period, lessons learned from the DACs resulted in some major changes taking place in World Vision's approach to development ministry. The new concept of ADPs or Area Development Projects had come to be considered the most effective way to do development work. Typical features of ADPs include geographic clustering of communities, a time commitment of at least ten years, a vision and goal of empowering the communities in a region to work together to address root causes of poverty and to network with a variety of agencies and churches available to them as well as a marked emphasis on facilitation of community management of the development process.
1990-1998
Number of Project Beneficaries 1993-1998

• Equipping families and communities to care for orphans and vulnerable children while providing life-skills training to those affected by the AIDS pandemic.
• Teaching farmers to use newer and more productive agricultural methods in order to increase food supplies in the region. Enhancing medical care for mothers and children by training community health workers, conducting health-related education courses, and carrying out an immunization campaign.
• Digging wells to provide more families in the community with access to safe water.
• Helping households adopt better sanitation practices to reduce the incidence of waterborne diseases.
• Providing sponsored children with the school uniforms and fees they need in order to receive a good education.
• Developing the leadership skills of community members who want to teach the Word of God.

• Pray that churches and families will respond to God's call to care for orphans and widows, especially those affected by the AIDS pandemic.
• Pray that your sponsored child might respond to God’s love and grace.
• Ask God to guide your sponsored child as he or she learns, grows, and moves toward a future full of hope and possibilities.
• Pray for God to protect the health of your sponsored child and his or her family.

Zambia is participating in our "HopeChild" program to provide additional resources for children and families impacted by HIV/AIDS in this high prevalence region.