The Mutende Project
The Mutende Project is based in Lulamba, Chingola, which is in the Copperbelt of Zambia. Mutende means ‘peace’ in the local Bemba language. The project was originally overseen in the UK by the charity Care for Zambia, but Bridge has now joined with Care for Zambia to take on the project under The Bridge Trust name.
Mutende has:
- A children’s village, providing a home for over 40 children and young adults
- A primary school with over 400 pupils serving the local community in Lulamba
The children’s village provides a loving and caring environment for children to grow and develop in a safe place. There are three family houses, each with a house mother, who look after up to 12 children. There is one house for the younger children and then separate houses for the older boys and girls. All children have been placed in the home by the Zambian government and will have typically lost one or both of their parents. Some of the children would have been living on the street.
When the children reach 18 they are moved to one of two follow on houses where they can continue their education or begin the transition to college or University. Often we support our young adults well into their 20s until they are able to look after themselves. Without this ongoing support many of the young people would end up unemployed or homeless.
The school, the Harold Mwenge Memorial Academy, is next door to the children’s village. It provides a good quality education up to Grade 7, which is roughly equivalent to primary and early secondary in the UK. The class sizes of 30-40 children are at least half the size of similar Government schools, enabling the teachers to give more time to individual pupils. Over the last five years the number of children attending the school has nearly doubled, putting pressure on the existing facilities. We’ve got plans to expand the school and create five additional classrooms. This will also allow the school to teach up to Grade 9 (similar to GCSE).
- Sponsor a child. It costs approximately £100 per month to look after a child. Most of our sponsors give £20 or £25.
- Help a young adult to go to college or university. It costs approximately £50
per month to cover the university fees. - Support the expansion of the school by pledging money towards the building project.
If you want to find out more then please email us at mutende@thebridgetrustltd.org. Alternatively sign up to our Mutende newsletter.