In Mulundu, Zambia, a community center is taking shape! Kafwa leader, Jane, and project coordinator, Musans, have done a fantastic job making sure that things are running smoothly. Mothers who are Kafwa clients and children from the local Isubilo (orphan support) groups are coming to visit and pitch in with tangible excitement!

Building a community center is no small feat, and we want to thank YOU for helping to provide this wonderful space in Mulundu! Soon the community can gather here for health education, literacy, grief support, and recreation! It will be filled with the sounds of singing, laughter, reading, and stories of hope and healing!

We recently received news from RN and community health worker, Sangeeta Poudel! Sangeeta has been working hard at the hospital throughout this pandemic, but also spends her spare time out in the community, providing compassionate care and sharing potentially life-saving information. Below is her written record of one of her recent experiences with an at-home client.

“In the mid time of Covid pandemic in Nepal, Everyone is afraid and situation was so painful. At the same time my neighbor came to me and asked to visit his father who was suffering from fever and cough. I could not deny his request though all the symptoms were similar to Covid-19, but I decided to visit him because I had PPE set provided by HHN [HealthEd Connect]. After becoming safe by wearing set I went to visit that house, I checked fever of him and it seems like Covid, I suggested to check PCR once and stay in home isolation. After two days they went for checking and it came positive as I guess before.

After that again they came to me and visit them because they don’t want to admit in hospital by hearing condition of hospitals, As their father is 87 years senior citizen. I asked them to provide PPE set to visit them regularly, so that I can ago safely. After that I went there and support him psychologically but only that I applied all the medicine recommended by doctors. I took the temperature and oxygen salutation and suggest them to admit in hospitals if condition become worst. And good thing is that he is getter better day by day after taking care daily. Finally within three weeks his report was Negative. They are so happy and thankful to me.” -Sangeeta Poudel

Thank you for supporting the effort and care that our community health workers like Sangeeta share with their community members!

World-wide, illiteracy is its own epidemic, “disproportionally affecting 773 million non-literate young people and adults”. Today, as we celebrate International Literacy Day, we want to highlight the important efforts of our teachers and community health workers as they work to make sure that not only the children, but also the community members have access to literacy education!

In Malawi, literacy programs are taking shape in the new Sinkhani community centers, available to people of all ages. At our sister schools in Zambia, students receive a strong literacy foundation and many teachers provide after-class lessons to support children who need more time. And community health workers who have lacked access to literacy education in the past are able to take classes thanks to development awards offered by HealthEdConnect.

Kafwa health workers were the first to advocate for the organization of community schools so that orphans and vulnerable children would not be left behind in their ability to learn foundational tools for life, such as how to read, write, and do math, among many important aspects of education. “Without education, our children will have no future” was the rallying cry by caregivers and community members to establish our schools. And what an impact this has made in the lives of thousands of children and the communities surrounding them! 

Literacy empowers individuals and provides capabilities to lead healthy and sustainable lives. Thank you for supporting our community health workers, teachers, and learners of all ages as we move towards a more literate future!

As the first line of advocacy and health education in their Zambian communities, the Kafwa understand the importance of nutrition on overall health. Since 48% of people in Zambia cannot meet their required calorie intake, malnutrition is something the Kafwa women see often.

To combat this, the women went around their community to distribute much-needed food! Joyce Ngosa and Joyce Songwe detailed this trip, saying:

“Last Friday as Kafwa women we were visiting our clients and distributed food stuffs to them...
We gave out mealie meal, fish and groundnuts. Our clients were very happy for the blessing of food.”

We are so grateful to our colleagues for addressing immediate needs and providing equitable access to advocacy and health education!

Emmanuel Mumba, head teacher at Mapalo Young Peace Makers Community School, knows how important it is to be a force for good in someone’s life. After becoming a double orphan, Mumba had siblings and cousins to care for. He turned to his pastor for guidance, who told him that the school was looking for teachers and he should apply.

We are grateful that this connection led Mumba into the calling of a teacher at one of our sister schools!

A leader in many facets, Mumba spends each day advocating for vulnerable youth and empowering them to be their best and work towards brighter futures! Read more about Mumba in his own words here.

To support the uplifting work of our teachers and school programs in Zambia, you can make a donation here. Thank you for empowering leaders like Mumba!

As the school year begins, we want to celebrate the ones who lead our sister schools in Zambia! Pictured are head teachers, school board members, and Kafwa leaders who help feed, nurture, and empower students each school day. 

Many of our teachers grew up near the communities they serve today and were orphans and vulnerable children themselves. Several have graciously written their stories, highlighting their journey to teaching, challenges they see the students facing, and what they love most about serving at the schools. As we share these over the next week, we hope you will read their stories and leave comments of encouragement.

To support their work and the education of vulnerable children at our schools, you can donate here.

Thank you for uplifting our teachers, community health workers, and students!

As we start to close on summertime and look to the upcoming back-to-school and fall seasons, we invite you to also look "Toward the Peaceful One" with Dr. Sherri Kirkpatrick!

This podcast episode was part of an ongoing series done by the Community of Christ Church and focuses on volunteer community health workers and lessons we can learn from their experiences. Sherri talks about HealthEd Connect's community health worker colleagues, their servant leadership, and the joys and challenges they face in their work. This is a special opportunity to hear firsthand accounts from one of our founders, and we hope you enjoy a deeper look into HealthEd Connect's history!

P.S. Unfortunately, since this episode was recorded, the COVID situation at our program sites has worsened and is directly impacting some of our health workers and putting a few programs on temporary hold.

Project Zion episode with Dr. Sherri Kirkpatrick:

http://www.projectzionpodcast.org/361-toward-the-peaceful-one-sherri-kirkpatrick/

Article written by Dr. Sherri Kirkpatrick:

https://www.cofchrist.org/mission-stories#/356/toward-the-peaceful-one-a-path-less-taken

Over the last two weeks, work at the Mulundu community center (in the Luapula province of Zambia) has taken off!

From digging trees out to make room for the foundation to clearing a path for trucks to bring in supplies, the construction workers on the job have made huge progress as this center starts to take shape in a big way! The coordinators of this project include the team lead for the Luapula Kafwa, Jane Chibwe, and volunteer, Leo Musans A’kapend. Both have put hours of preparation into seeing that Mulundu will have a beautiful new Kafwa community center.

With hard work on-site and your support, new progress is made each day. Thank you for making these life-changing projects possible!

Our Kafwa team lead for Luapula, Zambia, Jane Chibwe, recently shared some joyful news with us!

After caring for a local mother throughout her pregnancy, Jane and a fellow Kafwa helped deliver a sweet baby girl last week. While the parents were choosing a name for their daughter, they decided to honor the woman who had helped them so much during their experience. Now, there are not one but two Jane Chibwes in Luapula!

Our friend Jane is delighted to have a little girl named in her honor and is excited to look after this sweet baby as she does so many others in the community! Here is a quote from Jane sharing her joy:

“[I] am very happy that I have my namesake now in our kafwa HealthEd Connect program. I hope you will be happy too!”

Your support makes these special moments possible- may you share in this joy as well!

We are so proud to announce that one of our PNA nursing scholarship recipients, Faith Songwe, has graduated and passed her licensure exams! She is officially Faith Songwe, BSCN.

When notifying us of her achievement, she had this to say:

“I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you and the team that I have completed my studies at the Lusaka apex Medical University and I have passed my exams am now a confirmed degree nurse. I don’t how I can say thank you to you, had it not being for you I would have not completed my study. I thank God for you people, thank you so much.”

Join us in celebrating Faith’s accomplishment! She is joining the ranks of compassionate, healing nurses around the world!

In Lubumbashi, D.R. Congo, coordinator Josephine and her team of Wasaidizi have been chipping away at local misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine. Concerns regarding efficacy and safety have spread quickly. Many families in the area believe that the vaccines being distributed in Africa are meant to kill them; a rumor that would make anyone think twice before voluntarily taking it.

Josephine and her team have visited 325 local families in the last month in order to combat these rumors. While assuring that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, the Wasaidizi also encouraged the families to watch news stories about other African countries that are vaccinating.

Times like these are when it is most important to be grassroots-led. When local communities fear the worst, people they know and trust can work with them through misinformation and doubts. We are proud to partner with advocates like the Lumbumbashi Wasaidizi team!

Our community health worker colleagues make BIG impacts! From prenatal to palliative care, the Kafwa in Zambia work tirelessly to help their community members.

In Mapalo, a 37-year-old woman named Tanti is living with tuberculosis and HIV. Due to her conditions, she has to travel to the local hospital regularly- an expensive and exhausting routine to receive treatment. After being “adopted” by our Kafwa friends, she has received food to keep up her strength and financial assistance to continue traveling to the hospital. After realizing that the woman was not taking her medications correctly, Kafwa women set up counseling sessions for her. Since becoming a client of the Kafwa, Tanti’s health has vastly improved, along with her quality of life. 

Tanti’s story showcases the life-changing impact that advocacy can have! Because of the love and support shown by the Kafwa, Tanti’s life improved significantly. Thank you for making their empowering and healing work possible!

We hope you enjoyed our first post sent through Follow.It! To learn more about their service, go to: https://follow.it

As a nonprofit in the digital age, we are constantly evolving the tools we use to share our uplifting stories of empowerment! After our recent website update, we are going a step further to improve our blog distribution. If you receive our blog updates via email, nothing should change on your end - only the format may look a little different.

If you have no idea what an RSS Feed is, you can skip the rest of this post. We will look forward to sending out a blog post next week through our new blog service! However, if you have been using our existing RSS Feed to view our blogs, you will need to make a change. We are changing our RSS service from Feedburner to Follow.it, and the identifying links can be found below:

Feedburner RSS Feed Address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/healthedconnect

Follow.it RSS Feed Address: https://follow.it/blog-healthed-connect

If you prefer to use the native RSS Feed on our website rather than a syndication service, it can be found here: http://www.healthedconnect.org/blog?format=rss .

We anticipate making this change next week. Please reach out to regan@healthedconnect.org if you have any questions or issues. We look forward to sharing our stories through Follow.it from now on!

This is a test: If you receive this, please disregard.

Amazon Prime Days are nearly here!

Online shopping has become a necessary part of our lives, but by shopping through AmazonSmile, your deals send smiles to Zambia!

Make your purchases and make a difference during the Amazon Prime Day deals on June 21 and 22, or anytime you shop on Amazon! Simply shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/27-1115162 or with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app and AmazonSmile donates to HealthEd Connect.

It's said that there's no such thing as a free lunch, but we disagree...your shopping provides lunches for orphans and vulnerable children attending HealthEd Connect schools. Combating hunger improves health and concentration in classes, empowering our students to succeed!

Thank you for ensuring that we can provide nutrition and support to women and children throughout the world. Keep shopping and keep smiling!

At the Kasompe Community School of Peace, the new ablution block is nearly completed thanks to a generous Rotary grant. In addition, the sponsored iWASH (integrated Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) curriculum has begun! Students from grades 5-7 and teachers are being taught the basics of water contamination and how to prevent it, safe water collection and storage, and maintaining the new and improved sanitation facilities on campus!

Student curriculum also emphasized the importance of turning taps off to conserve water, cleaning and caring for the new block, and leading by example for younger grades. This addition to campus is a wonderful opportunity to foster responsibility and community, while providing safe and accessible sanitation facilities!

May 15 was recognized by the UN as International Day of Families. On this day we recognize the impact of family on how we view the world and communicate with others. We also want to recognize that family can look very different to different people!

Our Zambian colleagues see blended families often, with grandmothers, aunties and non-related caregivers taking care of orphaned children after the heartbreaking loss of their parents. They are the reason we have community schools in three Copperbelt communities. Caregivers advocated for the children to be educated, seeing a brighter future if they could have a chance to learn. The schools now serve over 1,400 orphans and vulnerable children, and the PCSC (caregiver and teacher group) meetings are highly attended! Students’ families are still invested, involved, and inspired when it comes to education! Orphaned children attending our schools are also invited to join the Kafwa-led “Isubilo” (meaning hope) grief support group, where they can share their feelings with other children in a loving environment, play, and create a whole new type of family together. We are proud to have programs that celebrate and uplift families in Zambia! 

Let’s celebrate the diverse nature of families - related or created - and the love that is shared!

"You cannot learn on an empty stomach." It's a simple fact, verified by numerous research studies. This is why it is a priority for HealthEd Connect to provide lunch to all students at all three of our community schools every school day. For some, this may be their only meal of the day.

Recently, Emmanuel Mumba, our head teacher colleague at Mapalo Young Peace Makers Community School, shared this note about the impact of the school lunches:

“First of all on behalf of the children we are so grateful for the meals being provided to learners during this difficult time of our times! You may wish to know that meals have impacted learners attendance and performance in general positively and consequently the good performance at grade seven level...The hunger situation in our country is pathetic and receiving food like this is a huge relief on the side of the family.”

Mapalo Kafwa, Joyce Ngosa and Joyce Songwe echoed the importance of lunches for their learners, saying:

“We had a very good exercise to weed our garden to prepare it for the healthy growth of vegetables which in turn has a positive impact on our learners…Thank you for being our effective partners in an effort to provide support to initiatives that allow learners who are most vulnerable to access a decent meal while at school.”

Thanks to your support, students are nourished in body and mind, eager to learn and play! On behalf of the more than 1,400 orphans and vulnerable students at our three schools in Zambia, we share a sincere and heartfelt "Twatotela sana!" (We thank you!)

In Zambia, a shocking 10% of it’s population are orphans. In the wake of this devastating reality, grandmothers, aunts, and neighbors have taken up the parental mantle, raising the children as best they can.

Our Kafwa health worker colleagues in Luapula province are there to support both the orphaned children and the caregivers. The Kafwa have facilitated support meetings for the caregivers and began Isubilo (meaning “hope”) programs for the children. The Isubilo group provides a welcoming environment to share feelings among peers, engage in fun activities,  and build lasting friendships.

Developments are underway to build a community center in this area, where there will be expanded opportunities for activities supporting orphans, caregivers, facilitating health education, and weighing/monitoring infants and children, led by the Kafwa and other community volunteers. There’s great potential for sports activities and group events that will promote teamwork and connection.

Community health workers are the nurturing foundation of everything we do. And with your support, combined with the health workers’ time, effort, and love, women and children are uplifted and empowered!

Video by: Zero Malaria Starts With Me*

April 25 was World Malaria Day, and we think it’s incredibly important to recognize the impact malaria still has on our world. While some countries in South America are being declared malaria-free, our colleagues in Africa can see the devastating effects of the disease too close to home. One of our health worker colleagues in Zambia lost a grandson to malaria last year. Children are among the highest-risk in regards to malaria. 

"...it is still a huge problem in Sub Saharan Africa where it kills around 400,000 people annually - the majority of them children under the age of five."  -Anne Gulland, Global Health Security Deputy Editor for The Telegraph**

Hope is strong and action is being taken to end malaria. The pan-African campaign “Zero Malaria Starts With Me” empowers communities to advocate for and take action in regards to preventing malaria. Local impact close to our friends in Zambia include the establishment of an “End Malaria Fund” and awareness marches in the capital city of Lusaka. With continued collaboration and consistent action, malaria could potentially end within this generation! 

*”Zero Malaria Starts With Me” Website: https://zeromalaria.africa

** Telegraph Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/el-salvador-becomes-first-central-american-country-declared/