Mfuwe Secondary School

We first visited Mfuwe Secondary School in July 2011. It’s the only secondary school in the area and has really suffered from lack of support and increased number of pupils. This was very evident when we looked around, we were shocked by how little there was. It is in desperate need of help.

There are currently 603 pupils, 405 boys and 198 girls. In secondary education the number of girls drop off hugely as many have to stay and work at home, there are also high teenage pregnancy rates. There are only 2 classrooms and the school is currently having to use classrooms from the neighbouring primary school. Incredibly the government has provided 22 specialist secondary teachers, but they have nowhere to teach and nowhere to live as there is only one teachers house. The teachers also have to plan and mark work under trees! However there is hope – the new head teacher, Mrs Beatrice Chabala, is doing wonders and has rallied the parents to donate funds to build a triple classroom block. This has already begun and Mfuwe Lodge (the team Sausage Tree works with) and one other safari company have matched this and in total 3 triple classroom blocks are currently being built. This is fantastic news and will really help the school establish itself.

There is however a long way to go, the classrooms are being built but now funding needs to be found for desks. It costs £39 for one double desk/bench; this has to be made from metal as wood comes at a cost to the landscape. The need for firewood is huge, however supplies are becoming more and more difficult to source, and villagers are having to walk further and further to find it. The school’s library is in a box on top of a cupboard; there is no science lab so the children are failing their science exam; there are very few books and resources and no sports facilities.

Approximately 150 pupil’s board at this school as it is too far from their homes to come in on a daily basis. On our visit in July 2011 they also showed us the boys boarding facilities; these are in a horrific state. Approximately 80 boys currently stay in the dormitory. 4 boys/young men are having to share one bunk bed which is far from ideal, very uncomfortable, hot and very unhealthy. They store their luggage, books, clothes etc in the rafters of the building. The boys do well in trying to keep it clean and tidy and have a cleaning rota in place but the building is falling down around them.

The head teacher told us how the school officials and the building officer have plans for the new buildings for the school and that now they just needed funding for more classrooms and 2 new boys’ dormitory blocks that would accommodate approx. 48 pupils each ideally with an ablution block. Fantastically 6 wonderful people climbed Kilimanjaro for Sausage Tree and 1 boys dormitory is currently being built! The school and boys are incredibly excited and grateful.

Sausage Tree and our team out in Zambia are eager to change this. Hopefully we can find funds and help make this school a success story.

Future Projects for the school:

• Fund desks and benches
• Build more classroom blocks
• Fund a Science block
• Build another boys dormitory
• Build and resource a library
• Building teachers houses
• Sports facilities