Mukuni Village Zambia: A Philanthropic Travel Success Story

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Mukuni Village Zambia: A Philanthropic Travel Success Story

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Jane Kaye- Bailey and friends in Mukuni Village, Zambia

Exquisite Safaris is the pioneer in private, luxury, philanthropic travel worldwide. We support the work of visionary venture philanthropists like you who travel with the intention to seed new and existing humanitarian projects in Africa, Asia, India and South America. We share the following philanthropic travel success story in the hope you will one day join us for your own family philanthropic adventure.

Pay it Forward: a philanthropic traveler's story.

The Butterfly Tree Project started after a business incentive trip, staying at the beautiful Royal Livingstone Hotel in Victoria Falls, being wined, dined and entertained in sheer luxury. On our 'day off ' we chose to go to Mukuni Village, and I came away totally disturbed to learn that out of 1000 pupils, 450 were orphans. Having been fortunate to do a great deal of traveling around the globe I decided it was time to give something back. I told my husband that I was going to do something to help them and mentioned it to the other members of our party. By the time we left I had raised over $10,000 and hence the start of my 'mission'.

Vigilant about where the money would go, my husband sponsored my son and I to return to Zambia to give the money directly to the Village. I had a contact with one of the teachers. Three weeks later armed with medical supplies, educational material and clothing for the orphans we returned to Livingstone.

After a very successful week getting to know the school and health center staff we learned of their hardships and what would be the best projects to raise money for. Their dedicated Head Teacher explained that the only way to overcome their problems was though education. Top of the list was to raise money for a 3-bay classroom to enable the school be upgraded to a high school as many children had to leave before time. This we helped achieve, the school inspectors have approved it and it will open in January 2007. We are very proud of this as it's the first village high school. We also funded the completion of a teachers' house and saw two families living in it and funded renovations to their health center.

Since my return to the UK my family and I have raised a further $40,000. I have also started an orphan sponsorship program and to date we are educating 37 of these children. My husband and I have just returned from Zambia and it was wonderful to see the progress that had been made. We also spent much of the time visiting 'our' orphans and assisting them to a certain extent. One little girl, aged 9, is HIV positive and we are also sponsoring her brother. They live with their grandparents, who have lost three children and now have 15 dependents, this was just one of many sad stories. We are also funding a 'feeding' program, as the WHO (World Health Organization) food supply was inconsistent and the poorer children were only getting one meal a day, many of them walking over ten miles each way to school.

We have lots of new projects in the Victoria Falls area to raise money for which include desperately needed toilets for both the pupils and teachers, a woman's shelter and funding of the pre-school and teacher salary which is on the verge of being closed due to lack of funds. So as you can see, we have set our selves quite a task. However I am determined to continue my support and would like to stress that this is a totally self-funding organization, we pay for all our own expenses, including travel and do not deduct any administration fees. I have direct access to the school's bank account, they send me the receipts for the work they undertake we have trusted relationships who oversee the projects on a full time basis. The school has very little government funding and the health center, although funded by the government, is totally inadequate.

We have recently sent out 19 boxes of medical supplies, sports equipment and clothing for the orphans. As you can imagine I am dedicating all my free time to helping these wonderful people. Naturally, like most African communities there is so much more to be done. However, I really feel that these people are ready to move forward and have some dedicated staff who are prepared to work hard to improve their situation.

Jane Kaye- Bailey lives near Warwick, England and is the visionary Founder of The Butterfly Tree Project serving the Makuni Village, Zambia project and Victoria Falls region. To join her efforts, click here.

Mukuni Village is sometimes mis-spelled Makuni.

Related Links:
Giving while Living: The Deeper News About the New Philanthropy
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Traveler Funded School Victoria Falls, Zambia
Philanthropic Adventures: Family Foundations Introduction: Family Giving and Philanthropic Travel
Philanthropic Adventures: Family Foundations 1:3 What Is Family Philanthropy?
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