Happy New Year from the Chipata Nutrition Group, Zambia!
on A Zambian Experience (Zambia), 04/Jan/2010 12:05, 34 days ago
As you know, I’m currently volunteering as a fundraiser for the Community-Based Organisation, Chipata Dzithandizeni Nutrition Group in Chipata, Eastern Province of Zambia. The placement is funded by the international organisation Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).The Nutrition Group’s main activities are delivering home based care programmes for people living with HIV/AIDS and delivering Nutrition and HIV Education programmes to help people in the communities of Chipata District to live healthier and productive lives. The organisation also advocates for better access to foodresources, Nutrition and HIV information in the urban and rural areas and it campaigns to reduce stigmatisation of people living with HIV/AIDS particularly in the rural community, where there is less resources and information about HIV and nutrition.Chipata Nutrition Group is a great organisation to work for and there’s a lot of scope for growth. One of the main areas is to utilise their 7 acre plot of land to develop gardening projects so that communities can grow their own food and sell for cash crops and also retain food in order to sustain and improve their own nutritional status. We are currently trying to source money to fund the repairs of a broken bore hole which will be used to water the crops for the gardening project and to also repair an old hammer mill so that it functions again. The hammer mill will be used to grind maize in order to produce mealie meal, which is used to create Nshima (Zambian’s staple food). The project is very exciting as the land is very fertile and one thing that I’ve noticed about Zambia is that there are so many good opportunities to grow lots of food cheaply - it’s just about having the resources to do it.We recently created a brochure which describes the organisation, its goals and its programmes and activities. If you'd like to receive a copy of the brochure, please feel free to drop me a request by leaving a comment on the page and I will try and send you the brochure as an attachment in an email.This year is looking busy for the Nutrition Group. We are also hoping that with the set up of gardening projects at the centre, we will be able to sustain these projects by also identifying new food export opportunities within Africa and Europe. The main food crops being grown in the Eastern Province include soya beans, groundnuts and maize.If anyone knows how they can help support us then please feel free to drop me a comment. Will keep you informed!