The Zambia’s Scholarship Fund supports a continuous cycle of education in Zambia.
Success Stories
Zambia's Struggle for Survival
In the book The End of Poverty, written in 2005, Dr. Jeffery D. Sachs reminds us that there are degrees of poverty. “Extreme poverty” means that households can’t meet the basic needs to sustain life. To keep this in perspective, no Americans live in “extreme poverty.” Zambia is one of only a handful of countries where extreme poverty is actually on the rise.
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Joblessless
With no trade, and almost no infrastructure, jobs are scarce and pay poorly. The few with jobs pay a 40% income tax. But even with this tax rate the government can’t provide adequate services, education or infrastructure to build a prosperous economy.
Malaria
Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are common in Zambia, where most people cannot afford repellents or even life-saving $10 mosquito sleeping nets. Malaria can be fatal, and is the main cause of death in Zambian children. The CDC says that Malaria is the leading cause of death worldwide. [2]
One measure of poverty is the effect it has on life expectancy. Zambia notoriously boasts the lowest life expectancy in the world. Shockingly, this number has been declining in the past decade.
Starvation
Even with most of the people in Zambia working to grow food, they still can’t grow enough. They hoe the depleted soil without the benefit of modern equipment, irrigation, fertilizers or hybrid seeds. In Zambia in 2002, one- fourth of the population, or 2.5 million people, were on the verge of starvation. Starvation is a persistent problem, not the result of a sudden drought or famine.[1]
Extreme Poverty
Extreme poverty is generally defined as those living on less than the buying power equivalent of two dollars a day. In Zambia, people living on two dollars a day are considered middle class. The official poverty line in Zambia is only one dollar a day. 78% of the rural population live below the poverty line in Zambia according to the United Nations tracking. [1]
Disease
In the rural villages, simply getting an ear infection can be as deadly as cancer in America. There are generally no medicines, not even a simple pain-reliever like aspirin.
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In the documentary, Teach a Man to Fish, Humphrey Kafula tells us how as a young teen he become utterly hopeless. His home life was very bad and he had no chance of success at school. He could see no end to his misery. He went out to a remote area, planning to take his life, hoping he would never be found and bring shame to his mother. While there he had a miraculous experience that made him realize that God cared for him. He turned around and went home and in a very short time ended up being sponsored so that he could go to school. He meet a teacher that changed his life filling him with hope and inspiration. His greatest desire in life then became the goal to become a teacher and share the light he gained from his education. Humphrey worked in the mines to save enough money, but couldn’t make ends meet. Eventually the Fund was able to send Humphrey to college. He was so happy he couldn’t express it.
Now, Humphrey is a teacher assigned to a rural village. Now his dreams of bringing hope and happiness to hundreds of young African students has come true. In time he hopes to work his way up to being a High School teacher.
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