TUJATANE
THE TONGABEZI TRUST SCHOOL,  ZAMBIA
The Charitable Trust for the Tongabezi Trust School, or Tujatane as it is known locally, which means ‘let’s hold hands together’.

The school is in rural Zambia, about 20 kilometers from Livingstone, the old capital of the country. As with all rural Zambia, schooling is desperately under-funded by the Government and Tujatane, a primary school which does not charge children for educating them, provides an important start in life for some children who would otherwise have little hope.

The charity may be small, but what is collected and all that is donated is spent on educating 200 children, feeding them, and providing them with medical aid.

Tujatane provides an education for children in a small area of rural Zambia, children who have nothing and who, without an education, would have no chance in life, no chance to lift themselves out of poverty or to make something of their lives.

The school was opened by Vanessa Parker on the 1st May 1996 with 15 children, all of whose parents worked at Tongabezi, a Lodge on the banks of the Zambezi. Vanessa came under pressure from other parents in the area to take their children, and so began to expand from the initial two classes of Pre-School and Reception. Through appeals, donations and gifts, Vanessa and her co-trustees have raised the funds to build sufficient classrooms and buildings to provide a primary and secondary education to Grade 9.

Whilst Tujatane is technically a ‘private’ school in that it receives no Government funding, it is still regulated by the Zambian Department of Education. Some of the children walk for over an hour each way, each day. They also turn up at the school in the holidays asking that the library and other facilities be opened so they can continue their education, emphasising the value the children themselves put on their education and the chance they have been given.

Some years ago it was noticed that a large number of the children were underperforming, lethargic and under-motivated. On investigation it was discovered these children were getting only one meal a day, at most, and sometimes not even that. They would come to school without any breakfast, be provided with no lunch and would return home hoping to get a meal, no matter how simple.

The response was to start a daily feeding programme where these particular children were given a mug of porridge when they arrived at school, and a simple lunch. The result was an instant improvement in the children’s performance and ability to concentrate in class, particularly in the afternoon. The feeding programme has now expanded to the whole school and now the school is looking for long term sponsorship of this programme. The cost of the food programme is £6 per child per month.