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The Swanson Family Charity is a registered charity (SC048324) founded in loving memory of Ron & Mary Swanson who served as missionaries in Chitambo, Zambia from 1960-67.

The primary objective of the charity is to support the Chitambo community and help to make a meaningful and sustainable difference to the lives of the local people.

The Chitambo Hospital was founded in 1908 in memory of Scottish missionary David Livingstone. The hospital serves a poor rural population of 100,000; the majority living in remote villages up to 100 miles from the hospital. There are many factors which limit and prevent access to health facilities, including culture, affordability, distance, transportation and physical. One third of the population are women of childbearing age.

The Chitambo Hospital has only one maternity ward, built in 1961, by the late Ron Swanson. The ward houses both pre and postnatal mothers which contributes to overcrowding, congestion and cross infection.

The maternal mortality rate and birth complications in rural Zambia are high and are as a direct result of the lack of adequate facilities and effective care when needed most, particularly in the later stages of pregnancy, during childbirth, and post childbirth period. The Chitambo Hospital does not have a Mothers’ Waiting Shelter and this support facility is urgently needed to enable mothers and their helpers to stay and receive quality and professional care, in a timely manner, at the hospital, in the weeks prior to delivery, instead of making the hazardous journey to the hospital whilst in labour.

The construction and provision of a 20 bed Mothers’ Waiting Shelter on site, adjacent to the existing maternity ward, will undoubtedly save lives, reduce the maternal mortality rate, improve health and wellbeing, benefit mothers, newborns, families and the entire community.

The total cost of building and furnishing the Mothers’ Waiting Shelter is £43,000 and the Swanson Family Charity is committed to raising and contributing £10,000 toward this total cost.  We are collaborating with three wonderful likeminded partners - Friends of Chitambo,  The Rotary Club of Whanganui, North Island, New Zealand and the Chitambo District Hospital - to make this project a reality. 

This fundraising page is one strand of income generation for this meaningful, life-saving project. Any donation will be gratefully received. Thank you in advance!