In 2022 the new Zambian government removed school fees for all grades. While this was a welcome move in reducing the cost for disadvantaged households, the reality is that communities living in poverty still struggle to send children to school. Not only are boarding fees needed but uniform, shoes, socks, exercise books, pens and pencils.  As pupils progress through the grades they need maths sets and scientific calculators too, and all of this is beyond the financial means of many rural Zambian families who survive by subsistence farming. 

Around a quarter of school children in rural Zambia are orphans and the majority are cared for by their extended families. But these relatives are often struggling to educate their own children and cannot to afford to send an extra child to school. The children who are accepted onto our sponsorship scheme may be orphans or classed as vulnerable.  Some have parents who are too ill to work or grow enough crops to be able provide an income as well as food for the family.  In other words without your help these kids would not be able to attend a secondary school. Learn how to help here.