Codename All Star Centre Project Update November 2009 Trip

Chris, Mark, Danny and Lukwesa visited the community to find out about the potential of developing the All Star Kids Project Centre.

The area is around 5 hectares located just on the outskirts of Lusaka in a rural community. (See map for a rough location of where it is). The community are keen for All Star Kids to develop some work locally. There are hundreds of families here support by just one borehole for water and one primary school. There is no electricity or running water and most people survive by subsistence farming. There is a lot of clear poverty. Families are struggling to survive and there are many issues with orphaned children.

As the team looked around it became clear that through a partnership with the community All Star Kids could develop some work to improve the lives of the local community and develop a sustainable project for children. Initially this could include advice and skills training to improve the local farming. For example the land is currently watered by drawing water from wells in buckets – this is a long and difficult task on a daily basis. We are trialling some canzee pumps in other regions of Zambia, it could be these cheap and efficient pumps could be introduced and made locally. Not only would this help the community with their farming it would also provide skills training for young people.

Lukwesa Burak and Mark Frain trying out the local borehole

During the visit it became clear how dependant the community were on the one borehole. As the team were trying themselves to see how much effort it takes to get water the borehole broke. This would mean that literally thousands of people would be struggling to get water until it was fixed.

The team came away realising there is so much potential for this to become a showcase project for All Star Kids and a fantastic opportunity for the community. The initial step is to purchase the land which will cost just £4000. Please consider becoming a partner with us and the local community and making a donation towards this work today. We have seen the needs of the community, we have listened to what they want, we now want to make the step of believing in them by making this a reality – please join us.

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