In her lifetime Maureen Vincent visited Zambia on several occasions where she was always amazed by the smiling faces of the children, despite their desperate living conditions. She undertook some projects to enhance the lives of young vulnerable Zambian Children. It was therefore a natural conclusion after her death that her Zambian charity work should not be forgotten.

Malcolm, Maureen’s husband, along with friends Ross and Kirsteen Leventhal, set about finding a worthy project in Zambia in order to celebrate Maureen’s life. It was very important that the project reflected Maureen’s Christian belief and her love of the Zambian children. The building of a pre-school seemed a perfect choice.

With the help of Malcolm and Maureen’s friend, Ellen Mulenga, who is a leading figure in the United Church of Zambia, we set about finding a suitable project.

Kangonga is a small rural community on the outskirts of Ndola in the Copper belt region of Zambia. It is typical of many of the rural communities in Zambia where most of the population live in poverty and have little hope of breaking the poverty cycle. The church leaders in Kangonga were desperate to build a pre-school within the village to give the most vulnerable children in their community a good start to their education and to give them some vision for the future.

After a visit to Kangonga in November 2013 Malcolm, Ross and Kirsteen donated the money to help the community build the classrooms and fund the teachers. The Maureen Vincent Memorial School (MVM) opened in January 2015 with 33 children.

Over last few years we have continued to work very closely with the school board to make sure that school continues to thrive.

The task of the charity now is to maintain and grow the school for future generations of children. We now have over 90 children and growing.

As in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa the need for support in Zambia is obvious. One only needs to read a few facts and figures to be convinced that this is a country worthy of our attention.

Zambia’s population of about 15 million is faced with a mature and generalized HIV epidemic, accounting for one of the highest adult prevalence rates in the world about 14.3 percent nationally. There is also widespread poverty and food insecurity in rural and urban areas. It is estimated that 64 percent of Zambia’s population lives in poverty. Poverty in areas is exacerbated by the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS.  And life expectancy is only 37 years.

Zambia’s economy has been in decline for the last 2 decades.

Whilst Zambia has one of the better school systems in the African sub continent it simply does not have enough schools. Most children particularly girls do not stay on at school past the age of 11. This figure is probably worse in more rural areas.

Kangonga – Where is it?

Well, you won’t find it on a map!

It can be found down a dusty road approximately 8km away from the city of Ndola. Ndola was once the gem of the copper belt region of Zambia. In recent years due to foreign competition the copper industry has been in decline. This has had a huge impact on the outlying communities of the city as the more the copper mining industry went in to decline the fewer jobs were available in the city.

Kangonga is home to people who try to etch out a living by seasonal work in the surrounding fields. Failing crops dues to the lack of rain over the last few years have hampered the agriculture industry and thus the ability of the villagers to find work. The social impact on the village has been further exacerbated in recent years by the Zambian government withdrawing funding of a home for disabled adults that was situated on the edge of the village. The villagers with their strong Christian ethics have absorbed these people into their community.