Extending Educational Opportunities in Zambia

Cherry Mae Magbual for Compassionate Eye Foundation Compassionate Eye Foundation (CEF), in partnership with Friends for Zambia Society, has extended educational opportunities in Lilayi, Zambia by providing funding to build the third and final classroom block at the Twitti School.

This will be a three-classroom building. Together with a remaining construction of a library/administration building, the three-classroom block will complete the Twitti School as a Basic School, providing space for 350 to 400 children from preschool to grade 9.

Our common goal is to provide an opportunity for an education for as many students as possible, and to provide a school that will carry on into the future as a legacy for the community.

The First School in Lilayi, Zambia

Located 40 minutes from the city of Lusaka is Lilayi, a small farming community where no school ever existed. It was not until Simon and Lydia Maonde invited kids to their own home to start educating them, which eventually gave birth to the Twitti School after 15 years.

The Zambian Ministry of Education inspects schools in Zambia every year. The Twitti School in the Maonde home, is recognized as a community school in the country; however, education does not stop at grade 7 which the Twitti School can only provide. The Maondes, who were providing basic education to approximately 200 students in their own home, needed assistance in building a school for the community.

In 2006, the Friends for Zambia Society was registered as Canadian charity through the work of its president, Shelley O’Callaghan. Friends for Zambia has raised the money to construct two classroom buildings, water well, washrooms and an administration/library for the Twitti School. An Education Trust Fund was established in Zambia in 2008, which will own and operate the new Twitti School and ensure a legacy of education for the children of the Lilayi District.

The Need for an additional Three-Classroom Block

To ensure that the Twitti School can provide quality education for kids from preschool up to grade 9, funding was needed for the construction of additional buildings. One of these infrastructures is a three-classroom block which is expected to be started in 2011 and completed by mid-2012.

It is only through the completion of these infrastructures the Twitti School will be a functional Basic School not only for children from preschool to grade 7 but to grade 9 as well.

Compassionate Eye Foundation and Friends of Zambia would like to thank all supporters for their contribution making this important funding possible.

To learn more about projects Compassionate Eye Foundation supports, visit www.compassionateeye.org