Education Sponsorship: Kaingu Safari Lodge

By: Rick Schulz Photos: Kaingu Safari Lodge / Safari Magazine

We, at Kaingu Lodge, firmly believe that the two major ways we can benefit and help develop the communities around the lodge are to provide employment in a district where there a few opportunities, and to provide some education options for the local children.

Our local Itumbi Primary School, at Chief Kaingu’s village, now provides a basic teaching curriculum to 300 children in an area where previously there were no opportunities due to the distance from any major centre.

The school was built as a joint venture between the community, Kaingu Lodge, and generous donations raised by a guest, Ms Connie Walvis and the Wild Geese Foundation. Connie worked closely with Tom Heinecken, a previous shareholder of Kaingu, to raise the necessary funds and build the new three-classroom school. The government now pays for three teachers and Kaingu Lodge pays for two at the school.

Many of our guests over the years have provided further cash and educational material. Allyson Hankin, a school teacher from Australia, raises money through second-hand book sales and makes an annual pilgrimage to Kaingu. She prioritises the Itumbi School’s wish list and purchases what she can, along with Joseph Kaloza, a teacher from the school. In addition, in partnership with English guests John and Renata Gunn, and Keith and Bev Musgrave from Rota Tank, we have been able to supply water to the school and chief’s village through a solar bore pump and distribution system.

Over the last three years, with the help of generous donations from Linda Doughty, also from the UK, we have extended our programme by providing scholarships to four girls to attend the Itezhi Tezhi Secondary Boarding School with the opportunity to complete year 12. These girls all showed above average ability and dedication at junior levels and are making every effort to capitalise on their opportunity. The next step is to extend these scholarships to tertiary level.

Our next project is to provide solar powered tablets, containing the Zambian curriculum in seven languages, to several, and eventually all, of the classrooms. Two teachers have already been trained in their use, through iSchool Bambisana, who developed the tablets and are rolling out the programme. We hope to furnish two classes within the next two years.

Zambia’s challenges can sometimes appear overwhelming, but just because you can’t solve them completely does not mean that you should not try to make a difference, however small. We have been very lucky to have guests and friends who share this philosophy.