CreatIWE Home was not my first idea for volunteering in Zambia, it arose directly from the needs of the environment. So how did it happen?

During my second stay in Zambia, initially, I was living at the school, the same as the previous time. However, I wanted to integrate more with local people, and what’s more important – to help also those children, whose parents cannot afford to send them to school.

School of life

Education in Zambia – in public school as well as in private ones – is paid. The family model with eight or ten offspring is still one of the most popular here, so sometimes parents are able to provide education to only one or two children, often none. Other babies can be seen on Linda’s sandy roads, taking care of their younger siblings, helping parents, wandering in larger groups, often doing small jobs. They are cheerful, always smiling, willingly peeking at the school area through holes in the fence. Despite not knowing English, they will always find a way to communicate. And yet – not through their own fault, not all children in Africa have an equal start, even in such a basic (for us) aspect as the ability to read.

In consequence of these observations, I decided to leave high school walls, secured by a brave young man, who “saves me” from spiders and rats 😉 I moved out of my room and rent a house in Linda. I knew already most of the people around, and to my new place started coming children. Among them were my former students, kids I get to know by talks on the road, and all my young neighbors. Using materials I have gathered in Poland, I was helping them learn to write and read, I was sharing drawing accessories with them or creating games and puzzles. Parents who stopped by were reading aloud to children. The news was spreading fast and soon during the day I had nearly 200 young visitors.

Maggie & Beatrice

From the very beginning, my great support was Beatrice, who works and lives in Linda. Not having much herself, she was ready to offer me everything. Hence the name of the whole project – it’s a fusion of names Maggie and Beatrice, at home that is full of creativity! And what’s the matter with that strange spelling? “Iwe” means “you” in the Zambian dialect Chinyanja. “Trice”, the part coming from Beatrice, brings to mind the tree – symbol of growth and development; firmly rooted in the earth, yet reaching higher than others. Sounds like a good metaphor, right? 🙂

We both were aware, that we cannot give to children who come to us only “a fish” – we need to show them at least how does fishing rod work. One of the first steps toward that was planting vegetables together to provide everyone with a little more food. We also created doormats from scraps of materials and other handicrafts that could be used in their homes or sold.

Adults were joining in more and more often. They wanted to improve their English, learn together with their children, or simply spend time in this place and help with the cheerful but a bit chaotic group. Taking advantage of a rapidly growing social network, we invited local experts in various fields to make small workshops. A local tailor provided us with scraps of materials, shopkeepers delivered sacks and boxes for vegetables, and the kids themselves brought bottles and caps from which we made decorations. A carpenter and guitarist from Linda, Collins Manchishi plays his own songs during breaks from building shelves and desks together with the CreatIWE Home team.

If you are interested in Zambian music, here you can listen to Collins’s performances.

Far, and yet close

When the time of my return to Poland had come, with regret, but without fear I left the whole House under Beatrice’s care. I knew that only good things would happen under her entrepreneurial eye. I wasn’t wrong! 

Keeping in touch with Linda via the internet, I could watch all the wonderful activities of my friends and enjoy their successes with them. And they were definitely not idle! You can follow the events of this period and see what is happening there now on our Blog.