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| Finding fun is child’s play (November 9th @ 1:29pm) |
 | Young children in poor rural areas in Zambia have few if any manufactured toys to play with, so they make their fun themselves from whatever they can find around them. In almost every village in the Eastern Province, boys can be seen pushing handmade trucks and cars, intricately pieced together... See more. Watch the video on the right.
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| Chief postpones initiation ceremonies in bid to prevent teen pregnancy, early marriage and spread of HIV (November 8th @ 3:54pm) |
 | On one of my last evenings in Makwatata, more than 40 women of all ages from the village gathered together to show me what happens during an initiation ceremony, the rite of passage performed for every Ngoni girl when she becomes a woman. See more
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| Women do twice the work for little social recognition (November 4th @ 12:47pm) |
 | Nzima Tango Tamala lives in Makwatata with her two children. She is just 20 years old, but her children are aged 11 and 8. They are cared for by their grandmother, as Nzima is studying to be a teacher in the Chipata College of Education. See more. You can also watch the short video on the right.
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| Unpaid volunteers are the unsung heroes of Zambia’s education system (November 1st @ 5:20pm) |
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 | Last week, I wrote about how state schools in Mfumbeni were struggling to cope with increasing class sizes and a lack of adequate funding for resources. But thousands of community schools around Zambia are providing basic education to hundreds of thousands of children without any state funding at all. See more
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Small loan helps a poor family to open a thriving drugstore
(October 31st @ 12:39 pm) |
 | Two years ago, Harrison Sakala and his wife Margaret Mwanza were struggling to make a living from their small farm. The family were poor, and they often only had enough food to eat one or two meals a day.
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| Microfinance initiative provides much needed credit to rural farmers and businesspeople(October 30, 2010 @ 11:49 am) |
 | A total of 268 men and women from Makwatata and the surrounding villages have enhanced their business opportunities this year by taking out a small loan from the local Financial Association (FA).
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| Breaking the silence essential to end norm of domestic abuse against women (October 28st @ 9:00am) |
Mary Makukula was serially abused by her husband for decades. In 2008, his blows were hard enough to knock out her two front teeth.
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Free education boosts school attendance, but strained resources are failing to improve standards (October 27th @ 4:30 pm)
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 | The introduction of free primary education for all children in 2002 has made a significant difference to the lives of children all over Zambia. There are now three and a half million children between the ages of 7 and 15 enrolled in primary education. This amounts to 97 per cent of those of primary school age, up from just 57 per cent in 2004. See more
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| Upholding traditional law in Mfumbeni chiefdom (October 26th @ 9:00 am) |
 | In Mfumbeni, traditional and judicial law are distinct but interlinking entities. Opposite Chief Nzamane’s palace, there is a small court house where judicial cases are heard in front of a judge.
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| Chitelele (October 25th @ 3:00 pm) |
| Chitelele is a dance performed by women in all villages at all social occasions in Mfumbeni. The women of almost every village I have visited during my time here have come together to greet me or say goodbye using this form of song and dance.
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| Living with disability and discrimination in Makwatata (October 25st @ 9:00am) |
 | Goodson Nsanje was born with a deformity which affects both of his legs. He can walk courtesy of leather pads which he attaches to his knees, but day to day life for him in Makwatata is a struggle, largely because of the discrimination he has experienced for most of his life. See more
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| Maize farmers still waiting for payment from Food Reserve Agency (October 23rd @ 9:00 am) |
 | Maize farmers in Makwatata, like hundreds of thousands of farmers all over Zambia, have been left unpaid by the government’s Food Reserve Agency (FRA) for last year’s harvest, and many are struggling to make ends meet as the rainy season approaches.
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Access to knowledge and markets makes farming a profitable business (October 22nd @ 3.00pm)
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 | John Mwale is one of Makwatata’s most successful smallholder farmers.
In his garden, he grows tomatoes, cabbages, rape, okra, beans and pumpkins, but on a much larger scale than most other farmers in the village. See more
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Suffering HIV alone (October 21st @ 3.00pm)
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Esther Sakara is forty years old. Her face is drawn, and her eyes distant. In her thin arms she holds her two year old daughter, whose gestation brought Esther the news that she was HIV positive. See more
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Farmers groups benefit from government and NGO support (October 21st @ 9.00am)
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 | All over Zambia, smallholder farmers are benefitting from improved access to resources, knowledge and markets by becoming a member of a local group or co-operative.
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Traditional birth attendants deliver new life in rural areas(October 20th @ 9.00am)
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 | As a traditional birth attendant, Christina Chulu has assisted in the delivery of approximately 500 babies in the villages surrounding Makwatata over the past fifteen years.
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Father determined to send daughters to university despite challenges
(October 19th @ 9:00am) |
 | Society has deprived our women of a proper education. I want things to be different for my girls.” Lanford Mulauzi has three daughters.
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 | Have your say. Visit 'A Village in Africa and have your say on Ciara's project, and the stories that she is telling. |
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