OUR kids live in the Ngombe compound...
There are 13.8 million people in Zambia and half of them are under the age of 16. This huge number is due to the high death rate from extreme poverty and HIV/AIDS. The average life expectancy for a Zambian child at the time of their birth is 38 years old.
The average child in Zambia will attend school for only 7 years. Children are the primary caregivers in 25% of all household in Zambia.
In Zambia, there are more than one million orphans – giving it the highest per capita orphan rate in the world.
When a child is orphaned they usually become the responsibility of a family member or neighbor. Because they are another mouth to feed, these children are usually not welcomed and considered a burden. Many are forced to find their own food and sleep outside. Conditions for these children are nearly impossible.
Lusaka is the capital of Zambia with a population of approximately 2 million. There are about 20 plus informal settlements (slums) in Lusaka whose occupants are estimated at close to 1 million.
Ngombe Compound, one of these unplanned squatter settlements, is an area where the population suffers from various deprivations such as lack of access to employment, adequate housing and infrastructure, lack of access to health and education, and personal security. Ngombe compound is among the poorest and densely populated shanty compounds of Lusaka. It is faced with extreme poverty which manifests in very challenging conditions for the residents.
Education for the orphaned and vulnerable in Zambia is so often out of reach. Some are able to pay the small fees to attend a local community school but are hardly receiving a quality education that will prepare them for the future. Community schools are often over-crowded with as many as 100-150 children piling into a small classroom with one teacher. Those teaching these students are likely to have less than a 7th grade education and may have even received that education through a community school as well. Classrooms are rarely equipped with crucial resources such as textbooks or even desks and children only attend two-hour sessions.
Without a quality education, these children have no chance to break out of the cycle of poverty they have found themselves in. Family Legacy is committed to changing this reality for these orphaned children. Now operating eighteen Legacy Academies directly in the slums of Zambia, Family Legacy is providing quality, Christian education to sponsored children. These children who have been tossed into the gutter of society will now have the chance to breakout of the cycle of poverty with a life-changing education.
Please help us change the lives of these orphans, and provide them with a hope and future by supporting our campaign to build a new school for the children of Ngombe! A school that will transform the lives of 1000's. Donate here: Hinds Family - Ngombe Legacy Academy