Humanitarian/Educational Global Grant in Zambia

The Rotary Club of Ipswich is writing a Global Grant (GG) application for a follow-on GG to one submitted by District 7780 (coastal Maine and New Hampshire) in 2014, which Ipswich contributed $1,000 to as a sponsoring club. The initial grant funded the training of two teachers from each of 50 low-income community schools to recognize common illnesses for treatment and to administer vitamins, de-worming pills, and material and information regarding clean drinking water.

The training was conducted in the N'gombe District in the city of Lusaka, the poorest slum in Zambia. It is home to 50 community schools where 45% of the children suffer from treatable diseases. Working alongside a non-profit organization called Healthy Kids/Brighter Future (HK/BF) founded by 2014 Bowdoin College graduate Lonnie Hackett, the GG has benefited over 10,000 of Zambia's most vulnerable children using school-based health screenings, vaccinations, and treatment for common diseases as well as education to improve sanitation and hygiene and referrals to the N'gombe Medical Clinic.

Lonnie will be spending a third year in Zambia to expand the project into another community in the N'gombe District using the experience of this healthcare model to create an improved system, especially in the area of sustainability. The Zambian government has also granted approval to include additional schools into the effected population, with the intent of government adoption of this healthcare model in their education system.