Cholera January 2018 Cancel Title is required

Is CI maybe, possibly planning ways of helping children catch up at school once things are back to normal?

Once things are back to normal, all of our services will be available for the kids to avail if they want/need. But, remember since school has not started yet, they won't be behind. I'm not sure, but I imagine that the school breaks will simply be shortened to make up for the delayed start. Kind of like "snow days" here in the midwest, kids love them when they happen, but hate them when summer break starts late. :-)

Many schools (outside of our communities) are open this week. However the schools in the communities we serve remain closed.

Government Health Inspectors visit each school before certifying that the school meets the sanitary/hygiene conditions required to resume operations.  There are a limited number of inspectors available and the process is slow.

We received Health Inspectors at our GeorgeCenter last week. We have invited inspectors to Kanyama and Chibolya, but as of yet, they have not visited.  

Our staff is able to complete some memo donations (inviting one family at a time to come into our centers and avail of goods acquired and stored in our center warehouses).  Therefore, we are making some progress with memo donation implementation, but at a much slower pace than normal.

Most Program activities originally scheduled to start up in January have been postponed to February.

Thank you for keeping us updated

How can George, Chibolya and Kanyama remain sustainable if schools are closed and street vending is banned for weeks or longer?

I recently got a reply about schooling for one of my Zambian girls but not the other. I cannot really figure out why, though I assume they attend different schools. With school possibly starting next month, I'm concerned, especially since I pay for her tuition at a private school. She simply won't go if I don't pay. Guess I'll have to call the CI office to check. 

Hi jchak938b - we can receive memo replies back at different times, even if we submit the requests at the same time. It just depends on how quickly the staff can contact the family and get the requested information. Some families take longer to contact than others. It looks like we did recently mail you out the info you are waiting for. You are welcome to call, email or Live Chat if you would like more details. Thanks!

General Status
·New cholera cases are decreasing.  
·Schools in our communities have not resumed yet. A total of 191 schools country wide are still closed. They expect that most schools will reopen before the end of February.
·The policy prohibiting the congregation of more than 5 people is still in place, however most businesses are operating. 

Our operations
·Government health inspectors have authorized two of our centers to continue operations and will visit the third soon.
·Sponsorship Relation activities are slowly beginning to resume.

In today's Lusaka Times:

Quoting: "Minister of Health Chitalu Chilufya says government is on the verge of completely eliminating the Cholera pandemic. Dr. Chilufya said 16 cases were recorded in the last 24hrs and no deaths were recorded.

He emphasized that there has been a drastic reduction of infections in the epidemic centers. The Health Minister reaffirmed President Edgar Lungu’s determination towards the Cholera fight.

He further announced that the ban on the public has been lifted but emphasized that churches should practice maximum hygiene.  

And Permanent Secretary for General Education Henry Tukombe has urged school authorities not to send back pupils from areas that are cholera epidemic centers..." closed quote

Ramfam: Send our best wishes and continuing support to the Lusaka CI workers and volunteers.  We appreciate how hard these times have been on them too.  Thank you.

rgfischoff, Thank You for positive awesome news!!! Yay!

I don't know how  encouraged I feel considering Permanent Secretary for General Education Henry Tukombes' remarks  urging school authorities  not to send back pupils from areas that are cholera epidemic centers. That would include almost all CI sponsored children. There are many in positions of authority who agree with him and believe the compounds should be demolished all together. Let's just hope this doesn't happen and children from the compounds are allowed to return to school. I don't know the answer  for solving the problem of the compounds/slums  in Zambia or anywhere else. But I do know that keeping impoverished children out of school is not ( and should not be) any part of the solution.

General status:

The ban which prohibited the congregation of more than 5 people in any place at one given time has now been lifted

As schools are certified with Health Inspectors, they are resuming classes; however most of the schools (public and private) in our communities still have not re-opened, as they have not passed the sanitary inspections. 

It is hoped that they will resume by the end of this month. It is probable that the standard school breaks will be significantly reduced in order to make up for the weeks missed.

Our operations:

Chibolya (SAC 2) is operating now at about 90% capacity

Kanyama and George (SAC 1 & SAC 3 respectively) have started most program activity now.  The exception is regarding the distribution of gifts – as that still requires large groups of people assembled.  This activity will start up in the coming weeks.

Most Sponsorship Relations activities (pictures, FR updates, letters, EG's, etc.) are now occurring.

Many of the program activities that didn’t occur in January will be implemented in February.

Yes, I got it shortly after posting. I feel much better now. 😊 I think all my girls'education expenses are now fully funded. 

The latest news from our staff in Zambia: 

The number of new cholera cases continue to decrease - YAY!!!

The schools in our communities are still closed, although hopes are high that they will reopen within the next two weeks. 

As mentioned previously, the community markets have re-opened, and with the congregation ban lifted the families are once again able to shop, sell and move about the community more freely - and with the number of cases decreasing, they feel more confident in doing so. 

Program activities continue to draw the families to the community centers, and the agency is working hard to finish the Christmas and December quarterly gift distributions that were suspended due to the outbreak, as well as catch up on photos, letters and memos. 

Final Update:

According to our staff the cholera outbreak in mostly over, as there are fewer and fewer cases being reported - hallelujah!

Most of the schools in our communities are now open. Only a few are still in the process of getting final clearance from government health inspectors, and hope to open within the next few weeks. 

Our activities are mostly at full operation. Our staff's top priority is working through the EG memos that were generated in December and January, many of which were earmarked for education, so that the kids have everything they need for school. 

The agency is also focused on catching up with program activities, gift distributions, standard requirement collection (letters/ FR updates/photos).  

We appreciate your concern, patience and good wishes during the last couple months as our staff and sponsored families dealt with the outbreak.  

If possible, we'd like to ask that you continue to give the staff a little breathing room by waiting a few more weeks before sending online DP's.  The staff are working on tasks by date order to ensure the families (and sponsors) waiting the longest are processed first. 

Online DP's kind of throw a kink in the flow, as they are usually food supplies, which means there is not room to store them until the staff gets to their received date, so they have to be bumped closer to the top of the list.

That's great news!  You posted that most of the schools in CI communities are open.  Are any of the schools that serve CI sponsored children open or are  some still in the process of getting final clearance?  If not all are opened could you tell me which CI compounds have opened schools and which remain closed?

I'm sorry if my Final Report post was confusing, the schools referenced are those in the communities where our sponsored kids live.  So the handful that had yet to re-open are located in the three compounds we serve. Unfortunately, we didn't receive a breakdown of the exact number of schools in each compound, or the number of students affected. 

I know this thread is titled Cholera, but it is also about the opening of the schools that our sponsored children/youth in Zambia attend and about their education. There are still so many unanswered questions like when will all CI students be back in school,  how will their school schedules change,  will private tutoring be impacted, ect. Things there are no answers to at the present time. Would CI consider either continuing this thread (or starting another thread) to keep sponsors informed with regards to any new information about the schools, education, any activities at the community centers in Zambia that have been impacted A one stop shop,the go to place for this information from Zambia until everything is back to normal?

Re: cholera epidemic, is it possible to send Extra Gift money right now? Would it be delayed? ........//  I am sorry to hear of this extreme situation.  Also, I sponsor 2 kids in a family which help their income via street vending (fish).  I know that everyone is doing the best they can and I wish you, and them, all the best. .................  Is Kanyama the only center affected, or the others as well?

I'll see what I can do to get the answers to your questions. It might take a few days, but stay tuned. 

Any new information you can share with sponsors would  be appreciated. One of my main concerns is regarding youth who will be taking the government exams at the end of this school year. I understand there may not be answers yet. I am very grateful to you for making the extra effort to find out!  Thank you!

Good news for the kids there! Thanks for updating us :)

This is unrelated but for the children whose tuition is paid for by sponsors, are they added to CI's tutoring classes or are they tutored elsewhere?

Ok freestyle, now the waters are getting murky :-)  I'm not sure if you mean tuition (school fees) or tutoring (known as tuitions in India), so here's the skinny and hopefully it's got the correct answer somewhere in there: 

If a sponsor pays for tutoring (known as tuitions in India) for their sponsored child, the child gets their own tutor with the funds the sponsor provides. They are not included in CI's tutoring program. 

Have the tutoring programs in Zambia (both CIs and sponsor funded) begun yet?  Have any adjustments been made for the students whose tutoring is funded by their sponsors? Specifically, will their tutoring sessions be longer?  Will they be more frequent to compensate for time lost due to the schools being closed? Will the students have less tutoring?  Especially the students who will be taking their government exams at the end of the 2018 school year. If there is no new information yet, I would be very grateful if CI would keep sponsors informed of any new developments  

As mentioned in my March 20 post, the staff was enrolling kids for CI's tutoring program, and it did begin a few weeks ago.  Kids whose sponsors are paying for tutoring, should have begun/will begin soon. 

The children will not lose any school time due to the schools being closed during the cholera outbreak. The opening of the school year was delayed, but the number of days the students attend remained the same. 

The school breaks were adjusted (either reduced or eliminated) to ensure that the kids get the entire school year, just less breaks. 

Tutoring will follow the school year, so the kids will not miss out on any tutoring. This includes the kids who attend CI's tutoring program or those kids who attend private tutoring.  CI's program will provide the same number of sessions, again the schedule is adjusted to follow the school year, and the private tutoring will also cover the entire school year.