Poverty Fighting
Tikondane Community Centre
Katete (Zambia)
December 2020.
Zambia, a country which was only supposed to be a way to get from Tanzania to Namibia, happened to be so much more than that thanks to our volunteering experience at Tikondane Community Centre. We rarely hear about this country in the news, if not for its high level of poverty or its copper exports. Although we witnessed difficult living conditions, we will always remember Zambia for its human richness. This is for sure thanks to Tikondane, who helped us access the rural villages of Eastern Zambia (Katete) and its lovely people.
Contents
Context
Zambia keeps remaining one of the poorest countries on earth, despite never having been at war like most of its neighbouring countries. Currently, about 64% of Zambians earn less than the international poverty line of $1.90 per day with 40% of them living in extreme poverty, meaning under $1.25 a day (World Bank, 2020). As in many countries, distribution of wealth is unequal, but even more in Zambia with the proportion of poor people being significantly higher than the rich. This makes impoverishment one of the most profound challenges faced by Zambia today.
There are many spiraling economic problems, aggravated by Covid 19, contributing to those poverty rates. In summary, they are as follows.
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The government’s growing debt (domestic and external), which they don’t manage to pay back. They currently owe more than 27 billion USD to international creditors, including a high proportion to China and Europe (WorldBank, 2019). This pressures a poor monitoring of resources.
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Education and health services are not receiving enough financing, mainly because of those debts. This leads to highly skilled personnel such as doctors, scientists, teachers and/or administrators migrating to different parts of the world.
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As education is not prioritized by the government, widespread illiteracy is not addressed. This, combined with a high birth rate (thus a rapid population growth), results in high unemployment levels.
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Zambia’s lack of economic diversification and dependency on copper as its sole major export makes it vulnerable to fluctuations in the world commodities market (imagine during a pandemic…). Geographically, Zambia is isolated, which denies its access to services and markets.
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The government fails to address agriculture as a sector that would enable Zambia to achieve sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty. Considering that ¾ of the poors live in rural areas (Unicef, 2018), this highlights their market-distorting agricultural policies. As trade has declined and droughts have impacted agriculture, this has worsened the conditions of farmers.
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Covid 19 has exacerbated Zambia’s fragile macroeconomic situation and increased its poverty levels and vulnerability. The Kwacha (local currency) has depreciated by 30% since the beginning of 2020 (WorldBank, 2020), increasing external debt servicing costs and domestic inflationary pressures. Falling exports and capital inflows will keep putting additional pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
It’s also important to state that Zambia suffers from high HIV/AIDS diseases. Despite great progress during the recent years, it is still a leading cause of death in the country. Other major reasons include tuberculosis (related to HIV/AIDS), malaria (attacking the most vulnerable populations, accounting for 40% of under 5 years old deaths; WHO, 2020), respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery (CDC, 2019).
Those issues form a vicious circle together, all worsening each other, creating a poverty cycle. This means it’s significantly hard for an individual to not get stuck into it and take the necessary steps to break it. Following is the example of a poverty cycle to illustrate that trap.
economic decline → low personal income →less access to food, clean water and education → low self-esteem, no personal control → high child births, more dependents at home → even less access to food, clean water and education → hunger and poor sanitation → disease, malnutrition → no energy and skills to work → depleted workforce → low productivity → economic decline
This shows that it takes more than just money to escape poverty. Indeed, the concept of poverty is multidimensional, not only capturing the monetary dimension but also encompassing acute deprivations in daily lives terms of health, education, disempowerment among others.
When having the chance to come from a developed country, it’s so easy to fall in the trap of thinking “with a bit of determination they can change their situation!” or “it’s the people’s choice to get out of it!”. And if it’s true that the responsibility falls into the hands of their government to find solutions for them to survive, there it says it all: to survive. Not to live, but to survive. Until what point millions of people have to suffer from the poor management of its government? Humanly, it is important to realize that in those conditions, the brain is totally incapable to think about something else than surviving. All the body’s attention and its willpower focuses on the first step of the pyramid of needs: to eat, drink and sleep.
In this article, we give you a chance to travel with us and share what we have experienced: financially and materially poor people, most of them Zambian farmers, extremely kind, welcoming and warm, trying hard to get out of this vicious circle.
Tikondane Community Centre
In the local Chewa language, “Tikondane” means “let’s love one another”. Isn’t that not such a great name to start this adventure, the 4th volunteering experience of our humanitarian world tour? We didn’t need more to get convinced of the benefits of this experience.
How did it start ?
Tikondane Community Centre (Tiko) owes its creation to the determination and wisdom of a wonderful woman: Elke Kroeger-Radcliffe. A German-born Australian widow, heartly attached to the UK and who has travelled the world during many years studying cross-cultural psychology.
After taking a nursing course in Sydney to be ready to fight the HIV & AIDS pandemic in Africa, and in particular Zambia, she arrived at the nearby St. Francis Hospital in 1993 with the aim of training nurses during this crisis.
In the following years, she immersed herself in the Zambian culture, focused on learning the local language and quickly started to work on the most pressing and obvious problem: illiteracy. When villagers came to join the classes at the hospital, the board became a bit worried and restricted the courses to staff personnel only. A place for literacy lessons was found by the Chief, just next to the hospital… that’s how Tikondane Community Centre was born!
Professor Jack Radcliffe, Elke’s late husband, gave the real foundation to this project: it is the independence through a widow’s pension that allowed Elke to found this association. Since then, she lives and works hard on the premises to make it thrive.
Tikondane’s catchment area
There are about 244,000 people living in Katete (district of Eastern Zambia).
Tikondane’s catchment area covers approximately 16,000 people. Most of them depend on subsistence farming to produce the staple food crop of maize. The soil is poor due to the use of artificial fertilizer, which results in low crop yields. After the harvest, products are sold to be able to afford necessities such as salt, soap, clothes among others. As a result, by January, three months before the next harvest, supplies of maize are running out and the hungry season begins. Add to this malnutrition, unclean water, the consequences of HIV/AIDS, and the general lack of educational opportunities, and it becomes normal that life is extremely difficult in Katete.
First vision
Tiko evolved from a venue providing literacy classes to a community center run for and by the people of Katete. This idea came in parts thanks to the help of another important member of the crew: Doris.
She explained to Elke that women needed more than just to learn how to read and write: they needed jobs as many of them only had prostitution as a way to survive. This was especially important as HIV&AIDS was at its worst in 1999. Thus, Tiko is a unique place. As unlike other NGOs, it is run by 75 local crew members, half of whom are welfare cases with little education and large families to support. In the villages, there is still this culture where things are not sold but shared among what is called, the extended family. Doris is a good example: she has 5 children herself, many of her 10 siblings died from HIV/AIDS and left her with orphans. Besides, as her living relatives don’t have any income, they also leave their children with her. It’s because of the reliability of the extended family that people can survive an extremely high unemployment rate and don’t feel needy.
How does it work financially ?
It was obvious since the beginning that Tikondane could not survive solely on donations, and so it was necessary to establish Income-Generating Activities (IGAs) to be able to reinvest sustainably into Tiko and make it thrive. Thus, other than teaching, the existing structure was turned into guest rooms. A restaurant was also added. This lodge had become the centre’s main source of income, although this changed due to Covid 19, as they unfortunately did not receive any guest since March 2020. The place also makes its own bread, jam and peanut butter, which can be consumed on site but which is also for sale at Tiko Food Shop. There is also a Tiko gift and craft shop, with all articles made on site (soap, stuffed African animals, knitted dolls, placemats etc.)
Current mission
Katete being a very poor rural province, people rely heavily on agriculture to be able to feed themselves and survive. Most of the locals are farmers and have fields where they can grow their crops. So, together with the desire to help Katete’s women to find a better way to live, Elke realized that “it was all the more important to help them help themselves”. Seminars on basic health and development as well as on HIV/AIDS highlighted the main issues that needed to be solved.
That’s when the plan of the “19 Steps Out of Poverty for the Subsistence Farmer” was developed. Since then, Tiko’s mission is to fight poverty in Katete through better education, health, and entrepreneurship; helping people to help themselves while maintaining their traditional values.
Those addressed topics show how well Tiko grasped the concept of poverty. By developing not only income generating activities but also access to basic services, the NGO attempts to tackle all dimensions of this scourge.
Our experience related to Tiko's main activities
From our arrival at Tikondane Community Centre, we have the chance to witness some of the main activities of the association.
Communication, administration, marketing and funding
We spend quite a lot of time with the NGO Director, Elke. As her profession suggests, she is responsible for all the association administration (marketing, communication, social business development, crowdfunding…). She is happy to get some of our help regarding IT issues and we are very curious as well to learn about the running of an NGO.
She is the pillar of Tikondane and leads the crew. We participate to the weekly management meeting where reports about what happened during the week are given by the managers of every department (health, maintenance, field/garden, livestock, lodge, restaurant, craft shop…) and the representatives of every project (malnutrition fighting, permaculture activities…). The surrounding communities are also represented in the meetings by the headmen of the 53 villages, compounds and sections.
We talk about the concerns Elke has regarding her succession. It is true that we don’t meet everyday a person who can dedicate 27 years of her life to help a community to get out of poverty... She is the only mzungu (white person) in the association, she gets the majority of the donations from her own connections, and even if she works with some reliable persons, most of them don’t have the opportunity to pursue an education, which makes it difficult to plan for Tiko’s sustainability.
Tourism
We stayed at the cute Tiko lodge for one night, but left because of the 15 big spiders we found in the room that evening. Some of them the size of our hands…
So we decided to stay at the lodge next door to be able to rest and be fully focused and energetic during our volunteering. However, we eat at the restaurant everyday. I am delighted to spend time with the chefs and to learn how to cook Nshima, the country’s national dish made from maize.
To be eaten with the hand of course, while Marie looks at me very concerned.
Fortunately, she finds her happiness with the cute babies of the community (ok, me too)!
We enjoy spending time at Tiko’s verandah, the common room where everyone gathers to eat, chat, laugh and share moments together. Its atmosphere is so warm and friendly.
Education
As it is December holidays, most of the education activities have stopped (early childhood centre, primary education, literacy/english/small business skills/computer classes for adults), but Tiko keeps supporting the crew with scholarships in different sectors (right now bookkeeping, electricity and food & beverages).
The intern meetings also keep going. We have the chance to lead one of them and guess what subject we choose... cultural understanding! One of our favourite topics to talk about. Travelling allows us to open our eyes to the world and broaden our perspective on different ways of thinking and living. We never repeat it enough, but we have so much to learn from one another. We realize that each country, like each person, has its strengths and weaknesses. Things to take and things to leave. It is a very dynamic course and we receive very positive feedback at the end. Locals are happy to exchange with us about our respective cultures.
They are really surprised about the difference between our marital traditions and theirs. We explain to them that we can be in a relationship and live together without being married, that we can stay single our whole life and still be fine, that the average number of children per family is 2. They laugh a lot from our differences. In Katete, the average number of children per family is 10 (especially because of extended families) and couples marry very young. They also tell us about the traditional tasks that men and women do: “women cook, clean, take care of the children and men go to work, if they have any!”. They are so shocked when I tell my dad is cooking at home and Marie’s dad is doing the laundry.
Sometimes, it is a bit difficult to get their impressions about us as they are scared to be judged and/or that we feel judged. One person says “the first things I think when I see a mzungu are highly educated people and very rich”. Difficult for them to not define our culture by “white culture”. Who can blame them? They can’t afford travelling from one city to another in Zambia, so how could they afford coming to Europe to see our diversity?
We exchange information about our educational systems, the place of agriculture in our respective economies and our general customs.
We are happy to tell them that we are highly admirative about their peaceful mindset. Indeed, there has never been any conflicts between religions in Zambia, despite the prevalence of Christianity (more than 85% of the population; ZamStat, 2020). The country is an example of tolerance, where everyone is free to choose its own religion. They are sad for us when we explain about our religious conflicts in France. Overall, it is a very fun session and everyone is happy to learn about our respective differences.
Sustainable agriculture and farming techniques
Following the NGO’s guidelines on the “19 Steps Out of Poverty for the Subsistence Farmer”, Tiko’s crew implements a certain number of measures in their daily life.
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Eco-toilets & compost making
By replacing standard toilets with dry toilets, water can be saved and human waste can be naturally processed into compost material for farming. Ladies from the community are actually very keen on this initiative as pit latrines are not hygienic in terms of disease (cholera) and general well-being (smell, cleanliness).
Thanks to the Berkeley method, compost can be made in only 18 days from its collection, to its decomposition, and finally its use in the soil. This will not only give nutrients to the planted food but it will also help to hold (and save again) water, as well as act as an organic fertilizer by keeping termites from eating seeds.
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Growing various crops
The farmers are encouraged to grow diverse types of food with different nutritional intakes (protective, energy giving, body building) to eat and sell (foodshop and market). Maize, the main ingredient of nshima (national dish), although leading to high blood pressure and diabetes when too frequently consumed. Yam for nshima, which is cheaper to grow, more nutritious and less fattening than maize because it contains less sugar. Moringa and its enormous benefits (7 x the vitamin C of oranges, 4 x the vitamin A of carrots, 4 x the calcium of milk, 3 x the potassium of bananas, 2 x the protein of yogurt). Soya for protein rich porridge, pancakes, sausages. Groundnuts for snacks, processed peanut butter and additional-value porridge. Sunflower for cooking oil. Fruits (mangos, papayas, masuku, avocado) with some of them used for jam and other vegetables (tomatoes, onions, cabbage, rape, okra…).
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Growing trees
Besides vegetables, farmers are provided with tree seeds to plant in order to dynamize and renew the ecosystem (fruits, vegetables, wood).
An energy-saving mud stove is also being used, so that big firewood can be replaced with small firewood to avoid waste. Placing it at the centre of an outdoor kitchen helps avoiding inhaling fumes.
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Animals breeding
Tiko also provides farmers with rabbits, pigeons and chickens to breed to eat and sell. We are fortunate to visit those villages to witness all of this with our own eyes. Pigeons are high in protein and are easy money in case of emergency. They don’t require much care as they just need a kraal and little food.
From 2020, Tiko has decided to invest in chicken farming. After building chicken houses, fences and wells, the project has been launched on Tiko’s premises with 40 black Australots, as well as in Joy’s (Tiko Crew Member) house with 30. Joyce (Tiko Crew Member) is also ready to receive 40 Kuroilers (Indian breed). Chickens can be vaccinated if needed to ensure their survival and an incubator has been bought to reproduce the role that the hen would play in nature. It controls temperature and humidity at perfect levels so that eggs hatch in the best conditions. The idea is to grow the backyard flock, so to produce more eggs and more meat needed for a better diet, as well as to commercialize them and make a surplus in order to pay all of it back to Tiko. This will then allow three new ladies to benefit from this initiative. And let us tell you, the project is on the right track!
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Garden bags
Growing vegetables in garden bags also saves water and protects them from roaming livestock and thus being eaten up.
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Fence & organic pest control
Living fences made of bamboo, jatropha, leucaena, etc. are built to protect the fields and the vegetable gardens. Garlic, chili, marigold and neem trees are also used to naturally act as a pest control to repel insects and other threats.
Basic health (hygiene and sanitation) and nutrition counseling
Over the years, literature has reported very high rates of malnutrition in Zambia, especially in the Eastern provinces and among children under five. Recurring diarrhea resulting from unclean water as well as unbalanced meals mostly explain these terrible conditions. In addition to the measures regarding clean water (compost toilets) and food diversification to achieve a more balanced diet, Tiko crew has also developed a project involving a nutritional supplement called ONENEPA.
Coming from the Philippines, this recipe is composed of local crops, including moringa, which is highly nutritious, thus allowing children to gain weight and appetite rapidly. After a successful trial, Tiko members are now visiting several villages to distribute ONENEPA powder to the most severely suffering children. We are very fortunate to accompany them and participate to this program. The process is as follows.
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Explaining to mothers the reasons of malnutrition and the benefits of ONENEPA
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Weighting kids (sometimes to the tree, it’s funnier !)
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Collecting medical information (date of birth, age, gender, last clinic visit, eventual disease) and meal information (food habits)
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Analyzing weight evolution according to health standards
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Giving ONENEPA powder to children in need (those under the weight curve and/or those with decreasing weight): 2 bags per child (not extended families) per week, 6 times a day
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Weekly check-up until the child has gained enough weight to stop the programme
HIV&AIDS prevention and counseling, family planning
As many HIV/AIDS awareness raising sessions were carried out in the villages and compounds of Tiko’s catchment area over the past years, the NGO is now focusing on prevention activities such as condom distribution and family planning. The purpose is to make sure that any couple wanting a child has the proper resources to raise a kid. Child spacing counseling is very important to explain to families the benefits of spacing pregnancies on maternal, infant and child health as well as on education. Unfortunately, we don’t have the chance to participate in this program because of our limited time at the association, but that for sure gives us ideas for our next volunteering experiences.
Emotional and financial support
The NGO is also really engaged in supporting its crew. In case of sickness in extended families, it can help with medicine, funeral arrangements and/or family transportation.
What about the future ?
Tikondane Community Centre is impacted, like many, by the pandemic (Covid19). As previously mentioned, they relied a lot on tourism as their main source of income to thrive. They hope to receive visitors soon, but Africa being far behind in their chance to get a vaccine, they don’t want to depend so much on it anymore. They understand that tourism cannot be sustainable anymore. Thus, they focus on turning their crew into independent farmers. This might take some time, so if you would like to contribute and make a donation until they reach that goal, you can click HERE or contact us directly.
Conclusion
For a country that was not even on our list at the beginning, we can say that we will never forget about it thanks to Tikondane. Being part of a community is an incredible feeling that is hard to describe. It’s tremendously fulfilling to feel that you belong, that you have a place there, a home.
Besides witnessing on the field the multidimensional concept of poverty, we also discovered another essential approach to fight it. A more emotional and personal aspect: fulfillment. We often talk about success as the goal of a modern person. This is most of the time related to money. It’s not new that literature suggests that income doesn’t equal happiness, and that many rich people are actually sad within. Many illnesses such as anxiety and depression are symptoms of this lack of understanding in developed countries. This is because the link between happiness and fulfillment often fails to be addressed. Humankind is longing to belong. Individuals crave for a purpose. This is why Tikondane touched us right in the middle of our hearts. It doesn’t only help those locals, especially women, financially and materially, but it also provides them with a place to connect together. To share. To laugh. To belong. To be purposeful. To exist. To have a voice. Such a driving force to fight poverty at every level ! Even if they are still learning like every human on earth, they are such on the right track to be able to not only survive and live, but also to live a fulfilled life!
We felt we had a purpose at Tikondane Community Centre, not only because we gave some of our resources, but also because we both felt that we were right where we were supposed to be. We learned as much as them, and there has been so much laughter, smiles and warmth shared. We don’t know what our future holds, but this experience will for sure change our perception about many things. It built us up. Transformed us. Made us wiser. That’s what we came to look for during this humanitarian world tour. Zikomo (thank you) Tiko Crew for having made us feel fulfilled and like we belonged!
Food for thoughts
Like Zambia and the 64% of Zambians, many countries and people still suffer from the scourge of poverty. In our developed countries, where life is like a race against the clock to achieve the highest productivity, we do not realize what the rest of the world is going through. We are outraged by the slow pace of our internet connection when some do not even have access to electricity. And above all, we forget that we are the most privileged. Did you know that 1% of the world's population owns more than the other 99%? And unfortunately, the gap keeps getting larger...
Poverty is almost always associated with Africa. While it is true that the proportion of people living below $1.90/day is higher on this continent, we also see misery every day in our own country. It's just less intense, less global. And we just prefer to close our eyes so as not to feel guilty for letting someone suffer (or even die) on the street. We think we're invincible, as if poverty could never reach us. That it only happens to others... But in reality, we are never safe from finding ourselves at the same place as the homeless person living downstairs. Economic crisis, loss of job, natural disaster, global warming, war... There are many reasons that can make us lose everything and lead us to beg at the exit of a store... Would you not then like a little attention? Would you refuse a given hand? “We must learn to live together as brothers, otherwise we will all die together like idiots”. Martin Luther King could not have summarized the importance of solidarity better, especially in an era when individualism is gaining more and more ground.
We are all responsible and can ALL contribute at our scale. By using our privileges, our resources to help those most in need. Emotionally (a smile, a few words), materially (food, clothes, hygiene products), financially (donations), publicly (freedom of expression). Because yes, we also have the power to offer a voice to those who are forgotten by society and by the world. And there are many! Did you know that in 2019, an estimated 51 million victims of humanitarian crises have been completely neglected by the media (Care, 2019)?! Have you heard of the food crisis in Madagascar, the conflicts in Chad and the Central African Republic or the drought in Eritrea? The lack of visibility directly impacts the various supports allocated to them. Choosing to talk about it is already an act of solidarity.
And if you think this is unnecessary, that nothing will change, think again. So yes, you may not transform the world on your own, but whatever action you take will count and make a differentce for at least one person.
Finally, if the human argument hasn't convinced you, where do you think most of our clothing, exotic goods and electronics come from? Ultimately, we all depend on each other. Why not just help each other out?