Christian Brothers College Cork raises money for Christian Brothers working in Mufulira, Northern Zambia.
"IT'S NOT ABOUT HANDOUTS.
It’s about creating a self-sustainable centre that will last after me for years to come; where hard-working people can learn the skills they need to make a living for themselves."
-Br. Dermot Ambrose,
Director of Murundu Development Centre,
where local students are taught a trade.
With money raised in Ireland, the Christian Brothers have developed a number of ways of helping the people of Mufulira and the surrounding area to prosper through hard work, improve their quality of life and become healthier and self-sufficient.
Uses to which the money has been put to date include:
Edmund Rice Village
45 houses for the elderly poor of Murundu.
Many of the people who are given these houses are grandparents struggling to look after their grandchildren, where the middle generation has been cut out by AIDS.
Houses for Medics in Murundu Clinic
By building comfortable permanent homes for Medics next to the Clinic, the Brothers are trying to set up a lasting 24h medical service for the community.
The purchase of a second-hand Ford Tractor
Always in high demand, it is available to plough both the horticulture workshop plots and the larger Tipperary plots, as well as being available for other duties such as towing the water tank or other loads, for example bring bricks from the brick-making site to Edmund Rice village, now nearly finished construction.
Agricultural Project and the Tipperary Plots
In the agriculture workshop, students are trained to take charge of a plot and grow their own vegetables. The Brothers cover the cost of seeds, water, fertiliser, tools and tuition. In addition, the Brothers have converted an extra 60 acres of bush into good farmland,
(named "The Tipperary Plots" in honour of generous donations from Thurles CBS) to help agriculture workshop graduates become self-sufficient, profit-making farmers. All this farmland is served by the tractor and its full-time driver, Richard.
The purchase of a Brick-Making Machine
Producing up to 1500 bricks per day, this is an invaluable resource for local development.
Murundu Development Centre
There are 5 workshops here, where locals are taught one of the following trades:
Carpentry, Metalwork, Sewing / Embroidery, Agriculture / Horticulture and Building.
With the qualification gained after two years' training, graduates are well equipped to find stable employment.
Chibolya Primary School
The Christian Brothers fund basic schooling materials, and the employment of eight teachers in Chibolya Primary School, to teach 350 children of the Chibolya slum.
200 destitute families in Murundu are given food once per month by the Brothers. Typically these are elderly people who either live alone or are raising their grandchildren, where the middle generation has been cut out by AIDS. The package includes basics such as mealie meal (like porridge), sugar, salt, beans, cooking oil and a bar of soap.
What’s the ‘Immersion’ Project all about?
The CBC Zambia Immersion Project began in the 2002/03 school year and is organised biannually. In June 2007 CBC sent their third team, five teachers and eight students, to Mufulira. They spent 3 weeks working with the Christian Brothers amongst some of the poorest people on earth. In this way the project promotes Christian compassion and a desire for social justice amongst the whole school and wider Cork community.
By immersing themselves in Zambian culture and way of life, the boys learn to deeply appreciate Christian values and their lifestyle here in Ireland, and prepare themselves to make a real impact on the Third World in their adult years. It also improves the lives of the Zambian people through financial support of the Brothers' projects.
25 Edmund Rice schools from around Ireland participate in the Immersion Programme under the umbrella of The Edmund Rice Schools Trust Project.
If you would like to help give the people of Murundu opportunities to succeed, click here.
Click to view 2007 CBC Immersion Project Report, written by Project Co-ordinator Mr Simon Kellher.