With Enough Food I Can Stay Home
By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AEP’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate, and one of our latest Success Stories. Today, she provides a first person account of how 278 families received food for three weeks just in time before a COVID-19 lockdown started on April 15th, 2020 in Kafue, Zambia. Funds for the effort were raised through the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Family Fund.
WEDNESDAY 8TH APRIL. 18:00 PM
It all started with a single phone call to each of the 278 families in our program.
Family members who picked up food were kept in line and provided with hand sanitizer.
Each call that was made brought a different feeling after both lines at each end were disconnected. For the parent who received that miracle call, as some called it, they could not wait for the night to be over so that they could make their way to the youth centre and collect their miraculous gift. On the caller’s part, every successful call meant one family fed and one more family safely staying inside during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earnest preparations were made for the epic food distributions less than a week before the date of delivery. Many of the students in the AEP Program relied on a daily meal as part of the Nutrition Program and knew how tough it was to get a meal now that the youth centre was closed. AEP knew the situation that parents and students are going through. Most parents in Kafue are marketers and part-time workers and now, due to COVID-19, parents could not manage to provide decent meals to their children. I now understand why that five minute call meant so much. They were going to receive food. Each family was going to get a bag of mealie meal, beans, rice, kapenta, cooking oil, sugar and soya chunks. Enough food essentials to survive a three-weeks without leaving home.
THURSDAY 9TH APRIL. 06:00AM
The day started very early. Measures were put in place to ensure a successful and safe distribution. Clean water, hand wash and sanitizers were provided along with face masks and gloves. Our AEP high school graduates and college students came out in numbers to help organize the youth centre and make it comfortable for parents, chairs were arranged one meter apart from the next parent. The parents started coming to the youth centre by 8 am exactly. Since we wanted to abide by social distancing protocols and avoid so many people together at once, they came in groups of ten per hour. This was done because we didn’t want to risk people crowding the youth centre for attention and for the safety of everyone involved.
Member of the team counseled parents on COVID-19 prevention and staying home.
Each parent came with a wheelbarrow or bike if they had one to carry the food home. The excitement was evident as they were being attended to by a counselor. It was as if they wished for that process to be skipped and just get the food, but it was an important one not to skip.
The parents and guardians were sensitized about COVID-19; fliers were given to them. These fliers contained very important information about the measures that one can take in order to stay safe and it was written in the local language for easy understanding, Nyanja. After the sensitization the parents were led to the distribution site by three escorts.
So much security was put in place and single mothers were provided an escort back to their homes if requested. All 54 families for the grade eights were given food on this day. Most parents called back and sent messages to give their gratitude. One parent personally came to see us at the youth centre the following day. She is the mother to one of the grade eights students by the name of Cornea. She told us on how she had no food in her house. Before she received the call about the food distribution, she was weary and making plans on where to get the food that following day. Breakfast was not on her mind because she could not afford it. Her husband had just lost his part-time job at one of the local manufacturing industries due to the Corona outbreak. The food that she received for her family was one of the best things that has happened to her, and to us that was very good news because our kids were taken care of and could survive a lock-down safe and fed. It was such a successful first day.
FRIDAY 10TH APRIL. 08:00 AM
Food stuffs were prepared by the student volunteers for distribution.
Since the previous day was such a great success, the team was ready to take on the grade nines and tens for Friday. By 8:30 am, 15 parents had already reached the place and we were ready to distribute food to another family. The joys on the faces as the families receiving food overwhelming and the feeling of success was amazing. The college students were happy to pack the food and distribute it. It was such wonderful team work that we could not keep track of time. We realized when we came to the end of the distribution list that the day was finally over. Several people who did not have children in the AEP Scholarship Program came to find out if they too could receive the food hampers. Saying no and explaining to them why they could not get food was very hard because their hunger pains were evident. Some would plead and ask for a handful of rice or beans. Being a developing country and facing struggles with the economy was hard enough, with the pandemic, things went from bad to worse, hunger worsened. The news of food being distributed brought hope to many we could not help.
SATURDAY 11TH APRIL. 08:00
On this day, we began our distribution to the 11th and 12th grade families. However, this day was the most stressful because news had spread around the community that AYC was distributing food. The number of people claiming to have children in the Scholarship Program was more than the previous day. Some parents did not want to be told that their child was not on the list or they weren’t going to receive any food. Despite the hiccups, we managed quite alright.
A father sanitized his hands before picking up his food.
Not all the students in this grade received their food this day as some could not be reached by phone. We sent word through friends to tell the others. Messages of appreciations were always coming through and this showed just how much people were happy for the food. It helped lift their burdens of going outside to look for food or the money to pay for it. One parent sent his child to help out if need arose. Gerald was very helpful because he knew the location of most students who could not be reached by phone. Another parent asked if there will come a time when we need help with any manual work for our future youth centre, When he told us he would be in charge of organizing the parents, it brought smiles to our faces.
The parents at our Read for Rose Special Education Centre were the happiest on earth. You could see tears of joy from their faces as they welcomed their food. To me, this food distribution was a life changer. My team and I learned what real hunger really looks like. We learned that people need food for survival. It made sense why it’s a basic need, a want and right, too. Food is important for living and survival. Such gestures should be welcomed and encouraged. The parents wished for so many blessings.
A very happy parent is provided her food stuff and escorted home by a student volunteer.
SUNDAY 12TH APRIL 09:00AM
The long journey was coming to an end. Over 250 families had received their food in the last three days and it went by so quickly. The team wanted to continue on the busy schedule of organizing, planning, counseling, packing and distributing of food. They thought it was going to be their life now. The remaining 30 families came to get their food. Everyone was happy. You see the happiness on the faces of the team as we all sat in the big room to talk about how everything went beautifully. Everybody had a line or two about how they felt, one thing was certain, we all felt happiness. Nobody looked stressed or unhappy, all were satisfied with the end results. Our target was reached, no one minded the lockdown any longer because we were sure our students and their families would stay indoors now that they had food in their homes.
Monday was for cleaning up and locking up the centre. Going home victoriously like from winning a war. Just like it started with a call, it ended with a call from a student’s parent saying, “Thank you!”