Volunteer Trip to Zambia 2024

Hi, my name is Ciara!

It’s that time of year again when I and another small team of volunteers from Ireland make our annual trip to Zambia, Africa, where we will be continuing our vital work. I am again raising funds in pursuit of returning to Chipulukusu, Zambia to bring education and relief from poverty to this deprived region.

What we do

We are a small group of volunteers who have been carrying out charitable work in Zambia since 2008, and we travel to Zambia every summer. We recently registered as an official registered Irish Charity, Inspire Zambia clg, but this is, in reality, the continuation of a project which goes back for years . Inspire Zambia is a registered Irish Charity under number CHY 23113. I'm happy to say that I have been elected to sit on the board of Inspire Zambia, which is led by Michael Nugent, alongside Anna Nugent, his wife.

Our primary goal is to bring relief from poverty and an improvement in people’s lives through short-term and long-term initiatives, including micro finance projects, school supports and helping with education and literacy. Practically speaking, we send books and computers from Ireland to schools in Zambia, we establish libraries in Zambia and then we bring teams of volunteers out from Ireland to work with the Zambian teachers, to teach them the skills to make the best use of those books, computers and other resources. That is where I am going this summer.

Zambia is one of the poorest and most deprived countries in the world. It is a country where there are almost no books in schools, no libraries and no bookshops. Even schools cannot acquire books for teachers. People are desperate to learn, but they have little to no chance. Teachers commonly train as teachers without themselves ever having access to books and may have undertaken very little, or in some cases no, teacher training at all.

The core of what we do is the promotion of literacy and education, as we believe that education is the root to any long lasting and sustainable change in any society and education will lift people out of poverty – permanently. As Nelson Mandela said; Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.

Our small team of Inspire Zambia volunteers will run a 2-week jam-packed educational seminar for Zambian teachers in August. We award certificates at the end of our seminars and in most recent years we have been working with the District Education Board Secretary of Ndola (DEBS) and the Zambian Ministry of Education. Those who graduate from our programme with a certificate take with them new skills in the teaching of literacy and a new familiarity with books and reading which they may never have had the chance to obtain before.

The Volunteer Trip

The living conditions for me and the rest of the volunteer team will be the same as our neighbours. We will live in a basic cement block or mud brick house, with no running water, no electricity, no plumbing, no showers, no toilets, no kitchen facilities and no furniture. We will sleep in sleeping bags on the ground, cook over an open fire and we will generally live as our neighbours do. We will have the benefit of mosquito nets, vaccinations and good food, which they do not have.

The sheer poverty and cheapness of life that we see can be profoundly shocking. With this said, the people of Zambia are utterly inspirational. They are kind, patient, enthusiastic, helpful, funny and very welcoming. Many of the people that I have met on my visits to Zambia are full of hope, and they uphold a strong faith. They have a joy and a zest for life that I have never seen before.

The fundamental aim of our trip is to provide aid and knowledge that is sustainable and long-lasting to the people of this community. Our work is helping the people of Zambia to have a better chance at life. We think they deserve it. If you think they deserve it too, please donate to my page, and together, we can make a difference.

Please look at our webpage here https://inspirezambia.ie/ if you are interested in seeing the work and the progress that this team has made in the last 10 years- and hopefully will continue to make with your help!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ciara Brenner