Ospedale

If you watch the children playing in a Zambian village, where nearly everything is lacking, you will be surprised by their vitality, fantasy and creativity in inventing games out of nothing. Unfortunately this mental vitality seems to gradually disappear as the children mature into adults.
There is one simple explanation for this: there are no schools in which they can be stimulated and where their mental intelligence is helped to grow parallel to that of their bodies.
It is for this reason that PAMO, out of all its projects, gives priority to that relative to education. The school represents the basic element on which the future growth of the Country is bases and, if we intend to give life to a virtuous cycle of development, we can but only start by giving the children instruction.
Starting up an educative activity is a great challenge since it means that each child has to be guided and followed right from the very beginning up until he/she is self sufficient.

In April 2002 the “Lukamantano Community School” was opened in order to give primary instruction to the “vulnerable” children living in the area of Chipongwe. “Lukamantano” in the local dialect means “doing things together” and the denomination “Community School” signifies that the management of the school is done both by the community and by us.
Since funds were not sufficient to build a 'real' school the problem was solved converting the garages, priorly occupied by the ambulances of the hospital, into classrooms. The philosophy used was to start immediately with whatever was available rather than waiting for the necessary funds with which to build 'real' classrooms.

Today there is a newly built school attended by 450 children, 50% of whom are orphans and the rest from extremely needy families who otherwise wouldn't have had the economical possibility to give their children an education.
Of these children/adolescents we are totally responsible for: their education; their food (the daily meal, for the large majority, is probably the only food they get) their medical care and their clothing.
The school is complete with a kindergarten, for the youngsters, as well as a “Basic School” for children up to nine years old. At this stage those children who pass the exams move on to the high school. Those students who are particularly talented or in need are helped via student's grants.
The school organic is composed of a co-ordinator, eleven teachers plus the cleaning staff.

Through a careful management of costs and by partially producing (very marginally) our own food the expenses of the school are contained. The yearly cost per pupil is:

Food    Euro 60.00
Teachers    Euro 65.00
Books and miscellaneous    Euro 30.00

This makes up to a total of a mere 160 Euro but, multiplied by 450 pupils, the necessary amount becomes 72,000 Euro to which a further 15.000 Euro should be added to cover student grants and to help the needy but worthy pupils.

If we take a child by its hand and want to support him/her until he/she is self-sufficient our commitment cannot stop when they finish the basic school.
The dress maker's school, the carpentry school/workshop, the agricultural school and shortly the knit-wear school are all initiatives originated to give our students a profession.