Background
In 2000, The River Club, an upmarket lodge on the Zambezi River in Zambia, established a partnership with a nearby village, Simonga, in order to give something back to the local community. Since then, The River Club has carried out a range of projects in the village, which have been funded by the generous donations of lodge guests, in conjunction with the Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust. These have included sponsorship of students and teachers to further their education, construction of a school library, provision of school supplies and books, digging of wells for the village and construction of a police post in collaboration with neighbouring lodges.
Projects to date have focussed particularly on assisting women and children, although the project has branched into projects which help the village inhabitants (some 4 000) in general generate an income and therefore help the entire community.
In order of priority, focus areas are sanitation, health, education and improvement of the village through construction of buildings.
Water: The water project was begun a few years ago where a borehole was sunk and a pump, pipes and storage tanks were installed. In addition, distribution points for running water were installed in the village. Since June 2006, the water project provides 50 000 litres of water per day to Simonga’s inhabitants. Ongoing costs, donated by guests and The River Club, include diesel for the generator, maintenance for the water system and water carrying equipment for the villagers. Where in the past villagers walked 3km down to the Zambezi River to get their water, today there are taps dotted throughout the village.
Education: Education is key to the future of any community and no less so in Zambia. Here, schooling is government assisted until Grade 7, at which point it must be paid for by the students/families. Most families do not have enough money for this and so schooling for many children ends here. The School Project of Simonga Village ensures that at the very least those children able to pay for schooling do not have to pay the additional fees for their examinations, removing some of the financial burden from their parents. The exam fees for all Grade 8 and 9 school children at Simonga are sponsored on an annual basis.
Since the school in Simonga is a Basic School ending in Grade 7, the School Project also funds transport to 16 children so that they may get to their schools in Livingstone. 20 Simonga schoolchildren attending secondary school in Livingstone (Grades 8-12) and 5 teachers are all being individually sponsored. The School Library continues to receive donated books from South Africa, the USA and UK from guests staying at The River Club.
Health: A Health Post is being constructed, and equipment bought for this. See updates.
Construction: So far, school buildings, a library, a medical clinic and a police post have been a few of the structures that have been built.
Contributions coming through the Trust assist Simonga in its collaboration with The River Club so as to continue to finance the projects currently in progress, as well as to
Coordinator: Peter Jones
Peter has been running The River Club for the past 15 years and have been involved in social development projects for 13 years including the building of the original Simonga Village Hall, Simonga Health Post, Simonga Police Post, Simonga Kindergarten, School Library, two houses for the two area Heads of the Village.
Update
December 2016
The water project at Simonga was begun a few years ago when a borehole was sunk and a pump, pipes and storage tanks were installed. In addition, distribution points for running water were installed in the village. Since June 2006, the water project has been providing 50 000 litres of water per day to Simonga’s inhabitants. Ongoing costs, donated by guests and The River Club, include diesel for the generator, maintenance for the water system and water carrying equipment for the villagers. Where in the past villagers walked 3 km down to the Zambezi River to get their water, today there are taps dotted throughout the village.Since then, the village has grown in numbers so much so that they are now facing water shortages. They therefore desperately need another pump to pump more water to meet the villagers’ needs.
Funds donated via the Trust enabled the River Club to buy parts for and install a solar pump for the borehole at Simonga Village.
The water project is looking for another pump and we have been in contact with the pump company who are sourcing something for us. Using a solar pump, while initially costly, will save enormously on fuel going forward, which is a constant drain of funding.
June 2014
The Trust provided Funds to repair the roof of Simonga Village Hall. The remainder of the roof needed to be stripped off and trusses and new roofing sheets were brought in. The roof is now much more sturdy and will withstand a storm similar to that which damaged the previous one.November 2013: Repair of the Simonga Village Hall
Heavy winds a few months before blew off a section of the roof of Simonga’s Village Hall and it was found that the hall needed to be completely restructured; without making the roof secure, the building would continue to deteriorate. The same contractor who built the Kindergarten took on the project, as his standards are of the highest, along with River Club supervision. Equipment bought included timbers, new roofing sheets, and some blocks to raise one section of the building so as to increase the slope of the roof run-off.Simonga Village’s headlady has given her blessing to effect the repairs to the existing building.
Annual Report 2011
The Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust has been working with The River Club in Zambia in its partnership with the nearby village of Simonga since 2000. In the ten years a range of projects in the village have been carried out, which have been funded by the generous donations of guests in conjunction with the Trust. Projects to date have focused particularly on assisting children via schooling, and include those that help the inhabitants in general generate an income and therefore help the entire community. While there are specific once-off projects (school buildings, community hall etc.), various projects have been running for a number of years which incur yearly expenses. These include:Water Project
The water project was begun a number of years ago with the construction of a borehole, pump, pipes and storage tanks. In addition, distribution points for running water were installed in the village. The water project has provided 50 000 litres of water per day to the 4 000 villagers since June 2006. Upkeep of the Water Project – including maintenance for the water system, funds for diesel consumption for the generator, and water carrying equipment for the villagers – is ongoing.School Project
Continued funding of the school project include the school and exam fees for all Grade 8 and 9 school children at Simonga and all internal and external sport activities. The school continues to receive donated books from the USA and UK from guests staying at The River Club.Annual Report 2010
The Wilderness Safaris Wildlife Trust has been working with The River Club in Zambia in its partnership with the nearby village of Simonga since 2000. In the ten years a range of projects in the village have been carried out, which have been funded by the generous donations of guests in conjunction with the Trust. Projects to date have focused particularly on assisting children via schooling, and include those that help the inhabitants in general generate an income and therefore help the entire community.While there are specific once-off projects (e.g. school buildings etc), various projects have been running for a number of years which incur yearly expenses. These include:
Water Project
The water project was begun a few years ago with the construction of a borehole, pump, pipes and storage tanks. In addition, distribution points for running water were installed in the village. The water project has provided 50 000 litres of water per day to the 4 000 villagers since June 2006. Upkeep of the Water Project – including maintenance for the water system, funds for diesel consumption for the generator, and water carrying equipment for the villagers – is ongoing.School Project
Continued funding of the school project include the school and exam fees for all Grade 8 and 9 school children at Simonga and all internal and external sports activities. The school continues to receive donated books from the USA and UK from guests staying at The River Club.Community Hall
Built as requested by the villagers so they can use it for funerals, meetings, delivery of donations, weddings – in short for any and all communal gatherings.
