Later this month, a local Nelson woman and Nelson Area Kaoma Alliance (NAKA) group member, will be heading off to Zambia, Africa.

After years of teaching here at the Waldorf School and giving to our community, our families, and our children; Dorita VanVugt has decided to give of her time and skills to a community in Zambia.

Through her volunteer work with NAKA, she will be working with Grandmothers dedicated to supporting orphans in the city of Lusaka.

Her time there will be different than most who graciously give of their time and skills when heading over to Africa. VanVugt will not be building a school or putting in a well, VanVugt will be helping build a community; a community of grandmothers that work with orphaned children and are dedicated to providing one meal a day, usually the only meal, to hundreds of orphans, mostly the victims of AIDS. She will be building a community of grandmothers that have put hundreds of orphans through school and have seen them graduate, giving them a chance at life.

A community of grandmothers that had until recently, been receiving funds from an international foundation. The foundation stopped supporting this amazing work because these grandmothers do not have a sound tracking system to measure their successes, nor do they have the skills to write reports and live within our global world of technology and communication. Orphans are going hungry and are unable to get an education because these incredible grandmothers can’t write a report.

VanVugt will be living amongst these grandmothers for four months. She is hoping to work with these women and teach them how to report, how to establish a system that proves the effectiveness of their work, how to become sustainable in this world. She will also be working with them to come up with a viable way of sustaining themselves, over and above the grants and funds they hope to receive from local and international groups. VanVugt is going to Zambia with one intention, to assist these women in becoming a self-sufficient, sustainable group that can continue to directly save the lives of the children in their community.

VanVugt is also paying for all her expenses as well as hoping to bring several desperately needed supplies with her when she goes.

If you have the ability to assist VanVugt in her goal, please contact Isabelle Herzig, the NAKA Project co-ordinator at 352-6678 ext 226 or at isabelleh@kootenaykids.ca. All donations are tax deductible and NAKA is a registered non-profit group.