Pamodzi Ndi Ana

Hard-wearing and heavy-duty wheelchairs are essential for disabled children living in Africa due to the challenging terrain. Most families cannot afford such a luxury, so disabled children are often carried on the backs of their mothers until they are too heavy, or left at home, with no possible method of mobility. HATW funds PNA to provide wheelchairs to children and to maintain and adapt them as they grow older.  This comprehensive maintenance program includes regular follow up appointments. Wheelchairs would normally last until a child is 14 or 15 years old, but PNA have developed a clever modification to the wheelchairs that adds extra steel to the frame, which allows it to be used into adulthood.

Date: Ongoing

Madzi a Tuwa Secondary School, located in a remote part of Chipangali District, was established in 2014 and currently serves 235 students. However, the school faces significant challenges with overcrowded and inadequate facilities, which hinder its ability to provide the quality education necessary for academic success and to prevent students from dropping out.

This project aims to improve the learning environment for both current and future students by constructing a three-classroom block. This addition will significantly reduce overcrowding and eliminate the need for split teaching schedules. The new classrooms will be designed to withstand adverse climatic conditions and will enhance the learning experience through the provision of proper classroom furniture and essential teaching materials.

The project will also benefit from valuable community contributions of locally available materials. Upon completion, the new classrooms will directly support 235 students, while positively impacting nearly 10,000 people in the surrounding community by improving education and literacy levels.

Date: The classroom block should be completed by September 2025

Hands Around the World supports Pamodzi Ndi Ana in running practical, impactful workshops for families and professionals. These sessions build local capacity to care for children with disabilities and connect communities with essential services.

For example, they ran a specialist workshop on supporting children with severe cerebral palsy, particularly around improving swallowing. An experienced Italian speech therapist volunteered her time to lead sessions for 11 physiotherapists from across Eastern Zambia. The two-day event combined theory and hands-on practice with local families, providing essential skills that will benefit children throughout the region.

The workshop also empowered parents with simple techniques to help their children eat safely and get the nutrition they need. Beyond training, it fostered valuable peer support networks among caregivers.

Another workshop focused on registering children with disabilities for government support. By bringing health professionals and families together at the PNA Centre over three days, more than 100 children received the assessments and paperwork needed to gain the necessary ID card to access social assistance. Help was available throughout for parents who needed support navigating the system.

Looking ahead, planned workshops include early physiotherapy interventions for clubfoot and art therapy training for special needs teachers in local schools.

Date: Ongoing

For some children with disabilities, school may be inaccessible even if they have a wheelchair. Sometimes the school is too far away, or it does not have accessible facilities. In these instances, HATW sponsors individual children and pays their fees to attend a private school. If necessary, we also provide funds for transport to the school, school supplies and medical expenses. The sponsorship programme helps the entire community, from parents to teachers and has a life-long impact on individuals and families.

Date: On-going

Due to the unprecedented drought of 2024, and the unsatisfactory harvests, Zambia is facing a major food crisis. The cost of corn, the main ingredient of the family diet, has increased and more and more people are forced to reduce the number of meals or portions. To try to counteract this phenomenon, in 2024 the association distributed 750 bags of flour to vulnerable families and children with disabilities when they attend the PNA centre for wheelchair follow up visits.