Kieran’s story
I was first introduced to HATW back in 2017 through my friend and colleague James Powell. James, husband of HATW Ops Manager Jane Powell, had explained all about the charity at one of our team events. Our company’s senior management team were very impressed with the work HATW do and they wanted to support it by making donations, and by also allowing employees the opportunity to volunteer with HATW, granting them additional time out of the office to do so.
I volunteered in February 2020, joining Jane and another volunteer, Jenny Abbott, on a visit to Zambia. The project we visited was Pizz school in Monze. One of my main objectives for the trip was to try to identify and implement changes to the school’s record keeping systems. This was to improve the quality and flow of information, both within the school itself, and with external entities such as Zambian government offices, 3rd party contractors, parents, and also HATW. We managed to make several positive steps in that area, so this was very pleasing to me. We also spent a lot of time with the children during the visit, both in school and visiting their families at their homes. I got to know many people’s back stories, but also got to hear about the struggles many Zambian people face on a day to day basis. David, HATW founder, said to me before my visit that we cannot fix everything all at once. This task is simply too great. All we can do is try to make small differences were we can. This message resonated with me whole heartedly after spending time with the children of Pizz and their families. Everyone we spoke with were very complimentary of HATW and the amazing work they do. I hope the time we spent talking to, helping, and playing with the children during our visit was able to give them and their families a little bit of enjoyment. It certainly did for us.
The trip wasn’t all work and no play. During our weekend off we visited Livingstone, which is around 4hrs south west of Monze. Here we got to visit Victoria Falls, cruise the Zambezi river, and we also went on a safari were we were lucky enough to see a crash of black rhinos up close. Amazing experiences that will stay with me forever.
It’d be fair to say that my visit to Zambia was a life changing experience and I would encourage anyone thinking about volunteering to do so. Since the trip my wife and I have continued to be keen supporters of HATW. We donate regularly and keep in touch with James and Jane to find out the latest about the amazing projects they are supporting.