HIV/AIDS is responsible for a large number of orphans in all of Southern Africa. Siavonga district, Zambia, is no different. When a child is left without parents they usually end up with the grandparents if there are any, or they become dependent on other family members for their daily necessities. In a setting where poverty is very much part of everyday life, a family who hardly comes by as it is, can seldom bare the additional burden. This often leads to children that are neglected in many aspects of day to day life.

This boat will have the function of carrying medical supplies and trained medical personnel along the Zambezi River to supply medical aid to people in need. Sparsely situated state-run clinics are rarely stocked with necessary medicines to treat the most common ailments. In addition to this, most riverside villages are located far from main roads, making it hard for the villagers to reach clinics. Instead of wasting money on building more satellite clinics that usually only run for a year or two before closing down, we feel it will be more effective to have a mobile clinic serving this stretch of the Zambezi.

To nurture a spirit of dependency is far from what we intend to accomplish, but there are however cases where individuals are just not able to help themselves in regard to basic necessities for survival. In this we aim to help individuals who experience severe need, and who have no one to turn to.

With the only vehicle in our remote location we are often approached to help local people with medical emergencies. Cases ranging from miscarriages and premature births to venomous snakebites and hippo attacks. With minor cases we are able to administer basic first aid care, but for the more serious cases like mentioned above we have to get these people to the closest hospital as soon as possible. Mtendere Mission Hospital in Chirundu is around 80kms (50mi) away, 15kms of which is serious 4x4 tracks. We offer this as a free service to the local community, but as this trip costs around US$60 we depend on donations to run this service.

The geology of our area is such that the underlying porous rock surrounding the wells cause minerals to dissolve into the water. This turns the water sulfuric and unsuitable for drinking water. Even though undrinkable, it is still good for washing clothes and bathing. The only alternative source for relatively fresh water is the Zambezi River.