The story so far

We are in year 3 of a 5 year partnership with Tearfund project EFZ. A lot has happened so far, including 5 teams from Kerith visiting Serenje.

Every autumn we hold 2 gift days to raise money for Serenje and so far this has meant the following:

- 1700 orphans & vulnerable children receiving support (school fees, uniforms)
- 1000 families receiving agricultural support (training and seeds)
- 117 church and community volunteers visiting and supporting people living with HIV and AIDs.
- 110 (50 church leaders and 60 community leaders) receiving leadership training.

However over the years as the relationship has grown a number of new opportunities and needs have emerged. These include:

Project 125

Serenje is a rural district and they are very few senior schools. If children want to continue their education and go to senior school they need to travel into Serenje town. That’s a long journey and the children can’t walk there and back in a day. Therefore most of them live in basic mud huts in a shanty area called Zambia compound. There is a lot of poverty and conditions are very basic. The homes are 1 metre by 2 metre, there is no sanitation or electricity. There is high unemployment and a lot of drinking.  Girls are extremely vulnerable living on their own and often come home pregnant and/or with HIV.

EFZ and the pastors have a vision to build a dormitory where 100 girls can live in safety while they complete their education. The cost of building this is £125,000.

The young people at Kerith have committed to raising the money to build the dormitory (Project 125) and so far they have raised an incredible £15,000!

Unique penpals

This an opportunity to share lives and prayers with women in Serenje, Zambia by exchanging letters.

Schools’ links

Our dream has always been to connect our wider community here with Serenje and it’s so exciting to see the relationships between the schools growing. Crowthorne C of E Primary school, Sandy Lane Primary and Garth Hill are all partnered with schools in Serenje.

In May 2011 we took a team of teachers to Serenje. The team included the Deputy Head of Crowthorne C of E Primary Ruth Jackson, Catrina Benham who teaches at Sandy Lane Primary and the head teacher Liz Norris and her daughter Annabel, and Rachel Norris who provides educational support at Sandy Lane.

Garth Hill College are partnered with Ibolelo High School in Serenje. Garth held a sponsored “Walk to School" day on Friday 17 June to support Project 125. Head teacher Keith Grainger did 22 mile round trip from Lower Earley, which meant he had to leave at 4.30am to get to school on time!

Medical links 'Operation Serenje'

In 2009 surgeon Howard Reece-Smith was part of the team visiting Serenje. He visited the local hospital in Serenje. Whilst there he met a 16 year old girl who was in labour and needed a caesarean section. But the hospital didn't have an operating theatre, so the young girl had to be driven 100km to the nearest hospital where they could operate.

Since then an operating theatre has been built and Howard and his wife Elizabeth did a 1,500 mile cycle ride from Nairobi in Kenya to Serenje in Zambia, to raise the money to equip the operating theatre.