Foster is an elderly caregiver in her early 60s. She is married to Mulenga Munyama with whom she had 8 children (5 Male and 3 Female). 6 of these children have since died and the couple survives by 2 children, Grace 30 and Shilika 28. Grace is a divorcee with 4 children and lives with her mother while Shilika lives in the village in Zambia’s Northern Province, where she accompanied her father to seek medical attention of traditional healers. Mulenga suffers from severe asthma which medical doctors have failed to treat back here in Lusaka. Mulenga and her daughter have been gone for 3 years but his condition has not improved.

Chrispin, Cecilia and Loyce have lived with Grandma Foster since a year ago when their father (one of Foster’s sons) died. Their mother died about 2 years earlier than the father but they had continued living with their father until the time of his death last year.

• Trevor Phiri (10) Grandson and double orphan has lived with Foster almost his entire life. His late mother was Foster’s daughter.
• Violet (2) is Matilda’s daughter. She has never known her father who denied responsibility over Violet’s pregnancy.
• The household has a total of 8 family members.

Typical day
Foster’s day is usually nothing much to look forward to. 4 years ago, she suffered a strange eye problem which left her completely blind. Before this happened, her day was a packed one. She knew she had a family to provide so she had to do all she could to fend for them. She started her day very early, found her way to the big markets then got back home and pre-packed her vegetables and sold them to people in her community. This is now a story of the past. Foster wakes in the morning and just sits around with her grandchildren while they wait for Matilda to bring some food home after doing her odd jobs (Usually laundry). Grace is rarely home , no one knows where she goes but she comes back home empty handed and sometimes drunk. When Matilda brings the food home, Fosters prepares meal with the help of the neighbour. This is usually the only meal for the day and the family prefers to have around 3 PM in the afternoon. The children play around all day as none of them goes to school. They have to wait for Matilda to give them a bath when she gets back in the evenings.

Family Income Husband (Mulenga Munyama) is a painter and used to do painting jobs for a living. However with his asthma condition, this is no longer possible. Mulenga, Foster’s son who died 1 yr ago was a carpenter and used to support family also. Mother couldn’t explain what killed him but wife died before him. Currently, Matilda is the breadwinner. From her odd jobs she feeds the family. It is however not every time that she gets a job to do. Most of the times, she comes back with nothing because people have no laundry that needs to be done. This means that the family will not have a meal.

With such low income, it is not possible to make any savings as all spent on food.No one in the household has any form of skills training at all. The family is however to own their own home so nothing goes towards rentals. For their medical needs, they are able to access free medical services from either Chazanga clinic or Bwafwano Home based care, a community based initiative.

House structure and Water and Sanitation
Foster’s family has lived in Chazanga since 2000 when her husband bought the piece of land they live own. They struggled to build 2 rooms to start with, then extended it with another room. The whole house is made of mud. It has no windows, nor air vents and no floor, resulting into frequent coughs among the children. When one child gets it, the rest will also contract within a short time due to poor ventilation. The roof is weak and leaks severely. During the last rain season, one of the roofing timbers supporting the roof broke in the middle causing roof to partially collapse. This was a life threatening experience for the Foster and the 3 grandchildren that slept in that room. Very shaken, they woke up to a flooding room and found their way to their neighbours house. the family uses only 2 of the 3 rooms. Foster and the 2 other older girls share their sleeping space with the little ones. “If I had my way, I would la separate room for my grandchildren. I cant remember the last time I enjoyed some privacy”, says Foster.

The household has no running water. The family gets their water about 100m from their home at another house. They have to pay K200 for every 10litres they collect. In times when they don’t have the means, they ask from their neighbours who also get it from the same source. This means just enough for cooking. Matilda collects the water for the family or the neighbours if she is not around. A pit latrine exists at the house, with no door but just some sack around it. Foster’s says that it is almost full. The children have however not suffered from disease resulting from poor sanitation. When asked what how different life would be if the household had their own source of water, Fosters say that life would be made much easier. The family would grow some vegetables and reduce the strain they put on young Matilda.

Social Network
“I can never imagine what life would be like without Rose, my neighbour. She never gets tired of us but is always willing to help in whichever way possible. Rose is also a window with about 6 orphaned grandchildren to look after just like me, and yet almost all that I can count on”, Foster says with a shaky voice. With her recently acquired blindness, her life has almost come to a standstill. The helpful neighbours bring a lot of joy to her as they bring the water to her house and help out with household chores which she cannot easily accomplish on her own. Though Foster feels helpless sometimes especially when she thinks of how had Matilda has to work for the family to survive, her trust in God strengthens her. She worries about the safety of the little ones when she looks at that small metal bar that keeps their broken shut but even more especially when she thinks about their next meal, education and lives ahead of them.