Sebuloni is a 73 year old man of Kawama Township in Ndola, married to Pauline aged 62. The two have been married for over 40 years with 12 children. The family has lived in Kawama since 1970 when they bought the house. Due to limited financial resources, only one out of the 12 children was able to complete his education. The rest dropped out of school before their seventh grade. Sebuloni retired from work in the 1970s. The couple has lost 3 of the 12 children. The eldest son was killed by unknown people, another in a car crash and another after a short illness which the family cannot explain; they do not under what it was. They currently live with Tailor (16 and school drop-out) and Ester (9) (their daughters) and Karen (5) and Yvonne (11) their grandchildren from their divorced son. The two girls lived with their mother until a time when she decided to remarry but her husband could not take them in. She then chose marriage over her children.

The family and more especially Paulina (Sebuloni’s wife) has not gotten over the death of Baton Kaponda, their eldest son. The couple spent all they had to educate him. When he left school, he joined the Zambia defence force where he worked as a soldier. Baton worked so hard in order to support his parents and siblings. He was the family’s breadwinner, the man that everyone looked up to and believed in. Left: Paulina and her daughters and granddaughters in front of collapsed wall.

When time came for Baton time start his own family, the Kapondas were so excited. He had grown into a man and his parents were confident that he would be a responsible husband and father if he was blessed with children. He had never failed them, never disappointed them. Little did they know that his wedding celebration was actually a celebration of his life as he was killed by unknown people on the very night. His body was found lying in a stream the morning after his wedding. This was the beginning of the end of a decent life for the Kaponda family. They had been robbed of their best. It is now 7 years since this happened but the pain increases as the family’s needs increase. Other surviving members of the family have ended up in marriages in order to reduce the burden of being supported by their parents. However, without any education, they cannot get themselves into any meaningful employment. This family survives on subsistence farming but with no financial resources to buy fertiliser, their harvest is never enough to see them throughout the year. This means only one meal a day or nothing at all.

The family’s livehood has been rough since the death of their son. This is worsened by their current shelter situation. 4 months ago, the family returned from the crop field to a partially collapsed house. Nobody was home when it happened. With no financial means to rebuild it, they have since lived in this life threatening situation.” I m very sure that my son would have done something about our collapsed house had he been alive”, says Pauline while looking at a picture of her son’s wedding ceremony with tears in her eyes. The provision of a house to this family by Habitat for Humanity Zambia will indeed be a true reflection of God’s faithfulness to this family.