Thereza Kafula is a 70 year old widow of Chazanga Township in Lusaka. Years back, Thereza was happily married and was blessed with eight daughters. The family managed to buy a small piece of land in Chazanga Township in Lusaka. However, the plot remained undeveloped and when Thereza’s husband died in the early 1980’s, life for Thereza became a nightmare. She struggled to send the children to school, feed, clothe and provide shelter and healthcare for them.

With time, some of the girls got married and had children. Over the next several years, all of Thereza’s daughters died, some of them leaving behind children that Thereza, as the grandmother, took in. Now at the age of 70, Thereza is taking care of three orphans. These are Harriet Kanunde (18), who has since dropped out of school, Jessie Musonda (15) and Doreen Musonda (13). The Musonda girls are in grades seven and six respectively and their school fees are paid for by Bwafwano, HFHZ‘s partner in the OVC program.

Thereza says since the family had their new house built, they are able to earn a bit of money on a monthly basis since they have rented out the mud house where they used to stay.

Grandmother Thereza was also provided with a small cash loan to enable her to start a simple income-generating project. The little profit she makes allows her to feed and clothe her grandchildren and the assistance she got to build the house and the loan have transformed the family’s life for the better. Talking of the new family house, she says: “God still remembers me and the children I’m responsible for, and he has provided generously”.

Before HFHZ and Bwafwano built her a house on the plot of land she and her husband bought many years ago, she and her grandchildren lived in poor housing conditions. The family is now comfortably housed in a three-roomed house built for them through Irish Aid in support of the HFHZ OVC housing project.