Events

H.I.L CONVERSATIONS

Education is the basic right of every child and is essential for their cognitive, emotional, social, cultural and physical development. It provides the knowledge and skills they need to integrate into and contribute to their societies.

On a wider societal level, access to education is critical to tackling poverty, reducing inequality and empowering women and marginalised groups.

Children with albinism face multiple forms of discrimination which can lead to their exclusion from society. Attitudes towards people with albinism, as well as a lack of resources, can compound the challenges they face in accessing education.

Tomorrow I will sit down with Susan Mwape as she shares her story, being a young lady living with albinism in Zambia today. Join me on this page and on this YouTube channel.

https://www.facebook.com/pilatoninshi

COVID 19 AWARENESS PROGRAM

As the world is trying to survive the Covid 19 pandemic while governments and stakeholders are putting up measures to cope and live in what they are now calling ‘the new normal’, scientists are also busy studying the new disease and looking for a cure.
Persons with disabilities are mostly left out. They are the first to be forgotten, they are the last to be remembered. They are more vulnerable and most affected. This project calls for the inclusion of persons with disabilities amid Covid 19.

OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this project is to raise awareness on Corona virus and advocate for inclusion of persons with albinism during the Covid 19 pandemic

ACTIVITIES
The program will carry the following activities to achieve our objective
Local TV/Radio Programs
Each province has local TV/Radio stations. Hence we will have live phone in programs to talk about disability and corona virus. AFZ officers will discuss with station presenters and respond to questions and comments to be received from listeners/viewers who will participate by calling and texting to the numbers for the particular stations.
We will also arrange with the stations to play the music/video during and after the program. The song titled ‘corona virus’ done by John Chiti which talks about inclusion of persons with albinism amid corona virus will be distributed to these stations for continuous airplay of the music.

Meetings with Community Leaders
We will conduct engagement meetings with community leaders such as village headmen, councilors, pastors, and school head teachers, police, DPOs and others. Each meeting will be restricted to 15 participants only and will run from 08; hrs to 12hrs. The agenda of these meetings are to engage leaders on how persons with disabilities should be engaged in the fight, prevention, treatment and measures being put against covid 19. Social distancing will be observed, wearing of face masks as well as hand sanitizing/hand washing before and during the meeting.

Posters and Flyers
We will also carry posters and flyers to be distributed in each district we have planned to visit especially at the boarders, markets and other public places. These posters and flyers will have massages (in both words and pictures) on corona virus and disability. Some will be distributed to community leaders during the engagement meetings so that they can help spread the massages in their respective communities

Distribution of Face Masks and Hand Sanitizers
AFZ will make face masks to be distributed freely to all the districts in this project. Some will be given to participants of the engagement meeting while others will be distributed in public places such as markets, schools, etc.
Our officers will also teach the public how to make their own home made sanitizers using local remedies. Our officers will teach people on how to properly wear face masks and how to effectively was hands as well as what they should do and not do following the guidance given by health officials regarding covid 19

LOCATIONS
This program has targeted districts with boarders as these are the epicenters for Covid 19. The same places have increased record of ritual attacks against persons with albinism and trafficking of body from one country to another. Therefore, we will visit Chipata of Eastern Province, Nakonde of Muchinga Province and Kasumbalesa of Copper Belt Province. The said activities will be done around and in communities that surround the said boarders

PERIOD
In the month of July AFZ will conduct the above activities in Chipata of eastern province while
In the month of august the same activities will be done in Nakonde of Muchinga province.
In the month of September AFZ officers will travel to Kasumbalesa of copper belt province to do the awareness.
This project is supported by the Norwegian Association of Disable NAD.

More here: AFZ Covid 19 Program (Download)

DIGITAL LITERACY TRAINING AND FILM SCREENING PROJECT

This project aims at training PWA in digital literacy by AFZ so as to enable them have basic knowledge and skill in information technology.

More Infos here.

OBJECTIVES
This project has 2 main objectives which are;
• To equip persons with albinism in digital literacy and computers

ACTIVITIES

Digital Literacy Training;
Our organization has managed to set up space and computers for the purpose of starting a training program for persons with albinism. This project will give further support for AFZ to train 20 youths in computers and internet. The program will take 4 students at a time and each group will run through a one month training after which another group of 4 people joins for the same
Until a total number of 20 PWA are trained by the end of this project.
The majority of the people to be trained will be facilitators who have participated in film screenings and TOF workshops with STEPS. Gender balance will be considered when selecting participants. The students will be coming for daily lessons at AFZ Lusaka office from Monday to Friday whereas AFZ will provide them with transport refunds and refreshments during the trainings. AFZ office is equipped with computers for the participants to learn and practice what they learn. The office will also provide free internet (Wi-Fi) throughout the project period and participants and other members will be allowed to access the internet on their mobile phones or computers for free.

EXPECTED RESULTS

By the end of the project we want to see the following changes;
• 20 PWA able to operate computers and smart phones
• PWA in schools able to catch up and participate fully in the e learning programs introduced by government during the corona virus pandemic
• 20 AFZ facilitators able to take pictures, record videos, audios and edit using mobile phones
• At least 5 PWA able to do office duties such as typing, printing, photocopying, filing
• AFZ members access free internet at the office and become more active on social media and other online platforms

COOPERATION WITH LOCAL POLICE

AFZ has identified Zambia police as a very important partner in albinism issues especially matters to do with ritual killings of PWA. For this reason the foundation has objectively targeted police and has done activities with them with the aim of getting them on board. The previous film screenings and meetings AFZ has had with police have led to a good relationship between the two and have opened doors for more engagement. AFZ has just received a letter from police headquarters in which they have given a go ahead for us to organize meetings with police officers. They have also shown willingness to be involved in awareness programs so they also help champion albinism issues. This project aims at doing film screenings with Zambia police for the purpose of engaging them fully in issues around safety for persons with albinism.

EXPECTED RESULTS

• Increased collaborations between AFZ and Zambia police on albinism matters

• By end of 2020 AFZ/Police record at least 2 reported ritual attacks prosecution by the courts of law.

• To fully engage Zambia police in albinism matters through facilitated film screenings

LOCATION

This project will be implemented in 2 districts namely Lusaka and Chipata. Many of the activities will be done in Lusaka with a few screenings in Chipata. For Lusaka, the IT training program will be done at AFZ office at Loti House 8th floor room 811 where the training Conner has been set up.
Film screening will be done in different police stations in Lusaka which includes; police Headquarters, Lusaka Central, Matero, Woodlands and Emasdale police stations. 2 screenings will be done in eastern province at Chipata police. The administration and reporting of the project will be done from AFZ head office in Lusaka.

PERIOD

This program will run from July to November 2020. AFZ will conduct 2 screenings every month and IT classes every week from Monday to Friday in Lusaka

FILM SCREENING

AFZ will conduct 10 facilitated film screenings in Lusaka and 2 screenings in Chipata of eastern province. These screenings will be focused on Zambia police and will have police officers from different departments as the target audience. The screenings will take place in police stations, conference rooms and will be limited to 20 participants in each screening.

The 12th Anniversary Celebration
Date 19th December 2020
Location Lusaka

AFZ will hold a ceremony to cerebrate it’s 13th anniversary. The event will strictly be by invitation but will have a good representation of AFZ members, volunteers, partners and stakeholders. 
The event will be involve a number of entertainment, talent show casing, where AFZ will review and cerebrate it’s achievements since inception.