The average age of Zambians is just 22. The country's population has doubled since 1994 and now stands at 20 million citizens. However, too fast development also has its negative consequences – there is a shortage of schools, hospitals, jobs....

80% of the people live very poorly and are mainly engaged in agriculture. Official unemployment oscillates around 15%, but those working in agriculture are also counted as employed in their small home fields. It's as if someone working in our garden is included in national employment

- Fr. Andrew Leśniara, a Jesuit missionary and parish priest in Chinkui, reports.

When Father Andrew arrived in Zambia in 1994, there were only a few schools in the villages in the parish area. There were no libraries, no newspapers, not to mention Internet access. The lack of education in various areas of life was overwhelming. And yet, it was under these conditions that the idea of a radio station was born, which still broadcasts daily programs on various topics, prepared by nurses, catechists or teachers. At the same time a radio educational program for grades 1-7 was also created.

Today, while the radio education system is doing very well (seventh grade graduates as many as 700 children, adolescents and adults annually), the missionaries have come to face another problem – hunger.

In Zambia, the rainy season lasts only four months, with drought for the remaining eight. The water deposits are very rich, but to reach them, one has to drill to a depth of 60-70 meters. Unfortunately, this year's rainfall in Zambia is the lowest since 1905.

People have lost everything in the fields. That's why I want to resume feeding children in schools in the parish, and we have as many as 5,000 students. There is an urgent need to help families in our parish, especially children, before they start to die of starvation

- the missionary does not hide his emotions.

For example, at Himukululu School, out of 112 enrolled students, only about 10 attend lessons every day, because parents know it's safer to keep malnourished children at home... After a sixth-grade student collapsed at school due to starvation, class attendance dropped even further, as children fear the same thing will happen to them too.

In Zambia, the staple food is nshima made from corn flour. For additional nutritional value, are peanuts, some sugar, and moringa (leaves from trees with lots of vitamins) are added. From these ingredients something like oatmeal is cooked. The cost of one such meal for a child at school is only 8 cents! Thus, a week's feeding of a student at school costs 40 cents, and for a month – 10 $/€. The school year lasts 9 months in Zambia, so the annual cost of meals for one child is 90 $/€.

Bank account numbers for money transfers are:

For $: PL 52 1600 1462 1847 3641 5000 0009; SWIFT: PPAB PLPK
For €: PL 41 1600 1462 1847 3641 5000 0013; SWIFT: PPAB PLPK
For others: IBAN: PL 79 1600 1462 1847 3641 5000 0008; SWIFT: PPAB PLPK