Ndola, Zambia - In the morning of August 10, 2005, the Mackenzie community in Ndola, northern Zambia, prepared a welcoming program for 40 young people from nine nations who came to work on the school for orphans in the community. In the afternoon, participants of the service project began an orientation program, which included a walk throughout the community to understand the local situation better.

For the following week, the youth demonstrated high standards of cooperation as they worked diligently to finish building two classrooms of the school. The work involved plastering walls, installing windows, and painting the school building. A fence was also built around the school grounds. On Sundays, volunteers visited to local churches, HIV/AIDS homes, and other orphanages.

Participants built strong relationships with the community by visiting the residents’ homes and organizing various games for and with the children. They concluded their community activities with a sports and games competition, during which one hundred students were awarded prizes. One of these competitions was a drawing competition. Students were awarded notebooks, toys, clothes, and other school necessities. The Slovakian volunteers collected donations and purchased the prizes for the students. On the final day, the participants went sightseeing and in the evening shared in fellowship during an international culture night.

The project was especially successful in that participants were able to build good relationships with the people of the Mackenzie community of Zambia, and they could see how wonderful the community school looked as a result of their labors.

This project supported the Zambian chapter of the International Relief Friendship Foundation (IRFF), an RYS partner. In 2000, they began this community school to vulnerable children, mainly orphans, in the Mackenzie community in Ndola, located in the northern part of Zambia.