other Projects

Building Collaboration through Community Projects

Back in 2012 and 2013 The Livingstone 2013 Initiative, as we then were, created a number of projects involving the community. We like to identify opportunities, sow the seeds of new ideas, nurture them and enable continuity within and by the community.

To mark the launch of our organisation, we held an special event at which  His Excellency The British High Commissioner to Zambia ,Mr James Thornton, was Guest of Honour.  This was held to launch our whole Initiative to the community of Livingstone and the people of Zambia. These are some of the events we hosted...

The Bird Exchange of Art, Storytelling & Music

This came about through a chance meeting in Edinburgh with Ewan McVicar, who had previously set up a small art project linking schools in Scotland and Uganda through an exchange of real or imaginary paintings of migrating birds created by school children in both countries.

This  was expanded and developed for 2013 into an exchange between school children in Zambia and Scotland by The Livingstone Initiative. With Ewan's help in Scotland and ours in Zambia we created an exchange of information about the different cultures, daily challenges and ways of life in both countries. We believed that by learning all about different cultures it would initiate better understanding between nations.

We held two exhibitions of artwork, stories and music in Livingstone Museum, Zambia, The first in 2014 involving art, Storytelling and music and a second one in 2019, entitled Bridging Cultures:  Water and Environmental Green Action. Both exhibitions were a tremendous success and were opened by the Deputy British High Commissioner to Zambia. See video below.

UK Volunteers

Believing in the concept of creating ways for young people to learn about different cultures, we set about creating new opportunities for groups from the UK to come to Zambia to help on some of our projects, in particular to help The Chama Project.

The first visit by UK volunteers came about when our founder approached her old school, St Mary's Calne, to see if they would like to fundraise for the new girls' secondary school. The response was "We don't just want to fundraise, we want to help build the school by sending out a group of 14 girls and 2 staff to start the project." This they did in 2013.

Another chance meeting in Edinburgh a few years later kick-started the proposal for a group from The Grassmarket Community Project at Greyfriars Kirk to go to Chama to help with further construction. This was an amazing trip for the team, some of whom had never even owned a passport. They learnt how to construct without cranes and other equipment that is common in the UK but rare in rural Zambia. They taught the Zambian workers how to make window frames and doors, so there was a good exchange of ideas and different ways of working, while discovering new cultures and ways of life.

We have also encouraged individuals to team up with our contacts on the ground in Zambia to go up to Chama to visit the Project and give a helping hand.

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