PLAEP ZAMBIA
20th Anniversary Edition

Rooted in
Community.
Growing
Futures.

Cover Image — Musonda School Kids
Partners for Life Advancement & Education Promotion · Kitwe, Zambia · 2005 – 2025
20
Years of Unbroken
Service to the Vulnerable
10k+
Lives Reached
Every Single Year
130k
School Meals Provided
Annually
A Word of Thanks

Gratitude for
Twenty Years of Growth.

"When we began in 2005, we were simply a community responding to a crisis. Twenty years later, I am overwhelmed by the immense growth we have achieved together."

Reflecting on the last two decades, our journey has been one of extraordinary transformation. From feeding a handful of children under a simple shelter to reaching over 10,000 lives annually with comprehensive education, healthcare, and economic empowerment.

This growth was never achieved in isolation. It is the direct result of faithful partners, dedicated staff, and a community that refused to surrender to despair. Thank you for walking alongside us, for investing in our vision, and for making these stories of transformation possible.

— Prisca Kambole, Executive Director

Prisca Kambole, Executive Director
A Word of Thanks · Prisca Kambole PLAEP Zambia
Section One · Sustenance

The Soil and The Spoon.

You cannot teach a starving child. The foundation of PLAEP’s 20-year history rests upon the fundamental guarantee of a daily meal.

Over the past two decades, the PLAEP feeding program at Musonda OVC Community School has grown from providing emergency rationing to a massive operation that serves over 130,000 meals annually.

PLAEP provides hot meals of Nshima and relish every school day to all the students. Looking ahead, PLAEP is taking a bold step toward long-term food security by starting to grow its own vegetables and maize — a community farm initiative with the vision of becoming fully self-sufficient and ensuring the kitchens remain stocked for generations to come.

female in cabbage patch
SHARPS Ipusukilo
school girls standing together
Sustenance · The Feeding Programme PLAEP Zambia
Section Two · Personal Growth

Evidence of Transformation.

These are not merely statistics. They are verbatim accounts tracking the profound growth of individuals whose lives intersected with PLAEP.

Health & Resilience · Student
Moses
"His determination and spirit are truly inspiring, proving that resilience and hope can light the way forward."

Moses is a 12-year-old boy living in the slum area of Ipusukilo. Born HIV+, he was referred to PLAEP from the local clinic. For students like Moses from struggling households, the school feeding program provides at least one nutritious meal a day—a true lifesaver.

He has faced immense challenges. Both of his parents passed away before he turned two, leaving him in the care of his elderly grandmother in a single-roomed mud house dependent on well-wishers. Despite this, Moses has shown extraordinary resilience.

He has accepted his HIV status, taking on the responsibility to collect his own medication. In his early grades, he took his medication at school alongside the morning porridge. Through academic and emotional support from PLAEP, Moses is now a dedicated, hardworking pupil with significantly improved health.

Leadership · Musonda School
Obed Mwansa
"From a boy forced to sacrifice his dreams to a leader shaping his own future."

At 21, Obed carries the weight of a family's survival. In 2020, his father's failing health forced him to drop out of school to help his mother. For two years, he sold fried cassava chips on the streets to put food on the table.

Encouraged by his mother to return to school, Obed struggled with immense guilt over leaving the family business. The school stepped in with counseling sessions. Slowly, something remarkable happened: Obed began to accept the path of learning as essential.

The boy who once doubted his future started excelling academically and as a leader. Today, Obed is not just a student; he is the Head Boy of Musonda School, inspiring his peers with unwavering determination and rising above the debilitating effects of poverty.

Economic Independence · GROW
Loveness Mwange
"Freeing themselves from the burdensome cost of renting, they acquired the land to build their own house."

A 28-year-old mother of two, Loveness's transformation began when she joined a Harvest GROW Savings Group in 2018 with capital of just K200 for a small business.

She started with weekly savings of K50. By the end of her first cycle, she earned K2600. Taking a K3000 loan, she strategically invested in buying and selling, reinvesting her profits into vegetables and groundnuts. By early 2021, Loveness and her husband seized an opportunity to buy a piece of land on a six-month installment plan for K2000 to build their own house.

Her working capital has since grown to K12000. Loveness is profoundly grateful for the GROW SHG that made their family's dreams come true, proving the extreme effectiveness of cooperative community saving.

Hope & Achievement · Scholarships
Priscilla
"They made sure I never missed school and gave me everything I needed to succeed."

In 2012, at just four years old, Priscilla lost her father and was left in the care of her grandmother. Life became a daily struggle for basic food, and the dream of education seemed far out of reach.

A case worker introduced her to PLAEP, who stepped in to cover her school fees and provide essential household support. This intervention gave her stability. After excelling in her Grade 7 exams, PLAEP sponsored her to attend Kawama Girls Secondary School as a boarding student.

This was a life-changing experience. She learned independence, grew in confidence, and even served as a prefect. Priscilla has now completed Grade 12 and stands on the brink of an entirely new future built upon years of steady support.

Personal Growth · Impact Stories PLAEP Zambia
Section Three · Our Programs

Beyond the Classroom.

PLAEP's work extends far beyond education. Six integrated programs form a comprehensive safety net — tackling poverty, health, food security, and protection across Kitwe's most vulnerable communities.

GROW Savings group counting
💰 GROW Savings Groups
660 active members across Kitwe. Women save as little as K50/week, building capital for small businesses. Over 2,500 women have improved their family livelihoods since 2012, achieving over 100% growth in savings every subsequent year.
SHARPS peer supporters
🏥 SHARPS · HIV Peer Support
42 young women living with HIV trained and placed as peer supporters at 14 health clinics across Kitwe and Lusaka. Providing HIV prevention, mental health counselling, and reproductive health education to 275 adolescent girls and young women.
Girls' Sanctuary Home
🏠 Girls' Sanctuary Home
A residential safe space for girls from high-risk backgrounds — those facing abuse, abandonment, and extreme poverty. The pilot home will house 10 girls with a trained host mother providing psychosocial care and stability.
Luto Farm — community agriculture
🌱 Luto Farm · Community Agriculture
PLAEP is starting to grow its own vegetables and maize at Luto Farm — a bold step toward long-term food security. The vision: full self-sufficiency to ensure the school kitchens remain stocked for generations to come.
Camp Sonshine youth camp
⛺ Camp Sonshine · Youth Development
Life-changing residential camp experiences for vulnerable youth. Through mentorship, team-building, and faith-based activities, Camp Sonshine gives children a taste of possibility — and the confidence to pursue it.
Gospel outreach community gathering
✝️ Community Outreach & Spiritual Care
Since 2008, PLAEP has partnered with local churches for community-led HIV prevention, GBV awareness, and spiritual mentorship. Over 40 trained church and youth peer educators carry the message into their own neighbourhoods.
Our Programs · Beyond the Classroom PLAEP Zambia
Section Three · Transformation

Then & Now: Built from Nothing.

Visible evidence of twenty years of community investment.

School · Main Building
Tin-roof shelter → two-storey school serving 900+ children.
Computer Lab
One shared laptop → a dedicated lab for every child.
Sanitation & Dignity
Makeshift pit latrine → Modern flush toilets and continuous water supply.
Science Lab
Overcrowded classroom → equipped lab, 100% pass rate.
Kitchen
Open-air shelter → 130,000+ meals served each year.
Transformation · Built from Nothing PLAEP Zambia
Section Four · The Journey

Twenty Years of Growth.

From serving nine individuals to empowering over ten thousand every year. The timeline of PLAEP.

2005 · A Vision Is Born
PLAEP is founded. Six people, one conviction. Nine individuals reached with life-saving antiretroviral therapy in Year One.
2007 · Listening First
Community forums in Musonda, Ipusukilo, Bulangili. Grandmothers raising orphans. Peer education models are conceived.
2008 · Church Partnerships & HIV Peer Education
The model crystallises: train the community, trust the community, let the community lead.
2008 · Musonda School Opens
49 of 69 Grade 7 pupils pass national exams. Taonga Crafts launches for women. Five USA volunteers arrive for the first time.
2012 · GROW Savings Groups Launch
Women in HIV-affected households given pathways to save, borrow, and build. Economic solidarity as a public health intervention.
2014 · 3,000+ Youth & CHAZ Partnership
HIV prevention scales dramatically. $40,000 classroom funded by Valley Springs Church. UNODC drug prevention launches.
2016 · International Recognition
ViiV Healthcare 'Beacon of Hope' award. PLAEP presents savings group research at the International AIDS Conference, Durban.
2018 · 5,000 Youth & 100% Pass Rate
Six malnourished HIV+ children nourished back to undetectable viral loads at Musonda. Every Grade 7 child passes national exams.
2020 · COVID-19 Emergency Response
Emergency food for HIV+ families. GROW groups meeting safely. Community resilience, built over years, holds.
2022 · Best Grade 7 Results in History
Two boys from Kitwe's most vulnerable households accepted to top secondary schools in Zambia. A quiet miracle twenty years in the making.
2023 · 920 Enrolled · Girls' Sanctuary Planned
Musonda's record enrolment. Plans drawn for a Girls' Sanctuary Home — a residential safe space for the most vulnerable girls.
2024 · SHARPS — 42 Peer Supporters at 14 Clinics
Young women living with HIV trained and placed at 14 clinics across Kitwe and Lusaka, reaching 275 adolescent girls.
2024 · 115 on School Fees · 660 Active GROW Members
390 counselling sessions. 115 children with sponsored school fees. A year of quiet, relentless depth.
2025 · Twenty Years. One Mission. Ten Thousand Lives.
From nine, to ten thousand. The mission continues. The vision holds.
The Velocity
of Scale.
Individuals reached
annually · 2005–2025
9
2005
800
2008
3,200
2012
5,500
2018
8,400
2022
10k+
2025
Timeline · The Journey PLAEP Zambia
SECTION SEVEN · THE ASK

The Next
20 Years

Start Now.

From nine people in a room in Kitwe to more than ten thousand reached every year — PLAEP's twenty years have proven one thing above all else: that when a community is loved, equipped, and refused to be abandoned, it transforms.
The children in our school today will be the leaders, nurses, teachers, and entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The women in our savings groups are building economic foundations that will outlast any single project. The peer supporters in our clinics are breaking cycles of silence that have cost lives for decades.
But this work needs you. A monthly gift of any size keeps a child in school, a mother on medication, and a community growing.
DONATE NOW givebutter.com/plaep
20
PLAEP Kitwe, Zambia
plaep.org · plaepzambia@plaep.org · +260 95 5950184