Voices from the Valley

Dear Friends,

As the 2025 safari season begins in earnest, there’s a sense of renewed energy throughout the valley. We’re seeing familiar faces return, lodges reawaken with guests, and communities once again benefiting from the tourism that underpins so many livelihoods.

At Project Luangwa, this season of growth reflects in our work too—from the inspiring dedication in our Youth Clubs to the near-completion of Phase One of the JK Centre for Learning and Sport. 

Thank you, as ever, for being part of this journey with us. Your support continues to uplift hundreds of children, families, and communities across South Luangwa.

In the face of global uncertainty and local challenges, it is your consistent belief in our mission that keeps us moving forward. Each stove built, each girl empowered, each lesson learned—it’s all made possible because of you. We remain hopeful, determined, and above all, grateful. 

With heartfelt appreciation,

Ian
CEO, Project Luangwa

🌟 Spotlight: Gender Programme

Our Gender Equality Programme continues to empower young people with the confidence and knowledge to make positive life decisions. 

🏗 JK Centre Nears Completion

We’re delighted to report that Phase 1 of the JK Centre for Learning and Sport is nearly complete! Classrooms are up, plumbing is in, and solar systems are installed. This space will soon offer education, sports, counselling, and opportunity to hundreds of young people in South Luangwa. 

We're particularly excited that our new cohort of Foundation Students have started using the new classroom space, and their progress has already been inspiring. 

This year, we’ve piloted a refreshed selection process to ensure we reach the most passionate and underserved youth. We’re also training and building a Zambian team to deliver the course alongside our exceptional volunteers, creating a sustainable, locally-led model for the future. 

🔥 Real Stories: Eco-Stove Project

Last year our stove project underwent something of a reinvention. With the incredible support of Expert Africa and Elephant Charge, we were able to ensure that we could continue planting trees and bringing stoves to rural households that really needed them. In addition our new design offers the same faster cooking times with built in metal parts, reducing the likelihood of theft or loss. 

Beyond reducing deforestation and drudgery for women, with Expert Africa's help we were also able to ensure a much deeper impact, revisiting households to hear directly from women using our eco-stoves. Their feedback was resounding: these stoves are making cooking faster, cleaner, and safer—especially during the dry season. 

“Cooking on this stove has really helped me. The stove cooks very fast and I only use a few sticks of firewood.” — Betina Chulu

But the rainy season brings challenges. Grass-thatched kitchens leak, soaking both the stove and firewood.

“When it’s the rainy season, the grass roof starts leaking and the stove gets wet.” — Grace Mwanza

Many requested stronger, iron sheet roofing, which would allow them to cook safely year-round. We’re now exploring how to pilot this support and offer training in kitchen maintenance, so the project’s impact can endure through every season.

South Luangwa - Connecting Tourism, Community and Conservation

Not only is South Luangwa famed for its natural beauty and wildlife, the people and communities of Mfuwe are the true heart of what makes this place so spectacular. 

Tourism continues to be the lifeblood of the local economy, and it has also enabled much-needed school and community donations. Thanks to the incredible generosity of our guests, we’ve been able to donate:
🖊️ Chalk, pens, pencils, and math supplies
⚽ Sports equipment
🩸 Menstrual hygiene pads, underwear, and reading glasses
💻 Electronic items

These donations have gone a long way in supporting schools and communities throughout the area. A real thank you to all who have contributed!

This year we also have a special request for anyone who can provide a laptop for sponsored child David Nkhosa. David has been selected to go to a top school in Lusaka and he needs a laptop for his IT studies. 

Our Craft Shop and Café continue to generate vital revenue for our programmes, with 100% of the proceeds going back into our work. Local craftspeople also benefit, earning a living wage through the platform we provide for their goods. This year, we’ve developed a new wholesale catalogue, and we’d love to share it with you—please reach out if you’d like a copy and help us spread the work of these talented artisans.

We'd also like to mention Pack for a Purpose, who do so much to organise supplies being brought out to schools, communities and children in need. 

We're also incredibly grateful to Expert Africa who have been incredibly generous in their support, donating $10 to our Eco-Stove Project after every review they receive from a visitor.  

As we embark on a new year, it’s a joy to see so many familiar faces again, and we look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead and beyond! 

How Can you Help?

For those who would like to get involved, there are a number of initiatives we are currently raising funds for. These include: 

💜 $20 will buy a pack of Ufulu pads for a girl, helping her not miss up to one week of school per month.

📚 $30 provides a new desk for a school that is struggling to seat all of its pupils.

💻 $150 will help to provide electronic tablets for our Digilearn project.

🏫 $650 will sponsor a child to attend boarding school.

⚽ $750 will support the Girls and Boys Football Teams for the rest of the season.

If you would like to donate even a small amount for any of the above projects then please follow the link here, or email info@projectluangwa.org. Thank you so much for your support!

In addition, for those visiting the valley please check out Pack for a Purpose's website, as any donations are so gratefully received. 

Thank you to everyone who continues to support us, your generosity is having such a positive effect on the lives of disadvantaged children and communities. 

🙏 Thank you! 🙏

We continue to be humbled by the incredible support from all of our donors. It is so wonderful to welcome everyone back to the valley, and we are truly indebted to everyone who has donated or provided school supplies 🎒📚 for disadvantaged children during their trip.

We're also incredibly grateful to the organisations that have supported us for so long and to the new individuals and donors who have joined us this year. 💙

In addition, the commitment of our lodges to support local communities has been outstanding. Without the critical relationship between tourism, community, and conservation, South Luangwa would not exist as we know it. 🌿🐘 We are so grateful to all our member lodges: Flatdogs Camp, Robin Pope Safaris, Kafunta Safaris, Shenton Safaris, Green Safaris Shawa River Camp, and Chichele Safaris - Puku Ridge and Chichele Presidential Lodge.

As always, we cannot thank our child sponsors enough for allowing disadvantaged children the opportunity of an education. If you’d like to learn more about how you can support a child’s future, please visit our website. 💡🎓

We're also incredibly thankful to the Patel Family for driving our DigiLearn project, and to Africa Hope Fund for making our reading programme possible. In addition, the generosity of the Livingstone Foundation, the Patel and Mills families, as well as Andy Hogg and the Bushcamp Company, has been instrumental in supporting the JK Centre.

With your help and generosity, we can continue to support education and gender equality across a broad spectrum of projects, giving some of the most vulnerable in our society the opportunity for a better life. 🌍💙

If you would like to know more about our activities then please click here or look below for a link to our annual reports. 

A special thank you to Livingstone Foundation, Dazzle Africa Chiawa Trust, Lyons Trust, Bushcamp Company, and the Patel, Freisenbuch, Holmes and Mills Families for their high level support of our projects and students. 

As always, we are also so grateful to everyone who has chosen to sponsor a student or donate to one of our programmes. You are the reason we are able to continue our work in South Luangwa and help to empower the people living here. The good you do cannot be overstated. 

🙏 Thank you 🙏

If you would like to get involved, or continue to support Project Luangwa and all of our programs, please click one of the links below.

Visit our website for more info www.projectluangwa.org

Project Luangwa is proudly supported by local Member Lodges:

Flatdogs Camp, Kafunta Safaris, Shenton Safaris, Robin Pope Safaris, Green Safaris and Chichele Safaris Puku Ridge