How Our Friends In Zambia Will Be Affected By The Pandemic For Years

While many of us are sheltering in place with social distancing; while many are affected by the economic ramifications of this pandemic, and some have even lost loved ones or have exper-ienced the virus themselves, our friends in Zambia are dealing with another type of crisis as well.  In the month of January there were several floods that wiped out many of the crops that feed the people of Zambia.  Already with food in short supply, the people of Zambia now face a season ahead with no source of income. Those who have depended on tourism because they have jobs working as guides, kitchen help, reception, and support at the lodges that bring in people from all over the world to see the amazing animals in the national parks throughout the country, are now out of work as the lodges close. Others who provide the food and services to the tourism industry are out of work. Shops and those who make crafts and items sold to tourists are out of work. Lodges that helped to support anti-poaching and education programs have been forced to stop support until they can reopen.

In the South Luangwa, where we have supported schools and students in secondary school and in going on to college, all educational institutions are now closed because of the virus.  They are facing a dilemma that may have repercussions for years, as are the conservation organizations who have been protecting the wildlife as they work to stop poaching. 

Over 35,000 people now live in the South Luangwa Valley near the border of Malawi. They moved there as the tourist industry swelled with more lodges in and around the national park; this as the proliferation of wildlife due to the last 10 to 15 years of hard work by organizations like Conservation South Luangwa, Zambian Carnivore Programme, and Chipembele Wildlife Education Center. The fear we have is that poaching will reemerge to the level it was when we first came to the valley in 2002.

Other parts of Zambia face the same danger.  The organization Conservation Lower Zambezi, located in the Lower Zambezi near the Zimbabwe border, has shared that without the tourists they will not have the funding they need to continue their conservation and education work. So, as we all do what we can to get through this difficult time,  please keep in your thoughts and prayers the people we have come to care so deeply about and have yet to feel the worst of the crisis.

Carol Van Bruggen Kuhn, CEO Africa(n) Hope Fund

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