By MARTIN MUSUNKA –

• BARRICK Lumwana Mining Company sustainability manager, Brenda Tambatamba (right) greets Chief Mumena of the Kaonde people (centre) and former Equinox president and chief executive officer, Craig Williams when he paid a courtesy call on the traditional leader at his palace on Tuesday. Picture by MARTIN MUSUNKA/SUMA SYSTEMS.

THE Mumena Royal Establishment of Solwezi, North-Western Province, has launched the Mumena Education Foundation (MEF) focusing on raising resources to offer scholarships to under-privileged children drawn from rural areas across the country.
The MEF, which was launched in Solwezi last Friday, at which about K111,000 was raised, has been driven into securing finances that will help the under-privileged get access to schools and higher learning institutions across the country, because of the hardships rural children faced in pursuing their education.
Speaking when former Equinox president and chief executive officer, Craig Williams called on him at his palace in Solwezi on Tuesday, Chief Mumena said the MEF was formed in response to the difficulties children in rural Zambia were encountering in continuing with education.
He said the MEF was launched after realising that some of the children with good school results, from primary school or secondary school, were finding it hard to pursue their education careers due to financial challenges.
Chief Mumena said the initial focus would be for the under-privileged children in the rural areas of North Western Province and thereafter be rolled out to beneficiaries in other provinces of Zambia, who could not find the resources to continue with their education.
“As the Mumena Education Foundation, our prime objective is to ensure that children who cannot continue with their education on account of lack of resources, are helped and we shall work towards assisting all those eligible to be assisted. We shall first start with our rural areas of North-Western Province and thereafter go out to other provinces,” Chief Mumena said.
He said it was heart-breaking to see children with good results, but could not proceed to secondary schools or colleges and universities, because of financial difficulties and that this was the foundation of the initiatve.
Chief Mumena said the board of trustees would, in the infancy, consider the beneficiaries of scholarships from the local environment and extend their scope of selection to other areas across Zambia.
“We feel so sad that children with good results cannot continue with education. If it will mean that I will have to make this contribution to the communities in the last phase of my life, I will definitely do it,” the traditional leader told Mr Williams, who was accompanied by Barrick Lumwana Mining Company team led by sustainability manager Brenda Tambatamba.
Mr Williams, who was the founder of Lumwana Mining Company under the initial owners, Equinox, said the MEF was a noble cause, which should be supported by all well-meaning people and organisations.
He said it was imperative that the next generation was improved and what Chief Mumena had embarked on to make a contribution to society by launching the MEF was an impressive development.
Mr Williams travelled to Solwezi to check on the progress being made in the education enhancement programme sponsored by the Craig Williams Family Zambia Foundation and managed by Lumwana Mine management. – Story courtesy of Suma Systems.