Dalitso Mwanza

Name:  Dalitso Mwanza
Gender:  Boy
Reported birthdate:  January 19, 2016 (currently 7 years old)
Favorite food:  Nshima, spaghetti, and macaroni
Favorite activity:  Playing with toy cars
Child is happy when...  He is watching football with friends and family
Child wants to be a...  Police officer
Home information:  Dalitso is growing up in the rural town of Luanshya in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. The Haven of Hope school reports: “Dalitso has stayed with his grandmother from the time he was 6 months old, when his mother abandoned him. The mother is a runaway parent and has left the responsibility to the grandmother. Dalitso is an only child. The grandmother supports their family through selling freezits (popsicles) and local brewed beverages called munkoyo and tobwa. She struggles to make ends meet for the family from the little she gets from her sales, making it hard for her to enroll the boy into school. Dalitso helps with cleaning at home.”
School information:  Dalitso has not previously attended school. Through sponsorship, he will be able to join the grade 1 class at the Haven of Hope Luanshya Primary School in May 2023. There, he will learn and play, be taught about God, and receive meals, medical care, and clothing. In Zambia, primary school lasts for seven years and is followed by five years of secondary school.
Community information:  Haven of Hope's students in Luanshya live in a number of compounds (densely populated communities). Dalitso’s family resides in Maiteneke. In the compounds, unemployment and poverty rates are high, and people primarily depend on menial jobs for survival—working, for example, as garden hands, maids, and small-scale farmers. Families tend to be large and live in small houses. The compounds have been greatly afflicted by HIV and AIDS, leaving many children without one or both of their biological parents. Orphaned children are often cared for by their grandparents, aunts, or uncles; other children live in child-headed homes. Living in poverty, most families struggle to meet their basic needs and afford school fees for their children.
Prayer requests:  Please pray that Dalitso will grow up to be of help to other people in need too.

Dalitso will start school in May 2023. Any financial contributions made toward his sponsorship before then will help his school open a new grade 1 class and ensure that he has everything he needs for school.