Project Update - Pilgrim - Salt in the Community (Growing Communities)

Good news from the Pilgrim School in Serenje District. We recently received this photo of the recently completed much needed new classrooms constructed with a grant from ZST.  The classrooms are now being furnished, and an ablutions block is being constructed.

Pilgrim - Salt in the Community was established in 2012 by local Zambians as a ‘Resource Village’ to bring practical help and encouragement to people living in small, widely dispersed settlements in an impoverished area in Kalilanama, Serenje District.

In 2025 ZST provided a grant of £11,000 which included an additional £1,500 to purchase much-needed school desks, £500 for sanitary products and £3,000 to help towards the cost of food.

A successful school has been established with over 150 students registered up to Grade Six in three classes plus pre-school.  In 2025 fifteen children sat exams for entry to secondary school in Serenje - fourteen girls and one boy.

The farm and vegetable garden raised a good harvest last year, after the previous year’s drought. A young man with agriculture training has been recruited to manage Growing Communities farming activities and is already planning several initiatives to build on and extend what has been achieved so far.

The health post continues to provide basic medicine, especially for the treatment of malaria and to give vaccinations to children.