Elizabeth Bowers Zambia Education Fund

MISSION STATEMENT: EBZEF empowers women, children, and their community in Lumwana West, NW Zambia, to break the cycle of poverty through education. When Elizabeth Bowers (Beth), an aquaculture Peace Corps Volunteer in the remote rural village of Lumwana West in NW Zambia, died in a bicycle accident in 2002, the Elizabeth Bowers Zambia Education Fund (EBZEF) was created to realize her vision for the women of the village. Girls were being married at age 12 and having 8-10 children, with little, if any, opportunity for education. Now, EBZEF's scholarship for girls has sent over 315 "Beth's Girls," a name the scholarship recipients call themselves, to secondary school. Over thirty girls on EBZEF scholarship have graduated from or are currently engaged in college/vocational education programs, with more waiting in the wings. College graduates call themselves "Beth's Ladies." We have literally changed the way the community views the education of women and the way the women view themselves. In an amazing paradigm shift, the bride of choice in the village today is the educated, empowered woman. Teenage pregnancy has decreased significantly. The High Chief of the Lunda tribe has decreed that anyone marrying off his daughter before the age of 23 "will be punished"! The Elizabeth Bowers Memorial Library, a Peace Corps/EBZEF Partnership Program completed in 2009, including 18,000 pounds of books from Books For Africa, is the largest library in the NW Province. EBZEF supplied solar panels for the Library, brining light and electricity to the community for the first time. The Library is the center of literacy for the surrounding area. EBZEF also initiated a thriving pre-school, created a curriculum, and, with the support of Baal Dan Charities and World Vision Zambia, built 3 classrooms to accommodate the youngest learners. EBZEF currently partners with WorldVision to build a secondary school. Phase I construction is now complete, with 2 teachers' houses, 2 three-classroom blocks, an ablution block (lavatory) for girls, and a solar-powered water borehole to bring fresh, running water to the community. Phase II is waiting for funding. We need more classrooms and teachers' houses. Classrooms are already overflowing with 100 students per classroom projected for 2020. Teachers are "squatting" in the local community, with the Ministry of Education waiting to send more teachers until they have housing. The success of this project will fulfill Beth's dream to "give back" by educating the Whole Girl and her community, from pre-school through secondary school through college! We need help to meet a matching grant to move the project forward in 2020.