• GETRUDE Chimfwembe

By MUTALE MWAMBA –
GERTRUDE Chimfwembe, a 48-year-old widow residing in Shiwan’gandu a district situated 56 kilometres from Chinsali on the Great North Road, was open enough to share her touching experiences.
Weaved into her story is an example of how the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concept being driven by corporate institutions makes a difference for those in need regardless of the figures or nature of assistance involved.
In a bid to hear this moving tale in person, the author embarked on an adventurous trip that exposed him to truck hikes, lengthy bus trips and a test of how proficient he is in his mother tongue.
Ms Chimfwembe relocated to her village from Mufulira when she lost her husband in 2003.
Her story is like that of many single mothers who struggle to raise their children on shoe string budgets.
Equipped with a bit of resources that the mines had paid the family to fund their repatriation, Gertrude and her children arrived in Matumbo, a village housed under Chinsali then before Shiwan’gandu was elevated to its current district status. They began a new but rough life there.
“After my husband died I knew we couldn’t make it in the city, life was very costly, there was no way I could manage to raise my children without being employed so I decided to come back to my village,” she narrated in Bemba.
From the resources at hand she decided to engage in trading, she narrated that she sold whatever she could from second hand shoes to fritters just to ensure that she took care of her children and gave them an education.
Her trading business further required her to spend days on end going round procuring produce from farmers whose working areas where located in thick bushes. She would later resale this produce at a profit.
“Ala limo kwaleba fye nokuya mumpanga imilungu iyingi mukushita amataba, imbalala nafimbi ifyo bashi ma farm balesombola ifyakwisa shitisha, ala yalikosele ilya nchito mwe,” she shared.
(At times I would spend weeks on end in the bush buying produce from farmers which I would later resale at a profit, it was a rough experience.)
As nature would have it three years later she lost her older sister and she had no choice but to take in two of her sister’s children who had been left orphaned when their mother passed on.
Gertrude without soliciting for it inevitably had twice has much responsibility on her hands- life couldn’t get any worse.
Amidst all these challenges Ms Chimfwembe otherwise managed to raise her children and dependants. Diana her oldest daughter is even married and raising a family of her own.
Earlier this year in April Gertrude was fortunate enough to be a beneficiary from one of Airtel Zambia’s promotions- the ‘Cool Winners’ promotion. She won a K10,000 voucher to spend towards the educational needs of any of her children or dependents.
Her good fortune could not have come at a more appropriate time, Richard her son needed to get into college after completing Secondary school in December, 2012 yet she had no resources to fund this noble expenditure.
“Ala mwandini ifintu ninshi nafishupa, nali fye muma sali ati Lesa anjafwilisheko, elo Ba Airtel bantumine phone apopene naishiba ati bwasuko uku fuma kuli Lesa” Ms Chimfwembe said.
(Things were really rough at the time I tell you but I was ardently praying that the Lord helps me, thus when Airtel called to inform me of my good fortune I instantly knew my prayers had been answered)
Richard Chileshe, Ms Chimfwembe’s 20-year-old son was enrolled at Lukashya Trades Training Institute in Kasama this May. From the K10,000 provided by Airtel, Richard’s tuition fees have been paid in full for the first year of his course. The family will still have to source resources to support him through the second year.
Richard is enrolled in the plumbing program at the college and he intends to pursue another course in teaching methodology thereafter.
Equipped with these two trades Richard is confident of getting a lecturing position to fulfill his passion of imparting knowledge into others.
The story above reaffirms the importance of corporate entities sparing some resources to help uplift the living standards of the locals in one way or another. The amount involved in this story may not be life altering in the eyes of many but it indeed is for Richard who felt this K10,000 provided by Airtel has presented him with an opportunity of a life time which is to get an education.
“Mum has been struggling and there was no way she could find the money to send me to college, I understood this fact and even moved to Solwezi to live with my cousin while sourcing for a job in the mines, he narrated,
“When she called me to quickly go back after a school place had been organised for me at Lukashya from the money Airtel gave us I was very joyful,” Richard said.
The appreciation of this opportunity is clear to hear in the young man’s voice, one is forced to lobby other well wishers or Airtel itself to consider supporting him through his final year of study which is not covered by this current scholarship.
Airtel Zambia in a statement pledged its continued commitment to empower communities in which it operates through robust CSR initiatives in the education, health and other needy sectors.
“In this golden jubilee year we will give back more to the community who have earned us our title of Zambia’s leading mobile service provider,” read part of the statement issued by Ndekela Mazimba a corporate communications executive at the telecommunications firm.
Commenting on the need for enhanced CSR activities in the nation, Zambia Public Relations Association (ZAPRA) President Davis Mupenda urged Public Relations practitioners who are the traditional custodians of this role not to relent in the quest to ensure that decent resources were allocated towards such noble activities in their institutional budgets.
“In most companies it is never easy to convince managements to allocate substantial resources towards the Corporate Social Responsibility role but I wish to urge my colleagues in the profession to keep pushing for decent allocations, with persistence the trends will change for the better without doubt,” Mr. Mupenda said.