The October Report from Katete

[Guest blog post and pictures by Elias Lungu, Project Officer, Keepers Zambia Foundation, Katete]

Following the training of promoters and retailers that was done last month from 19-21 September 2012 at Katete Centre for Agriculture Marketing, the Katete team has being distributing vouchers in the 7 communities. In September we managed to distribute 300 vouchers. The Katete wholesaler (Yaya Collector) ordered 435 Kit Yamoyo which were all bought by retailers soon after the retailer training. Before the vouchers were distributed to the communities, awareness meetings were conducted and this resulted in demand for the anti diarrhoea kits to the extent that 91 kits in total were bought for cash at K5,000 by the care givers while the remaining were redeemed for vouchers.

Alifati Banda at Zoona office withdrawing cash

Redemption and withdraw of money by retailers has been successful as 25 have managed to withdraw their money without any difficulties with the first one being Alifati Banda as shown below. This is new and the retailers are so excited such that they are now competing to buy Kit Yamoyo from the wholesaler. In the last four (4) days starting Wednesday last week a total of 11 boxes (11 x 35) of Kit Yamoyo have been ordered from the wholesaler.

My team received 1193 voucher for distribution in the month of October. The exercise was started last week from 15 October 2012 and was finished on 25 October 2012. The field activities were successful as all the vouchers have been distributed. During the first week 15-19 October 2012 a total of 850 vouchers were distributed through the promoters in 4 clinics that included Kamiza, Mindola, Kafumbwe and Chindwale while the remaining were distributed in the following three clinics: Mtandaza, Kakula and Kagoro. The response is encouraging as retailers have taken their business seriously. For example Mr James Mwanza has redeemed K350,000 (70 kits), Mr Kezias Banda K390,000 (78 kits) and Mr Shadreck Sakala K430,000 (86 kits).

Out of 40 boxes that the wholesaler ordered in October, 18 had been bought by the retailers as of Friday last week (26/10/12). It is anticipated that all the kits will be bought by retailers before the new batch is brought in.

Patson Longwe in Red and Baulen Mwanza ordering Kit Yamoyo while Yaya is preparing the receipt	Mr Yobe Sakala and Mr James Mwanza Redeeming vouchers at the Keepers Zambia Foundation office in Katete
Care Givers redeeming Kit Yamoyo in Kamiza –Eddie Mwanza Shop	Hands-on Training for Promoters in Mtandaza by the Project officer
Kulamba Theatre for Development performing in Kamiza to promote the Kit Yamoyo	Why not Dance for Kit Yamoyo when it has come to stay? Small girl in Kagoro Clinic

Conclusion

Saving life is precious and is at the centre of our hearts in this work. The project is getting on its feet, the retailers are seeing more money into their pockets while the care-givers and children are happy that the Kit Yamoyo has come to stay. If the beneficiary is ready and willing to see this project a success, who are we not to perform to the best of our knowledge and ability?