About the area

The AIDS pandemic, which has swept across Africa, has left Zambia with a life expectancy of just 46 years, one of the lowest in the world, and has consequently left over 1.3 million children without their parents. The Kaniki area is no exception to this devastating problem.

Many of the orphaned children are being taken care of by elderly Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles. Arise (formerly KOP) wants to support these orphans so that they can remain in their local environment within a family network. Poverty makes life difficult for widows, ageing grandparents and other relatives to provide for a growing number of children. It is incredibly difficult for them to raise money for education, school uniforms etc without any support.

In light of all these problems, in the late nineties Mrs Birthe Linde, a Danish doctor who had lived in Zambia for many years, started raising funds to assist the poorest guardians with school fees and uniforms.  With good knowledge of local families Mrs Linde was easily able to assess who to consider for support. After returning to Denmark in 1999, others continued the work under the name ‘Kaniki Orphans Project' and now in 2013, the project is being re-launched as 'Arise'.