Lusaka, Zambia.

• Location: Squatters Village on Grippis Farm in the Chamba Valley outside of Lusaka, Zambia. The community has no electricity, no running water, no schools, high unemployment, low literacy rate, high incidence of HIV-AIDS.
• Size: 265 students, attending up to the sixth grade.
• Beneficiary Profile: Students at the Mango Grove School are orphans or at risk due to severe poverty, malnutrition, domestic abuse and HIV -AIDS. Ages range from 3-17.
• Facility: Three mud brick buildings divided into 5 classrooms, a small office and a rustic kitchen where a wood fire is used to prepare food.
• Staff: 7 full time teachers, one doubling as school administrator.

Mercy Ministries School

Chainda, Zambia

• Location: Outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia. No electricity, no running water, no access to health care, low literacy rate, high unemployment, high incidence of domestic violence.
• Size: 330 students, all AIDS orphans, 4 teachers
• Beneficiary Profile: All students are AIDS orphans and suffer from severe poverty. None has access to other educational institutions. Many are handicapped children.
• Facility: Thatched roofed building open on three sides, divided into four classrooms. Also has an office and storeroom housing the textbooks and supplies.
• Staff: Four full time teachers, one administrator and one maintenance/grounds worker.

History of Mercy Ministries School

In 2006, Dorothy and Davisson Peri realized a life long dream to open a school for destitute AIDS orphans on their property in the countryside outside of Lusaka. Their passion to rescue the hundreds of orphans in their community drove them to deny their own need for a proper home, and pour themselves into giving these children an education. The children walk up to an hour from surrounding communities to spend the day at their school learning to read, write, do mathematics and prepare to contribute to the society around them as adults. Dorothy was the sole teacher in the beginning, then her daughter joined her to teach at the school, and by November of 2007 they had added another two teachers. The four teachers teach two shifts of students per day to accommodate more than three hundred students. Two stipends are given by GHI monthly to support the teaching staff.