For teenagers living in the Mongu district in western Zambia, the closest
high school can be more than 30 miles away. Without access to cars or buses, getting to school is nearly impossible.

To allow these students to attend school, the Missionary Oblates recently built a dormitory in the city of Lukulu with funds provided by the United States Province. The dormitory, located at the Oblates’
Sancta Maria Mission, is for girls who attend St. Columba’s Secondary School and Phelim O’Shea High School. Saint Columba and Phelim O’Shea are the only schools in the district for students in grades 8 through 12.

“In the past these girls had to rent thatched huts with no running water, no electricity and no proper security in order to go to school,” said Fr. Kennedy Sampa, O.M.I. the parish priest at Sancta Maria Mission. “They had to walk to and from their home villages, usually on the weekends, to obtain food. The roundtrip could be as much as 60 miles.”

The dormitory, which accommodates up to 80 girls, was built by the Sancta Maria Mission to give the students a room, bed, electricity, water and security. Breakfast and the midday meal are prepared
for them every day. The girls pay the equivalent of just twenty U.S. dollars to live in the dormitory for an entire year.

With a housemother and support from the church, the girls have guidance and counseling as well as moral support. Although the meals are for both boys and girls, the dormitory is for girls only. The Oblates hope to build a boys dormitory in the near future.

Monde Siita, a 12th-grade student at St. Columba Secondary School, is one of the lucky girls who now lives in the dormitory. Monde, who is from the Mbanga area of Zambia, came to Lukulu in 2007 when she was accepted into grade 10.

For two years Monde rented a hut in Chimbanda so she could attend school. Each month she paid 25,000 kwacha ($5 U.S.) and 5,000 kwacha ($1 U.S.) for water. She tried to buy candles so she could study at night, but they were too costly. As a result her performance at school was very bad in grades 10 and 11. She thought about quitting and going back to her tiny village.

But at the beginning of the school year the Oblates opened the dormitory and Monde was selected to move in. She entered the dormitory last February and since then her schoolwork improved dramatically.

“I feel good to be in the dormitory because I now have enough time to study,” says Monde. “I receive breakfast and lunch from Monday to Friday. The toilets and showers are inside. How I wish it was opened when I was still in grade 10.”

Monde added, “Thanks be to God who is encouraging these people to help people like us who are in need. May He continue blessing them and give them power to proceed.”

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