LWELA MISSION

In November, 1973 Marcel Lagesse, Governor Of District 220, Brought The Realities Of Specialist Medical Care To A Remote Mission And School For The Blind In Zambia, When He Officially Opened A 900- Meter Air Strip In Luapula Province.

From That Time, The Blind And The Sighted At Lwela Mission Could Be Reached In Little More Than An Hour By Zambia's Mission Medic -Air.

Lwela Mission Was Established In 1935 By The British-Based Christian Y Brethren Movement. It Has Grown Into A Flourishing Centre For The Care And School Of The Blind- The School Has 50 Pupils -The Hospital Treats 130 Outpatients A Day, With Beds And Cots For 30 Inpatients.

Until The Opening Of The Air Strip, The Only Way To Reach Lwela Mission Was By Road. The Journey Took A Gruelling Six Hours From The Nearest Large Urban Area And The Treatment Of Cases That Required Full-Scale In-Hospital Care And Attention Of Doctors Was Beset By Problems.

On 6th October 1975, After Months Spent Struggling To Get The Project Underway -Problems Resultant From Lwela's Inaccessibility Were Legion- The Air Strip Was Completed And The First Trial Landing Made.

Having Opened This Remote, Needy Patch Of Zambia To Mission Medic-Air, Kitwe Rotary Completed Air Strip Maintenance And Provided Electricity And Improved Water Services. Its Total Financial Committal Was In The Region Of $ 30,000.

The Mission Air Strip In The Heart Of Africa Has Strong Ties With District 119 -5,000 Miles Away In Britain -For The District Contributed U.S. ,500 Towards Its Construction (A Sum That Kitwe Club Matched With A Donation To Mission Medic-Air).

In Recognition Of This Generous Help, The 900-Meter Medical Life-Line Has Been Named Rotary District 119 Airstrip, Lwela Mission.

Kitwe Club's Involvement With Mission Medic-Air Is Now Considerable, For The Club's World Community Service Project Has Been Designed To Serve The Needs Of Mission Medic-Air In Other Parts Of Zambia.

Mission Medic-Air Is An Undertaking That Has Fired The Enthusiasm Of Service Clubs Throughout Zambia. Established In 1966, By A Group Of Volunteer Doctors, Pilots And Round Tablers In Luanshya, It Has Expanded Steadily, With Unstinting Contribution Of Time And Skill From Doctors And Pilots Throughout The Country.

By 1969 It Had Received K40,000 In Donations -Mainly Through Round Table In Britain - And Was Able To Buy Its Own Plane And Establish -With Help From Local People, Farmers, Contractors And Mining Companies -Four Air Strips.

By 1971, Five Missions Had Been Made Accessible And At Each Facilities Were Improved, Equipment Added And Radio Communications Installed.

There Were 30 Volunteer Doctors, 10 Volunteer Pilots On Call And A Full Time Flying Doctor Was Employed.

The Opening Up By Kitwe Rotary Club Of Lwela Mission Marked Another Important Milestone In The History Of Mission Medic-Air, Which Is Providing Medical Help And Hope To Hundreds Of Rural Zambians.


ABEL LUKULU BWALYA RECEIVES A ROTARY FOUNDATION AWARD
Abel Lukulu Bwalya, is a recipient of a Rotary Foundation Educational Award for the academic year 1979- 80, tenable at Gallaudet College in the United States.
Mr Bwalya has secured this scholar- ship through the co-operation and recommendation of the Kitwe Rotary Club.
Mr Bwalya is intending to study special education at Gallaudet College, Washington D.C. U.S.A. This college is about the only liberal arts college in the world which offers degree courses to deaf people as well.

Mr. Bwalya, who is not deaf himself, will follow an International Internship Program which involves leadership, curriculum and inspectorate programs for the schools of the deaf.
Mr Bwalya was born thirty-three years ago in Kasama and completed his Primary course on the Copperbelt. He did his Senior Secondary education at Canisius College, Chikuni, near Monze.
He was trained as a teacher of normal children at Chalimbana and worked in normal schools for seven years before converting to a teacher of the deaf in 1974.

He obtained a local certificate in the teaching of the deaf and then proceeded to obtain a Diploma in the same field in the United Kingdom at Moray House, Scotland.
Mr Bwalya has said that he is very thankful to Rotary International and to the Kitwe Rotary Club in particular, which has made it possible for him to attain further qualifications. He strongly believes that commitment to his given objectives is a function of the rewards one reaps from their achievement.

These rewards include satisfaction based on service to the community. He adds that in developing countries such as ours the intellectual
potentialities of the average man are only partially utilized, and a course like the one he is going on will assist him to use his abilities more fully.

	Rotary Club of Kitwe members at a photo session with District Governer Rafiq and the city fathers - Mayor Kazabu and Town clerk Ali Simwinga