The village of Zeza is a rural community located in the Kasungu District of Malawi, with a population of 1,200 people. Most community members are subsistence farmers who rear livestock and grow tobacco, groundnuts, beans, soya, and corn.
Zeza’s primary school has six teachers and educates all eight grade levels, before the start of this projet operating out of only four classrooms. This meant that at best, these classrooms could only serve half of the student population. Due to this lack of infrastructure, many children had to study outside under trees, completely exposed to distractions. The roofs on some of the classrooms were also caving in, making those unsafe for the children. These challenges were pushing some of Zeza’s youth to abandon their studies altogether.