The little school project

A glimpse from our trip to Africa in March 2018 and our school project in the remote village Chisanza (North Eastern Zambia)

Love never fails

When my then 13 year old daughter Rebekka in 2017 came home with an idea about how to help Africans, I took her seriously and became inspired. She started her own charity project, Pillow For Africa, with her friend Emil and through hard work and dedication, they gave half of their profit to a small health clinic in rural Zambia.

Rebekka inspires me every day. So, when we visited the health clinic in March 2018, we also took the opportunity to visit and start supporting a small school in the village of Chisanza in North Eastern Zambia, next to the health clinic. A remote area with lot of opportunities to grow and prosper. It touched my heart, mind and soul to see what a huge difference a pen and a book can make. We hope to play a small part in helping young Zambians reach their dreams and fulfil their potentials. Although we sell luxury, getting an education should not be. For every piece of jewellery we sell, the Maya Bjørnsten Foundation privately donates directly to the children and their school.

First step

After our very first donation, we received beautiful pictures from the secluded school in Chisanza. The children were already using their new schoolbooks, pencils, paper, and chalk, filling the classrooms with life and learning. We hoped that future donations could help provide desks, chairs, and windows for the building they had so proudly constructed themselves, and also make it possible to attract more teachers, especially in English.

Second step

Our second donation improved the school environment further. It made it possible to purchase new benches and desks, so the children no longer had to sit on the floor. At the same time, cement floors were laid, and proper windows were installed to keep the wind out.

The donations also made it possible to pay salaries to the volunteer teachers and to fight a cholera epidemic.

Third and Fourth Steps

As the project grew, donations continued to fund teachers’ salaries and school supplies. Recently, we provided a television and computers to allow the children to participate in Zambia’s national educational program, Edu TV, which delivers lessons for all grade levels.

By acquiring the television, the children are given the possibility of partaking in Zambia’s government’s national educational program on the television channel, Edu TV channel 4. The education program is for pre-schoolers, primary and secondary school. The channel was introduced during COVID-19 in order to provide lessons otherwise not taught during the pandemic’s closing of the schools.

During the pandemic, sanitary measures were installed at the school thanks to the donated money: Hand-sanitizers, face masks, and cleansing agents such as chlorine for disinfection purposes. After the reopening of the school, donations from Roughdiamonds.dk have also been used to purchase shoes and shirts for the children, making for a most colourful everyday display.

Ongoing donations

A six-month art course gave the children the chance to learn through creativity. They worked with everything from singing and dancing to gardening and art. Roughdiamonds.dk financed both teachers’ salaries and the necessary materials, and the experience has inspired the school to keep creativity as a part of the learning process going forward.

To secure better learning outcomes, Roughdiamonds.dk is helping provide salaries for more trained teachers. This ensures the children receive more focused guidance and a stronger foundation for their future education.

From 2023 and ongoing

Donations continue to fund schoolbooks and stationery, but also reading books to help create a small school library. Together with access to computers, this gives the children the chance to expand their knowledge and imagination beyond the classroom.

The school has grown quickly, and more desks and chairs are needed to keep up with the increasing number of students. Donations go towards creating a proper learning environment where every child has a place to sit, write and learn.

Since the project began in 2018, the number of pupils has grown from 382 to 668. At the same time, the school has achieved its best results ever: in 2024, 80 percent of the students passed the national exams, giving them better opportunities for further education and strengthening their chances for a brighter future.

Future Steps

In Zambia, school uniforms are mandatory, but many families cannot afford them. We want to ensure that every child, both girls and boys, receives a uniform and thus the opportunity to attend school.

OCTOBER 2025

At the same time, the school currently only goes up to 7th grade. After that, children must continue in boarding schools in town, far away from their families. For many girls, this sadly results in child pregnancies and lost educational opportunities. Our vision for 2025 is to expand the school with classrooms for higher grades, so the children can stay in the village, close to their families, and continue their education in a safe environment. In the picture to the left, you can see the very first groundbreaking for the new building.