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CHAPTER THREE ONE
Gift Namuchimba
Gift Namuchimba was raised in a poor family in the rural
district of Mpika in northern Zambia ‚“When I was at
school, I would even pick seeds from the streets so that we
would have enough food to eat,” she says.
Gift brewed sweet beer to sell in order to provide food for
herself and her seven siblings as they were growing up. But
when her father died, she was forced to drop out of school.
Gift’s future appeared bleak until Camfed offered to
provide everything she needed to finish her studies, from
her school uniform to her stationery. After Gift graduated
from school, she was able to set up a flourishing business
selling shoes, having received training and a start-up grant
from Cama.
Namuchimba has transformed
the life of her family. She also
offers a symbol of hope for
her community.
Using the profits from her business, Gift became the first
woman in her rural village to build a brick house at the age
of just 24. Thanks to her business, she is also able to pay for
her brothers and sisters to go to school. Gift is a role model
in her community and across her country. She serves as the
leader of the national Cama network in Zambia, inspiring
other young women to set up their own businesses. Gift
also delivers business training as part of the newly launched
Leadership and Enterprise program, and acts as a mentor for
20 aspiring women entrepreneurs as they embark on their
social and business enterprises.
Gift’s story was featured in the Financial Times:
“Namuchimba has transformed the life of her family. She
also offers a symbol for her community. On one of her first
nights in the house, she invited her childhood neighbour
to see it. The woman had five daughters, all of whom
became prostitutes. Three of them have now died of AIDS.
‘I invited her to my house and made her enter it. I wanted
her to learn something. She was amazed, as she knew my
poverty as a child and when I had been starving. I said to
her, ‘Look at what Camfed and education has done for my
family’.” 20
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