UK Friends meet Changu

What an evening! Our recent social event to thank Friends of Chibombo for

your generous and ongoing support was truly special. The room in Manchester was filled with warmth, hope and connection, and it meant so much to be joined by Mercy Changu Ngandu, from Chibombo People's Climate Action, alongside Zambian supporter Peter Tapiseni.

Launching Our Short Film

We began the evening by launching our short film introducing Chibombo People’s Climate Action. Peter shared why he felt compelled to document this work to share with a wider audience:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2XSojj0Vhg

Achievements

In response to thoughtful and wide-ranging questions, Changu took us right to the heart of the project. When asked about the most exciting achievement of 2025, she didn’t hesitate, Eat to Plant and Plant to Eat. She explained:

'It was one of the most remarkable activities we’ve had so far. We thought if we plant fruit trees along all the community roads, everywhere there’s space, then in the next 3, 4, 5 years people will have access to free food….. In some areas it’s not easy to come by fruit trees, like mangoes in our area.'

We also heard about:

• Training people from an impressive 22 villages in sustainable organic agriculture

• Plans to extend this training even further in the coming year

• Tackling deforestation

• Expanding tree growing initiatives

• Producing briquettes and fuel-saving stoves

The scale of the work is inspiring, and it’s all deeply community-led.

Devastation

We also heard first hand about the devastating impact of climate related floods. Changu and her family had to move out of their flooded home. While some of the newly planted saplings are flood-resistant, everything in the market garden was destroyed except some early maize.

A question sent in by Zayan Ali from St Margaret’s Church of England Primary School’s amazing Green Team captured what many of us were thinking:

'How do you not give up when things go wrong?'

Changu’s answer was deeply moving. She spoke about enduring painful personal losses, witnessing the harsh effects of climate change, and the importance of continuing to act:

'I have to be counted amongst the people who are doing something, no matter how small it can be… there’s no room for me to give up, even when things fail.'

Determination and resilience

That spirit of determination, the refusal to give up, is what drives CPCA.

Thanks to your generous donations she has already bought seeds, fertiliser and weedkiller to prepare the land and begin replanting. She doesn’t want to use weedkiller or fertiliser, but the floods have made perennial grass grow completely out of control and their urgent priority has to be preparing the ground and replanting quickly so they can have food to eat and earn some income.

Your support is helping turn their determination into action for change for the future.

Huge thanks to Changu and Peter for their time, to Peter for making the film and Lwimbo for editing, to Mary, Tim, Avril and Lindsay for the delicious meal, to everyone who helped clear up, and to Tom for the venue and his invaluable technical support.

Most of all, thank you to every Friend of Chibombo. Your support truly matters and together we are helping plant the seeds of lasting change.

You can read a fuller transcript of the event here; to hear the recording - get in touch chibomboclimate@gmail.com

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