Zambia & South Africa | 19 April – 5 May 2026
In April 2026, the Footprints 2 Africa team travelled from the UK to Zambia and South Africa for our second humanitarian outreach. Over 17 days, we visited hospitals, met healthcare professionals and ostomates, and worked with organisations and volunteers on the ground.
Zambia
Our outreach was based in Lusaka, where we first spent time with Ben and the team from Stomacare Support Zambia, an organisation supporting people living with a stoma. We discussed some of the challenges facing ostomates in Zambia and where we can work together. We also visited Kafue District Hospital, meeting healthcare professionals and learning more about stoma care within the hospital and the difficulties patients face accessing supplies. During our visit, Footprints 2 Africa distributed care packs to children living with a stoma.
We also spent time with Timothy Katele from Kitwe, our Footprints 2 Africa volunteer on the ground. He met us in Lusaka. Timothy helps us identify and stay in contact with ostomates needing support in the Kitwe area. Together, we visited people, delivered supplies and listened to their experiences. Some of the people we met had no support and had become extremely isolated because of their stoma and the stigma surrounding it.
A very special part of our time in Zambia was seeing Nevious, a little boy Footprints 2 Africa has been supporting with ostomy supplies. We were able to give him a further six months of supplies, while our volunteer Abby donated school shoes, stationery and other essentials to help prepare him for his return to school. Seeing Nevious again and knowing he had both the stoma supplies and school essentials he needed was a lovely way to end our time in Zambia.
South Africa – CANSA
Our time in South Africa centred around our work with CANSA – The Cancer Association of South Africa, including attending their Stoma Open Day in Pretoria. The Open Day gave us the opportunity to meet CANSA staff and ostomates face to face. During the day, Footprints 2 Africa handed out one month’s supply of ostomy products to ostomates in attendance, while also hearing directly about the difficulties many face accessing and affording the products they need. It was also an opportunity to spend time with the CANSA team and see how the supplies we send from the UK are received, managed and distributed to people across South Africa.
Hospital visits and home deliveries
During our time in South Africa, we made a brief visit to Helen Joseph Hospital and spent time at Wentworth Hospital, meeting healthcare professionals and learning more about the needs of their stoma patients. We also visited ostomates in their homes, delivering supplies directly to people who were unable to travel or struggling financially. Further parcels were packed and sent to people living in other provinces.
Supporting a child with a stoma
One of the most memorable visits was to Uzwelo Children’s Home, where we met a young girl living with a stoma and the care workers looking after her. Stomacare Support Zambia provided paediatric stoma bags, Damo from Crohn’s Ostomy Life donated a stoma teddy, and the Gloucester Royal Hospital Stoma Care Team provided children’s storybooks, educational materials and colouring books. Her care workers had no previous experience of caring for a child with a stoma, so our team showed them how to change a stoma bag and care for the surrounding skin. We also used an educational video provided by Keith Thomas to help explain what a stoma is and how it is cared for. We also distributed 55 dignity bags containing toiletries, hygiene essentials and menstrual products, with menstrual products donated by The Pad Project and 10 Care Packages to staff members.
Thank you
Thank you to CANSA and its team for welcoming us to their Stoma Open Day, Stomacare Support Zambia, Kafue District Hospital, Helen Joseph Hospital, Wentworth Hospital, Uzwelo Children’s Home, Timothy and everyone who gave us their time during the 17 days. We are also grateful to MediTrust, Rapid Care, Patient Choice, NHS Trusts, stoma support groups, businesses and individual donors across the UK, and to our volunteers who helped make the outreach possible. We returned to the UK with a much clearer understanding of the challenges people are facing in Zambia and South Africa and where our support is needed next.
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