China-aided satellite TV project benefits Zambian rural dwellers

Published: January 24,2023

The “Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages” project, supported by Chinese satellite television StarTimes, has indeed worked wonders in rural parts of Zambia.

The project, which aims to connect 10,000 African villages to satellite television, was one of the projects proposed during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2015. Since then, the project has lived to its objective of connecting African rural dwellers to satellite television services, and Zambia is no exception. Moreover, the project has made strides to reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas of the southern African nation. “We are now moving with the world because of this project. We have really benefited a great deal as a community,” Jameson Lukwesa, deputy head teacher at Kapete Primary School in Chongwe District, told Xinhua in an interview. He said the project has helped the school educate the learners by allowing them to watch channels that provide educational materials, adding that this has enhanced the provision of education.

People living around the school have also benefited immensely from the project, which has enabled them to follow current affairs in the country and around the world, Lukwesa said. He said villagers usually go to school to watch television, especially if there is a big event in the country such as an address by the country’s president, or football matches like the World Cup. Lukwesa commended the Chinese government for the project, hoping for more similar projects with high impact on communities.Veronica Mpatisha, head teacher at Bunda-Bunda Primary School, also praised the project, saying the community has benefited from it.She said her school uses the television set supplied under the project by connecting to a projector to provide computer lessons.

Khumalo Nyirongo, a nurse at Kapete Clinic, said the project has helped the health facility to inform people on various health-related topics, such as family planning, by playing content from a flash disk connected to the television set, in addition to helping visitors keep in touch with what is happening in the country and around the globe.”It was really helping us to disseminate health-related information to the community,” he said. 

Xinhua