Felistus from Zambia

Zambia, 2003: Felistus Jere's school is a grim patch of wasteland. Her blackboard is the dirt on the ground. The teacher is an unpaid volunteer. As Felistus carefully scratches out numbers, the winds blows dirt into her eyes. This is the best education she can hope for. Six year old Felistus is paying for Zambia's debt to the world's richest countries.

Zambia, where 85% of people live in extreme poverty, spends five times as much paying interest to its creditors than it can spend on education. It can't afford to build many schools for its children and the few schools which are built, have to charge fees in order to stay open.

Felistus' mother, Patricia, is a widow. With an income of £17 a month she says she can afford fees for two, but not all three, of her children. So Felistus goes to a free school, which spills out from a shipping container onto wasteland on the outskirts of the capital, Lukasa. Funded by overseas donors, it provides a basic education for children who can't afford to go to state schools.

Zambia is paying far more in debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund alone, than it can possibly spend on education. This is despite the fact that 40% of rural women are unable to read and write.

Zambia, 2006: Zambia was granted £2 billion of debt cancellation after the G8 meetings in Gleneagles in 2005. Much of the money now freed up from paying back debts is being invested in education and healthcare. Zambia is starting to employ teachers and doctors, build schools and clinics, and reduce or abolish fees for education and health services. There is still a long way to go, but the future looks a lot brighter for Felistus.