100% !!! – Wednesday 4 April 2012

Have you ever heard of a school where 100% of the children had someone come to the Parent-Teacher Conferences? We had that mark today. I don’t say “parent” since in this culture the student may be living with an aunt or uncle, a grandparent, or even another distance relative. In the case of the children in the Village, it was the house mother. But the important thing today was that every child was represented!

Today was the last day of school for Term 1 of 2012. It seems hard to believe that it was 3 months ago that I sat at the table welcoming all the new parents and students. They call today “Open Day.” In other words, the school is open for “parents” to come and look at their children’s work, notebooks, and art work. The parent and child sit with the teacher and go over the report card and the assessment of the child’s progress.

The teachers had their rooms well organized and planned. Each child’s materials were placed on a table together with a name card. The teachers were available at 7:00am and the last parent was done by about 12 noon. It was a very peaceful, positive environment.

The parent’s desire for their children to receive a good education, and the belief that our School of Hope is such a place was demonstrated in this outstanding turn out.

A final note: it was very clear, as the teacher’s met with the parents and got to know the home situation a little bit, that many of the children who are coming from the community are orphans being cared for by others. So our influence on the orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia is expanding through our School of Hope.