End of the Year?

How is it possible that we could be at the end of the school year?  (Here the school year starts in January and ends at the end of November.)  It seems like yesterday that we were moving the office in order to make another classroom, hiring more teachers, and welcoming over 60 new students.  During the year our enrollment has grown to 135.  We started the year with 3 new teachers, and added another teacher in September.

It has been a great year and we were able to double in size with a minimum of difficulties.  Our parents are very satisfied, pleased, and grateful for the education their children are receiving.  I’m very satisfied, pleased, and grateful for the wonderful teachers we have and the unity of the team.

We expect that our 7^th graders did well on the National Exams.  In other schools, once they finish their special national tests they don’t report back to school until January.  In our case, the 7^th graders don’t want to stay home.  They come every day, doing jobs around the school, helping prepare lunch, and just being present at the school.  Fortunately there are only 10 of those students.

This week the end of term/year tests are being taken.  Next week we will have special activities, with the last full day being on Wednesday.  Then Thursday will be “Open Day.”  This doesn’t mean that the school is opening.  Actually it is closing.  But it means that the classrooms are open for the parents to come with the students to meet the teachers. 

I celebrate the end of the year, the wonderful growth of our school, and the blessing of being part of reaching so many children with quality education, love, and the message of the Good News.

Dependably undependable Electric company

The Electric Company in Zambia has more customers than they have power.  In addition, they do not have the same high priority of maintaining electricity to all the customers all the time.  Last week and this week we were warned that there would be no power on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  And there has been no power on those days.  Apparently they are doing repairs.  Then in the evening it goes off again for “load shedding.”  Benedict has come up with a saying, "Zesco (the Zambian electric company), the only power company that teaches you how to live without electricity."

We do not face the same challenges as those who are trying to recover from Hurricane Sandy.  We do not need heat – it is in the 90s.  We just need a fan now and then.  We can cook over charcoal.  It is bright and sunny so we don’t need lights during the day. 

The biggest challenge is water.  All of our water comes from deep wells with pumps that depend on electricity to run.  At our school we use a lot of water for making lunch, washing dishes, etc.  Fortunately we have a “play pump.”  This is a merry-go-round that is connected to a well.  As the children go around the water is pumped into a holding tank.  When electricity is on, water from an electric pump also goes into the tank so we don’t have to use the play pump.  But today with no electricity, it won’t be jump ropes or balls when they finish their tests, it will be, “go play on the play pump.”

Expensive Turkeys

We eat lots of chicken – fried, boiled, baked, etc.  So we thought it would be nice to try and find a turkey for Thanksgiving.  Yesterday in ShopRite, a big grocery store in Lusaka, the price for a turkey that was the size of a large chicken was about $31.00.  We decided we will have another day of chicken!

Kayla Cook is here.  She is a nurse and a good cook.  So she has offered to cook our dinner tomorrow.  I think she also is aware that it is not a holiday in Zambia and we will be working as usual.  In the afternoon at our school we will be assessing the students who have applied to come to our school for the next school year beginning in January.  We just want to see where the children are in the learning journey. 

So while working I will be looking forward to sweet potatoes, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and chicken!

Policemen in the Community

At school we are talking about “community” this term.  One of the teachers invited some police officers to come.  On Tuesday we had to go to pick them up since they have only 1 car for several officers to use.  This is a central office that the 2 posts near us report to.  A police woman and a policeman came.  They are from the Victim Report Unit.  They talked about issues of assault and abuse. However, it was most interesting when we opened it up for students to ask questions.  The students were very interested in how they salute and who they salute.  Brighton wanted to know what it takes to become a police officer.  The students were very interested in the uniform the policeman was wearing.  It was another hot day but the children were good listeners although many of them got thirsty.

It saddened me that these two officers ready and eager to go to schools and other groups to talk about victim issues.  However, because of the lack of transport or money to travel on local buses, most children don’t get to see and hear the officers.  It was probably the first time that some of the children had seen a police officer.  On the other hand, many of the officers at Landless Corner and Liteta send their own children to our school!

Grade 7 Exams

Last week our Grade 7 students took the national tests.  There were 10 students who went each morning to Liteta Basic School where they took the tests until lunch time.  They were quite confident after taking each test.  The two students from the community (the rest live in our Village) spent the week, staying in Teacher Malowa’s house.  Each night he was tutoring the students.  It is due to his diligence, hard work, and dedication that our students were so prepared for the tests. 

Now we have to wait until the end of December for the results.  I’ll keep you posted!

First come, first serve

On Thursday November 1, we began receiving applications for the next school year.  In Zambia, the school year begins in January and goes until the first of December.  The months of April, August, and December are the vacation months.  Last year we opened the school to the community and the word is out that we are offering quality Christian education.

During Thursday and Friday we had over 30 applications turned in.  Our procedure is first come, first served for openings in the classrooms.  We have 4 first graders who will be repeating grade one.  So that means we have 21 openings for Grade 1.  By the end of Friday, we had 23 applications already turned in for the 21 openings. 

Teacher Rachel Chanda kept saying, “and it isn’t even January when we will have a lot more show up.”  There won’t be any openings by then.

We plan to assess the applicants later this month to make sure that we are placing the students in the grade that will be best for them.  When children come from some of the surrounding schools, they are not up to the level we have for a particular grade.  Parents know that if their child comes to our school, they may have to repeat or even go back a grade.  Here in Zambia, children are usually in a grade based on their prior knowledge rather than their age. 

One father came from Wangwa Farms where many of our students come from.  He was filled with gratitude and appreciation for our school and what he sees as the results in children who are attending our School of Hope.

What God has been doing is “exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or think.”