Meet the Gapettes!

This week we wanted to give you a proper introduction to our new gap year students, or the 'Gapettes' as we call them... So here they are:

Who are you?
We are the Gappettes!

I’m Beth Wilson. I go to Restore Community Church in Loughton. I’m eighteen and have done Cache Level 3 (childcare education). I visited Zambia last August for 10 days with my church and couldn’t wait to come back.

Hey! I’m Cathy Hobbs. I went to Cranleigh School and have just finished my A levels. Cranleigh is partnered with one of the schools linked with Beyond Ourselves – Kawama. I came out here in October 2012 with a group from school and was desperate to work with Beyond Ourselves for a longer period of time. Beth and I are staying out here for three months.

Why did you want to return to Zambia with Beyond Ourselves?

Cathy:
For me, Beyond Ourselves is a very special charity. I have never come across a group of people so devoted to a shared goal, both teachers and those representing Beyond Ourselves in Zambia and in England. The Christian grounding of the charity is especially important for me. The short period of time I spent here two years ago were simply too good and I felt that I didn’t have enough time (only 10 days) to fully get to know the staff, teachers and the kids properly. They taught me so much more than I could have ever taught them. There was simply no question of not returning when the opportunity came up!

Beth:

When I came out to Zambia last year I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was blown away by people’s generosity, kindness and love. People were inviting me in to their homes, showing me around their area and just loving me for who I am. That’s something that you don’t really get back home, so that’s one of the reasons I wanted to come back. Also just because I loved the children and families so much, they bring me so much joy and laughter and everything they do and the way they live teaches me so much and makes me value life so much more.

What have been your first impressions – second time around?

Beth:

My first impressions second time round were the same as my first impressions last year. The community still brings me so much joy and the love is still going strong. The only thing I have found different this year is that people are looking at me (and Cathy) in a much more funny way than they did last year. I don’t know if this is because I’m not within a big group of people, so I may stand out more, but my first impressions of this is why are people looking at me!? (Plus we are both ginger!)

Cathy:

Similar to Beth to be honest. First impressions are similar although for me, the teachers seem to be slightly more chatty as they know we are staying for a long period of time, so that’s great. The kids initially were quite nervous which I didn’t remember from last time, but now they are as boisterous and playful as ever. Understandably it took some time for them to get to know us both. Dan set us on a ‘treasure hunt’ in Ndola yesterday (basically doing odd chores and finding our way around, one being collecting a napkin from ‘Hungry Lion’ – the Zambia equivalent of KFC!). Previously I hadn’t seen much of ‘proper’ Zambia. Even if slightly daunting with lots of stares (!) it was great to find our feet.


Any highlights (or lowlights!) from your first two weeks?
Cathy:

A major highlight has got to be the lunch we had with the Bishop of Zambia after visiting Gilgal church on Sunday. He was an incredibly inspirational preacher and such an amazing person to speak to. It was a truly humbling experience. Additionally, spending time reading and playing with the kids everyday has got to be a highlight. Seeing Dan’s face after buying him an African shirt off the street has got to be up there too!

Possible lowlight – Beth and I have just cooked our version of Chili con Carne for the Whitcombe crew and Dan, who has eaten caterpillars in the past and has not been sick, now has a stomach ache… Whoops!

Beth:

My main highlight has to be going to the football stadium to watch Zambia vs Mozambique. The atmosphere was just crazy, never seen so many excited people. It was great! Within this highlight, another highlight, was when Cathy turned to me crying, I was thinking she’s crazy, what’s wrong with her, soon I realised we had been tear gassed! That was probably a low light for her, but for me it’s stuck in my memory!

What are you looking forward to doing?

Beth:

I am looking forward to getting more involved with the schools, working alongside the teachers to provide fun stimulating, educational activities for the children. I am also looking forward to Cathy teaching me how to play my recorder! Dan is going to love me! Getting to know my neighbours will be fun and I love the idea of becoming a family and not a ‘team’ with the Whitcombes and the Pearses family.

Cathy:

I simply cannot wait for the next church service. The singing is absolutely incredible and the praying is something I have never experienced before. In addition to that, I’m looking forward to teaching the kids some songs to perform for the Zambian Independence Day on the 24th October. Every Friday afternoon, we have ‘Team time’ where ‘The Crew’ (Whitcombes, Pearces and Gappettes) meet and take turns to choose an activity. Beth and I are taking it next week and there is no question that ‘pass the parcel’ shall be making an appearance.

New term, new team!

As the new school term starts we are ridiculously excited that we have new people joining our team in Zambia!

At the end of July we were sad to say goodbye to our Gappies Alex and  Charlie after they shared three months with us, but we are thrilled to be welcoming our first Gappettes (we're fairly sure that's a real word!), Beth and Cathy. They will be staying with us for the next three months working alongside Dan and Melissa at the PHC community schools we partner with. Although they've only been there a couple of days it seems they have already got to know our neighbour Daliso! I'm sure you'll be hearing from them as soon as they've settled in to life in Zambia :-)

Not being content with just a couple of Gappettes we are also welcoming the Pearse family; Malcolm, Emily, Lucy and Albert.

Malcolm and Emily first visited Zambia in February of this year and they loved it so much that they have committed to retuning for two years as a family! Malcolm will be teaching at a local school in Ndola, where Lucy and Albert will be going to school too. And from January 2015 Emily (also a teacher) will be working alongside Dan promoting the quality of teaching and learning at our partner schools. 

All very exciting!

Quality Education: The bigger picture

Over recent months you might have picked up that we have made the important shift from meeting the immediate needs of the children and the infrastructure of the schools to focus on the quality of teaching and learning being offered.

We recognised it as an important part of the schools’ development and our colleague, Dan, moved over to Zambia last year to lead this work. Dan is currently supporting the schools in the teachers’ professional development and helping provide a literacy framework to improve the levels of reading and writing.

Although for us it felt like a natural shift and the next step in our partnership journey with the schools, it is being reflected in what is happening on a wider scale across the globe, particularly within developing nations.

Goal 2 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) seeks to, “Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course in primary schooling”. 

Encouragingly, primary school enrollment rates have increased substantially in sub-Saharan Africa. However, many experts argue that this push to achieve MDG2 is a major cause for deterioration of quality at all levels of education. There is growing concern that low quality education translates into decreased competitive advantage; basic education is simply not enough to secure a successful future.

There is also evidence that the chances of a child moving through the primary education system and receiving the significant benefits of secondary and higher education have actually worsened since 2000. Increased class sizes and resources being shared amongst more students along with a lack of trained teachers has led to increased absenteeism and drop out; in the least developed countries (which includes Zambia) only 61% of children who begin primary education remain for 4 years.

A recent UNESCO 2013/4 Report, ‘Education for All’, “makes a powerful case for placing education at the heart of the global development agenda after 2015”.  It is widely noted that mere enrolment in primary education is not enough, and that quality education is the key.

So we’re encouraged to keep on moving forward in this area, to see real change in the teaching and learning at the schools we partner with. We know it won’t be a ‘quick fix’ but it’s something we are committed to over these coming years and know it will be something that truly makes a difference. 

Time to reflect...

August brings with it sunshine and a few weeks of quiet. The summer trip has been and gone, our link schools here in the UK are closed for the summer holidays, and our partner schools over in Zambia are shut for August too.

Time to breath, think, reflect and look ahead to the rest of the year.

Today, I was looking back on my recent trip and thinking about the things that stood out to me, the moments that I remember now in the quiet of this month. It’s been interesting (but maybe not surprising if you know me!) to note that these moments all carry the heart of our partnership with the schools in Zambia.

Maybe it’s because I heard the High School Musical song randomly playing when I was in Lusaka last week but I can’t stop “We’re all in this together” going around my in my head! (Apologies that it is now in your head too!)

When Beyond Ourselves began, we wanted to make sure that we worked in partnership with local people, churches and schools in Zambia, that we didn’t “own” anything but that we would support seeing local people’s vision and dreams for their communities become a reality. That together we would see lives changed and communities transformed. We knew it wouldn’t be a healthy relationship if we created a dependency on us; instead we want to walk with the schools as they journey towards self-sustainability in the future.

And so the times that stand out to me over the recent weeks are when I have seen moments of the “future” happening. They are the moments that could perhaps go unnoticed by others but are significant all the same; the steady repayment of a business working loan we gave a few years ago, the free use of a vehicle (plus money for diesel!) for several weeks when the one I was using broke down and gave up; the school and church community working together to repair the fence around a school or to complete the new wall they need without Beyond Ourselves being involved physically or financially, the unprompted offer from one partner school to another to donate their water tank , or to provide the timber the other needs for their new kitchen area…

They are the moments when I can see five years of relationship gives us not only a strength in the present but a shared commitment to the “future”.

Dipo receives a new wheelchair!

Some of you may have seen the short video we posted on Facebook or the photo on Twitter a few days ago which showed young Dipo getting a new wheelchair. It’s had a great response, so we thought we’d share with you how it all happened…

When the Roding Valley High School team was over a few weeks ago, we went with a few of the children from Greater Joy School to visit their homes. It was at one of these homes we met Dipo and his family.

We heard that when Dipo was four years old he caught malaria and got very sick. Since then he has been unable to walk and unable to talk. He is now seventeen years old. Dipo is taken care of by his Grandmother as sadly, but not unusually, both his parents have died. It is clear to see that he and his Grandmother have a very happy relationship, when she comes near him his face lights up!

It’s not easy taking care of Dipo and getting the support they need. On most days for the past few years Dipo has been sat in a contraption that is a plastic garden chair set in a metal frame. It once had wheels but they have long stopped working.

All of the Roding team who met Dipo were moved by his story and wanted to be able to help the family in some way. A wheelchair was top of the list, but we didn’t know how we might get one. A couple of days later, just before the team were heading home, we heard that a container had arrived for another organisation and that in the container were some wheelchairs. After a phone call or two and with the generosity of the Roding students, Dan went to pick up Dipo’s new wheelchair.

So, this week we went to Dipo’s home and delivered the wheelchair to him this was the moment the Grandmother received the news!

And this is the moment Dipo was wheeled outside for the first time in a very long time:

Even though I am writing this a couple of days after it happened I am still moved as I recall the moment Dipo came outside; the smile on his face, the happy noises he was making, his Grandmother’s obvious delight and the celebration from friends and family! Life for Dipo has changed.

To the Roding team, in the words of Dipo’s Grandmother “Thank you, you don’t know what you have done.” 

And in case you missed the video, here it is! 

An update from Zambia

Being here for a longer amount of time means I get to do things I don’t always have the time to do on shorter visits. With the teams gone, life is a little less hectic for us here in Zambia now.

I’ve had time to hang out with my colleagues, Dan and Melissa (and their boys), and time to catch up with each of the schools reviewing the past few months and looking ahead.

In those conversations when we think about the future for the schools and communities it can sometimes be overwhelming thinking about how far we still have to go with the schools, and how much resource it will take to see those things happen. Thinking of doing it all alone can be daunting!

So it’s great to connect with people who want to journey with us in some way. This trip I’ve met a mix of people; individuals, organisations and businesses, who make the future look less lonely:

• A local South African lady who has lived here 13 years and has a heart for her local community turned up at one of our schools offering to support the feeding programme there.  Within the week she had organised providing and serving a nutritious lunch one day a week. She hopes to get more of her friends and church involved in the weeks ahead.
• Over the weekend we were introduced to a Kiwi who is working with other community schools in the area. It was great to share ideas and we plan to visit each other’s schools early next week.
• We’ve continued to be connected with another organisation who also have a craft social enterprise here in Ndola. Again it is so encouraging and helpful to share our experiences.
• Next week we’ll be meeting a large craft business/enterprise that has been working in Zambia for many years. We’re looking forward to learning from those who have gone before us!
• And finally, before we fly from Lusaka next week we will be meeting the Public Relations Officer of a large Zambia based corporation who have supported us in the past and are keen to continue this relationship in to the future.

The saying, “together we’re stronger” really does apply when it comes to seeing transformation in the communities we love here.

On the ground In Zambia - Changes for the better

Being a part of the UK based Beyond Ourselves team means that there are sometimes moments when I can feel disconnected from the work on the ground in Zambia. In the midst of administrative tasks, raising awareness, raising funds, and nurturing relationships with schools and businesses which support us, it can be surprisingly easy to forget the ‘why’ of Beyond Ourselves and get stuck in the day to day ‘what’ of the work.

An amazing part of my role is that I get to visit Zambia three times a year and what’s even more incredible to me is that these trips always come at the perfect time.  Times when I need to remember ‘why,’ when I need to reconnect with our friends and partners in Zambia face to face rather than over email, when I need to get re-inspired by the vision and re-energised for the days ahead.

Now is one of those times.

So today, on my first day back in Zambia, I visited Janna School and was encouraged to see some of the recent developments there; a repaired and completed boundary fence, two new classrooms that now have a roof and are being plastered, the Early Years outdoor learning area making progress, and plans being made for the ‘ntemba’ shop that will be set up as an income generating activity for the school. 

But the moment that encouraged me the most, the moment that (as my friend would say) made my heart sing, was when I walked past the Grade 7 classroom and looked in at them through the window.  Sat in that classroom, well-fed, healthy and concentrating on their studies, were children who I first met back in 2009 when they were in Grade 2. Children who started at Janna School when it had no classrooms but was one of the few schools in the area offering education to those in the community who wouldn’t otherwise have access to school.

These children have seen great changes at Janna over the past few years and as I looked at them today I realised they are both the reason for and the beautiful product of that change.

They are our ‘why.’