Who are you?
We are Charlie La Fosse and Alex Foster, currently the best lads in Zambia.
We left Cranleigh School in July 2013 and are on our gap years. We both have places at university for next year at Oxford and Bath, however that seems a long way in the future!
Why did you want to return to Zambia with Beyond Ourselves?
We both hugely enjoyed our respective trips in the July and October of 2012, however just one week left us feeling like there was a need for a more long-term and hands-on contribution, and the difference that Beyond Ourselves was making made us want to get involved. Zambia is a great place to be – the people are so lighthearted despite their difficulties, and appreciate what we’re trying to do.
What have been your first impressions – second time around?
Being here for a longer amount of time means that you really have to try to understand the culture – during our week in 2012 we really only spent our time between the accommodation and the school, whereas now we are having to adapt more to the Zambian way of doing things!
Also, since arriving, teacher Irene from Janna school has taken on the brave task of teaching us Bemba – we thought we were getting to grips with it, but most of the kids just laugh at us and correct us!
Any highlights (or lowlights!) from your first two weeks?
Three months is turning out to not be as long as we’d thought, and the laidback Zambian approach to getting things done had us worried that we wouldn’t have as large an impact upon the schools and charity as we’d hoped!
However, now most of the children are back at school and we’ve started getting underway with building the outdoor learning area at Janna. This, combined with the innate friendliness of the people here, and the support of Dan and Melissa, means that we really feel like we’re making progress in supporting Beyond Ourselves!
Charlie: My personal highlight has to be Alex swinging a pickaxe into his ankle on Day 1 of manual labour. Great stuff.
Alex: Charlie’s highlight is obviously a low-point for me – despite bringing him unreasonably high levels of enjoyment, it did seriously hurt! But my highlight has to be seeing the Reverend and Bishop from the Janna community getting personally involved in the construction of the new classrooms and wall fence. The fact that all members of the local communities are chipping in alongside Beyond Ourselves, to better the learning environment for their children, is humbling and quite a far stretch from the UK.
What are you looking forward to doing?
We’re both really looking forward to the Roding Valley and Cranleigh teams coming out - we hope that by this time we will have some wisdom to impart, and that the students will have the same experience that we had and will want to return!
Also we’re excited to get involved with classroom assisting, and potentially assessing the Grade 2 children on their high frequency words, in an effort to get them up to the national standard. Furthermore, we can’t wait to start a bit of football coaching at Kawama, Janna and Greater Joy, with the possibility of a tri-school tournament in July!
Lastly, on Dan’s recommendation, we’re going to try Chibuku – a maize-based beer sold locally in warm cartons, although some of the reports indicate we might regret it.
We are Charlie La Fosse and Alex Foster, currently the best lads in Zambia.
We left Cranleigh School in July 2013 and are on our gap years. We both have places at university for next year at Oxford and Bath, however that seems a long way in the future!
Why did you want to return to Zambia with Beyond Ourselves?
We both hugely enjoyed our respective trips in the July and October of 2012, however just one week left us feeling like there was a need for a more long-term and hands-on contribution, and the difference that Beyond Ourselves was making made us want to get involved. Zambia is a great place to be – the people are so lighthearted despite their difficulties, and appreciate what we’re trying to do.
What have been your first impressions – second time around?
Being here for a longer amount of time means that you really have to try to understand the culture – during our week in 2012 we really only spent our time between the accommodation and the school, whereas now we are having to adapt more to the Zambian way of doing things!
Also, since arriving, teacher Irene from Janna school has taken on the brave task of teaching us Bemba – we thought we were getting to grips with it, but most of the kids just laugh at us and correct us!
Any highlights (or lowlights!) from your first two weeks?
Three months is turning out to not be as long as we’d thought, and the laidback Zambian approach to getting things done had us worried that we wouldn’t have as large an impact upon the schools and charity as we’d hoped!
However, now most of the children are back at school and we’ve started getting underway with building the outdoor learning area at Janna. This, combined with the innate friendliness of the people here, and the support of Dan and Melissa, means that we really feel like we’re making progress in supporting Beyond Ourselves!
Charlie: My personal highlight has to be Alex swinging a pickaxe into his ankle on Day 1 of manual labour. Great stuff.
Alex: Charlie’s highlight is obviously a low-point for me – despite bringing him unreasonably high levels of enjoyment, it did seriously hurt! But my highlight has to be seeing the Reverend and Bishop from the Janna community getting personally involved in the construction of the new classrooms and wall fence. The fact that all members of the local communities are chipping in alongside Beyond Ourselves, to better the learning environment for their children, is humbling and quite a far stretch from the UK.
What are you looking forward to doing?
We’re both really looking forward to the Roding Valley and Cranleigh teams coming out - we hope that by this time we will have some wisdom to impart, and that the students will have the same experience that we had and will want to return!
Also we’re excited to get involved with classroom assisting, and potentially assessing the Grade 2 children on their high frequency words, in an effort to get them up to the national standard. Furthermore, we can’t wait to start a bit of football coaching at Kawama, Janna and Greater Joy, with the possibility of a tri-school tournament in July!
Lastly, on Dan’s recommendation, we’re going to try Chibuku – a maize-based beer sold locally in warm cartons, although some of the reports indicate we might regret it.
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