Observations of a Janna Student

The three Mzungus[1] have been digging holes and planting poles for quite some time now. They’ve been working here once a week for about a month and a half now – I reckon a Zambian could have finished the job in two weeks. To be fair to them, they’re also busy at two other schools in Kitwe during the week, and they do work hard here. You should see these guys dripping with sweat in the midday sun, it’s great fun watching them shovelling dirt, lugging around tyres and nailing wood together. My mates and I love to help out during break, fetching water and rocks and checking out the toolkit, although for some reason, Alex and Charlie don’t let us play with the saw.

It’s been slow progress, but I have to admit it’s all looking pretty awesome. Dan seems to be the mastermind behind the Outdoor Learning Area (OLA), although I have seen him digging alongside Alex and Charlie now and then, getting his suit trousers dirty. They’ve finished the pretend ntemba[2], made sand and water play areas, dug in tyres for us to jump around on, and have also created a pipe telephone which means we can whisper to each other from across the OLA. At the moment they’re finishing off a wooden hopscotch, and planting some balance beams. Soon there will be a mural with phonetics, numbers and the alphabet too – the teachers tell us that all of this is going to be great for early learning, particularly for Baby Class, Reception and Grade 1 & 2.

The boys try to speak Bemba with us, which we find pretty hilarious. They appear to love the nshima at lunchtime though, and are actually alright at football – for Mzungus. Alex even scored two goals in a 3-1 victory. Now we’re just waiting for the Outdoor Learning Area to be completely finished. Maybe there will be an opening ceremony… if the boys could get a special guest along like Wayne Rooney that would be cool.

[1] Bemba for “white person”

[2] Wooden roadside shop, often selling snacks