I didn't know what to expect from a few days in Kawama School.I had seen photos and heard
stories but unless you are there, experiencing the heat, dust and countless smiling faces and
waves, you have no idea.
The drive into Kawama is certainly an unforgettable experience. The enormous pot-holes which
had filled with water from the night's rainfall made for a bouncy ride and seeing the different stalls
with tomatoes, drying fish and endless barbers introduced us to this different place. The sounds
and smiling faces of the children however is what I'll take from that ride. They were literally unable
to contain their excitement and were jumping about and running alongside the bus. Never will we
experience such a greeting again. Our entrance into Kawama School was similarly overwhelming
as children ran up to and onto us, introducing themselves and wanting to hold our hands or have a
cuddle. That moment of entirely mutually joy and kindness was pure and heartwarming.
The interviews and home visits were eye opening. Yes we saw differences: some very difficult
stories and experiences were shared and implied but there were far more similarities than I
expected. Hearing the children's favourite subjects, their favourite dishes (often chicken and rice
- something I adore!) seeing how much pride mothers had in decorating their houses and hearing
how they celebrate birthdays and weddings bridged what I had thought would be a significant gap
and brought out the common humanity that we share.
As a teacher, I have been eagerly awaiting the teaching days. I signed up for the baby and
reception class since I thought that would be great fun and different. Slightly apprehensive about
the class size and the language barrier, my team was struck by the discipline and enthusiasm that
Teacher Florence had created. Lots of rote learning and songs as well as an impressive amount
of enthusiasm and energy went into the lessons. It was equally incredible seeing the children get
involved and progress but also seeing the Cranleigh pupils rise to the challenge and really give the
best of themselves to these few hours. That ultimately is the aim - learning and fulfilment on both
sides.
It is hard to sum up my thoughts on Kawama School and Beyond Ourselves. I am impressed by
the school's physical appearance but I still dread the moment of going to the loo. I really enjoy
the nshima, mostly because of the delicious sauce that comes with it and eating with your hands,
but am deeply saddened to think that this is what people eat all day, every day, and many do not
get it more than once a day. I love playing with the children, picking them up and giving them a
cuddle, but come close to tears when I see the older girls and think these are their last years of
childhood as they are likely to soon get married and have children of their own. The fact that the
community ended up paying for their borehole themselves, with Beyond Ourselves merely acting
as facilitators by setting up the clothes sale, gives tremendous hope and encouragement but it also
reinforces the long journey left. I guess I am left thinking that it is a work in progress but a work
that is in very safe hands both from Beyond Ourselves and from Kawama itself. In the words of the
chant, "Mighty mighty Kawama" is definitely a happy, enthusiastic, energetic and hopeful place and
I love being a part of it.
Monday, 27 October 2014
Thursday, 9 October 2014
Celebrating The Teachers!
The 5th October 2014 was World Teachers’ Day!
When I went on the website http://www.worldteachersday.
Here’s what happened at Janna School (as told by our Gapette Cathy):
We were invited by Teacher Ireen to celebrate ‘Teachers Day’ at Janna School last Friday. Quite embarrassingly, we were twenty minutes late (thinking it wouldn’t start on time) and Dan got a call saying that they were all waiting for us!
We were seated at the very front on comfy sofas and the celebrations began. This consisted of every grade performing something for their individual class teacher, usually in the form of a poem, a song, a short theatrical production and of course…lots of traditional Zambian dancing - not quite what we were used to in UK primary schools!
It was a great day and a wonderful experience. If that was anything to go by, the 50th Anniversary of Independence Day later this month is going to be unbelievable!
Check out some great photo's we got of the celebrations:
Friday, 3 October 2014
Beyond Ourselves: Your questions answered!
This week I was sent over some questions about Beyond Ourselves from a Year 10 group of students at one of our link schools here in the UK. They were such good questions that I thought I would share a few of my answers with you here. For those of you who know us well think of it as a little recap of who we are! And for those of you who are new friends of Beyond Ourselves, welcome, here’s a little something about us:
1. Please could you summarise what your charity does to promote the right to education?
We are working alongside local churches and community schools in the Copperbelt region of Zambia offering education to children who would not otherwise be in school. The Government does provide education but there are ‘hidden costs’ to attending the Government schools which excludes a lot of children from being able to go to school and receive an education. Unfortunately many of these children are orphans and vulnerable children. So, together with local people we are building and developing community schools which offer a free education to these children.
2. Why do you think the right to an education is important?
I believe Education is a basic human right and all children should have access to it. Only then can the potential that is in every child be realised and can they have the real opportunity to break the cycle of ill health, hunger and poverty in their own life and in their family’s life. If these children receive a quality education and get the right opportunities, they can genuinely make an impact in their communities.
3. Why do you think it is important for schools in Zambia to be supported?
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”.
In Zambia, the need for more schools has been recognised by local communities and there has been a significant growth of these community schools set up by churches and local groups of people to enable the poorest children to attend school.
A key element to our partnerships with the schools in Zambia is that we are keen that the relationship between us is not one based on dependency, but that we journey with the schools towards self-sustainability. Although in the beginning years we are providing the majority of the finance we are working on creating social enterprises around each school community to provide skills training, employment and finance that can help sustain the school in the future.
We believe in offering a “hand up, not a hand-out”.
4. How have you helped them so far?
Since 2009, Beyond Ourselves has partnered with three community schools, helping to build and resource these schools during their infancy. This support has involved building classrooms, toilet blocks and kitchens, as well as creating a feeding programme at each school that provides every child with a meal every school day. A local medical professional is also employed by the school to make weekly visits and attend to basic health needs.
Over recent months we, as a partner organisation, have made the important shift from the above immediate needs of the children and the infrastructure of the schools to focus on the quality of teaching and learning being offered. To this end, we are supporting the schools in the teachers’ professional development and providing a literacy framework to improve the levels of reading and writing.
We believe that with a solid foundation in literacy (in both Bemba, the local language, and in English) and the development of questioning, reasoning and problem-solving skills, the children will be able to progress more successfully through the education system and give them the skills that will afford them and their communities greater opportunities and secure livelihoods in the future.
5. What could we do to support them further?
A really easy way to help us and them is to follow us on social media, helping us to raise awareness! All details below :-)
Sponsoring a child is an excellent way to help meet the basic need of the children. The child sponsorship costs £12.50 per month and 100% of that goes to Zambia, we don’t take any cut here in the UK for admin or marketing etc. The money help provides a meal for every child every school day, contributes to the cost of the teachers and cooks’ salaries, and helps give the child access to basic medical care.
Our blog: http://beyondourselveszambia.
Our Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/
Our Twitter handle: @BOZambia
Our Pintrest: http://www.pinterest.com/
Our Instagram: http://instagram.com/
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