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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