Thanksgiving Thoughts...

Today, our friends in the U.S are celebrating Thanksgiving, which made me think of a quote I saw on Pinterest a little while ago:

It’s so easy, especially now in the midst of a busy season here at Beyond Ourselves, to forget to take time to be thankful. We’ve got 900 children’s information to update, over 500 sponsorship packs to prepare, 424 pairs of shoes to raise money for and numerous other things to tick off our to do list!

We could let ourselves get disheartened so it’s good to step back for a moment and be thankful. 

- Thankfulness looks outwards, not inwards

- Thankfulness encourages a positive attitude

- Thankfulness forces us to think about what is right with our lives rather than what is wrong

- Thankfulness develops hope for the future

Research shows that grateful people have, “higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy…”. 

Sounds good to me!

So today, on this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful for:

- All the people who partner with us by sponsoring a child, without you it just wouldn’t happen

- The incredible school directors who we work alongside in Zambia who had the vision to educate the children in their community

- Our team, who work tirelessly to make everything at Beyond Ourselves work and see dreams become a reality

- The individuals, schools and businesses who go the extra mile to raise funds, support us, encourage us, and generally be wonderful to us!

Thank you!

Christmas School Shoe Appeal...

This week's blog post comes from Cathy, one of our 'Gapettes' as she explains our Christmas 2014 school shoe appeal...

This morning I tried to think of how many pairs of shoes I have back in the UK. To be honest, I lost count pretty quickly. At one point in time, I must have stood at a shoe shop counter and convinced myself that they were all necessary – but the simple truth is that many of them go unworn in the depths of my wardrobe. Why do I ‘need’ so many shoes? One task Beth and I have had over the last few months has been to go into every classroom of the three schools and identify those children who need a new uniform and/or shoes. Out of the 983 pupils currently registered at our schools, 424 need new school shoes, and when I use the word ‘need’, I don’t mean their shoes are fine, but just aren’t fashionable anymore… they just need shoes. This Christmas, Beyond Ourselves are running an appeal to buy these shoes. I wonder what would happen if everyone that reads this blog donated just 50p for every pair of shoes they own? I reckon that would go a long way to meeting the needs for the children here in Zambia.A pair of shoes is such a small sacrifice for you and I, so why not do something amazing this Christmas?

You can help our campaign by buying a pair of School Shoes by clicking here 
(You could even buy one someone else's behalf for a Christmas gift that really makes a difference!)

3 Busy Weeks in Zambia - As told by Cathy...

These past three weeks have simply flown by! Firstly, two teams from the UK came out. The first was a team of students and five teachers from Cranleigh School visiting Kawama. They had a packed week, including some teaching, a clothes sale, many interviews and the incredible Jubilee Independence celebration. There was a quick turnaround between groups as the next team arrived on the flight the Cranleigh team were leaving on! There were twelve adults, mostly teachers and some businessmen from ‘Stephen James’ staying at Kafakumba, a mission training centre. This week consisted of two teacher workshops, yet more interviews at Janna and Greater Joy and lots of painting (plus a relaxing day at Nsobe game park at the end)! This lot were lucky enough to experience ‘true Africa’ with many powercuts and a frequent lack of water! Thanks should go to Jodie and Karen for all the hours of work they did in preparation for the trips and in leading the trips out here.

So, apart from all the excitement of the teams, we experienced an earthquake (5.3 on the Richter scale), a lightening strike on the house, and the announcement of the death of the President of Zambia (his funeral is today)! Slightly nerve-wracking I have to admit but nevertheless, a memorable three weeks!