Superb Zambian Names!

We've recently come to the end of two weeks of back to back teams. 34 visitors coming to help with the administration of the child sponsorship program we run. Approximately 850 children weighed and measured, photos updated and interviews conducted with their carers. It's a full on time of year, and as you can imagine, there are significant preparations to be ready for it all, as well as lots of follow up work.

One of the joys found amid the busyness is looking through the registers and reading through the names of the children at our partner schools. Many Zambians have superb names!*

Names tend to fall under a few different categories:

Traditional - some are easier to read than others, lots have great meanings. Some of my favourites include Bwalya, Nkondwe, Mapalo

Tributes - named after someone famous. Many of these are biblical, some are political and a few are just odd!
Some examples of this; Elvis, Ringo, Obama, Hitler (yes, Hitler!?)

Aspirational - the parents want certain qualities to be bestowed upon their child and therefore name them accordingly.
Some examples of this; Beauty, Hero, Unique, Funny, Genius, Soldier, Saviour, Happy and Marvellous are among my favourites.

Anecdotal - my favourite category as every name is accompanied by a good story of explanation. These are children who have been named because of circumstances surrounding their birth.
Medium: he wasn't too big; he wasn't too small
Event: he may have been too big
Goliath: he definitely was too big
Imbasella: this is taken from a Bemba phrase meaning buy one, get one free. He was the younger of twin boys. Classic!

Other - and then there's 'other'. Names given because it was the first thing a parent saw after giving birth, or simply because they liked the sound of it.
Names like Tinkler, Field, Diesel, Organ, Frenzy…

I heard a 'fact' recently that Denmark has a list of 7,000 pre-approved names from which they can choose, as names were just getting 'out of hand'. I can't see that law ever being enforced here in Zambia. Yes, maybe it would stop people from inadvertently naming their children Hitler, but we'd also be unlikely to see the likes of Hero, Unique and Tinkler on our registers, which would be a real shame :-)

(* and some probably have the name Superb!)

The Admin Team's Visit

Last week we had seven lovely people from the UK come and visit us here in Zambia. We call this team the 'Admin Team’ which, I assure you, is a much more fun team than it sounds!

                          

The Admin Team comes every year in late October or early November. We like to squelch them with the hottest heat of the hot season and get them to work very hard while sweating profusely! Their job is to weigh, measure and photograph all of the children at the schools and to sit down with each child and their carer to see how things are going at home, in school, and with their health. Evenings are spent inputting all of this information into spreadsheets.

This week is very important for us as Beyond Ourselves. We use this information as part of the child sponsorship programme but also this data is used to look at the overall growth and development of the children at the schools, assessing the family needs in the community and this process often highlights medical issues as well.

It’s a privilege to welcome each family and sit down and talk with them. People share their stories and we get to hear about their highs and lows of the year gone by. We rejoice with them when their children have been healthy and they’ve been able to provide for their family, we sit and feel their pain when they share about deaths in their family, loss of jobs and the hardships they’ve faced.

                           

And now that the team is gone, we look through the data - each form, each line in the spreadsheet is one child, each child represents one family… We are encouraged as we can see the children are generally growing steadily and we are seeing fewer medical issues. We’ve also been made aware of some very worrying home situations we need to look into, some children who are being treated very badly by their carers. Now we sit down with the children who have low BMI’s and see if they are getting enough food to eat at home or not. Now we look into those children who have had persistent headaches this past year and see if maybe they need glasses. Now we visit the families who are particularly struggling and deliver alternative gifts.

The child sponsorship programme is integral to what we do. It enables us to provide education and food but also help care for children and their families. If you’d like to be a part of this programme and sponsor a child, it only costs £12.50 and really gives so much to a child and their family. Email info@beyondourselves.co.uk if you’d like more information.

Cranleigh School's Visit to Kawama

Last year I completed my Masters dissertation with Beyond Oursleves. My project explored the reasons for absenteeism at Kawama Community School. This may seem like an odd topic. Surely children who don't have the same educational opportunities as we do in the UK would be grateful for even the chance to attend school?

Well, generally speaking they are but there are many factors that affect a child's attendance and whilst my research was based at one particular school, many of these factors are common to children across the world; factors such as limited financial means, the quality of education provided, illness, hunger, menstruation, weather and the need to work. Absenteeism is clearly a multi-dimensional problem which has its roots in income property, social deprivation and entrenched cultural and gender norms.  Having just returned from a trip to Kawama, I was reminded of the extent of the progress that has been made in tackling some of these deeply complex issues.

All three schools that Beyond Ourselves partners with provide genuinely affordable education, unlike the government schools where there are often hidden costs such as administration and resource fees that are beyond the means of many poorer families. This ensures that many children in Kawama who could not afford to go to the government school are able to attend school. The feeding programme ensures the children receive at least one nutritious meal a day and are therefore able to concentrate and participate more fully in school and thus learning outcomes are improved. Sanitation has also been improved with good quality toilets now up and running.

Ultimately, however, children and their carers need to see a point in going to school. Why pursue education when it's unclear how that education will benefit you or your family? This is the reason why, alongside meeting basic needs, there is a real focus on improving the quality of education at the schools and the results are already being seen. Class sizes have been reduced with the aim of bringing all classes down to 40 or below. 

At Kawama School last year's Grade 7s achieved a 73% pass rate in the end of year exams that determine their entrance to secondary school, compared with a national average of 63%. During this trip we also saw the Reception and Baby class learning through play in a way that we have not seen before. We were genuinely moved to see the young children building towers, tackling puzzles and engaged in role-play, learning skills that will so significantly benefit their later education but also enjoying themselves so much!

The teachers at Kawama encourage the children and their families to value education and to understand the long-term benefits of completing their schooling. This is no easy task in a community that, through necessity, has had to focus on their immediate needs rather than planning for the future but the teachers know the importance of this message and I've no doubt that their commitment to meeting basic needs and providing a high quality and relevant education will encourage the children to value their schooling and work towards a better future.

By Becs Gibson, a teacher at Cranleigh School.