Teachers' Packs

One of the alternative gifts you can buy from our website is a 'Teacher's pack'. A bundle of
goodies to support the teachers in our community schools.

These gifts amounted to around £200 in total last year and so our Zambia team have been spending the last few weeks pricing up and shopping for school stationery. We also had a few donations of pens, pencils and coloured card in storage which we have have been able to add to these packs.

So this blog is a big thank you to all those who have ever bought a teacher's pack from us. We are very grateful and take great pleasure in handing over a gift that will mean so much.

Previously in each school we discussed what type of stationery the teachers prefer and what would make teaching and learning a little easier. Resources to make their own learning posters were top of the list... as well as the red pens you'd expect!

With these small gifts our teachers can get really creative; making colourful learning posters, flash
cards, name cards and much more and we are looking forward to seeing these resources in action.

                     

Each teacher received .....

A teacher's bag (for carrying around files and taking books home to mark)
2 Blue pens
1 Red pen
1 ruler
1 sharpener
1 eraser
10 colouring pencils
Pair of scissors
5 paper clips
2 writing pencils
1 A 1 piece of card for making posters

Homemade learning posters

Admin stationery

The teachers with their new pencil cases

                   

Meet Anaene Situmbeko

This week our team member Elizabeth interviewed a Janna pupil...

Meet Anaene Situmbeko, a Grade 6 pupil at Janna Community School. He is 12 years old and has been at Janna School for 2 years after moving from Hope and Faith school in Lusaka. He lives with his Aunt and Uncle and their three children with Anaene falling in the middle. 

Anaene starts his day like many children in Zambia, with bread or rice as his breakfast. He will then do the washing of the plates at home and any other chores he needs to do before heading off for a 7 o' clock start at school. Luckily Anaene doesn’t live too far from school, with a 10-15 minute walk before settling down for school from 7am until 12pm. 

As Janna has its feeding programme in place, he has nshima and rice for his lunch with a possible bean, beef or chicken extra and vegetables to accompany it. As nshima is the staple food for meals, Anaena also has it for his dinner as well as lunch. 

When I asked him about being at Janna his first response was that he really liked going to school and coming to learn. He was quick to answer that science was his favourite subject at school and he enjoys doing English and Bemba lessons as well. When I mentioned social science he made a face of disgust so that was quickly decided as his least favourite subject of them all. He eagerly went on to tell me that once he’s finished school he really wants to be a pilot so that he can explore the world. He really wants to be able to visit America and the UK and when he goes to America he wants to be able to stay with his cousin who is doing medicine. But for now he’s content with playing football with his friends and reading stories at home whilst he makes his way through education.

                                   

                    

Partners We Salute You!

Last week I wrote about celebrating the end of pack sending season. And in particular, how sending the child sponsorship packs out highlighted the significance of the information they contain and the impact that has on the children at our partner schools in Zambia.

This week I wanted to mention something else that stood out to me as I was sending the packs to our wonderful sponsors - the huge contribution our key partners here in the UK make to all we do.

We are so fortunate to have such faithful and generous partners, in the guise of schools, businesses and churches. No partnership looks the same as another and each contributes in their own way.

Here are just a few ways:

Fundraising events, awareness, sponsoring children, donation tins, gifting their services and expertise, and so much more!

Partners we salute you!

A special thanks to…

The Schools:
Cranleigh School
Cranleigh Prep School
Mount Grace School
Roding Valley High School
St Joseph’s in the Park
St Joseph’s in the Park Pre-School
St Margaret’s CE Primary School
Wanstead Church School

The Businesses:
Big and Red Storage
Stephen James BMW & MINI
Studio-40

The Churches:
Be Church
Bush Hill Park United Reformed Church
Enfield Missional Community
Restore Community Church

Pack Sending Season!

Every year there is a week that brings us as a team great joy and celebration – it is the week that marks the end of ‘pack sending season’!

And this year, this is the week! (Feel free to celebrate with us!)

Since the interviews in November, when we met with every child and their parent/guardian at our partner schools in Zambia, we have been working on the information gathered to create sponsor packs for every Beyond Ourselves sponsor child.

We are so thankful to everyone who sponsors a child with us and are happy we are able to send you an update on your child each year. The pack includes up to date family, school and health information and a brand new photo of the (hopefully smiling!) child.

It can take weeks (a few months in fact) to work through every child’s information, check everything is correct and create the documents and data that we need. Not to mention the time it takes to send out several hundred sponsor packs to you, our wonderful sponsors.

The good news is, this was our most efficient year yet - thanks to all who have helped make that possible. A special mention to Melissa who works so many extra hours during ‘pack sending season’ and to Karen and Celeste who helped share the load. Thanks as well to all of you who helped us interview the children back in November and input the data, without your hard work and contribution it would be a very long and daunting job for us.

The interviews were not just about gathering information for the sponsor packs. Sadly, they highlighted some serious situations in some of the children’s homes that we are now following up, working together with our school partners to ensure these children are safe, secure and able to flourish.

It’s important to remember ‘pack sending season’ isn’t all about the admin but that each sponsor certificate and photo that we send to you is a child. A child who is being empowered and has the opportunity to learn and thrive because of our partner schools.

And that’s definitely worth celebrating!