CHARITY MASEKA (Greater Joy Community School)

This week I had the real pleasure of talking with Charity Maseka, who teaches the Middle Class in Early Years at Greater Joy Community School in Kitwe. Charity is 27 and lives in Chimwemwe, the area where Greater Joy School is, with her husband and three children, Emmanuel aged 8 and in grade 4, Trisha Kunda aged 5 in grade 1 and her little one, Angel Kunda who is getting on towards 3 and is in the baby class, all at Greater Joy.

Charity teaches 34 children in the 3-4 year age group and has been telling me more about what she enjoys about being a teacher. After leaving Annech College of Education in Kitwe almost four years ago she came immediately to Greater Joy as a qualified teacher to start her career in education. A lot of things have changed in this short time. She was telling me how until recently the idea was to sit the children in rows at desks and teach them facts, even at a young age. All lessons were for a single subject so when you taught maths it was only maths you taught. The children had to sit still and be quiet. In this last year things have changed a lot for the better, with lessons that cross over subjects such as a Science lesson possibly on Personal Hygiene. As well as the science part they would be discussing subjects such as language and grammar and even maths bringing in shapes etc as in the bar of soap. This has all happened partly through the training that the teachers have received from Dan, Emily and Jan with Beyond Ourselves at the schools and much more recently from the new Zambian Government training methods and courses that are being run.

Working in the Counting Corner

And in the Puzzle Corner

Now a lot of emphasis is on “corners” or areas of different interest in the classes. The class is not full of straight rows of desks but rather varied with a floor mat for the little ones to play and learn, a “shop” corner where children can go and play at shopkeepers and customers, and another area that may have a “craft” theme with paper and card to make things. One book given by the Government is working really well and that is about making resources themselves out of low cost or recyclable materials. This is happening throughout all of our schools as you can see here at Kawama Community School where they have made simple telephones from discarded plastic pots and string.

Using low cost and recyclable materials

Charity also brought up another excellent initiative which is being pushed by the Zambian training scheme. This is so obvious to those of you in Education in the UK. It involves Teaching Strategies and the one Charity was showing me was Pose : Pause : Pounce : Bounce which is a way of asking open questions and getting plenty of different responses.

Wall posters on various initiatives and strategies

This training that Charity has been undertaking, along with her colleagues in all the schools, has certainly helped her with class management and motivation.

Beyond Ourselves has also been helping with Differentiation where the teachers can all identify the faster learners from the slower ones and can put into place different strategies to help them all gain the most from the education.

For me it seems so much better that the children in the schools seem to be enjoying the lessons much more and are really interested in learning

Our Annual Golf Day!

This time last week we were holding our annual Golf Day. Full sun today – not so much last Friday but so much better than it could have been. Just a couple of bursts of rain so we’ll take that.

We had a full course at Bush Hill Park Golf Club, with 84 golfers playing. For the first time ever we had not one but two ‘holes in one’! Congratulations to Pat Anning and Lee Fickling (who happens to be the Pro at Bush Hill Park).

Pat Anning

Lee Fickling

Congratulations to our winning team – previous champions in 2014 – Paul Mason, Gareth Mason, Huw Mason and Mark Burrows – with 98 points.

I think that beer in our Pimms Marquee must have helped Paul!

The winning team!

In the evening we had a great indoor BBQ, and our auction, with the now infamous auctioneer, Ben Collins, extracting much needed funds out of his audience!

We are delighted to report that we raised £11,500 on the day which will really help in the furtherance of the work of Beyond Ourselves in Zambia.

Thank you so much to all who supported the day. We really enjoyed the day - it is so nice spending the day with what feels like our Beyond Ourselves UK family.

Next year’s date is already is the diary – Friday 16th June 2017. If you would like to play next year, save the date!

Meet The Dulsons!

This month we have the wonderful Dulson family visiting us from the UK. They are here for the month of June, doing life with the Beyond Ourselves Zambia team.

Tell us a little about your family...

We are Wayne, Gemma, Keziah (7) and Reuben (4). For the past 11 years Wayne has been serving as the Minister of Loughton Baptist Church. Gemma is a primary school teacher and the one who holds things together and makes Wayne’s life work!. Keziah is in year 2 at school and Reuben attends the LBC preschool and will be starting school in September 2016.

What inspired you to come to Zambia to spend time with the Beyond Ourselves team?

As a Baptist Minister Wayne is entitled to a three month sabbatical every seven years. A sabbatical is an opportunity to do something different from his normal day to day ministry, including time to enjoy the 3 r’s - rest, relax and read. As we have spent the last year telling our Church it’s not a holiday but does incur a slower pace of life for 3 months!

Having spent 4 months in South America as part of a gap year aged 18 Gemma was always keen to take part in overseas mission again but Wayne being a bit insect/snake/spider phobic was not sure! Wayne chatted to Melissa & Dan’s Pastor and felt something change in his heart and suggested Zambia as a place to spend some of the sabbatical. After much prayer, long lunches with Jodie and many many many emails to Melissa and Dan God seemed to be opening the door to Zambia for us!

So we packed our bags and off we went.

Only 2 cases were for us...the rest were full of things for Beyond Ourselves...honest!

What are your first impressions of Zambia and Beyond Ourselves?

We instantly fell in love with Zambia. We love the people and the way of life…it seems far less hectic than back in the UK. We also love the sun…even though its Zambia’s cold season our British skin is enjoying the heat!

The Beyond Ourselves team gave us a great welcome and we instantly felt at home and as if we had been here for ages! The Zambian people are very friendly and have welcomed us into their country with warmth and love.

It has been really great to see the work that Beyond Ouselves do here in Zambia and we have been struck by how they are seeking to empower the Zambian people.

What are Keziah and Reuben’s enjoying most about being in Zambia?

Keziah – I like singing and playing with the babies at the orphanage. I like seeing the schools.

Reuben – I like Spur (the restaurant with the play area!)

So what have you been doing in Zambia?

Wayne has preached in the Pentecostal Church at Janna school. We had a great welcome here and Wayne is excited he can now add ‘international speaker’ to his CV! He will also be preaching at Ndola Christian Fellowship.

Gemma has been leading some phonics intervention groups in Kapumpe school.

As a family we have been visiting an orphanage helping the 2 house mamas entertain the 7 babies!

Baby Grace spending time with The Dulsons

On top of this we have be enjoying living life with our new friends including hosting an afternoon tea party for the Queens Birthday!

Oh yes and Wayne has been reading books to feed his soul! Along with lots of family time playing Uno!

We have been welcomed into people’s lives and this has been a very humbling experience. We want to thank everyone who has made our adventure a truly memorable and remarkable experience and one that we will never forget.

Olidah Kalao

Olidah Kalao

Olidah is the current Grade 4 teacher at Kawama School in Kitwe which is one of the schools that Beyond Ourselves works very closely with. Olidah has been at the school for five years, building on the experience she had of teaching in a Sunday School. Like many single parents, she used to work at home, looking after her four children. Her daughter, Dyness (18) and son, Caleb (9) are still living at home with her.

In the beginning she was an unqualified teacher, but with Beyond Ourselves support, Olidah started her training at Nkana College, also in Kitwe, in 2014. This involved her continuing her job in the mornings to earn money and studying for her teaching qualification in the afternoons and holidays. She has now almost finished, with just her teaching practice to complete and one more ‘O’ level to pass. Like many people, Olidah has found Maths more difficult and is now attending extra maths lessons in the afternoons in order to make sure that she has the best possible chance of passing her exams this year.

Olidah joining in a Beyond Ourselves training session

Olidah has enjoyed the studying as she says it is helping a lot with teaching practice by bringing in more up-to-date ideas as well as learning how to handle the class better. Her favourite subject is Psychology.

Olidah is also very complimentary of the way Beyond Ourselves work and help at the schools. Obviously, she says, the salaries are important but so is the ongoing help and training with the teachers from Emily and Jan in teaching techniques and working with the young people so that they all can benefit from better education methods and a much happier learning environment.

Teaching from the front of the class

Allowing the children to answer

Working with a small group

Olidah demonstrating to a child in class

Like most of the staff from Kawama, and the other schools we work with, Olidah lives in the community and it is a great achievement to get the local community both supporting the schools and working. This has to be the best way of empowering the community. Now she has (almost) completed her training, Olidah wants to continue working at Kawama and would love to see the school grow and grow and with continued support from all at Beyond Ourselves to ensure that Kawama is not just “Good” but ‘The Best’ in the area.