Thankfulness to Change

Taonga to Tembenukani

Visiting

The last two months have been full of visits. First of all I did a last minute trip

back to the UK then Mum and Dad came to see me and the school. As usual the

visits were full of fitting in seeing people and getting jobs done. While Mum and

Dad were here Mum heard lots of children recite their bible verses and we

organised books and uniforms, Dad oversaw the building of some garden beds

and a soak away. We also went to look at a new house for me….

A new house

For the last 8 1/2 years I have been living with Don and Christine and their

family as we work with the boys and the school. When I first moved here there

was a core family of 9. Gradually through the last 9 years most people have

moved and just Don, Christine and I have been left. As lots of you know Christine
is very unwell and is needing a liver transplant. This will mean that for most of

the next year she will be in the UK. That leaves just Don and I living in the family

house. It is a big house and some times we don’t see each other for days but as 

Christine will be away for an extended period it is not appropriate, especially in

the culture, for us to continue living in the same house. We have been talking

about this for some time but just before Mum and Dad came I messaged some

friends from church who rent out small flats about 15 minutes away asking if they

had anything available. Initially they said they didn’t, but within a week they did

and we were able to go and see the flat which looks ideal. Mum and Dad also

had a chance to meet Harold and Mary so they have a better idea of where I will

be staying. I hope to move in mid July. There are a few challenges to moving

out but the main one is finances. Rental properties here are fairly expensive and

I have not had to factor in rent to my living costs up till now. I have around £300

to make up per month.

School

School has continued to go well. We have had the usual turn over of staff as it is quite difficult finding people

who live locally and are willing to work in a different way to how they were trained. We have a new teacher

starting next week and another in around 3 weeks time.

I am still working on the registration process for school. It is long and complicated. There is no list of what

needs to be done and every separate piece of registration involves multiple trips to offices with documents and

payments. Normally they start by telling you what documents to prepare,

you do it and go back full of hope only to be told you are missing things

and need to go away to changes bits of it or that previous things you have

done are wrong. So, I needed to re-register the school and wasn’t able to

use the name Taonga School. Taonga means we are thankful and is a

name chosen by the parents. It has been hard accepting the change but

we are now calling school Tembenukani Christian School. Tembenukani

means change or turn (I’m told!) It was really hard to find another name

for the school as you can not have a name that already exists in the

country. I am sure we will continue to be known locally as Taonga for a very long time!

THANK YOU ALL!!

Thank you all for your support through the last 8 1/2 years staying at Old

MacDonalds Farm. As I look to move the work here will still continue and I

will still be here every day I will just be staying in a different place.

Please Pray for:

Christine and Don and the family as they face the next few months which

will hopefully involve major surgery and recovery.

Changes as I move for me and for everyone left at home as they adjust. 

School to continue to develop and for the teachers and children to put their trust in the Lord.

Between February and June the children learnt a bible verse for every letter of the alphabet. 

To watch them recite it click here ---> Bible Verse Challenge

Opening

22nd January 2018 school opened.

And then this happened….

On the first December 2017 we closed school with 140 children enrolled.  Twenty Seven of those children would be leaving me to go to another place and continue their studies. That meant I would  have 37 spaces available to new children when we opened.

Within an hour those spaces were filled, and more! Every day I have another parent come and see if I will take their child. Some of them just sit and wait after I have told them no spaces to see if I might change my mind. We now have 153 children enrolled and the previous Grade 5 class has settled well into their new school. I miss the big children every single day. Rhoda’s hugs, Harriet’s chat and Peter, Mali and Everson’s help with jobs … I could go on. Some of those children have been with me since 2012 and I was the class teacher for most of them at some stage.

Since we opened

The teachers and children have got to know each other.

The Grade 4 children have helped sort out some of the gardens.

We took class photos.

I have assessed over 100 children on their reading and writing ability.

And everyone has now settled into their new roles and classes.

We opened two weeks late due to the Cholera outbreak and have been focussing on teaching the children about hygienic practices and cleanliness. One of our issues has been the toilets. I am still not fully comfortable with the idea of a long drop toilet but that’s what we have. Six of them. I have previously hinted at the ‘tide marked’ doors that we have had to change but regardless of the nagging the children's aim doesn’t seem to be improving.  We are currently looking into putting “pans” on top of the holes in the hope that this will improve things. We thank God that none of the children or members of their families have suffered with Cholera.

We are also very thankful that the rains have now started, last week we have over 3 days of rain and this morning have had heavy rain for over 3 hours. 

Please continue to pray for

• -       The children to remain healthy
• -       New children who are settling into school
• -       The bible lessons and assemblies will have a lasting impact on the children
• -       The teachers as they teach the children
• -       The rains, that they would continue but not worsen the spread of Cholera.
• -       The end of the Cholera outbreak

Assembly

Abigail 

Whole School Photo

What to do.... (and pictures)

As many of you know Zambia has been in the middle of a Cholera outbreak for the last few weeks meaning we were unable to open school at the beginning of January. Many markets were closed, street vendors banned, public meetings of more than 5 people banned and the army were sent out into the city make people to clean.

It was pretty difficult getting information about what was really happening. The ministry of health website has been down and people have had to rely on Facebook posts and radio reports which may or may not be 100% accurate!

While we were closed I used the days to do some training with the teachers.  They cleaned and learnt how to paint. We replaced wooden doors on the toilets with metal ones that don’t reach all the way to the floor! If the children came to find out what was happening they got to pick vegetables, mangoes and were given bars of soap and we finished knocking down and clearing the old building. I did lots of paperwork and taught the teachers how to paint, got rid of mould in my office and sorted it out. As the days went on it became quite difficult for the teachers to get to school as they were made to sweep the streets before they were allowed to pass and soldiers would quiz them where they were going so by the end of the first week, when we had already achieved lots on the 'cholera closure' list I had made, I told them not to come back until I called them.

  

I also spent some time doing nice things. I had Marcus come for a sleep over, went for coffee with various friends and spent lots of time with Memory before she headed back to University.

In the last week the government has rolled out a vaccination program with many people getting treatment and finally we were told that schools were able to open on the 22^nd. So we did!

It has been so nice to be back in school with the children. The little ones seem very little and everyone has grown.

We are so thankful to have been able to open school again. Pray for the country that the opening of schools will not lead to a further spread of the disease.

We are also desperate for rain in Lusaka. It hasn’t rained properly for a long time. Normally rains start sometime in November however if it had been raining the cholera spread would probably have been much worse.

Dismantling the old building

The building has gone!

Big girls eating Mangoes

Vegetables, Soap and Mangoes

Iwell making new doors

One of the old, stained toilet doors.

A new door ready to be painted

Fixing....

Painting....

Learning to paint....

Learning the importance of mixing the paint!

Clean and tidy office

My office

Coffee with Grace

Watching cartoons with Marcus

Playing Grufflo with Marcus

Memory time

Donating blood

Early morning airport run to drop Memory off