Zambia has 14 public holidays a year.
By contrast England has 8.
Youth day, Independence day, Day of Prayer etc.
This week we had 2 holidays. Heroes day, a day to remember those who fought in the battles for independence (Independence day is a separate holiday!) and Unity day, a day which celebrates the great diversity in Zambia coming together as one country.
Zambia is a country that has 72 tribal languages, 10 provinces (counties), 5 major cities and a population of just over 17.5 million.
TCS is a small school, with a population of 150 children and 12 adults but within our school we have at least 5 languages and people whose backgrounds spread across all 10 provinces of Zambia, and Suffolk, England! Lusaka is a melting pot of traditions, cultures and languages and as a result town Nyanja has become the dominant language in this area. This is a hybrid of at least 3 languages and often results in me getting very frustrated as everyone I ask seems to translate a phrase slightly differently!
However, we the children are thriving. We have the usual issues with behaviour and attendance that any school has but we also have a brilliant literacy rate with children learning to read very quickly and not only that, they can understand it as well!
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