Progress and Visitors

Origami Flowers, made by grade 3.

Two weeks ago we opened school knowing we had one week before three friends arrived to help at school for a few weeks. Between now and when I travel in August we have a constant flow of visitors.  

Just before the girls arrived I taught Grade 3 for a day. It was nice to get back into the classroom for a while. We had a fun day doing some 'off curriculum' lessons. A study done in Zambia a couple of years ago showed that of primary school leavers only 10% could write 100 words about themselves in English - I took this as a challenge.  Grade 7 is the end of primary so these children are 4 school years below the children that were tested. They amazed me with their work! Most of the children wrote between 200-300 words. There was varying levels of spelling but most of it was readable. 

It is always very exciting to get visitors (especially when they bring presents!) and to be able to share whats happening at school with them. Jo and Suzie have been before and it is even more special when they can see how much the school and the children have grown.  For Annabelle it is her first time away from the UK and watching her see things for the first time is fun! 

So far the girls have helped in all the classes and heard some reading. By the time my children reach Grade 2 I like to have them reading and taking books home every week. In a lot of schools here children cant read until Grade 5 or 6. Even then it is very patchy. Talking to some friends the other night they were saying in their school they had 1 copy of a book to share between 50+ pupils. The parents of most of my children can't speak English, let alone read, so reading to people in school is vital. For the class teachers it is very hard to find time to regularly listen to them read.

Recently we had a delivery of 4 boxes FULL of books and padded out with warm clothes. Sam organised for us to be able to share some of those books with another school who have no reading books at all. I try to teach the children that although we dont have lots we have much more than many other places and it is important we share what we cant use straight away with other people.  I don't think storing lots of things for the damp or termites to spoil is the right use of things we are given. 

This term I have only taken 1 new child. Christine is the first Albino child to join Taonga. The first week she was here she refused to talk to me saying she didn't know me. I think we have cracked the friendship barrier! In Zambia people with albinism can be treated very badly or with suspicion. I have been very proud of my children who, after having a little 'look' when she arrived, have treated her exactly as they would treat any other new, young child. They help her when she needs help, tell her what to do and let her get on with school life.






Finally... Marcus seems to be growing every time I look at him.  After supper he sidles up to Grandma or Grandad rubbing his hands together asking for 'chocolate'....

 ...normally he shares things nicely, but there is a limit to his kindness!

Natalia and I

Teacher Sam, you're going away....

Last Friday was a day of celebration and sadness. It was teacher Sams last day.









Teacher Sam has been helping at Taonga school for the last 3 1/2 years. In that time she has taught a huge range of subjects, children and activities. The children are going to really miss her creativity and dedication to their education.

Sam contacted me just before Christmas 2012 saying she had seen a poster with information about Old MacDonalds Farm and Taonga School and was interested in coming and seeing what we did. The first job Sam helped with was packing around 60 Christmas gift for the children... little did we know what would happen in the next few years. Sam has taught reading, maths skills, helped support teachers, worked with reception class and taught Grade 2 for a year as well as many other things.

Matt has also been a massive support to the school negotiating car sharing, supporting Sam to came and work and most importantly being Father Christmas!

To mark Sams last day the children put on a concert. They tried to do this as a surprise but it is very very difficult to keep such exciting secrets when you are young! Together we worked hard to learn songs, poems and they did very well.

We are all going to miss Sam and Matt and wish them the best for the future. From the very bottoms of our hearts we say THANK YOU!

Cold Season

The conversation goes something like this (because as brits we talk about the weather) :

Sender "Its a lovely warm day here today"

Me "It's a bit chilly here, we are all in jumpers"

Sender "It's bright and sunny and 21 degrees"

Me "Oh, it's 21 degrees here as well!"

Actually, while I'm writing this it is only 16 degrees. In hot season it regularly reaches over 30 degrees, it's hot! The house I live in, the school, everything is built with that in mind. We dont have heaters, or carpets, or windows that fully close. So at night when it drops to 6 degrees, or less, it's cold! 

But we adapt. We put charcoal burners in the classrooms to warm us up a bit. Extra layers of clothes are encouraged, given out, and borrowed. We stand in the sun or move our chairs to the sunbeam coming in the window (that doesn't close)  

We are thankful for those of you that send warm clothes, we were given red jerseys by a school that changed it's uniform and have had lots of hats, gloves and scarves knitted for us. Thank you! for these few months of cold weather, we really appreciate it!

Container to Classroom

Over the last few months we have been slowly, oh so very slowly, converting our container into a useable room. Initially it will be a classroom for the grade 3 children but could become anything from offices to a library or a group work room….

Along the way there were lots of frustrations ‘learning experiences’!

-The grinder wasn’t up to the job, so burnt out, repeatedly.-

-We only have power in the afternoons, normally it comes back some time between 2pm and 3pm, the workers knock off at 4pm. – so the grinder (when it was working) welder and drill could only be used for an hour and a half most days.

Making holes

-The paint was ‘slopped’ around, so ended up all over the wooden floor which no one thought to cover and I wanted to stain.

slip, slop, slap!

Scrape and sand!

-The windows were fitted 90 degrees the wrong way around, so now open up and down instead of across…. They needed some adapting to be able to stay open.

At least they open and let in light, now they are clean!

I could go on!

Anyway now it’s finished I can forget about the problems and enjoy the new classroom which is so much bigger than the small room my Grade 3s were crammed into before. The windows may not be right, the floor not perfect but they are both a great improvement on the dark, cramped room the grade 3 were using.  As I kept trying to tell myself, what difference did a few days make to those grade 3s in the end?!

As a result of having a new classroom we also have a new library, I have a new office and we even have a spare room, for now!

Library in the old Grade 3 classroom

The children, teachers and I are truly grateful to everyone who helped with this conversion. From Channel of Hope, Zambia, who gave us the container. Celtic freight for moving container, twice! Rob Marsden and John Fishwick for planning and designing, making window frames etc and for everyone who works here and has put up with my nagging to get this finished.

Now, on to the next project!

Book Day

Today, to celebrate the end of the first half term of the school year, we had ‘book day’. This is the first time we have ever attempted anything like this!!! The children were split into 7 groups of mixed ages and rotated around 7 different activities.

We had so much fun, the adults included! 

First of all we read the story Handa’s Surprise. The story is about Handa who takes fruits to her friend. Along the way some animals steal the fruit and the basket is emptied. As Handa walks under a tree a goat runs into it filling her basket with tangerines.

Enjoy the pictures of our activities.

Mask Making

Peter the monkey

Still life drawing

Making fruit skewers

Reading Stories

Making Mobiles

Building an African village

Painting a display