Current Newsletter - November 2009

FCIA SETS FOOT ON ZAMBIAN SOIL

FCIA's vision is to find small rural schools in South Africa all the way from Cape Town up to Kenya via Namibia and covering all the countries in between.  In January we set foot into Mozambique by assisting Ibo Eco School on Ibo Island in Northern Mozambique.

In October, we have  broken ground into Zambia.  I was looking to partner with a fellow organization that shared our vision of uplifting rural schools and communities.  We have partnered with Village of Hope in Zambia run by Paul and Marinette van Coller under the wing of AOG Table View.

I visited Mongu, a small town, situated on the flood plains in Western Zambia.  It is a seven hour bus trip from Lusaka mainly on bumpy pot holed riddled roads. Mongu is a town which is poverty stricken and is home to many orphans as the HIV/Aids epidemic is rife.  According to statistics in 2001/2002 16% of the 4 million population had HIV/Aids.  At the 2007 statistics, this has decreased to 14.6% due to education.  The mortality rate of many Zambians is age 35 years.  Due to this there is a common norm of child headed families whereby children are rearing children in appalling conditions or alternatively families where grandmothers raise their grandchildren.

FCIA visited Village of Hope School in the Mutoya Village.  Village of Hope School consists of 24 children aged 4-7 years and 18 of these children are orphans or come from a vulnerable background.  A substantial donation of stationery was donated to assist them in their learning.  A special thanks goes to Anja Zeugner-Kimbrey, Tracy Kimbrey, Durrel Gibson, Zurika Nabbi, Nadja Josephy, the Yola team, Melanie Bates, Gill & Lee Clarke, Angelique Pretorius, Manfred Karner, Linnith & Clyde Davids, Elmarie & Alan Waltman and LindsayTurnbull for their kind donations of stationery.  I had enough to fill two suitcases, however, due to baggage constraints could only take one suitcase with me.  This stationery has been enough to assist three schools in the Mongu area. The excess stationery will be donated to these schools on our next trip in April/May 2010.

The first outreach at Village of Hope School consisted of a puppet show teaching the children the differences between 'Day & Night' as this is what was in the curriculum for the week that I spent there.  After teaching them, an art session was conducted whereby the children learnt about different shapes and colours.

The second outreach at Village of Hope School consisted of another puppet show teaching the children about sustainable gardening and how one needs to care and have patience when starting a garden.  After the show, the children with the help of the teachers and FCIA prepared and planted their first garden.  At each school we have been to and have planted a garden, the most common feedback has been that the children have enjoyed themselves and have learnt a new skill and the teachers enjoy our input as they are so focused on educating the children that they do not have time for extra activities.  To round off this outreach, the children were given new paints to paint a picture of the garden they had just planted.

Two community schools were also visited.  A school consisting of 162 children in Maunyamo Community  has an urgent need for pencils and paper. Shontell Fiet who does community development within this area will be dropping off some of the stationery that was donated.  The school has two sessions each day with the older children (grade 3-5) attending class in the mornings and the younger children (grade R-2) in the afternoon.  This school is run by two voluntary teachers who are passionate about the children’s education and are not concerned about their wellbeing.  Upon speaking to them, they have initiated a poultry and gardening idea and are waiting on funding.  These two initiatives will bring in an income for the school to assist with paying teacher’s salaries, purchasing food for the children and enabling the children to have the basic education requirements.

Another school that FCIA visited was in the Namashukende area.  This school consists of 22 children having lessons in a mud and thatch building with no desks.  The children sit on tree stumps as their chairs and the ground is soil.  I loved this school as there is so much potential for development and upliftment here.  Stationery such as pencils, sharpeners, erasers, chalk and crayons were handed out to the children and it was heartbreaking to see how something so little made such an impression on them.  This school is run by Sam, a young teacher, who has enthusiasm for the further education of these children.  Upon doing research, most children at community schools (rural schools) only attain grade 5.  Upon talking to some of the villagers and volunteers, many children do not attend school due to lack of funds for school fees or due to travel constraints.  These are the types of schools that FCIA would like to assist in Africa.  The ones that the greater outside world does not even know exist.

The trip was successful in identifying community schools that need our assistance and starting to build relationships with these communities.  It was also a blessing to stay with Paul & Marinette and their boys  and to learn about the culture of the Zambian people.