The pilot English program Sister Phil put in place on our July trip to Zambia is flourishing. The other day I spoke with Theresa and she relayed exciting news about the project that mirrors, for me, the process of transformation.
One of the things Phil brought with her to establish the curriculum was a number of CDs with songs designed to teach children English as a second language. The gentleman who started the program “Genki English” generously donated them. The children loved singing the songs with Phil, Joy and Susan. Apparently, the children in Ethel and Charles’s class heard the songs coming from the new classroom on the other corner of the property became curious and asked to come listen. These are children who are high-school age and for a variety of reasons, mostly financial, are not enrolled in formal school. Charles and Ethel teach them in an informal setting (and we are always astounded by what they pull off!).
Theresa tells us it has now become a daily tradition that these teenagers join their 4 and 5 year old friends in song after lunch and “They LOVE it!” She said even when the music is not on she hears the children of both age groups walking about singing the words.
It’s thrilling, exactly as we had hoped. When something is joyful and it works, it naturally attracts people to it—much like practice!
Gasshō,
Jen