What a thrill to speak with Theresa yesterday and have her recount, “We have really done something here! People all over the community are talking about it. This is a first in Kantolomba!”
Zambia begins its school year the first week of January. School opening was delayed a month this year due to a cholera outbreak. Thankfully, the situation improved enough for schools to re-open this month.
Theresa was excited because 10 girls in the Living Compassion girls program now set off early each morning for their new school. It is an enormously long story how it all came to be but worth noting that it was an experience of feeling divinely guided where a “problem” was transformed into the next inspiring step for the program!
The short story: Joyce Makina and Memory Luchele, two shining stars in the Kantolomba girls program, scored far below what the team expected on their national grade 7 exams. This gave us the great gift of once again throwing into the air all of our assumptions, all of our structures, and to ask questions.
These questions led us to a possibility that is really quite simple and obvious but had not presented itself to any of us. These 10 girls, who have distinguished themselves in being strongly committed to their own learning, failed at a government school because the schools they went to were not set up to make kids successful. Was there a school that would really support the girls? There was -- in Teresa’s neighborhood in fact! Twaabo is what we might call a charter school—somewhere between government and private. The class sizes are dramatically smaller—around 20 students compared with 70 in the other schools.
Theresa has now spoken at length with the teachers at the school and they are ecstatic to have this opportunity to participate with Living Compassion. They have a passion for “the girl child” and are inspired by the Living Compassion vision. They have told Theresa they intend to take our girls especially under their wing.
Now, that, in itself, warrants full-body goosebumps to think what a difference this can make for these 10 girls, and this is indeed a big part of Theresa’s -- and the team’s -- excitement! But what inspired Theresa to exclaim her joy on the phone was the process that this has sparked. Parents are seeing, girls are seeing, the entire community is seeing that this is going to make a very large difference. And it has people asking themselves, “how can I do that too?” WOW!!!!
There is no possible way we, Theresa, even the entire Living Compassion team can pick up each student in Kantolomba and place her (and eventually hims too!) in a semi-private school. Talk about not sustainable! But, build an environment where education and learning and reading and speaking English are valued and seen as something to work for – yes!!! And it is starting to happen! The practice now is one of restraint and religious observances as we stay HERE and delight in THIS and know that Life will continue to unfold it all perfectly. We need not try to interpret now what it all means for the future! Bliss!
Gassho
Jen