What a beautiful morning we awoke to after 12 hours of good sleep! Much to our delighted amazement, electricity was restored a couple of hours after waking. Still no hot water or internet, but we’re optimistic that may be resolved today.
After breakfast, Theresa arrived to whisk us off to our first day at the Living Compassion site. It was interesting to see the changes in town as we drove through. A mall that had been under construction is complete, with a Shoprite, Newscafe and Subway. We decided to stop there on the way back to see if there was a better selection of groceries than Pick and Pay, where yesterday we found vegetarian sausage and burgers (two staples) absent.
Excitement grew as we turned onto the dirt road that is the final stretch into Kantolomba. This part is slow going as it is the rainy season and roads wash out often. As we neared the buildings, there was one noticeable change from our last visit—blue trim on all the windows! It is one more element that makes the building look clean and cared for. A woman familiar with a number of NGOs in the Ndola area told us this morning that she thinks the Living Compassion building is by far the most beautiful.
The new blue trim!
Of course, as soon as the car drove past the fence, we were eager to greet old friends and bright young faces. The children were coming out of class and getting ready for lunch. The orderly line to wash hands quickly gave way to pandemonium in realizing the American guests were here!
Jen greets Margaret.
Sreedevi patiently walks through dozens of “Hello, how are you?” “I am fine.” It’s worth it—very fun to see how proud they are to boldly show off their English!
So colorful!
Check me out—Am I cute, or what?!
Remember Susan? Twin of Mary, both among the first one hundred children. Daughters of Martha, on the cooperative team. They are proudly starting grade 7.
Most of the late morning was spent saying hello to the children, seeing the changes at the property, and speaking with the teachers. As always, when we arrive around lunch time, it’s nourishing to see so many children being fed. Today was egg day – a huge delicacy for the community.
Christine serving lunch – look at that vat of eggs!
The rainy season brings impressive mud to Kantolomba, so it’s good that Beatrice’s son, Blessings, is well prepared with his bright red boots!
These young guys give a big thumbs-up to a good meal!
Muleba is excited to eat her egg. Remember Shaba—next to Muleba? Joseph’s twin sister, children of cooperative member Peter. They were among those who started in Joy’s pilot English program.
Outside, a group of grade 7 girls were engaging in some intricate routines that involved clapping (our version of Miss Mary Mack, but more complex!). If you recall, these girls are in the “Stay in School” program, which supports them to continue their education. Part of our work this trip is to investigate how the program is going; what will help the girls as they move forward? Grade 7 is a crucial time in their lives. We noticed last time that between Grade 7 and Grade 8 there is a significant drop in girls who stayed in school. It is very common for girls this age to become pregnant and/or get married. We want them to have another option if they should choose it.
It is wonderful to see them getting to still be young girls having fun!
We continued to explore the property. We saw the library, the classrooms, and the All Stars charts. These are the charts where students place a star next to their name after every class they attend at the property. One student was struggling to find his name on the chart, and it was fun to watch his friend come to the rescue—peer learning is vital in a community where the government school teachers can have as many as 80 children in one classroom! The student then very slowly penned his star—we projected with great care and pride.
Ethel shows us the wonderful posters in her room. She teaches the littlest ones at the property.
Joy has found some creative ways to help better illustrate vocabulary in her room.
It is a great pleasure to see Josephine taking an active role. Josephine has had a hard life and has a spark inside her, we project, that endures against all odds. Her English is quite good and, when she returned after the birth of her most recent baby, she was invited to join the teaching team. Theresa says she has really taken to it and become a valuable asset. She is stationed as the librarian currently. Perfect!
The All star charts – lots of names have stars on almost every day!
After lunch, we gathered the Grade 7 girls to reconnect and work with them on a fun side project we are doing. It’s a surprise for now! They seem great and we enjoyed visiting.
A short lesson on pronunciation: c-l-a-p. In Bemba, the “l” sound comes out as “r”. That doesn’t work so well for the word clap.
By this time, most of the children had “knocked off” or gone home. We had a bit more energy in us AND needed to accumulate more steps (counting steps during the Bridge Walk time has turned into a committed, fun practice of caring for the body), so we decided to go with Theresa and Veronica to Twatema, the local government school. Joy, who teaches pre-K students, was working with a class at Twatema, and we wanted to make an appointment to go observe her.
Mr. Mwata, the head teacher, greeted us kindly and was very open to our request. Joy came in and we decided that Thursday at 2:30 would be the best time to observe. Back at the Living Compassion property we took a short rest from the heat then called it a day--though not before saying hello to some of the new Living Compassion cooperative babies!
Josephine with her daughter Marion and Baby Eunice.
Teacher Susan’s new baby boy, John.
We stopped by the new mall on the way home—very flashy! We were glad to see Shoprite did carry our vegetarian essentials. Upon arriving back at the lodge, our old friend Gertrude was there to greet us! She had heard we were in town and came by to join us for dinner. After dinner we bid everyone good night and headed for bed – still without internet and hot water but ever optimistic that tomorrow may be the day!