Dayspring-Africa

More Good News !!

2009-02-14T00:21:00.000-08:00

The Grade 9 results are out and The Kings School students have a 91% pass. The school has been granted its registration as an exam centre for the Grade 9 exams this year so the students won't have to "camp out" at a school 25 kms away.
The builders are back and the glass is being put into all the windows in the new school building.

Good News !!

2009-02-14T00:14:00.001-08:00

With no new cases of cholera for a while now the schools in the area have been allowed to open this week. It looks like the danger has passed.
With people living very close together in the rural towns it is difficult to build proper toilet pits and with lots of rain the water table rises and it's easy to get contaminated. When Sue lived in Nampundwe, one very rainy season the concrete floor of her loo collapsed into the pit!
Living in Mukobela they depend on boreholes for water - they are very deep so the water comes "ready filtered" and it's clear and sweet to drink.

January 09

2009-01-20T09:32:00.001-08:00

Please Pray !!!
There is cholera in Nampundwe - only 14 km away.
As some of our students come from there - we are forbidden to open the school.
The clinic at Nampundwe has become a cholera centre so I had to take a lady from the village several kms further to the next clinic to have her baby.

14 November 2008

2009-01-20T09:31:00.001-08:00

It is very hot indeed – still 26C at 2200 hrs. The rains are on their way – the humidity is rising.

We had a grand leaving celebration for all those who have finished their GCSE’s and are going out into the big wide world. It was very sad to see them go.

They have to wait until March to get their results so they can’t start University until January 2010 ! Many of them will choose to do that – taking a foundation course to bring them up to “A” level standard before starting the degree course.

15 October 2008

2009-01-20T09:30:00.000-08:00

GCSEs begin !!! I took the students to Nampundwe each day to sit their exams – they were singing in the back of the truck roughly translated it was “We’re off to Uni !!!” They are all very confident about exam-taking and they all came out feeling that is was fair and they had done OK.

At the same time the Grade 6’s are at Mukombwe taking the public exams to get into Grade 7 (starting senior school). Because of the election and the schools being used for polling stations, the exams have to be re-scheduled.

17 September 2008

2009-01-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

A whirlwind has lifted the roof off the new building !!
Some of us were inside but there was no time to get out – we all got a little dusty but no injuries. Fortunately the wind dumped the roof down again – just not exactly in the right place! It was supposed to be tied to the ring beam ! We got all the older students together and with some planks and working together we managed to shift the roof back into place. The builders need to come back to tie the roof down properly and make good along the edge where it’s been damaged.

The inspectors from Kabwe arrived unexpectedly and gave us all a grilling! We have to register the schools each year – filling in forms in quadruplicate and then I had to take them to Kabwe (100 miles) – wait there for a letter which I had to take to Headquarters in Lusaka before we can even begin the registration process.

8 September 2008

2009-01-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

We are making use of the new classrooms by starting an Academic Production Unit (APU) for Grade 8 and Grade 10 students. They can pay for extra lessons to help prepare them for exams.
Obert is teaching Art to the students in years 10 and 11 – they are all enjoying it immensely as a break from concentrated academic work. This painting on the end of the school building was done by Obert.

3 September 2008

2009-01-20T09:25:00.002-08:00

We are at the funeral of Austin’s grandfather – over 3 hours so far and we are still not at the grave!
In the last 6 days I had to do 6 clinic trips, including one at 3 in the morning !

2 August 2008

2009-01-20T09:25:00.001-08:00

After seeing Mum go back to the UK, I flew off to Johannesburg for a much needed 2 week break. It has been exhausting keeping the pressure on to get the school building finished in time for the opening, while not neglecting the students who will be sitting public exams in two months time!

The New Senior School Building

2009-01-20T09:21:00.000-08:00

2009-01-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

26 July - Grand School Opening

2009-01-20T08:59:00.000-08:00

Tony Selby, Headmaster of The King’s School in Johannesburg performed the opening ceremony. Everyone is amazed at the building and the other head teachers from the district are all exclaiming at the design – no getting wet between classrooms in the rainy season ! All the children were so smart and well behaved – it was a Grand Day indeed.

7 July 2008

2009-01-19T23:02:00.000-08:00

A group of students have come from Christian Vision to help paint the new school building.

The inspectors from Mumbwa and Kabwe arrived to look at the new building with a view to it being an exam centre in 2009. They are happy to recommend it for Grade 9 and Grade 12 (GCSE) exams but we must re-apply next year for Grade 7.

This will make it so much easier at exam time in October/November as we won't have to take the children to camp at other schools for a week or more.

11 June 2008

2009-01-19T23:00:00.000-08:00

There is still a shortage of cement - this is normal - but it's now hard to get sugar and rice.
Got a new battery for the truck, together with a starter relay. The solenoid has gone so we have to start it by "hot wiring" !

17 May 2008

2009-01-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

The carpenter has been busy making chairs for the new school building. The blackboards are painted and the Grade 12 students will be moving in on Tuesday !!

28 April 2008

2009-01-19T22:56:00.000-08:00

Took a child to the clinic today and got a puncture on the way back. After it was fixed I went into Lusaka to begin the long process of renewing my work permit.....
The windows are in and the guys are ready to start plastering.

7 March 2008

2009-01-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

There has been no building work for 4 weeks because we can't get any cement. Fortunately the welding machine allowed the guys to continue to make window frames. Then 35 bags of cement arrived, including some free from Chilanga Cement.

We have to register the school every year which involves lots of paperwork, forms in quaduplicate! This year the education office insists we have to register the Primary and Secondary schools separately. It all has to be taken to Kabwe by hand.

2008-12-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

26 February
Angela was in hospital for 6 months after the river bank collapsed on her legs. She is home now – trying to learn how to walk again.
Still no cement and now there is a shortage of diesel.
The students in their final year have smart uniform jackets and proper lab coats for their practical exams. Here is a photo of my adopted sone Moses looking incredibly smart!

2008-12-02T13:12:00.001-08:00

16 February 2008
Prices have rocketed:
1 gallon beans from 25,000 kw to 75,000 kw
50 kg sugar from 150,000 kw to 170,000 kw
20 litres cooking oil from 137,000 kw to 168,000 kw
30 eggs are 12,500 – this does 2 meals for our family.
A packet of soya pieces is 6,000 and only does one meal.

I have a lot of youngsters living with me at the moment! Here is a photo of them taken when Mum came to stay.

2008-12-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

8 February 2008
The new building looks great but more cement is needed to make more blocks to finish the gables. There isn’t any cement in Zambia - they haven’t been able to make it due to power cuts. The Builders have left now because they cannot do more until we get some cement! They are so close to finishing! They will also repair the wall in one classroom in the old school building – it moves in the high winds! At least all the leaks have been fixed now.
It’s very hot today – storm brewing.

2008-12-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

5 February 2008
It’s very difficult getting into Lusaka because the road is so bad, there is a soft patch half way to the tarmac which is always bad in the best of weather.
There is too much rain in Zambia – we can’t get to Chikoloma (25 kilometres West of here) because the road has gone – it may not be repaired until March/April.
There is flooding everywhere and many homes have been destroyed.
Gaz has gone up 120% - now is £48 a bottle – we need 3 bottles for 2 months. We have stopped cooking on gaz and we may have to stop using the gaz frig.
I have remembered how to do hay box cooking from when I was a Girl Guide. It works !!

2008-12-02T13:04:00.000-08:00

1 February2008
All 30 of our students passed their exams to get into Grade 9! They have done so well that 22 have been offered boarding school places. Only a few have taken them though, as they need to provide a lot of equipment as well as the fees and uniform. They have to take a shovel and hoe because the students grow their own! Some extended families will club together for the kudos of having a child at boarding school.
On the other hand we are getting repeated requests to have boarding students at The King’s School because our results are so consistently good.
There have been murmurings that our students must have cheated or we helped them but fortunately all the exams have been taken at Mukombwe government school and they confirmed that we didn’t even invigilate the exams and no cheating could possibly have taken place. It shows the benefits of all the hard work the students have put in, plus learning English from the age of four!

2008-12-02T12:57:00.001-08:00

29 January 2008
The ring beam on new building is nearly done – the building looks great !!
The builders have done a great job – making thousands of blocks and the walls have gone up really quickly.

2008-12-02T12:45:00.000-08:00

15 January 2008
We have bought a generator and some welding equipment. The builder is using it to make window frames and grilles. We got lots of advice and good discount from Game Stores in Lusaka.

2008-12-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

9 January 2008
Back to school – very busy G8 and G9 are full Pre school has 2 classes + waiting list
Builders have been working very hard – the door frames in and they have repaired the roof on the main school where the rain came in!
Roads very bad indeed due to heavy rains

Please pray

2007-07-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

Angela is a grade 8 student at The Kings School. She is in hospital with two broken legs in traction, something wrong with her pelvis, and lots of cuts and bruises. Apparently she had gone with her mother to collect coloured earth from the river bank to use for painting their house. Angela had crawled into the tunnel in the bank when the tunnel collapsed on her !

2007-07-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

Amy and Sarah recently went with Hilary (just arrived from Dorset) to Livingstone - by bus!
"We spent nearly 10 hours on a bus and Zambian buses are a little different from English ones. They cram as many people in as possible and have no aisle, the buses are usually falling apart, so far I have experienced one with a smashed windscreen (mended with brown selotape) and one with no handbrake so when it stopped the driver jumped out and quickly put a stone behind the wheel! The drivers are usually drunk or they don’t have a license. One of our drivers has jumped out of our bus and had a fight with a nearby taxi driver then jumped back in muttering 'taxi drivers' crossly and then drove off, another one has got out of the bus and left us all for some time while he went to watch the wrestling in a roadside bar! everyone got really cross and were hanging out of the windows shouting at him to come back! "

2007-07-06T09:08:00.000-07:00

The harvest has been good this year - the rains came at the right time, although they stayed so long there was a chance the maize would rot. Fortunately the dry weather came to ripen the cobs and most people have a good store to get through the year.

Once the maise is dried and shucked off the cob, we take sackfulls to the grinding mill to grind into mealie meal - it's this we use to make nshima, our staple food. You have to have at least a sackful take to the mill so we often take a communal sack and share it out once it's ground. The alternative is many hard hours of pounding!

Funeral - Zambia style

2007-06-21T11:41:00.000-07:00

We have witnessed a Zambian funeral. An old lady in the village died, but she was a Christian so as well as expected grieving there was a lot of celebrating. Funerals here last about a week and this one has lasted about 4 days so far. The first night (was the dreaded night of the burning of my feet so Sarah and I stayed home) people were singing and we could hear the beautiful voices and drums from our house. The second day was the burial, we didn’t go to this either as Sue warned us against it, we soon found out why as while we were washing plates under a tree we could hear this awful wailing and crying. It sounded like 50 ladies were wailing, it sounded so eerie. Apparently here if you don’t wail loudly it is disrespectful, and people think you aren’t upset. The next day there were shared meals and then in the evening Sarah and I went to a relative’s house.
It was amazing, many people were sat round fires, and we sat down against a mud hut under the African stars. At about 8 a Lutheran choir came, they sounded so beautiful singing Zambian gospel. All we could see were their dancing silhouettes against the firelight was beautiful and didn’t finish till 2 in the morning, was pretty cool.

News from Amy

2007-06-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yup I have burnt my feet! I had a bit of an accident! I was cooking some nshima, which is the staple food here (it’s like a thick porridge made of crushed maize); it’s pretty tasty but is hard work to make. You make it over a fire and stir it hard for about half an hour gradually adding crushed maize as it gets thicker and thicker. I was stirring a little carelessly and managed to spill some lumpy bits all over my poor feet. I actually jumped so fast out of my flip flops and ran outside screaming, it was as hot as boiling water and was stuck all over my toes (ouch). I had to spend the whole evening in a bucket of cold water and am now nursing some beautifully blistered feet!

[Amy is a gap year student from Dorset who is staying with Sue for 6 months. She is teaching English to the ladies from Mukobela village.] The photo is of a lady making nshima for a church lunch - you need a very strong right arm!

2007-05-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

The solar panel has been installed!
Now I can see everyone at the table clearly but I can also see all the dust! This gives us limited electric light but above all it keeps the batteries charged so I don't have to pay for new ones. This means the mobile phones and the laptop can be kept charged easily. James and Obert have a panel on each of their houses.
It gets dark by 6 pm so we used paraffin lamps which make a lovely glowing atmosphere but they are not very good for reading. Last year there was a paraffin shortage in Zambia so we were using candles.
Thank you to the kind people who sent us the money!

2007-05-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

The truck has been doing duty as an ambulance this week - one of the school children fell out of a mango tree and I rushed him off to the clinic - no broken bones, fortunately. Then we got a call in the arly hours of the morning to take a lady in labour to the clinic. Half an hour over the bumpy road to Nampundwe - it's amazing the baby wasn't born in the back of the truck! Fortunately we got there in time and the baby started its life in a rather cleaner environment than my truck. Mum & babe both doing well!

2007-05-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

We went to Shakayalu church on Sunday - it's about 25 km to the West of us on dirt roads. We had a great time. This church is nearly two years old now, pastored by Edward, it is growing steadily.

2007-05-20T22:52:00.000-07:00

Money has come for solar – praise the Lord!
It will make such a difference tous all to be able to work by electric light in the evenings (it gets dark by 18:00).
The solar will keep the batteries charged up so I don’t have to keep buying a new one - there is never enough charging space for the mobile phones and the laptop.

2007-05-20T22:46:00.000-07:00

Went to Livingstone with the youngsters – only Moses has been before so there was much excitement. The journey was good but I was the only driver so 8 hours driving was hard.

We stayed at Namel’s Guest House – very comfortable and with a lovely swimming pool. We went on an elephant safari !

The Falls were thunderous – masses of water – bigger than I’ve ever seen it – you couldn’t see to the bottom – everyone got soaked!

I had to veto bungee jumping from the Zambia-Zimbabwe bridge and I was sure the river was too full for white water rafting to be safe!! When you have responsibility for someone else’s children it can be quite daunting!

Sorry - no photos yet of us on elephants but here is one of the Falls.

2007-05-16T22:36:00.002-07:00

Edward wants to get married but he is praying for the bride price (about £250 I think).Here’s a picture of him getting his donated bicycle last year.

2007-05-16T22:36:00.001-07:00

James and Obert have gone to Lusaka for residential course at the University.
Felix has passed his Legal exams – well done to him for working so hard.

April 2007

2007-05-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

The District didn’t send enough forms to register all the students for the Grade 7 and Grade 9 – they obviously didn’t believe we could have so many entrants! I had to drive to Mumbwa to make sure there were no mistakes with the Grade 7 and Grade 9 exam registrations.
Apparently our Grade 9 exam results have caused much discussion. Some said we must have cheated to get such high marks. The District officer told me that the Headmaster of Mukombwe School has stopped that rumour by saying there was no possibility of cheating – the exam papers were kept in their safe and only Mukombwe teachers were allowed to invigilate. He said the high marks were because the children have been taught English since they were little and The King’s School has very high standards of teaching in every subject.
Wow!! Now I know why the Lord has not allowed us to be registered as an exam centre. There can be no shadow of doubt that the students have passed their exams by their own efforts.

Grade 9 results – 100% pass!!

2007-05-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

They all passed very well too – in fact 22 children have passed with such high grades they have been offered places at boarding schools to do their GCEs.
If they go – and many families will do all they can to afford it – they not only have to pay high school fees, but they must buy their uniforms and books, take their own bedding, a supply of seed, a hoe and a spade. The students grow their own crops and are expected to work hard in school and out.

2007-05-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

Amy and Sarah have settled in really well. Amy is teaching English to a group of ladies from the village. Sarah is running assemblies and starting up a Christian Union at the School.

I have to fill in the Government census forms for the school and the orphans and vulnerable children report - we have so many!

2007-05-11T08:53:00.000-07:00

The rains are still here – which is good – but we are getting ready to start building work again on the Senior School building. The walls are up to window height.
We had a quote from roofing man – for $7000 they will put the roof on the new building, including sheets, steel and labour – and they will also fix the leaking roof in the other school building.

We need to pray for some money!

2007-05-11T08:52:00.000-07:00

Amy and Sarah arrived safely from Dorset. There are now 5 teenagers in the house !!
(Plus two teachers and Grace, who is 8, and me.)

February 2007

2007-05-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

The Grade 7 exam results are out – they have done really well – 93% pass rate, compared with the government schools average of 46% ! Those who didn’t pass can repeat the year if they want to and try again in November. A Grade 7 certificate is a qualification a lot of people do not have so it is worth trying hard to achieve it.

January 2007

2007-05-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

School registration – we have to turn people away some classes are so full! We now have 280 children and 13 teachers.

Two new teachers due to start this term have not been able to come so we have to rearrange the timetable – a bit of a logistic nightmare because the lack of classrooms means we have to do school in shifts – starting at 07hrs with the middle school, the infants come at 10hrs and Seniors arrive for school assembly at 12 noon. Seniors stay until 17hrs.

I’m going to have to fit in more teaching.

January 2007

2007-05-07T02:35:00.000-07:00

The Big Rains have come at last ! It should rain now until March to make sure of a good harvest. If the rains don’t last there won’t be enough harvest to get people through to next year and we will need to do food relief in Autumn 07.

Mud everywhere ! The roads are so bad we have to wait until 11 hrs before the sun has baked them hard enough to drive on or we would get bogged down in the soft bits even with a 4 wheel drive Toyota truck.

2007-05-07T02:31:00.000-07:00

James (on the left) and Obert have completed the 1^st year of a 4 year Bachelor of Education course with the Open University of Zambia.

They have to do 16 assignments each year and they have got a special concession to handwrite their assignments because they live in the village without any electricity.

The cost for each of them is £450 per year plus books.

Christmas 2006

2007-05-07T02:29:00.000-07:00

Back to the UK for a flying visit – got a really cheap flight at the last minute. Christmas in Christchurch, Dorset and New Year with Mum in Coulsdon. I managed to get the timetable done for the new school year, which is a bit like doing a 3D jigsaw puzzle. I also had the time and space to write a new teaching course about healthy living.

Whitethorn Methodist Church in Coulsdon (Mum’s church) have sponsored 45 children! Great news as we have so many orphans being brought up by struggling grandparents or aunts & uncles.

2007-05-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with the Grade 8’s at Mukombwe – we taught them how to have a proper water fight ! What a luxury – we don’t have to pump all the water from a borehole here.
Another luxury is electricity so we let them watch DVDs on the laptop in the evenings – they thought Chicken Run was hilarious but they were also roaring with laughter in Lord of the Rings– the bit where Legolas slides down the eliphaunt’s trunk in the big battle.
Surprisingly, Monopoly is proving to be a great hit – some of them, obviously budding business entrepreneurs, were lending their friends Monopoly money when they couldn’t pay the rents after landing somewhere really expensive.

December 2006

2007-05-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

Took the Grade 8 students to Mukombwe School for a week so they could sit their Grade 9 exams. They have to pass to be allowed to carry on their schooling and start GCE courses.
Praise the Lord the Grade 8 students asked if they could have a worship session each morning before they sit their exams. Not all of them come to our church, some are 7th Day Adventists or Jehovah Witnesses, but they all joined in singing and praising the Lord.

November 2006

2007-05-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

We took the Grade 6 class to Mukombwe School (20 km West of Mukobela) to sit their Grade 7 exams (UK SATs equivalent). They have to pass well to be allowed to carry on into Senior School.
We spent 4 days there – sleeping in the classrooms and cooking our own food. The rains have begun and the roads in the West are too awful to do the journey every day.

Senior School Plans

2007-05-01T23:04:00.000-07:00

October 2006

2007-05-01T23:01:00.001-07:00

Still no rain but it’s very hot !! Not much below 25 at night !

Bought lots of seed – for us and the teachers and pastors – 60 families got seed.

October 2006

2007-05-01T22:59:00.000-07:00

The rains haven’t come yet so work can continue on the new Senior School building. The slab has been completed – it needed an awful lot of concrete! We have made 1700 bricks to take the walls higher.

September 2006

2007-04-30T10:05:00.001-07:00

I just learned that the Government has only got enough cash to employ 3000 teachers for the whole of Zambia – this means only 60 for the Mumbwa District when they need 460 !!

September 2006

2007-04-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

The King’s School at Mukobela had two visits from the District and Provincial Inspectors. Very good reports – now waiting for registration as an exam centre.

Possibly if the school is given Mission School status there will be some help from the District towards paying teachers.

September 2006

2007-04-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

I made a trip to Johannesburg to stay with Arlene and Tony Selby – had a great time with them and I was able to spend time with the teachers from The Kings School in Robin Hills.

I told them what a huge difference the new borehole has made to the school and the village – thanks to their generous donations.
Good job I was in South Africa – terrible toothache – had to go to the dentist – my appointment lasted 90 mins!

August 2006

2007-04-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

The new church plant in Shakayalu (30 km West from Mukobela) celebrated their first anniversary. They have 45 people now and have completed their church building with a grass roof. Here's a pic of everyone lining up to shake hands with everyone else - it takes a while to do!

July 2006

2007-04-29T10:08:00.000-07:00

Mukobela church celebrated its 10^th anniversary!