Meeting Today with Pastors

Well, today at 3 p.m. Zambian time (which means anywhere from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.), I am meeting with the pastors and principals of the community schools in Mapalo. I am very excited. Last weeks meeting was in partnership with another meeting; therefore, all we did was briefly introduce the program to a large group of pastors. There were 15 pastors at that meeting and out of those 15 only 3 of them run community schools. This week we are meeting with just the three pastors, their principals, and some others who are invested in the schools. At the meeting, we are going to present a three fold vision for partnership between the Jubilee Centre and the community schools. It will be to strengthen the curriculum of the schools, to train teachers in best practices, and to develop policy initiatives based off the partnership. We are also open to any other ideas the schools may have for our partnership, but that is the vision right now. This vision is basically my job. So if you ever wonder what I do, all you need to do is think about those three points. It all fits back into the vision of the Jubilee Centre though because we envisioned this partnership in order to strengthen the ministry of the church to the orphans and vulnerable children of Mapalo. Also, at the meeting, I have many questions for the pastors about the government’s involvement in the schools. According to the Zambian official policy, they should be providing training for the teachers while also having providing grants for individual schools. From preliminary questioning, this does not seem the case; therefore, out of these issues spring our policy initiatives. I am very excited about this partnership, but the challenge, according to Lawrence, is for us to communicate this as a partnership. I think I wrote this in my update email, but this is not a take over of the schools. This is about us coming in to support and provide training to further their ministry. We don’t want to run these schools. They are better run by the communities themselves because then they can be more responsible to the community. This organic nature is one of the strengths of this format. Alright, I have to go finish preparing for the meeting, but I wanted to provide an update. I will be sure to take and post pictures of Mapalo today. Peace!