Challenges

Well, we all knew that challenging circumstances would come. This past week we unfortunately had a school drop out of the program. The reasons are vast and complex, but let’s just say I disagreed with the situation and the administrators making the decision. Unfortunately, I don’t make every decision. I mainly feel for the teachers. They were putting the lessons into action and I could see their attitudes about education changing. With this specific group of teachers, we only have two and a half months remaining; therefore, I also question pulling the teachers out in the middle of the program.

In the good news department, one teacher quit her job at one of our schools and took a job at another school. She desperately wanted to continue the sessions though; therefore, I made the decision that she could continue since we are halfway through the program. It is exciting that the teachers still want to come and improve their teaching skills though many decisions are not being made in their or their student’s best interest.

For your information, we just started a new school year in Zambia. Students change grades in January, and the schools run on a three months on/ one month off schedule. Since this is the beginning of a new year, I have already noticed a “pep in the step” of some teachers. We will continue to work hard to keep this attitude, but needless to say I am encouraged to see these teachers excited about teaching.

Since everyone loves pictures, I have included some pictures of the children that Jonathan Hoffner took while in Ndola. Obviously, they are a lot better than my pictures. Again, Jonny and Michele will have pictures of their travels up on their website later this year. I will be sure to inform you when their pictures of Zambia are up. Peace and love.