The blog for our upcoming 2016 Zambia trip is now online! Check back often to follow along with our travelers with their stories and pictures.

http://cwbzambia2016.blogspot.com/

CWB is planning to create the first-ever library at the Living Hope School. A school library is one of the highest priorities for School Director, Geoffrey Kamutande, and he specifically has asked for our help in getting the library started. Aside from the 300 textbooks donated last year by CWB, there are virtually no books in the school for 350 students, grades 1-9.

By good fortune, one of our travelers this summer will be Mrs. Pamela Licht, an experienced and trained librarian. Wife of former State Department official, Louis Licht, Pamela helped to organize a library in Armenia. She also happens to be friends with a principal in the Lubuto Library, which has established three community libraries in collaboration with the government of Zambia. So Pamela has selected a special collection of early reading books, and we have begun to assemble books on the list. Our airline allows us to bring two extra suitcases as a non-profit entity, which means we will be able to bring with us about 300 volumes. Pamela has already begun to label and cover these books.

We envision a Reading Aloud program with readers recruited from the community who will come in and read with the children for an hour a week. This model has proven in Lusaka to be very effective  in reducing illiteracy. Moreover, through a special donation, our travelers will work with a Zambian carpenter and older students in the school to construct shelving for the books.

For a school where 64% of grade 1-4 students are illiterate, and where still 27% of students in grades 8-9 remain illiterate, the library should provide a good boost to children who want to read!

— Dick Bail

What a wonderful time we had at Living Hope! Dr. Lise Johnson, a long-time Communities Without Borders supporter and volunteer, got to meet the two recipients who attended the Healthy Kids, Brighter Futures Health Workers Training. Mary Namukulai and Bertha Banda, whom Lise sponsored, were excited to share their experiences with us about the training they received. They have started keeping records to document the children, their illnesses, and types of recommended treatment.

We look forward to having them assist us with the upcoming health screenings.

— Amy Archibald

For more than five years, Mumbi Ngosa and Carol Tembo have been the teachers at Garden, where they work hard to prepare the children for government schools. Solana Baer, Sabrina Freiberg-Dale, Lilly Brownell, Maddie Miller, and I spent four days teaching. We worked on the alphabet, numbers, colors, and animals. We are all impressed with the teachers who go above and beyond to support the children in Garden, from taking urine samples for health screening to providing food for children who might not otherwise have any. The children are so lucky to have them.

— Amy Archibald

One of the major needs our new partners have identified is purchasing local curriculum books. Steven Nkhata, a teacher at Sekelela Community School, is holding one of the books Communities Without Borders bought for the school.

The books will help support instruction for Sekelela’s 368 students.

So far, CWB has provided funds for 300 books for the Living Hope and Sekelela schools.

— Amy Archibald