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/
A Library for Living Hope
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
Support CWB with Amazon Smile
If you shop on Amazon.com you can help support CWB! AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. Visit our AmazonSmile page to sign up by clicking on the logo above!
Let Them Eat Lunch
In Zambia, thousands of children are suffering because they don’t have enough to eat. CWB is supporting the education program for 350 students at the Living Hope School, but we just learned the current funding for feeding runs out in April 2016. Often this lunch is the only meal many of the students have all day. A hungry student cannot concentrate on learning. We urgently need your help to continue to provide lunch meals for these students. The total needed to feed all students for one year is $4,620. Won’t you please consider donating $40 to feed three kids for a year? Please click on “Make a Donation” below. Thank you for your generosity!
National Nutrition Month
Dear friends of CWB,
March is National Nutritional Month. Sponsored by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, it is intended to promote improvements in nutritional status. In the US, there is a goal to end the childhood obesity epidemic. But in Zambia, there is a different problem. Thousands of children are suffering because they don’t have enough to eat. CWB is supporting the education program for 350 students at the Living Hope School, but the current funding for feeding runs out in April 2016. Often this lunch is the only meal many of the students have all day. A hungry student cannot concentrate on learning. We urgently need your help to continue to provide lunch meals for these students. The total needed to feed all students for one year is $4,620 — $14.45 per student. Won’t you please consider donating a minimum of $14.45 to feed one or more students for the school year? Thank you for your generosity!
Interview with Reverend Doctor Kapya John Kaoma
CWB President Richard Bail interviews Reverend Doctor Kapya John Kaoma on the concept of Ubuntu and girl-child education in Zambia.
Teachers Get Health Training
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
Teachers at Garden Provide Critical Support
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
Books to Aid Sekelela Students
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
New Sight at Garden
People say it’s special to see the world through the eyes of a child.
Mwenya has been at Garden for the last three years. We were surprised to see him back again this year since his classmates all went on to grade one in government schools.
Although Mwenya did go to grade one, it was recommended that he sit at the front of the class because his eyesight is poor. The government school claimed he was not ready and sent him back to Garden.
We were so happy to be able to make it possible for him to have a pair of glasses. The pure joy he and his family expressed was a memorable experience that even brought his classroom teacher to tears.
In working with Mwenya for the past two years, we know that he has a bright future. We hope to give many other children glasses so that they too can go forward in the years ahead.
— Amy Archibald
