Zambia Workteam 2015: Monday

We started the day early, arriving at Lifesong School at 7:30 for the morning assembly. The children sang, had a bible teaching, announcments, the national anthem, and the team from Canada was introduced.

Mitzi, the director of Residential Services (a.k.a. boss lady), took us on a tour first thing. We saw the classrooms for the school, and the recently built secondary school which is very nice. Next we walked about 100 m down the road to the girls dormotories. This a newly aquired property houses 25 girls grade 8 to 10. Girls in particular are at risk to drop out (or be taken out) of school due to pregnancy and/or early marriage. They have house chores to do and a 'house mom' to keep an eye on things. There are expansion plans as the school grows to grade 11 and 12 in the next two years.

A good distance down the road (a deliberate move) is the boys dorm. Two new houses have been built, and hold a total of 23 boys. Each has a couple to be a 'house mom & dad' and the boys also have chores in addition to their homework and bible study. Two new houses are being built to meet the demand as the school expands over the next two years.

Work got started, setting up a wireless printer, and checking how to mount the projector we brought with us from home. There were some problems, but nothing unusual for getting started on a new project. Our social workers and teachers had some time to begin working with the children and discuss options for the upcoming week. The ladies also had some time in the afternoon with the Lifesong farm workers (all women, who are much more reliable than men) to speak English and just get to know each other. They had a great time and learned much about the ladies lives (Sunday is their favourite day). Late afternoon the whole team spent time helping the students with their homework, which was challenging to us (how many degrees inside a triangle? how do you add two matricies?) National grade 7 testing is coming up next week, so they are studying hard.

Evening had some time to get grocieries at the 'Pick-n-Pay', a modern grocery store. Interesting to see middle class Zambians shopping with their families. A security guard talked to me for a few minutes, wanting to know how things were in Canada. Also this evening, a chance to discuss the day as a team, and discuss the things coming up. Ted, unfortunately is quite sick, and has spent most of his time so far in bed.

Power has been out many evenings, starting at 6 p.m., so making supper, and updating folks at home is difficult.