Every Monday afternoon, GEMS interns, Mary Leslie and Sophie, head out to Chongwe to spend two hours teaching preschool in the village. The number of children varies week to week, but on many Mondays, up to 90 children show up ready to learn. These inspirational women sing songs, read stories, and teach other valuable early literacy skills. A to Z Literacy Movement provided books for Mary Leslie and Sophie to share with their class and it was a true pleasure to watch the women in action. Our mission is to provide books to children in impoverished areas and that’s just what we are doing with this program here in Zambia.

Converstaions here in Zambia often focus on how to best help the vulnerable children in this country. As a mother and teacher, I go into the compounds and become anxious to do MORE. I look around and see kids need clothing, shoes, water and nutritional food. They need backpacks, books and pencils. However, I believe Zambians do not necessarily need Americans coming in, always having loads of stuff for the children. Less is more. The children need to be loved and need to feel safe. Teachers need to be supported and coached. They both need praise and to be uplifted. As a mother and teacher, I am capable of fulfilling those needs. Yes, the stuff is fun to provide, but there is so much more to give.

Our cab driver, Isaac, has been our Nyanja expert as we drive to and from school. He has taught us how to say certain phrases to communicate more effectively with kids new to school, just learning English. I draw out each word carefully, “Nishimi ki leko”(tell me about the story) and “Muna mphunzilla chani?”(what did you learn?).
On Thursday I wanted to impress the lunch ladies with a compliment about their cooking, so with paper in hand, I slowly read “zikomo, mwatipikeela bwino vakudya” meaning “Thank you, the food you served was good”. The surprised Zambian laughed as she cracked a joke about my fast mouth talking so slow in Nyanja. Fast mouth? Me?

Did you know that one piece of paper creatively folded can become a small six page book? On Friday, the kids had the opportunity to “shine” by writing autobiographies in the little books we made. Each student wrote about family, friends, food and school since the focus of the lesson was to write about things they know. “I don’t want to be alone”. “I like to eat nshima and rice”. “I love my teachers”. The students beamed as they shared their small books in front of the class. It was the perfect way to end the week!

Edson is a student in the morning class. He circled back to school after lunch to hang out with me while I was assessing students outside of the classroom. Edson sat and read small book after small book while I assessed his friends. He has that sparkle in his eyes that makes me want to teach him as much as I can while I am here. What a wonderful child!

Using Shine Academy as the focus, Betty has been working on an ABC book with the students. They brainstormed words for each letter, did some shared sentence writing and have been working on illustrations. We were fortunate enough to walk home with a few students’ yesterday to take “snaps” of their houses to pair with the letter H. Even in such extreme poverty, mothers were happy to stand by their children and smile in front of their small cinder block homes. Walking back to school, I couldn’t help but to reflect on why I am here and where these sweet children are coming from each day.

Using Shine Academy as the focus, Betty has been working on an ABC book with the students. They brainstormed words for each letter, did some shared sentence writing and have been working on illustrations. We were fortunate enough to walk home with a few students’ yesterday to take “snaps” of their houses to pair with the letter H. Even in such extreme poverty, mothers were happy to stand by their children and smile in front of their small cinder block homes. Walking back to school, I couldn’t help but to reflect on why I am here and where these sweet children are coming from each day.

Isaac arrived on time this morning to drive me to Shine. It was Isaac’s first time driving to Shine and we weren’t quite sure where we were going. It was like the blind leading the blind! The problem here in Zambia is lack of any kind of street sign along with landmarks that are sort of similar. Poor Isaac drove me around Kalikiliki searching for Shine, and thankfully, after three phone calls to Vineet and asking two people, we finally arrived! Public transportation at it’s finest!