Mama Vernon's last visit to our area was incredibly succesfull and inspiring, here she tells us more...
2014 visit… The Building of Sooka Community Pre-School
Life rushes past when you are having fun and busy working!
A very belated update of what was going on in 2014 in the Sooka Community. This was my longest visit to Shackleton’s, Sooka Community School and Sooka UCZ Community Pre-School in May and June 2014. I loved every minute of it. Mind you, I did take time during my stay to have a 15-day safari into Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.
The main reason for the longer stay was to help coordinate the building of the Pre-School with the local UCZ committee and Rev Wezi Manda from Mwandi. When I arrived in early May the cement slab was down. It had moats of sand on it, so it could have water tipped inside the moats daily, to cure the cement. There was also a huge pile of hand made cement bricks, all ready for the builder, who started the brickwork as soon as the slab had cured. The bricks went up quickly and there was a short fall of 400. I rallied the troops from Shackleton’s Lodge to go brick making before or after their shifts. They became very enthusiastic and a number of men made several batches. Me, I made one!
I had planned to make more bricks but I went to Livingstone shopping for the Pre-School and school one day with Victor and when I returned all the bricks were finished. Once the bricks were made they had to cure for a week and during that time had to be watered daily. Unfortunately, this held up the building for a while.
Nothing is easy there, as no water laid on to the Pre-School and church area. The water was rolled in 44 gal drums from the school tank, at least a quarter of a km away. Imagine the amount of water required for making all the hundreds of bricks, curing the slab and curing the bricks. All the bricks were made by volunteers from the community, as have all the bricks for both the 2 original classrooms and the new school of three classrooms, plus one teacher’s house. This has been a huge effort and shows the importance the parents are placing on the education of their children.
The Pre-School commenced in January 2014 in the United Church and I had posted ten boxes of equipment, many had arrived safely by May, when I arrived.
There have been ongoing delays but my latest news is that the Pre-School is now painted inside and soon the outside will be completed.
It will be an exciting day when the children and teacher can move into their purpose built Pre-School. We will then think about bright murals for the walls and outdoor play equipment.
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| Pre-School building, almost completed |
I had such an enjoyable time helping at the Pre-School most mornings. Lemmy, the teacher, was very open to mentoring and soon after I arrived he said, “We learn from our mistakes. Please tell me when I make a mistake”. As a retired Pre-School teacher, I still have quite acute observation skills but certainly didn’t see him make mistakes. I could just see a few areas where I could help him make his life easier. He is such an enthusiastic, motivated teacher that I mostly left him to run the Pre-School, as he normally would and when asked I would read a story, teach a new English song or take an art class.
The children were a joy; an Australian Pre-School teacher’s dream. They are so self disciplined, independent and very eager to learn. The girls would often come and stand beside me, touching my hair…. it must have been fascination to them, soft and fair.
So now they can sing “Row, row, row your boat” with the actions and their English is coming along very well. Lemmy teaches in both English and their Zambian language, Lozi. When I went on safari, they were obviously practicing the new songs I had taught them and proudly sang them to me on my return.
They all received gifts of a toothbrush and paste box (donated by my 100 year old mother-in-law) filled with a nice new toothbrush and paste donated by Happy Smiles dental surgery, staff and some friends. The photo shows how thrilled they were to receive their gift.
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| Toothbrush and paste sets |
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| Locally made desks, donated by Theo (aged 10 years) from Armidale NSW Australia |
Netball for both school children and adults:
“What is going over at the school today?” I asked Lodge staff, after hearing lots of people and excitement one Saturday. “The Youth Games organised by the Apostolic Church”, was the response. The local young women were playing netball and the men, soccer. Godfrey, the gentleman escorting me over to watch, told he how wonderful the school was for this current generation. They will be the first generation where all the children have attended school, he told me as we walked over to the school. He said he and Mr Remy (Ndula, Headman, Paster of the Apostolic Church and Shackleton’s Fishing guide) had walked the 14km round trip to Mwandi each day for all those years to have an education and how important that had been to them.
I had always wanted to do something for the very hard working ladies of the community. After seeing them playing netball that day and seeing the fun and enjoyment they were having, I realised I had something in my garage that they would be able to use; boxes of netball skirts and shirts in excellent condition. When I returned to Australia, I packed them off to the ladies of the Sooka Community.
Speaking of netball. The schoolgirls play netball after school every day. The games can get quite competitive but there is always lots of fun and banter. Ruth, the dedicated new teacher, was there umpiring every game. The teachers have very long days. School begins at 7.15 am and the after school sports finish on dark.
One of the most wonderful days for me was watching Kabuku run around playing netball. It was hard to hide my emotion.
Kabuku is the young lady who was born with clubfeet. I noticed her walk bare footed, in from the bush, in October 2009 with really badly turned in feet. She was almost walking on her anklebones. I still have a video of her walking that day when she was about 6 or 7 years old. With lots of help from numerous people, she was able to have surgery at a wonderful children’s hospital, the Beit Cure Hospital in Lusaka. More about Kabuku in a previous blog from 4th September 2012. She is also a very bright girl and has grown to be tall and strong. How her life has changed.
This is a story that really makes my heart sing.
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| Netball in the sand |
Soccer:
The boys play soccer (or football, as it is known there) after school most afternoons. Their teachers help and the coach is one of the young men from the community who works at Shackleton’s Lodge. On the sidelines, those not in teams practice tricks with home made plastic bag balls and the smaller children sit on logs to watch the action.
It is always such a joy to see young people keeping busy, exercising and having tremendous fun.
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| Soccer at Sooka |
