A Return to the Copperbelt

After a five hour bus ride Monday Mabuchi and I arrived in the Copperbelt in the town of Kitwe. 

Catching up on some work in the tight quarters of the bus

One of the pastors picked us up and drove us to the guesthouse where we are staying until Friday.  Our housing has graciously been arranged by one of the elders in the church.  The accommodations are clean and complete with a shower and toilet.  There are dining facilities here as well making the arrangement quite convenient.

 

View of our guesthouse

The Copperbelt is in the north by the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Trees and tall green grass line the sides of the road. 

As this is the rainy season dark clouds roll in each evening and the thunder and lightening and downpours begin. There is flooding not far from here. But as one of my Zambian friends expressed, “We prayed for rain and now we have it.”

Note the classroom they are using

These boys took "form a group" seriously

Grade 2 and 3 squeeze into this small make-shift classroom

Yesterday we visited Almighty Community School in the Kwacha district of Kitwe. I visited here in November and returned to model lessons for the three teachers.  The teachers and students rely rather heavily upon Chibemba (the regional language) and not English.  As I have discussed with other teachers – the only chance these children have of passing the grade seven test but more importantly succeeding beyond work in the compound, is speaking English. 

 

Reflection time with the teachers 

We had a good reflection time and a mini training with the teachers to prepare them for the lessons we will observe on Thursday. 

 

Teachers and leaders of Almighty Community School

Mabuchi and I had a quiet evening eating dinner in the guest house dining room and debriefing about the day.