April began with visitors, Patty and Martha from PCUSA who wanted to learn about Early Childhood Development in CCAP Synod of Zambia. They were accompanied by Nancy who lives and works in Zambia. I invited them to my house and did a presentation – they had many questions and hopefully learnt a bit more about how we do things in ECD in Zambia!
The next day I headed to Chipata to pick up Nicolas from Mzuzu, at the Mwami border post. Nicolas has been appointed the acting Director of ECD in CCAP Synod of Livingstonia. Those of you who have been following my blog over the years will know that Nicolas worked with me for 8 years, doing his Diploma in ECD and working as a trainer and then as Monitoring officer. He has a lot of experience and has a real vision for where he would like ECD to go in the Synod. We did some brainstorming and then worked on a plan of action for him for the coming year (funds permitting). It was an enriching experience for both of us and I look forward to working closely with him in the future. If you are interested you can have a look back at my Malawi blog and you will find more information about him there. (www.missioninmalawi.blogspot.com)
While in Chipata, we visited one of our ECD congregation centres. Unfortunately school holidays had started, but we met the teachers and the parish minister.
Arriving back in Lusaka, I had a meeting with our Education Secretary, Rev N Mkwayi. We are in the process of developing a safeguarding policy (or child protection policy) for our Synod. Rev N Mkwayi and myself were planning for the workshop that we will have at the end of May to facilitate this process.
We are blessed in Lusaka to have a music society (which I always say I will join but never quite get around to it)! They had their Easter concert in the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Cross here in Lusaka. It was a wonderful evening of music and so encouraging to see the orchestra of young Zambian musicians doing a fine job!
A couple of years ago I had a Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) from the Presbyterian Church USA, working in our Chilenje ECD centre. This year there are three YAV’s working in Zambia and one is based in Lusaka. He is a talented young man called Miguel who is teaching in Mtendere Community School. He came for lunch one day and is a fantastic jazz pianist so I enjoyed lovely music while I prepared the lunch!!
Our ECD centre at Kabwata in Lusaka has not been doing very well in terms of numbers of children this year, but as you can see the few children that we had are busy with the play materials!
Thanks to the support of PCI, CCAP Synod of Zambia were able to have a Finance workshop with Presbytery and Department treasurers and accountants on 24 and 25 April. It was facilitated by people from World Renew (based in Malawi) and has helped the Synod to begin developing a Finance policy, as well as helping every Department and Presbytery to record and report finances in the same way. I was assisting with the organisation of the workshop and also a participant, so I was exhausted after it!!!
After the finance workshop, I set off for Livingstone in Southern Province to carry out a workshop with teachers from Southern Presbytery. The workshop was held in the CCAP Church in Livingstone and teachers came from Monze and Livingstone. We did a lot of practical activities and it is becoming clear that now the teachers are beginning to understand what they have been learning, and are now able to put some of it into practice! Before the workshop, I made a set of sandpaper letters and numbers for each school (I ended up with fingers stuck together in the process). While we are following the Zambian curriculum for ECCDE, I am also using some of my Montessori skills in helping children learn. Sandpaper numbers and letters are part of this process!
On the final afternoon of the workshop, I let the teachers go to visit Victoria falls. Those coming from Monze had never been so it was an exciting time for them. I was shocked at the low level of the falls compared to this time last year. Apparently the flow is only about 1/4 of the same time last year which is not looking good for water supply in the country. We have had little or no rains in the South and West of Zambia since February so many crops have dried up too!
On 4th May, I had a visit from Helen Johnston (PCI), and we met with Rev Sevatt Kabaghe, the General Secretary, and Rev Friday Kapakasa, the Moderator Elect of our Synod.
I am blessed with the amazing bird life and other small critters that I get round my home!
So, its been quite a busy weeks. The next couple of weeks will be spent preparing for the Child Protection Workshop at the end of the month, and also making sure that schools have opened successfully (they open on 13 May, 2019).
Thank you for your continued prayerful support. Please do leave a comment!
Blessings and love,
Diane x
8 May, 2019
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