The school day began at 7.30 and finished at 1.00pm. After lunch the whole school participates in 2-3 hours of sport a day including swimming as they each school have their own pool.
Special Assemblies were held to welcome us and we took presents of footballs and skipping ropes, which were gratefully received by the children, and we taught them some English skipping rhymes. We also took the opportunity to show them posters and DVDs about our own schools. Children were fascinated to see our children playing in the snow!		Puddles, our school cat thoroughly enjoyed the fuss and pampering which she received from the children. This is clearly evident in the photographs. One of the schools had recently discovered a gold seam running through the middle of their grounds and so they were eagerly waiting to have a new school built within the next 4 years!
	We participated in a wide range of events, library week, inset training, talent show, we judged power point presentations, observed lessons, joined in tennis and cricket training, joined staff meetings, observed special needs teaching etc. We were hosted by teachers at the schools, rising at 5am to glorious sunshine which shone all day peaking at about 35 degrees. We enjoyed afternoon tea at Governors’ homes and in fact were thoroughly spoilt. We arrived home with much to share with our schools and memories to last a lifetime.
We were left with a feeling of admiration for everyone we met, they had endured so much, food shortages, terrible inflation, bank accounts zeroed, families turned off farms and made homeless the list is endless and we heard many harrowing accounts. However everyone has been so resilient and resourceful and found ways to continue and overcome adversity. Life is now much better than a year ago, food was available and now the US$ is the currency the economy is more stable.		Unfortunately the majority of children in Zimbabwe cannot afford this private education, and many of the Government schools are closed due to lack of teachers (many not paid or left) or the children are given part time places on the few remaining schools which are open.
	The country is still in a fragile state but we hope and pray that it continues to progress in the right direction.

 

"Teachers from West Burton and Bainbridge Schools visit Zambia." (July 2008)

Central School

Misambo School

Chiboya School

Teachers from West Burton and Bainbridge Schools visit Zambia Connecting Classrooms is the name of a project run by the British Council involving clusters of schools from the UK and sub Saharan Africa.

The BAWB (Bainbridge, Askrigg and West Burton) schools were fortunate to be accepted for a project beginning in April 2007 along with 3 schools from Zambia and 3 schools from Zimbabwe. In December 2008 six teachers, one each from the schools in Zambia and Zimbabwe visited the BAWB schools for two weeks. The visit to Zambia has just taken place in the last two weeks of July. It proved to be an experience we wouldn't have missed and we learnt a great deal.

We flew to Ndola in Zambia’s Copperbelt for a ten-day visit. We were given a warm welcome at the airport on Sunday evening by representatives from all three schools. Our journey from the airport in the dark to Mufilira the town where we were staying had 6 police checkpoints along the way. It borders the Democratic Republic of Congo border and has been the scene of conflict in the past.

The Zambian winter weather was glorious. No rain, sun rise at 6am, cool for a few hours then by 10 am sunshine with temperatures in the early 20s until sunset at 6pm.

Our simple guesthouse was a seminary, the boys studying there were out at school all day but Elaine was usually awakened at 6am by singing as she was next door to the chapel. We were made very welcome and our breakfasts and evening meals (sometimes by torchlight) were always ready for us. On our arrival there was no water supply and when we got up next day no electricity. This was a taste of things to come but usually not both at once!

Our first introduction to Zambia time arose when we expected to be collected at 8.00pm. Our transport finally arrived at 10.15. Our late arrival the previous evening was the explanation given!

Over the next 9 days we visited the 3 schools and observed many lessons. We also were taken to many homes for lunch. Nshima is the main ingredient of all meals, it is made from maize flour and is eaten with fingers and used to scoop up other food. Typically chicken and bream, cooked in lots of vegetable oil, were served along with cabbage, pumpkin leaves, ground nuts, beans and polony. There was also often rice or potatoes. Lunch always began and ended with a formal washing of hands. The hostess would pour warm water over each guest’s hands in turn. Due to it being winter our vision of lots of tropical fruit was dashed as bananas, apples or oranges were then offered. The mangoes were just beginning to appear on the trees but it will be a few more months yet before they are ripe.

The two town schools were large about 1600 pupils and children had to attend in sessions some in the morning and some in the afternoon. Teachers taught either morning or afternoon but not both. When not in lessons children had the responsibility of keeping the school clean. To our surprise after the first grade (year 2) all lessons were taught in English instead of the local language, Bemba. This meant that as well as getting to grips with, for example, maths, children were being taught in a language that they had just begun to learn. Imagine our Year Three children being taught every subject in French.

Due to HIV/aids many of the children were orphans and were brought up by grandparents. HIV/aids education is now integrated into all lessons. The children were however delighted to see us and always greeted us with a well-rehearsed welcome. They loved having their photographs taken and two children would rapidly grow into a large group. Classes were large, often 40 to 50 children. Children were fairly passive and moved form sitting at the front of the class – sometimes on a mat more often on the concrete floor- to sitting at desks with benches attached. Copying from the blackboard featured very highly in each lesson and the teaching style differed considerably to that of the UK. Our children are encouraged to actively participate in lessons whilst the Zambian children were taught by example. Zambian schools have four terms each followed by a four-week holiday. At the end of each term the children have to “write exams” They are not able to progress to the next grade unless exams are passed. We did see older children in the earlier grade classes.

One thing that UK teachers do a lot is drink tea or coffee at regular intervals. We also encourage our children to drink plenty of water. In the more rural parts of Africa water supply is still a problem. One of the schools we visited was attached to a village and had no water supply or toilet facilities. The local supply was about ½ mile away. Although at this school staff did meet in the staff room for coffee and a snack of eggs and bread at lunchtime.

As we were in an industrial area visitors are rare and, along with one of the Zimbabwean teachers, we appeared to be the only white faces in the town. Wherever we went we were stared at and people wanted to shake hands. Zambian people are generally happy and friendly and would ask where we were from. As we were such a novelty we were taken to visit the homes of friends and families of the teachers. We were fortunate to be able to experience the everyday life of people in Zambia, not just a tourist view.

The mining area of the Copperbelt is in many ways a rich area supplying a lot of jobs. The supermarket shelves of Shoprite are well stocked and clothes and electrical goods are all readily available but there are also many very poor families who although not starving do not get enough to eat.

We now realise what a culture shock the visit to Wensleydale must have been to the African teachers. Although they have a lot of textbooks with drawings and exercises in them there is no evidence of the photographs and books that we take for granted in England. Better off homes have televisions with Sky TV and a few computers are appearing but many children will not have the wealth of knowledge we take for granted from these sources. Classroom walls are usually bare or may have the occasional hand drawn poster.

Sally visited the internet café in town but it took a long time to send emails to friends and even longer to read anything in the inbox. Any electrical resources are kept under lock and key in the town schools otherwise they are stolen – the fridge in one headteacher’s office had no motor as it had been stolen.

The highlight of the visit was the Zambian Culture afternoon where traditional dancing and ceremonies were demonstrated. This event was attended by staff, parents and local dignitaries from all three schools. We were treated to the most amazing bring and share meal so much that it was impossible to sample it all. The Zambian National Anthem was sung at the beginning and end of the event. The Zambian people are obviously very proud of their country and the singing in harmony of the anthem was a very moving experience. We also were fortunate to hear gospel choirs in the church services we attended at the United Zambian Church.

We will be sharing what we have learned with children and staff in our schools during the autumn term. The many photos we took will help to explain the things we saw to our children who live in a very different environment.

Sally Stone, West Burton School Elaine Hopwood, Bainbridge School

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Dec 07 - Our Connecting Classrooms teachers telling KS2 about their schools.