July 2025 news

July 2025 Newsletter - Zambia

Greetings to all.

We have been home from Zambia for several months and are missing the peace and relative tranquility of the country. I miss not having television and instead playing games, visiting or reading in the evenings.

The current situation Zambia is a mix of mostly positive news with elements of frustration.

I’ll begin with the very good news of answered prayer for rain, and a resulting generous harvest. We are grateful and relieved – thank you Lord. The harvest we are referring to is maize, and a few will have cassava, millet and sorghum as well. Many folks are also growing vegetables.

A frustration is that of working with the Ministry of Education to accommodate their December 2024 dictate that certain Basic schools must immediately transition to Secondary schools. It is a process that will work seamlessly in cities, but fraught with challenges in the towns and rural schools. Initially, the government of Zambia made many promises related to providing more teachers, housing, and classrooms, but to-date no follow through. It seems our goal of preparing schools for independence from ZMFC is a moving target. Still, there are some younger staff at the schools, all of them former students within the sponsorship program, who are full of hope, and they encourage us. We often talk with the staff and our students (former and current) about what “development” means and relate this to ‘legs’: having their own legs under them and no longer having ZMFC’s legs under them. This is true development and we are slowly getting traction.

This is Richard on the verandah with a group of teachers. He is a retired classroom teacher from Regina, and in his retirement he and his wife Sue spend time each year in Zambia mentoring teachers. Richard’s lessons are mind-stretching and are helping Zambians understand the building blocks for success in their schools.

All meetings end with food, and this day’s meeting wrapped up with nsima, chicken, relish (vegetables) and soup (poured over the nsima). Delicious.

When we visit classrooms, I often take a photo of the class register. Each school classroom has a hand-written wall register with pupil names, attendance, and number of pupils. This is in the Grade 3 class at Nalubumba, our school with the largest student population. If your eyes are good, you might decipher the number of ‘56’ (bottom left) … Yes, there are 56 little ones in this class, and 1 teacher. Pupils squeeze 3 to a desk and keep their elbows in while writing! I find their names fascinating, knowing parents attach meaning to their children’s names. I see familiar names such as Anita and Patricia; Tonga names such as Nchimunya and Twaambo; and names describing attributes such as Happiness, Humility, Lucky and Trust. I love to peruse the lists of names…

Let me introduce you to Martin. He lives at Seven Fountains with his father and mother and numerous siblings. His father is a polygamist with 3 wives, hence many brothers and sisters. All the adults in the family work at the tobacco farm next door to Seven Fountains.

Martin is in Grade 9 at Siabalumbi and much is riding on his Grade 9 exam results. If he passes, he can carry on to high school. If he fails, he will likely end up working on a tobacco farm with the adults in his family.

Martin visited our place every day and put this puzzle of African countries together numerous times. At least 20! He has a lovely spirit and a curious mind so we are cheering him on as he prepares for exams this November.

It is these youngsters that bring us back to Zambia every year. They are endearing and we want each one to know Jesus, and to know they are loved.

Blessings!

Joan