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 September 8, 2010 |
Update for June 05, 2001Peace and quiet reigns today. After yesterday's rioting, the only residual evidence seen today was the pile of rocks on the road. Better on the road than in my windshield! I made it to the school for Seedlings classes this afternoon with no problems. Now, lest you think we are defying the teachers' strike by teaching while they are out on strike, let me explain the school situation here in Zambia. There are two, well actually three, types of schools in Zambia. There are the Government schools, Community schools, and Private schools. It is the teachers in the Government schools that are on strike. Newfoundland Agape school where our pilot project is, is a Community school. These schools are private in nature, usually operated by a church, mission, community or co-operative that sees the need for a school in a location where many children are not able to get an education because of the cost of school fees of the Government school or excessive fees of Private schools. Since we want to have Seedlings programs in Government schools, where often it will be the school teachers teaching the Seedlings material, we want to have good relationships with them. Interesting statistic I heard, 80% of Zambian teachers are Christian. The definition of "Christian" may be questionable but that is quite a percentage! They should be able to make quite a positive impact on the students.
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