Holiday time at school and the first week saw us at the
rural village of Sinde, where we visit Twabuka School every Wednesday in term time.
We told the children the last week of term that we would be coming but when we
rolled into the village, where we wanted to park up, some of the volunteers
looked concerned as we could only see a handful of children. However, true to
form, within 5 minutes of arriving there were more than 50 and with 30 minutes
we were almost up to 90! The turnout was around 100 each day with about 30
grade 5 to 7 and 70 grade 4 and below!
.jpg)
We had a very special week, getting to know the children and
some of the parents. Driving through the villages on the way there we are always
greeted with smiles and waves from everyone. We are always also followed by a
band of children that grows steadily with each homestead we pass. The favourite
chant is “one book, one book!” The shouts got more adventurous as the week went
on “one book of colouring” “one book of lions”, “one atlas book!” and at the
end of the week we gave all the children their own book to take home. They were
thrilled. I met the head teacher of the neighbouring village school so
hopefully we can begin to work with his pupils, in the near future, so they don’t
just have to watch the bus pass through their village but can partake and
benefit from the resources we have.
.jpg)
There were also some visitors to the village from another
well known international charity and they were really impressed with what we
were doing and how engaged the children were. They said it was so unusual to
see the children being educated in a fun and proactive way, especially out in
the villages. I’ve not met a Zambian child yet who prefers the holidays to term
time. They have nothing to do in the 4 weeks so providing them with a week of
fun educational activities is certainly a highlight of their break.
The volunteers went on a tour of the village, guided by one
of the parents and really got to see where the children are living and to
understand some of the challenges facing rural societies. Every day we did
something fun and exciting and educational but everybody’s favourite day was
when we made kites and windmills! It was fantastic to see the comprehension and
joy on the children’s faces when they saw the square of paper turn into a
working windmill or “fan” as they called them. From the smallest toddler to the
16 year olds everyone was walking around with their windmills. Lots of the kids
were running laps of the village square to make them spin! It was a really
memorable day.
.jpg)
It was sad to wave goodbye on Friday as all the kids were
saying “see you tomorrow!” “Are you coming next week?” and we had to say no but
the Bookbus will roll into another school in Livingstone for the second holiday
week and bring our books and volunteers to another group of enthusiastic
Zambian children!
.jpg)
