Morning comes early over here and some of you may know that I am not an early riser. However, I seem to have adjusted and my day now starts at 6:00 am. I know some of you do that all the time, but this is a change for me. We had a light rain for a little while this morning before I got out of bed. The rainy season is on its way. We have had two or three good rains, and a couple of thunderstorms. It will be interesting to experience the rain, lightning, greenery, and power outages once the rains really arrive.
On Sunday we met Obert. He is a boy about fifteen years old who is one of our sponsored students. We had been looking for him, and asking about him at Kalomo High but had not yet seen him. He was a student at Sinde Mission and apparently was top in his class in grade 9. He did well on the government exam and was given a sport in boarding at Kalomo High in January 2007. However, he could not get the money to attend school, did not attend in Term 1 and lost his boarding place at the school. Later, he contacted Mrs. Mbumwae and was sponsored by Zambia Mission Fund-Canada (ZMF-C) for Term 2. However, he had to attend the afternoon classes and he had to find a place to live. He roomed with a person in Kalomo who was from his village, but he had little time for school because he was required to do many chores at the house. He did poorly in school in Term 2. Then the person that he was living with moved away and he was left with nowhere to go for Term 3. When he finally showed up at our house, we discovered that he is living in a small mud hut, about eight feet in diameter, in Mwaye, one of the shanty suburbs of Kalomo. His hut has a dirt floor and no windows, and he lives alone. In the morning he would look for work in order to buy food, and in the afternoon he would go to school. Under these conditions he had little chance of being healthy and little chance of doing well at school. Poverty is very destructive.
We took him to the head-teacher at his school to try to get him into boarding, but there is no room. Boarding is important because then he will have food, a place to sleep, security, and the opportunity to work at his schooling. The head-teacher said that if he does well on his Term 3 exams, there might be space for him in boarding next year. This poor fellow does not have much of a chance. At least ZMF-C can take care of the cost of his food and school fees, but I don't know if he has much of a chance of doing well on his exams after all that he has missed. We are going to try to find a family for him to live with for the next two months.
And so, this is the story of one boy in Zambia. He is full of potential but has little opportunity. His story is the norm here, not the exception. In fact, many have less opportunity than Obert has. Life, because of poverty, is very difficult and only the most determined survive.
On Sunday we met Obert. He is a boy about fifteen years old who is one of our sponsored students. We had been looking for him, and asking about him at Kalomo High but had not yet seen him. He was a student at Sinde Mission and apparently was top in his class in grade 9. He did well on the government exam and was given a sport in boarding at Kalomo High in January 2007. However, he could not get the money to attend school, did not attend in Term 1 and lost his boarding place at the school. Later, he contacted Mrs. Mbumwae and was sponsored by Zambia Mission Fund-Canada (ZMF-C) for Term 2. However, he had to attend the afternoon classes and he had to find a place to live. He roomed with a person in Kalomo who was from his village, but he had little time for school because he was required to do many chores at the house. He did poorly in school in Term 2. Then the person that he was living with moved away and he was left with nowhere to go for Term 3. When he finally showed up at our house, we discovered that he is living in a small mud hut, about eight feet in diameter, in Mwaye, one of the shanty suburbs of Kalomo. His hut has a dirt floor and no windows, and he lives alone. In the morning he would look for work in order to buy food, and in the afternoon he would go to school. Under these conditions he had little chance of being healthy and little chance of doing well at school. Poverty is very destructive.
We took him to the head-teacher at his school to try to get him into boarding, but there is no room. Boarding is important because then he will have food, a place to sleep, security, and the opportunity to work at his schooling. The head-teacher said that if he does well on his Term 3 exams, there might be space for him in boarding next year. This poor fellow does not have much of a chance. At least ZMF-C can take care of the cost of his food and school fees, but I don't know if he has much of a chance of doing well on his exams after all that he has missed. We are going to try to find a family for him to live with for the next two months.
And so, this is the story of one boy in Zambia. He is full of potential but has little opportunity. His story is the norm here, not the exception. In fact, many have less opportunity than Obert has. Life, because of poverty, is very difficult and only the most determined survive.
1 comment:
Thank you for reminding me again to be grateful for a wonderful place to live and too much food to eat. I love to hear Miguel Mbumwae pray because he always asks God to give food to those who are hungry. God is doing that through ZMF-C. Blessings and prayers, Marti
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