Friday morning was an email catch-up time for Jen, while Theresa and Melinda ran a few errands. They arrived back at Castle Lodge just in time to pick up Jen and go to the airport to greet Cheri. It was raining lightly and quite a pleasant temperature. Cheri's plane arrived on time, and after an enthusiastic reunion the group went back to Castle Lodge for lunch before beginning interviews with candidates for a new Living Compassion staff position. Three women were interviewed on Friday and two on Saturday afternoon.
Theresa gives Cheri a big hug at the Ndola airport
Over the last several months it has become clear that the teams in Africa and the United States are in need of a person to act as liaison between the two. Theresa has her hands full managing the Kantolomba feeding program and related activities, including expansion of the program from 450 to 800 children. Visits from the US team every 3 or 4 months are not allowing the kind of communication and supervision that the Project demands. The idea arose of hiring a person in Ndola, the small city Kantolomba adjoins, to be a liaison between Theresa and the people in Kantolomba and the staff in the United States. Consequently, a few weeks before this January trip an ad was placed in the Ndola newspaper looking for prospective staff.
The five applicants selected for an interview are all women and are amazingly talented, interesting people who would likely make enormous contributions to the Project. At the end of the interviewing process on Saturday, two of the five women were asked to engage in further conversation with the team: Martha, a quick, articulate woman who is a branch manager for an Ndola financial services firm; and Mukonda, an energetic 33-year-old who has worked as a nurse and who recently spent time in South Africa doing volunteer work with an HIV/AIDS organization.
During the coming week both women will accompany the team on visits to Kantolomba, to introduce them to the community and to allow Cheri, Jen and Theresa to see the women in action with the children and adults with whom they will be working if they are hired to be a part of Living Compassion.
Woven through the interviews with the liaison candidates was a major theme for the work in Kantolomba: the importance to the success of the Africa Vulnerable Children project, or of any project to alleviate poverty, of improving the status of girls and women. The expectation is that girls will marry young and produce many children, and girls are neither encouraged nor supported to get an education.
All of the women interviewed have had life-changing experiences of having pushed through the status quo to arrive at places of strength and transformation. They recognize the impact that will be made on Kantolomba - men, women, girls and boys - if the girls are educated. (An interesting global statistic: 67% of girls who receive an education, but only 13% of boys, give back to their communities of origin.)
The Africa Vulnerable Children Project has received an extraordinary donation that will give a boost to this emerging emphasis: a scholarship program that will allow girls to complete whatever level of education they choose.
We've realized that starting a girls' group that would offer mentoring, tutoring, life skills training, career options, and role models is a way to accomplish the goals we have for Kantolomba.
As we looked at what might be supportive to the girls in the community, we realized that we also need a women's club that will support adult education, computer skills, and health education, including nutrition, hygiene, prenatal care and first aid. Money management training will be important, including savings and micro finance business possibilities.
Empowerment of women and girls in Kantolomba is crucial to the success of the Africa Vulnerable Children Project.
On Saturday morning, before the second round of interviews, we sat in the office/bedroom working with charts Jen had created to help us plan the week ahead. It was a productive morning, helping us get the "big picture" of what needs to be done and what might be possible.
A wall full of organizing lists and charts
Later that morning, Cheri, Jen, Theresa and Melinda took a walk down beautiful tree-lined streets near Castle Lodge to visit DAPP, Development Assistance People to People, a Dutch-based Non-Governmental Organization (or NGO), based in Ndola. One of the goals for this January visit is to make contact with other groups in Ndola who are doing work similar to what we are doing in Kantolomba, and to exchange information about what works and what does not work. We met Rene, the director of the group in Ndola, and made plans to spend time together this week.
Walking to DAPP
After the interviews that afternoon we met up with Eunice and Godfrey, two of our favorite folks in Ndola, who assist us in many ways during our stays here, and who are great resources in general. Eunice is part of a family that owns and operates Castle Lodge, and Godfrey has been of immeasurable help in dealing with computer issues here. Also joining us was Chilufya, a friend of Eunice's, who is a young, enthusiastic fellow with a huge heart and great ideas for assisting children out of poverty. He is quickly becoming another favorite person to us.
We hopped in Eunice's van and went to the Michelangelo restaurant to share pizzas and conversation through the evening.
An amiable evening over pizza at Michelangelo's
Then back to Castle Lodge to rest up for the next busy day.
A view of the pool and thatched roof dining area at Castle Lodge
Some of the magnificent flowers decorating the Castle Lodge landscape.