Today was monumental, from Grade One students all the way up to we grown-ups. Even more than the “what” of what we learned today, it was a huge day of learning how to learn.
“Casual” day at the Living Compassion property brings out a fine and elegant array of colors and patterns. Here is Veronica in her stunning outfit.
Our heart-opening daily morning routine at the property: greetings, handshakes, smiles, “Hello, how are you?” “I’m fine! How are you?”
Big, big smiles
A key part of the enrollment process for the Living English program is to explain the program to the children’s parents, and get consent for their child to enroll and join the field trips. We had originally said that we would hold four sessions for parents, on afternoons between 3-3:30pm. We started seeing parents show up at different times. Several came in the morning and said that they couldn’t make an afternoon session. We learned that many parents go to the market in the afternoon to sell, to earn any tiny amount of kwacha they can in order to buy food. Coming to an afternoon meeting either simply isn’t an option, or gets in the way of the chance to earn a bit of money for the day. We took in what a huge thing it is that the parents show up at all to hear about the program. Theresa suggested that we station somebody at the gate so that no matter what time the parents were able to come, there would be somebody there to talk to them. Noted. Will do.
First to arrive this morning to hear about the program was little Nyambe’s dad.
Nyambe is in Joy’s Grade One class. Nyambe’s dad speaks excellent English (our ears pricked up at the sound of his fluent English, and we will keep our eyes open for ways he - and any other parents who turn out to be English speakers - can assist in the program).
It is beyond thrilling to get to meet the parents of these children we are getting to know more and more. Every parent we greeted expressed deep gratitude for all that Living Compassion has done for their child, or, in most cases, children. It is common for 3, 4 or 5 children in one family to be amongst the 800 who come through the Living Compassion gates each day. Imagine the weight off a parent’s shoulders to have all 5 of her children receive a nutritious meal in their day. Thank you for helping to make that possible!
Peter and his mother (wow, the resemblance!)
Emma and her mother. We discovered that Emma has a little sister in the preschool class. We soon found out why we have not met her yet—she is in that stage where she is terrified of “musungus”—usually age 2 to 3 or 4.
After yesterday afternoon’s big push to make the attendance charts, it was time to put them to use. First to gather for their lesson was Veronica’s Grade Two class. Action stations! We used the opportunity to model giving instruction to the students in English. This is very easy for us to do, of course, because there is no temptation to just break into Bemba, since that’s simply not an option! We gave the directions slowly, in several different ways, demonstrating each action: come up to the chart, find your name, draw a star by your name...And it worked! We project is was valuable for the teachers to see that we actually could get the point across without any Bemba translation.
Theresa shows a student where to write her star.
Veronica giving instructions
Carefully writing a star to mark her presence today. Yea.
It is funny how just a few days ago we were seeing these charts as simply a means to an end—a way to track attendance. In the last few days, and especially after that first hour of training the grade 2 students (and teachers!) how to use the charts, we realize the charts themselves are a magnificent tool. This is the first time the children will get to have a tangible way to see their own participation in the program. And, seeing the smiles on their faces and the care of making a star by their name, we realize involving them at this level is new and a significant message that they matter.
There is something deeply loving and supportive in keeping the attendance chart - we notice whether you are here or not, we care whether you are here or not, your whole class cares whether you are here or not. If you want to come to class, we want to support you to come every day.
For at least the first two weeks of the program (starting Monday) the main focus will be on training to use the charts, learning what attendance is, learning that their presence matters and what it means to come to something every day. It will be very interesting to see how it goes! A big lesson for all in learning how to learn.
Jen communicates what it means to come to class every day: “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...”
We end the class with “See you on Monday!”. Peals of “see you on Monday!” ring out as the students leave the classroom. Soon the Grade One class starts to assemble. Okay, team, here we go, round two! We walked through the same process and each student came up to the chart on the wall, found her or his name, and drew a star.
For the grade one students, seeing how to make a ‘star’ was a big learning in itself!
Each took her time to make it just right.
A big moment
Joy helps a child find her name
Little Cheri makes her mark
Each star is a work of art! Just in time to help us make the learning real, a grade one parent arrived to let us know her child, Mirriam, was sick. This allowed us to explain why Mirriam had a star by her name even though she was not in school. You still get a star as long as it is an excused absence.
Theresa and Mirriam’s mom.
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Joy explains what attendance is: if you are here, you get to draw a star. “Present? Star! Absent? Noooooo star!”
After lunch, we met with the older girls, greeting each other using the team name we came up with yesterday: “Stay in school!” Big smiles all around. There is a growing familiarity between us, each day we know a couple of more names, and with that, we project, is an increasing sense for them that they belong here, this is a place for them, they matter; we all want them here; there is opportunity for them here.
We started work on our new project - writing a simple picture book about the Living Compassion property. The plan is to take photographs together of our favorite places around the property, and to write captions for them. Heavy rain kept us indoors, and so we started with the captions: “After school I walk to Living Compassion with my friends...”.
In a break in the rain, we headed outside to begin taking photographs. We managed to capture just this one group photo before it started to pour again: one of the first drops of the downpour landed on the camera lens!
The rain got so heavy we had to call off even our caption writing - the sound of the rain drumming on the roof makes it impossible to hear one another. More rain meditation.
We huddled around the camera and looked at the photographs of the girls we had taken yesterday and had an impromptu English workout: “What is Natasha doing? She is jumping!” “What is Minniva doing? She is sitting on...”
...then came an extraordinary moment. Fendia pointed to the fence in the photograph and asked “What is the English for...?”. This is the first time we have heard any of the students ask that question! There is so much in it: knowing how to ask “What is the English for..?” in the first place, then having the curiosity to ask it, and the desire to want to learn a new word. We want to encourage all of the students to learn how to ask this question, and to ask it often! It is amazing how an instant carries in it all that has come before. A moment like that began 8 ½ years ago when Theresa and team started feeding these nearly starving children, ages 3, 4, and 5. They are 11, 12 and 13, healthy, thriving, poised for this next level of transformation.
Meanwhile, a couple of doors down, Jen was distributing the extra Bridge Walk t-shirts from past years we brought along this trip and some hats that had been donated.
Brenda very pleased with her new hat!
Veronica was thrilled and role played for us going to church on Sunday in her new shirt.
Group shot in new shirts and hats
This is a fun one! From left to right are all 12 years of Bridge Walk shirts. Far left 2002 Many Lives, Many Needs, Many Hands, One Heart and far right 2013 Not I But We.
After the t-shirt party Jen got to catch the tail end of working with the girls. They requested a photo session with all combinations of folks in the photo booth with Jen.
A group shot at the end.
Getting to ready to leave for the day, as we walked up to the dining room, we heard the sound of singing: the co-operative team had broken out into song to express gratitude for the gift of the new t-shirts and hats. The dish-washing tubs had been turned upside down to make drums, and the dancing was in full swing.
Pauline and Audria on drums
Regina dancing
Joanne and Veronica
Some of the girls get in on the action: Mavis, Susan, Natasha
Theresa gave us a translation of the Bemba words to the song: “We give thanks to our mother, who provides us with wheat when we are hungry”. The song is an expression of gratitude for the ways in which Life provides for us. What a glorious and perfect way to celebrate the end of another week at the Living Compassion property and all of the countless, miraculous ways Life has provided for us.