CEF 'Zambia News' Newsletter - December 2008

Dear CEF supporter,

I expect you have forgotten what the CEF is, as I've been so negligent in sending newsletters. Sorry about that. In case you need reminding, the Christian Education Fund supports Christian education in community schools in Eastern Zambia. More information about our work is available at www.zambianmissionsupport.org.
There are three matters I want to bring to your attention in this newsletter.

1. You may remember that we now have a qualified teacher living at Covenant College full time and overseeing the work of the CEF. Her name is Marjanne, and her most important task is to train teachers. The quality of the teachers is the most important issue for the CEF. Some are not true Christians, some are not competent, some are neither and very few are both. While giving some training to all teachers, Marjanne has followed the CEF policy of concentrating on one school. She has chosen Kuunika pre-school, where the main teacher seems to be a Christian, but the school had significant weaknesses. The wisdom of this policy has been seen in the response of the teacher - she has been putting into practice what she has been taught, and the school is being transformed. The potential effect as pre-school children are now taught well is exciting.

2. A massive step forward for the CEF has been the employment of another full-time worker. Dorica is from Katete, a nearby town in Eastern Province. She trained as a teacher in South Africa, and for Christian work at the college in the Copper Belt with which we have connections. She is now working alongside Marjanne, and is able to concentrate on training teachers at other schools. Obviously this moves the work on simply by increasing the work we can do. One of the big problems we face has been negative attitudes among the locals about what they are capable of, and dependency on the whites. To have a competent Christian who is a local is a massive help in this area. It also obviously helps that sheis fluent inNyanja. This is a very exciting development. Please pray for Dorica - her spiritual health, help to train teachers effectively, and that she and Marjanne would work well as a team.

3. Despite these advances we have had a shocking reminder of our dependence on God and the need to bring the gospel to the teachers for their own sake as well as the children's. On 6th December a minibus carrying 20 head teachers of community schools was travelling back from a training event run by the government. Near Covenant College a wheel came off and the minibus turned over. Five head teachers plus the bus conductor were killed. One of these was Lufeya Tembo from Chewizi School - the school Dorica was concentrating on training. Understandably she is very upset. Another was Simon Njobvu from Mtumpha School. Mr Njobvu was one of our most able and reliable teachers, his school was always well-organised and busy (if you knew what a contrast that is to most community schools, you would realise what a massive blow his death is to us). He was a pleasure to meet, and it is very sad to think I will never meet him in Zambia again. I hope one day I will meet him again, because, although he was a Roman Catholic, his conversation and his desire to study the Bible had for quite a while made me wonder if he was a Christian. He leaves a widow and children. Please pray for his fellow teacher at Mtumpha, who is also a reliable and competent man, that he would continue with the standard manner of Mr Njobvu.
In the very tightly-knit communities which our schools serve, everyone will know of these accidents. Please pray that they will prepare themselves to meet their maker.

Thank you for your support.

Joseph