From 15^th April to 2^nd May I visited Zambia for the eighth time. The main purposes of the trip being the Covenant College AGM and helping the work with schools. It was another encouraging trip, with the work of both the college and the schools making good progress in the right direction.

To save confusion, firstly I must report a name change. One of our struggles has been to remove the dependency mentality among the teachers, which simply wants to be given resources, instead of to take responsibility. Marjanne pointed out that the name “Christian Education Fund” does not help us in this, and so we have changed the name to “Christian Education Ministry” to more accurately reflect our emphasis.

It is worth briefly tracing how God has provided for us over the years. We have gone from being a society that hadn’t even managed to register with the government; to a fund employing a travelling secretary (Solomon), and me trying to co-ordinate work from the UK and do some hands-on work in Zambia once or twice a year; to a ministry with an experienced teacher from the Netherlands (Marjanne) based in Zambia full-time running the work; to now also employing a Zambian trained teacher (Dorica) to assist with teacher-training. Along with this, God has provided prayerful supporters who contribute to an income which is now in thousands of pounds per year.

Another very helpful addition to our staff is that Lovemore Banda has become a trustee of Covenant College with particular responsibility for the CEM. Lovemore is a pastor in Petauke (the town 15km from the college), who is a very experienced and able man, is Vice-Chairman of the District Education Board, and is married to a retired deputy-headteacher. Having local Zambians on both the management and the staff of the CEM is both a help to our work and something we should be aiming for in principle.

Marjanne is continuing to concentrate on training the teachers of the community schools. Her main focus has been on the local pre-school. The teachers there are eager to learn, and the school is being transformed. Teachers from the nearby state school were invited to visit, and were overheard saying that it was unbelievable what the children at the pre-school could do, they also said it has made a very significant difference to their latest intake from the pre-school. Evidence from successful community schools in Zambia indicates that the key lies in effective pre-school education.

Dorica is concentrating on the training of teachers at three of our schools. While Solomon continues to visit schools to distribute materials, and to observe lessons – a skill which Marjanne is training him in.

In December 2008 a number of headteachers of our schools were returning from a conference when their minibus had an accident. Two of our teachers were killed, and three injured. We were reminded of our dependence on God, as we saw teachers whom we had worked with and invested time into for years, removed so quickly. We are also reminded that we cannot rest content with so many of our teachers possibly being only nominal Christians.

Therefore it was fitting that our latest teacher-training conference had a strong gospel-emphasis. This took place on the 22^nd and 23^rd of April, with contributions from Marjanne, Dorica, Solomon and me. Among other things the teachers learnt about the character required in a teacher; how to teach the gospel to children (also an opportunity to both remind them of some teaching skills and to urge them to examine themselves whether they are in Christ) and understanding children with different abilities.

Please continue to pray:

• For the staff of the CEM to keep motivated, encouraged and competent in their work.
• For Marjanne as she leads the team of workers and seeks to bring the best out of them.
• For God to save those teachers who are not truly born-again.
• For ability to travel regularly to the schools, and so provide consistent and effective training of the teachers.
• For wisdom to give resources to the schools appropriately.

I have attached a copy of this newsletter, in case that is of any help to you.

Thank you for your support.

Joseph

I have been very negligent in sending out Christian Education Fund newsletters – none since August 2007. Sorry about that; I can assure you that it doesn’t reflect an attitude of thinking the CEF and my recent trip to Zambia don’t need prayer support.

I was in Zambia from 1^st to 17^th April. It was a very encouraging trip, and possibly the most productive of the 7 visits I have made. One of the main reasons for this is that the CEF is in its best state ever. Here’s some news.

The CEF

Marjanne is taking exactly the approach I’ve been advocating for the last couple of years – concentrating on a few local schools and on training teachers. This has meant that the main activities of the CEF recently have been:

1. Weekly visits to Kuunika pre-school to train the teachers. The two teachers there have been very keen, responsive and reliable. It is a great encouragement to see the improvements there. Especially when we consider the great potential there is through pre-schools – the two best schools I have seen in Zambia base their success on pre-school work.
2. Regular visits to three other local schools. This focused approach, building up relationships and giving training that is specific to needs, is much more effective than spreading our resources more thinly. It may sound less impressive than trekking through the bush to give blackboards to 25 schools, but in the long term it is far more fruitful.
3. Conferences to train all the teachers in the 20 schools we support.
4. Visits to all the other schools to assess their needs and maintain contact, but not to distribute materials – this has gone on hold until we have made proper assessments of how the materials are being used and what the greatest needs are. It is all too easy to give materials simply because we see a need, without considering how they will be used; this can even worsen the education being given in the schools.

While I was in Zambia we were able to work together to make progress on a number of fronts:

1. We visited a number of schools to decide what our future relationship with them should be. This included deciding in favour of some we were previously negative about; having to give serious reprimands to three teachers about repeated dishonesty; formally ending our relationship with a few schools – some are no longer suited to the help we are giving, and some are proving unreliable in their use of our help. Although this is disappointing, we hope it acts as a pressure and incentive on other schools to take responsibility and respond rightly to our support.
2. We decided not to set up a school at Covenant College . The main reason for this is that our emphasis, as is stated in our governing document, must be on helping the local community schools and promoting Christian education within them, not providing schooling directly ourselves. While there are advantages to founding and running our own school, we must be helping the locals to provide education for their children, not encouraging the prevalent attitude of looking to the white man to provide for them. We had thought that having our own school would provide a place through which we could train other teachers. However, while this sounds good in theory, it is doubtful that it would be effective in practice. In our current situation, starting a school would distract from the work of regularly visiting schools to provide practical training to teachers, and that is the most effective method for us at present.
3. We interviewed a Christian teacher called Dorica. She has both South African teacher-training, and Zambian mission-training. She is from Eastern Zambia . We need to work out if the time is right to employ another member of staff to train teachers, and if she is the right person. Please pray that we would have wisdom in this matter, and that God would guide Dorica also.
4. We re-wrote the constitution of the CEF and re-structured its management team. This now consists of Marjanne Hendriksen, Mirjam Molenaar, Solomon Lungu and me. With Cammy Macleay being called upon if we have a split vote.
5. We are re-starting distributing materials to schools now that we have reassessed needs. We will continue to provide basic materials such as chalk and stationery to all our schools. We will be providing more to those few schools that have proved themselves particularly reliable and competent. For example, good pre-school materials to Kuunika. Class sets of text-books to Mtumpha where the teachers are both very competent and reliable and are keen to learn from the Bible.
6. A big and urgent need for the CEF is a more suitable vehicle for Marjanne to use (she has been using a rather wrecked car that is not meant for Zambian off-roading). The trustees of Covenant College Zambia Trust agreed that CCZT should buy a vehicle to be used by the college and the schools. CCZT is currently raising funds for this. As the CEF has nearly sufficient funds to buy such a vehicle, we agreed to make them a loan so we can get the vehicle quickly. We expect the vehicle to cost around £12,000.
7. We got a number of other important administrative jobs done, such as re-writing our travelling secretary’s job description to make his work more effective.

Non-CEF news

1. The Covenant College Zambia Trust AGM was long as usual, but that was because there were many important issues to consider. The college is developing rapidly. It was a great encouragement to see the assistant lecturer, Heinrich Zwemstra, and his family settled in and so eminently suitable for the work and situation. The new dormitory for the students is completed, there is now a reliable electricity supply and even internet connection at the college – which transform living conditions. The current students seemed to be a good intake, both in terms of understanding the lectures I gave to them, and their commitment. Some are cycling for 8 hours each way in difficult conditions each week to be at the college.
2. I was very encouraged by the work Phil is doing on the farm to spread good farming techniques to locals, especially current and former students (all pastors are also farmers). The method he is teaching is really a set of principles which puts the protestant work ethic into an African agricultural context. Its seems to have great potential if they have the discipline to put it into practice.
3. I preached at a local village church. Again my visit reminded me what a mixture the Zambian church situation is. There is such a consciousness of God and acknowledgement of him in public life, as well as a hunger to learn. Yet the leadership of the churches is weak and untaught. This emphasises further the importance of the work Covenant College is doing.

Please continue to pray for the work in Zambia . If you would like more information, contact me or see www.zambianmissionsupport.org.

Joseph

Update (May 2008)

Dear all,
 
I have just received the following information which I was unable to include in my latest Zambia news:
 
The CEF held another teacher-training conference on Wednesday (30th April).  One of the difficulties with the work of teacher-training in Zambia has been finding the teachers to be very passive and not taking an active role in their training.  Therefore it was an encouragement for Marjanne and the teachers to be together and see the teachers get more and more involved in the programme; answering questions, thinking, suggestions etc. Also to find that they remember things from the other conferences.
We did much about preparing Bible lessons, but also about lesson planning, Farming God's Way* and about teaching Bible songs.
 
* Covenant College farm is promoting in the local area something called "Farming God's Way".  It is not claiming that this is the way God tells us we must farm, but looks at biblical principles of living responsibly and of stewardship and at how vegetation grows naturally in an African context when there is no human intervention, and then uses this to give farming methods which are an African agricultural version of the Protestant work ethic.
 
Please pray that this conference would help teachers to teach effectively and especially to point the children to Christ.  Also that Marjanne would be enabled to follow up this conference with systematic visiting of the schools involved.
 
Joseph

During the last two years as I have been at London Theological Seminary, it has been interesting and encouraging to discover in church history lectures that many church leaders of the past were involved in founding and running schools – often of an elementary kind in areas where few people were literate and in contexts similar to that in Eastern Zambia. They recognised the importance of this for the health of the church. Paulerspury in Northamptonshire in the mid-eighteenth century had a small school for boys with one teacher – a local weaver; it was probably similar to our schools in Zambia in some ways. One pupil there was particularly inspired by the stories of Columbus, prompting an interest in both travel and languages that would remain throughout his life. That boy – William Carey – went on to become the father of the modern missionary movement. What future missionaries and church-leaders may be pupils in our schools in Zambia?

I expect you remember that we have a new worker for the CEF: Marjanne Hendriksen. As is to be expected of someone arriving in Zambia for the first time and facing such a large and important task, there have been encouragements and discouragements.

One difficulty has been that Mirjam Molenaar, the wife of the principal of Covenant College has had some serious health problems which means she has been unable to help with the schools. After persevering with the very poor Zambian hospitals, she has had to return to the Netherlands for five months.

Anyone in Marjanne’s situation would soon realise she faces a daunting task, the sort where it can be hard to see where to begin. So, for example, Marjanne has found that many teachers will just start a lesson when she arrives to visit the school. Often the teachers don’t prepare their lessons before starting a new day at school. They will just copy a lesson from a book onto the board when she asks to observe a lesson. The children spend much time just waiting. Most of the lessons she observed do not ask any use of the child’s mind; they can just copy, without thinking. She often observes teachers making big mistakes in their lessons without any correction. There is also a problem with a high turnover of teachers in some schools. All these problems reinforce that the most important thing we can do for the schools is provide training for the teachers. Yet most teachers if asked what their school needs will ask for materials, not for training. This just goes to reinforce the point further.

Marjanne comments: “It was an overwhelming experience to visit the schools. You see much need. But when you just have in mind that the teachers are all volunteers and untrained then you are very happy when you also see teachers loving children, having good communication with them during a lesson, and I also saw a few good lessons!!!”

So, rather than getting discouraged, we thank God for giving us such an important task, and for putting Marjanne in a position to do so much good. She is able to visit the schools far more regularly and systematically than has been possible before, and to provide better training.

One example of this is the recent conference to train teachers. This was held in August, run by Marjanne, attended by over forty teachers and was the first time we have been able to run a conference without me being present – that is a great encouragement to me and a big step forward for the CEF. Marjanne described it as very enjoyable as the teachers were keen to learn. She is in a better position now than we have been in the past to monitor and help them in putting what they have learnt into practice.

Marjanne’s experiences confirm the suitability of our long term strategy: providing basic support to just over twenty schools but varying this support according to what we see occurring in each school (we have had to warn one school that it has one last chance to respond to our efforts to help it sort itself out, or we will withdraw support); concentrating on a couple of schools; starting our own school on the Covenant College grounds. To start our own school would be a big commitment and requires much prayer and planning. Nevertheless, in many ways it is far easier to do in Zambia than in the UK, and the potential good it could do is far greater there.

Another encouragement is that one of the schools which has the most keen and teachable teachers is right on the doorstep of the college (a massive benefit when travel in Zambia can be so difficult). Also it is a pre-school – and all the successful schools I have seen in Zambia have based their success on the quality of their pre-school education.

Please join with us in thanking God for these encouragements, and praying for the issues raised in this newsletter.

Joseph

We had 55 teachers at our conference on Monday, which was far more than I expected. They came from 16 of our schools plus from other schools we don't support. I taught them on the attitudes they must have if their schools are to grow. Phil spoke about new methods of farming. We showed them around the farm and they were very impressed with the crops and the animals. On such occasions we must expect that some will listen and respond well, while a large number will go away and forget what they heard. This was illustrated in an annoying way. I had spoken to the teachers about taking care with the resources they have and storing properly what we give them. After this talk they looked through our teacher training library, which was organised into different subject areas. After they had looked through it it resembled a bomb site, with books scattered everywhere carelessly. I gave them a good talking to about this - what is the point of teacher training that is not put into practice? (Remind yourself - what is the point of reading and listening to the Bible if you are not striving every week to put it into practice.)

The last two days I have been lecturing at Covenant College. I have now finished my series of lectures, and it seems to have gone well. We seem to have good quality, committed students at the moment. They have been asking me some testing questions, especially on the Trinity. What advice can any of you give me on this one: at the church of one of the students several women's husbands have become Muslims and are trying to force the women to attend the Mosque and to cut them off from contact with Christians. If the women stand firm, the husbands are likely to marry additional wives (polygamy is common here, especially among Muslims) - in the context of many children per women and abject poverty, such polygamy would be very difficult for the Christian women to cope with. Any suggestions? Tomorrow the students have their exam - I don't think I will make that issue an exam question.

Friday and Saturday we have our trustees' AGM. Please pray that it would be successful, with the right decisions made in a peaceful manner. There are a couple of difficult issues to consider.

After that I'm off to Lusaka. I won't have much to do there - was hoping to go and see the Vic Falls for the 1st time, but it's not possible.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Joseph

Hopefully that has set something of the scene for you (although you have to experience it to take it in). Here are some matters for prayer:

1. I have completed my lectures on Jehovah's Witnesses and started lectures on Roman Catholicism. Please pray that these would be practically helpful and that they would result in people being rescued from these false beliefs. One difficulty is that RC is so varied across the world, and in the bush of Africa can be little different from the formality and ignorance in the Protestant churches, so I need to know how to respond to this situation.

2. Next I will be lecturing on Islam. The churches have lost many people to Islam, especially to the north of Petauke. When asked what they learn at the Mosque, these people reply, "nothing" - it is all in Arabic, which they don't understand, and they are just in it for the food and blankets they get. In other words, the issue is more serious than giving arguments against Islam - there has been a dryness and formality in the churches and a hidden materialism in the people, which needs to be dealt with. The rise of Islam is the symptom, not the cause of the problem. The solution must be the Spirit of God blessing the preaching of the gospel.

3. I have just returned from visiting five community schools. It has been a slightly frustrating experience. All the schools are doing end of term tests. All the tests were of the type which I have tried in the past to move them away from - multiple choice style very easy questions all assessing whether the children have memorised various facts. In most cases there was nothing to assess understanding or whether the children can use what they have memorised, nor their ability to communicate and express what they have learnt. This system eflects the approach to education: memorisation with little understanding and a testing system which is more a normality than a method of assessment and improving teaching.

4. As I visited schools I gave notice of a conference we are planning for Easter Monday. I hope to speak on some basic teaching principles, including addressing the problem I've referred to above. Then Phil will instruct them on a new farming system called "God's way of farming". It includes principles of stewardship and responsibility which are so important but neglected here, and it has resulted in bumper maize crops (no it's not the prosperity gospel). We hope to help the schools make use of this method and teach it to the children.

I hope this e-mail doesn't sound too negative, but there is so much effort by NGOs, charities etc here that is utterly wasted. Until the gospel changes people's hearts and lifestyles the world (and Christians) can throw as much money and time at Africa as it likes without solving the problems.

Tselani Bwino (stay well)

Joseph

Here is some news about the Christian Education Fund and other related matters. Your prayers for these issues would be much appreciated.

I recently received a letter from Solomon Lungu, our travelling secretary, it raised the following issues:

1. A general difficulty for people living in Eastern Province at the moment is the very heavy rainfall. Whereas two years ago people were going hungry due to lack of rain and last year harvests were great due to perfect rain conditions, this year the rain is endangering harvests. It is also washing away homes, bridges and dams. Strangely, the Zambia Society reports that at the same time there is drought in some other parts of Zambia.

2. Kamwankhuku School and Cheuka School have eached expelled a drunkard teacher. I am glad they have done the right thing, which is not always easy to do. Pray for suitable and truly Christian teachers in each school, so the children are provided with godly examples.

3. The Christian and very competent teacher of Chiwizi School, Bornface Zulu is mentally ill. Please pray for his recovery.

4. Teachers are asking for assistance from the CEF with acquiring fertiliser, seed, maize powder etc. We have looked into providing fertiliser and seed in the past, and it is too expensive to manage it on a worthwhile scale for all our teachers. Please pray that they would not be disappointed with this, the schools would pay them properly and we would be able to provide encouragement through gifts of things they cannot purchase for themselves.

I am due to travel to Zambia on Monday 26th March and return on 18th April. Please pray for the following:

1. Preparation of the trip. I am expected to give 20 hours of lectures in my first week there. There are also a number of practicalities to prepare as well as non-Zambia responsibilities such as taking two school assemblies in Hemel on Monday before I fly. Please pray that I would prioritise wisely and get all done.

2. I have been asked to run a 3-4 day conference for the teachers while I am there. I will not be able to do that, and had not expected to run any conference at all. Now I think I may run a small one-day conference. I will have to prepare all this while I am out there. I am thinking of basing it on lessons I learnt while at the Masaiti station of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education last year. This will address problems in the teachers' attitudes by considering the topics: "Teachers not buildings", "Children not test results" and "For God not the world". I also hope that Phil Bailey will show the teachers round the farm and talk about improving methods of farming and nutrition.

3. I hope to visit the schools to observe teaching and give advice, as well as to distribute materials, monitor the situations in the schools and give encouragement. Last year not all the schools were accessible at this stage in the seasons, due to rivers etc. So, how many schools we will be able to visit with this years' rains is unclear - please pray that we would be able to visit those most important to visit, and would get neither ourselves or the vehicle stuck in mud or water. Also, please pray that I would be able to watch their normal every-day teaching and give helpful advice - there are cultural difficulties that can get in the way of this.

4. I will be preparing for the arrival of Marjanne Hendriksen, who is due to arrive in Zambia in May to work full time for the CEF. Please pray that I would recognise what are the most important things to prepare for her, and that she would quickly understand the (often confusing) Zambian Community Schools system.

5. I have been asked to lecture at Covenant College on Islam, Jehovah's Witnesses and Roman Catholicism. These are the three biggest threats to the church in terms of other religions. The Christians are particulaly getting alarmed by Islam, which is growing at a surprising rate. Please pray that these lectures will help the pastors to guard their flocks, warn against dangers and bring the gospel powerfully to those deluded by these false beliefs. (Praise God that Solomon tells me a man in his village who left the baptists to join the Muslims has recently returned to Christ.)

6. Covenant College Trust AGM is on 13 and 14 April. Pray that all trustees would arrive at the meeting and we would be given wisdom, especially as we consider who should be the new principal. Please also pray for the Molenaars as they provide hospitality to trustees and other visitors to the college at the time, especially as the building of their house has not yet been completed.

Joseph

I don't have much news about the Christian Education Fund, but there are a few matters for prayer. So this will be a shorter newsletter than normal.

1. Firstly the most important matter. Our acting principal and his wife (Cees and Mirjam Molenaar) have come into contact with a Christian lady with years of teaching experience who has been looking for ways in which this can be put into use in a missionary context. She is interested in moving out to Zambia to head up the CEF, and has brought this matter to her church. We really need such a person, as the teachers need regular training and consistent personal input. We also need someone on site who can develop the CEF in the right direction. It is not realistic to expect Mirjam Molenaar to do it, as she must support her husband, as acting principal of Covenant College and look after and teach her two children, as well as cope with the many and various difficulties of living in the bush in Zambia. Please pray for wisdom for the trustees of Covenant College, that we would know whether this lady is the right person to do this job, and that she would know the best way she should serve God. Please pray also that if it is right, the various practicalities such as accommodation, financial support, work permits etc would be sorted out. If she does come, we also need to make sure that her work is rightly focused and supported so that it promotes in the most effective ways the long term goals of the CEF (to promote Christian Education in the Petauke area, especially in community schools, and to support and aid education in community schools in the Petauke area).
   
2. Maybe I was not correct to call that the most important matter. Phil Bailey, who is the CEF Petauke area representative, reminded me today that we still have teachers who are not true Christians. Much has been done to bring the gospel to them. Please pray that God would use this and they would be born again, and then God would use them to give a truly Christian education, including being Christian examples to the children and their parents.
   
3. Life in Zambia is full of difficulties and plans rarely work out as expected. Please pray that despite this Mirjam would be able to visit schools and give advice and training to the teachers.
   
4. Pray for the teachers at Penje Penje, that despite the difficulties with visiting them, they would continue to work at the self-training plan they were given this August.
   
5. The work of supplying the schools is continuing, with Solomon distributing the stationery and general supplies the schools need. He is also distributing clothes and soap to the teachers, and is awaiting a new supply of cheap mosquito nets for teachers' families. We have abandoned the idea of supplying all teachers with fertilizer, as it is difficult to distribute, and would cost 6m Kwacha per year (nearly £1,000). Remember that the idea behind this personal support for the teachers is because the villages are unable to support them properly. They receive nowhere near enough to survive on (sorry to end a sentence with a preposition in a newsletter about education). The worker is worthy of his wages.
   
6. One reason for not spending significant amounts of money on fertilizer is that we want to save up money for the future possibility of building our own school. I mentioned in the last letter that this is necessary if we are to have a truly Christian school, as the government may intervene and take over any community schools which it notices we have developed significantly.
   
7. 7. A non-CEF matter: Cees has asked that we should pray for the sorting out of accommodation for his family. They have been living in most inconvenient circumstances until now (that is an understatement), but are having a house built on-site at Covenant College. If you were in Zambia you would see the need to uphold all such practical matters in prayer. I think our way of life in the UK deceives us into thinking we don't need prayer for such things.
   

Thanks for your support.

Joseph

Introduction to the CEF

In 2003 the Christian Community Schools Association was founded by David Fraser, who was founder and principal of Covenant College. It gave support to community schools in the Petauke district of Eastern Province, Zambia. Village committees have set up these schools, usually because there is no state school near enough for the children to attend. They tend to meet in mud huts and have very little in the way of resources – maybe a few books borrowed from other schools and some exercise books and pencils. Their teachers are nearly always untrained, and may not even have completed all the grades at school themselves. The CCSA faced some difficulties and in 2005 I, with the agreement of others involved, disbanded it to be replaced by the Christian Education Fund. Its aims are: to promote Christian education in community schools in the Petauke area; and to aid, support and encourage more effective education in community schools in the Petauke area. We believe that because life is to be lived for God’s glory, the education children need must reflect that and so specifically Christian education should be provided. It is also valuable to help community schools even if they are not providing a Christian education we would be fully happy with. Teaching children to read and think can bring spiritual benefits, not least enabling them to study the Bible. Also, helping the poor is a biblical emphasis in itself.

The CEF provides basic materials for twenty schools. These include blackboards, exercise books, reading books, stationery etc. It also provides some teacher-training, such as running conferences, having a teacher-training library and enrolling teachers on a Christian correspondence course. We also have chosen a priority school which we hope to concentrate on helping.

The CEF is governed by a board of advisors. On this board are: Phil Bailey (farm director at Covenant College), Eugene Kalunga (Zambian pastor, headmaster of a Christian school and trustee of Covenant College), Solomon Lungu (our travelling secretary and trustee of Covenant College), Cammy Macleay (teacher from Scotland who regularly visits Zambia), Leslie Zulu (Zambian pastor and teacher in a local state school) and me (trustee of Covenant College and former teacher).

Latest trip to Zambia

Thank God for his help in this visit, which seemed to be a great success. I visited the Christian school run by Eugene Kalunga. It was a real encouragement to see the committed teachers and the happy and orderly atmosphere among the (around 200) children, and to meet those who are so keen on Christian education – and all this started ten years ago as just a few children in Eugene’s house. Both Eugene and I hope that his teachers will provide training for our teachers in the future. It is so important to have the maximum indigenous involvement. Please pray for this, as something has already got in the way of plans for these teachers to visit Petauke this year.

I also held a meeting with the teachers and committee of Penje Penje – the school we hope to make our priority school. It was a great encouragement to see their positive attitude and appreciation that this will mean work and training for them, not just having gifts dished out to them. Please pray that God would save any involved in this school who are not truly born again, and that they would be committed to the programme we hope to put in place for them.

The main reason for the trip was to hold three one-day conferences in different venues. These considered issues such as: principles for Christian education; planning lessons; training yourself; teaching English and improving your own English. Over 70 people attended these and seemed to be greatly helped by them. Please pray that they would really put into practice what they were taught. Please also pray for God to work in them through the evangelistic books each teacher was given.

General Issues

1. Cammy Macleay is currently in Zambia to continue the work. Please pray for him to be kept safe and that God would overcome all obstacles to the work. When in Zambia we are constantly reminded that we do not know what tomorrow will bring and all is in God’s hands – the reminders of this seem much more obvious and frequent there than they do here. I have given him a long list of jobs to do, with the aim of ensuring that our work gels together and fits our long-term plan as much as possible.
2. I must try to find a cost-effective way to send books to Zambia. Then we plan to send English grammar guides to each school. I also have obtained (for free – I am very keen on getting good deals) over 500 copies of a book called “Miracles of Jesus” for the children to use, but need a way of getting them there.
3. I hope to run a conference for training teachers this August, but have faced some problems with organising this. Given the number of things that need to be sorted, not least the venue, I am concerned that I should be able to make preliminary plans for this as soon as possible. Please pray for the way to be made clear for this.
4. Pray for the right staff to be employed and retained at the schools. Some of the teachers are Roman Catholics and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Although this means we have great evangelistic opportunities through our work with the schools, obviously the children need teachers who are not God’s enemies. Some schools have also faced difficulty keeping the teachers as they do not have formal systems for paying the teachers and rely on contributions from the parents (which are likely to be food rather than money, and often do not occur at all).
5. Pray for the teachers to train themselves in the ways they were taught at the conferences. We will get nowhere if the teachers have a dependency attitude and do not take responsibility for their own training.
6. Solomon Lungu has the task of visiting the schools to deliver materials, monitor what they are doing and act as a channel of communication. This involves him in many difficulties, not least travelling very long distances on a rickety Zambian bicycle. Please pray that God would encourage him and cause his enthusiasm for the work to continue.

Non-CEF News

1. The trustees of Covenant College have their Annual General Meeting at the end of July. Please ask God to help in all preparations for this and to give wisdom for the many decisions that need to be made.
2. Cees Molenaar is a new lecturer at Covenant College. He arrived a few weeks ago with his wife, Miriam, and two young children. There must be many difficulties for them to face as they settle into this new and strange environment, and the Devil will attack this good work. Any anxieties they may have will not have been helped by one of their children being spat at by a spitting cobra this week. It took an hour to get him to the hospital, and then the hospital could only monitor him.
3. Charles Mvula was one of the first students of Covenant College and was a great support to David Fraser. His wife’s name was Rhoda; he had several children and played a leading role in a local church. Last year I attended the wedding of an orphan he had brought up, who was marrying another ex-student of the college. It was such a happy, lively and loud occasion. Charles died from Malaria last Sunday.

I spent from late July to mid September in Zambia, with my main focus being the work for schools. Here are some of the things I, along with much help from several others, got done.

Visiting Schools - Solomon Lungu (the travelling secretary), Abigail Brown (a primary school teacher from the UK) and I visited sixteen of the eighteen schools we are supporting. This was mainly to publicise our teacher-training conference and to interview the teachers in order to plan an effective conference. One of the main benefits of doing this is that the teachers see that we are concerned to help them and to provide training that is tailored to their needs. This is a great encouragement to them. This is very important, as the teachers get very discouraged, very few are paid and there is drought in Eastern Zambia, so there is a danger of losing teachers. You may have noticed that we used to have twenty-four member schools, but above I only mentioned eighteen – because some have had to close due to teachers leaving. Therefore please pray that the teachers would continue in their work, and that their physical needs would be provided. I would like in the future to make some contributions towards their living expenses.

We also took the opportunity to distribute materials to the schools. Now all the schools we support have proper blackboards, chalk, blackboard rulers and pencil sharpeners. They also have exercise books and pencils or pens for every pupil. In addition we gave some primary maths equipment to some of the schools. I think that those of you who gave money to the association would agree that it was well spent. The schools are certainly very happy with what they received. As we bought our supplies in Zambia, we have kept the costs very low. For example, we purchased exercise books at less than two pence per book.

Teachers’ Conference

(a) During the last week of August we held a four day conference for training the teachers. Thirty five teachers from most of the schools we support attended this. In addition three teachers from two schools we had not previously had contact with attended. They had heard our advertisement on the radio, which went out to a large area for over a week at a cost of £1.20.

(b) The main theme at the start of the conference was “what is Christian education?” which I covered in three talks. In such an organisation it is to be expected that many professing Christians are not really born again, and many present are very badly taught. Therefore I thought it very important to begin with an explanation of what true Christianity is, in which I tried to bring the gospel to them. In the event this turned out to be even more important than I had expected, with half the teachers present being Roman Catholics or Jehovah’s Witnesses. As a result I slanted my teaching to address their errors and stumbling blocks they put before the truth. Please pray for these teachers, that they would remember and think on what they heard and God would use it to draw them to himself. They should all soon be receiving these lectures in written form.

(c) I expect that these teachers had little conception of what a truly Christian approach to education is, so please pray that they would remember, understand and put into practice what they heard. One true Christian state school teacher who attended told me afterwards that he was trying to put Christian principles into practice in his teaching and his witness at school, but the conference showed him a whole new dimension to how he should and could do this.

(d) Abigail Brown gave lectures on practical general teaching hints. These focused on planning and assessment, which were clearly seen to be needs when we visited schools. The teachers were able to take away specific examples of different types of planning. Please pray that they would use these to plan organised lessons with clear aims. She also gave several lectures on teaching literacy. These both gave the principles they needed as well as very practical advice. When we asked teachers what areas they needed help in, this area was mentioned by all. It is also in many ways the most important area for the good of the churches – we need children to be able to read the Bible. Therefore please pray that as a result of the conference children would be better able to read the Bible, and would do so for themselves and to their families.

(e) I gave a lecture entitled “what is a good teacher?” in which we studied the spiritual qualities and character the teacher should have, as well as some very practical outworkings of these in the classroom. Please pray that the teachers would have a Christian character which flows from being born-again.

(f) We held a workshop for the teachers to share good practice with each other. I hope that from this the teachers both learnt from each others’ experience, and were encouraged to do so further in the future. We must try to remove the mentality of having to rely on white “experts” for everything.

(g) We also split the conference into two groups of differing abilities for English workshops. Many of them need their English to be considerably improved if they are to effectively teach the children in the official language of Zambia. Please pray for this, and that they would use the means available to them to practise their English.

(h) The teachers also enjoyed some activities which gave relief from listening to lectures. These included Abigail showing them how to use 100 squares and other items of Mathematics equipment they had been provided with, as well as a couple of numeracy and literacy games from me.

(i) I wrote an RE syllabus for grade 1, which was presented to the teachers, and examples were given of how to teach it in practice. Please pray that the teachers would make good use of it. All the teachers requested that similar syllabi would be written for subsequent grades. Please pray that this would be done – I must either find time to do this, or someone else to help (any offers?).

(j) The teacher-training library was launched (see below) and many books were borrowed by the teachers.

(k) All schools represented at the conference were provided with a set of “Go Teach” materials to use in RE. All teachers were also given a Chichewa Bible, a set of Bible reading notes and the first booklet of the Covenant College correspondence course (on which they have all now been enrolled). What great potential there is, as Roman Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses, nominal Christians and true Christians read the Bible (many would not previously have possessed one) and study the course.

 

Teacher-Training Library

(a) A library was set up to help the teachers train themselves and prepare lessons. They may read the books at Covenant College or borrow them and use them in their schools.

(b) The library includes the following categories: curriculum information, general teaching advice, Christian education, literacy, Mathematics, Science, History, RE, Life Skills, Miscellaneous.

(c) In addition the teachers have free access to all the books in the Covenant College library.

(d) Please pray that the teachers would use the library to improve their teaching and for their own spiritual growth.

Long-term planning

(a) My next task was to formulate a long-term plan for the Christian Community Schools Association. This resulted in the reorganisation into the Christian Education Fund which you can read of in the eponymous document you should have received.

(b) I am informed that some people have been unhappy about this change. I suspect that these include the previous executive committee, who may not like losing their position, but who were not functioning in practice. Please pray that those involved would see that the changes will improve the support for the schools in reality.

Visiting new schools

(a) One of the methods of the CEF is to promote Christian education by seeking out schools with potential and making them our priority as we give support. Therefore, I had to visit schools to help decide which schools should be chosen for priority status. Obviously this was done in conjunction with Solomon and Phil’s knowledge about the schools.

(b) A few new schools had come to our attention, partly through the conference. I visited these to see if we should support them, and was impressed by what I saw.

(c) One of the things that these visits emphasised is that we have concentrated on the teachers in the past, and neglected to give sufficient attention to the school committees. I was impressed by the commitment and competence of the committees I met.

(d) We seem to be making good progress with choosing priority schools. Please pray that we would make the right decision, and thus wisely use the resources committed to us. Also pray that the schools would respond rightly to this – both those chosen and those not (I hope it will prompt them to strive to become the next schools to be chosen for priority help).

Please also pray that we would have a good working relationship with these schools that are new to us.