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Thanks to the generosity of local parents & overseas friends, we are now using the first bus reconditioned for us by the staff of Tradesgates Motors (a local community garage).

We’ve finally said good-bye to our battered old bus, which is now being dismantled for spare parts, and all our children are revelling in using a vehicle which doesn’t break down every couple of days.

We’ve still another £1,200 / $1,500 to raise to pay for the second bus we need, but we are confident that, come the new year, there will be two Mukwashi buses trundling up and down the Mumbwa Road several times a day.

Last Friday, we held a graduation celebration for our Grade 12 learners and their parents as they reached the end of the time at Mukwashi Trust School.

Many of them have been learning at Mukwashi for over ten years, and those who started in the Early Years have been here fifteen years: it’s time for them to take the next big step forward into work or further education.

Each learner was presented with a ‘certificate of completion‘ which will be their passport to employment, and some also received a ‘statement of excellence‘. All will sit their national Grade 12 examinations later this month, and those who do well will be able to move on to university – if they can find a sponsor.

Here are our Grade 12 graduates with their teachers.

And with their proud parents, who also joined us for a celebration meal.

We are very proud of Tamika Simpamba in Grade 9.

At the end of last term, she was selected to play for the Lusaka province under 17s ladies’ football team in the national championships.

Tamika lives in the compound of mud houses opposite the school, so Ms Sakuwaha presented her with the boots, jersey, tracksuit & ball she needs to play in the provincial team.

The final term of this year is now underway – with its focus on the national exams.

During the holiday, we said some sad ‘good-byes’ to three teachers. Ms Angela Nkonge, Ms Monica Mbosha & Mr Nice Sichinga have all moved on to government schools in other provinces – we wish them well in their new positions.

We have appointed their replacements, and welcome Ms Nelia Nkhoma, Ms Miniva Nshingwa & Mr Lameck Mvula to the Mukwashi family.

Lameck is responsible for teaching Agricultural Science to all grades in the secondary section, and Nelia & Miniva have joined our team of primary teachers.

After over a year’s hard work, our amazing new toilets & showers are finally open. 

Our learners are now using twenty new toilets, four long urinals, four long sinks, four drinking fountains and eleven showers. There are special sections for primary boys, primary girls, secondary boys, secondary girls and for our learners who use wheelchairs.

The amazing roof harvests all the rainwater and uses it to flush the toilets. It also means there are no dark corners, no bad smells and no need for any electricity. 

Last Saturday, our Agriculture teacher, Mr Sichinga, took all our Grade 8 learners on a special study trip to Mr Special Lungu’s famous avocado farm.

We’ve just bought twenty young avocado trees from Mr Special for our orchard, and this was a chance for our Grade 8s to learn how to plant and care for them.

If these Grade 8s look after the trees properly for the next few years, by the time they are in Grade 12, they will be picking fresh avocados for everyone to enjoy with their school meals.

Once a month on a Friday, there’s a special activity for the whole school.

We often invite guests to come and tell everyone about their work and career – so all our learners know the possibilities open to them if they work hard. 

This month we had invited a special visitor from the police.

You should have seen the look in some of the children’s eyes when they heard that someone could go to prison for two years for stealing something as small a pen.

This term, in their Agricultural Science lessons, our Grade 12s have been learning about growing bananas.

They’ve just planted 100 banana suckers in our garden, and will nurture them right through the year. Hopefully, they’ll have harvested the fruit before they start their G12 exams.

Here’s Miyoba Mulenga planting one of her suckers very carefully, with Mr Sichinga watching to make sure she does it perfectly.

Our horticultural officer, Mr Simakwama, has also recently planted 73 fruit trees (oranges, guavas, tangelos, nectarines, melons and mangos) so that all our secondary Agricultural Science pupils can learn both practically and academically. 

In a few years’ time, there should be fresh fruit for all our learners almost every day of the year.

to Warren Hambache – the first learner to have started in the Mukwashi Early Years’ class, and then to have progressed through Reception, then right through our twelve Primary and Secondary grades, and finally to have gained his National Certificate at the end of Grade 12. 

After fourteen years in the Mukwashi classrooms, Warren is now hoping to become a businessman. 

He says, ‘I want to be trading in and outside the country. Business is the most interesting occupation I have seen, because it helps us to explore the world’.

Each term. a different group of our learners visit the local community to read with the children who are unable to attend school.

This term, it was the turn of our Grade 8 girls to go with Ms Sikamikami & Mr Hara. They took our new Africa Storybooks to read – translating the stories into the children’s local languages as they did. They left a black and white copy of the story they read with every child they met.

Our learners enjoy this activity with a passion. It is especially valuable for those from more affluent homes who don’t have many opportunities to visit the poorer parts of our community.