A quick summary of 2023
Throughout 2023, we provided 53 fully free places and 20 half-price places to children living with the greatest disadvantages. Gratifyingly, all our ‘bursary children’ in the three examination grades passed their national exams.
In January, we doubled the size of our orchard; in February, we added a second old bus to our school transport service, installed solar power in the school office, and equipped the office with two new large laptops and a new printer – these have made a huge difference to our efficiency and effectiveness.
in April, we installed irrigation in our large market garden and fruit orchard; and, in July, we harvested our first crop of bananas.
However, we struggled for water in the September – December hot season: this was due to the falling water table in our area which has come from climate change. We urgently need to replace our 20 metre bore-hole with an 80 metre bore-hole to ‘future-proof’ our water supply, and we need to install a solar pump too – but these are expensive tasks.
During 2023, our numbers increased to 530 learners – with the Primary section full to capacity most of the time. Back in 2020, we set ourselves a target of growing from 300 to 510 learners by the end of 2023 – so we are pleased to have exceeded this.
We had some big surprises in Term Three: one of Grade 10 girls was selected to play for the Zambia U17 football team; five of our Upper Secondary learners won an international poetry competiton; and, best of all, our exam results continued to improve – even though our learners increasingly come from the most challenging circumstances locally, and many have had very disrupted schooling. Our 96% pass rate at the pivotal Grade 9 national certificate is a testament to our teachers ability, creativity and sheer hard-work.
In October, we set a target of raising £8,000 to purchase the basic tools, resources and equipment we needed due to our increasing numbers. Thrillingly, 46 friends and supporters in twelve different countries helped us to achieve this.
A gift on Christmas Day took us over the £8,000 mark and we managed to purchase what we needed before the new school year began.
Latest news
Your ‘regular gift’ will fund our ‘Free Places’
All ‘regular gifts’ (monthly, quarterly or annual donations) are used to fund the 55 free places and 20 ‘half-price’ places we provide for local children who live with the most acute disadvantages. They are orphans or their family income is less than £25 ($30 / €28) per month.
A free place covers all the costs of a child’s food, travel, books, materials, equipment, trips, tuition and a pair of new, good-quality school shoes. To provide all this costs us an average of about £20 ($28 / €24) per month for each child.
