Another week has unbelievably whizzed by already. We continue to have Fridays off together and have spent a lovely day resting so far. Unfortunately Jon has been a bit under the weather this week and has spent most of the day sleeping :-)
It has been another action packed week! This week at youth we decided to do something a little bit different and based on the idea of a 'progressive supper' we asked teachers living on site to help us host a 'safari snacks' evening where students got into groups and went to different teachers houses for different snacks. We had a brilliant time indulging in peach cobbler, ice cream and coffee!! Each teacher hosted a group of between 8-12 students for 30 mins and played a game with them too. I think youth group continues to be a great opportunity for the students to take their minds off of study and spend time together. Especially as the grade 12's and other secondary students head towards exam period!
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| One of the students 'enjoying' the mints! |
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| My group :-) |
This week we enjoyed Amano's first ever Public Speaking Competition. This was an inter-house school competition. Nearly all of the primaries took part either reciting a short poem or choosing a subject of interest to talk about for a few minutes. Wow, I think it is a real glimpse of what it will be like to be a Mum as I watched our dorm girls perform their short poems. So proud of them!!!
In the evening I went along to watch the secondaries, unfortunately Jon was enjoying the inside of his eyelids as he was still feeling sick! The event was a formal occasion and it was lovely to see all of the secondaries looking smart and beautiful! There was a great atmosphere of nerves and anticipation and I really was not expecting such an incredibly high standard from the students, especially for a first time event and the fact that many of them have been studying so hard for their exams. Again, it was SUCH a delight to witness the incredible talents of our students. There were 9 speakers in total and wow, they did such a good job! They each had to choose from a pre-chosen list of topics. Some included; 'real learning occurs outside of the classroom', 'Children shouldn't watch television' (which was very funny as the student was later questioned "do you believe everything you have just said?" to which he replied with a confident "yes!" only to then be questioned "Do you watch a lot of of TV yourself?" to which he confidently replied "Yes!" haha). I came home that evening feeling so inspired and passionate about the talents of our students. They really have such potential to make positive change in Zambia, they really are the next generation!
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| Ethan talking about Rastafarianism |
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| Tarisai and his anti-tv talk! |
Wednesday morning Jon did a brilliant assembly about our trip to Masaiti with the Grade 10&11's. He produced a great power point of pictures which some really enjoyed (others not so because of the embarrassing pictures!!). Some of the students stood up to share about their experience at Masaiti and it was encouraging to hear them sharing about how they learnt more about themselves, their friends and God. Jon shared a very poignant and heartfelt message as he talked about what we had learnt regarding 'living by faith'. It reminded me of how much we have been through here in Zambia. How tough we found it in the first year, settling in etc and how often we have had to live by faith and trust God in so many different areas. And now as we move closer to a new period of our lives, looking to the future in England we continue to learn what it really means to trust and know that He is in control of our lives. This week I have been looking at and memorising Psalm 91:1, 'He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty'. Woop Woop!
And last but not least, Mr Scarecrow! I think some of the youth think I've gone nuts as I suggested making a scarecrow, to some who have never heard of a scarecrow the concept is quite bonkers. But nevertheless, we had great fun yesterday making Mr Scarecrow and putting him next to one of the dorm parents vegetable garden :-)
