Patricia at Kings College

It is a delight to have Patrica Silenga from Zambia here with us here at King's College for the week. Patricia was officially welcomed to King's College at Tuesday's assembly together with Humphrey Mbwili from ChildFund, Zambia who was visiting for the day. It has been a busy time for Patricia since her arrival. She has been hosted by the wonderful girls of Middlemore House who have made every effort to make Patricia welcome. Thanks so much to Kate Withy and Amanda de Latour who have helped Patricia settle in. Patricia is staying with them on-site and so has had a taste of what it means to enjoy boarding life here at King's. Patricia spoke to 450 students on two consecutive days at our daily Chapel services about life and school in Zambia.

For the students it was a firsthand opportunity to hear from someone who lives and teaches in Zambia and learn about what it's like. The students were absorbed by Patricia's stories as well as her wonderful Zambian accent. Since the beginning of the week Patricia has been observing classes, speaking in them and today she was interviewed together with our Chaplain, Rev Warner Wilder by Shine TV about the work of ChildFund. We're so thankful as a school to ChildFund for making Patricia's visit possible and for enriching our College life with the chance to connect with the children of this rural school in Zambia. We are thoroughly looking forward to the rest of Patricia's stay and for the ongoing connection with the Global Schools Programme.

Chibunda's been busy!

Heaps of new experiences for our intrepid adventurer including Kelly Tarlton's, paddling at the beach, church on Sunday and walking in the bush.

On an educational note - perhaps the most insightful and transferable observation I've heard for a long time - "In Zambia the teachers do all the talking, in NZ the students do much of the talking"

Such Little Time

Wow!
What a very busy and tiresome week. It feels like Chibunda came and left our school like a speeding bullet. It has been a real pleasure having her and Humphrey at Red Hill School. The students here were all so curious and questions were fired left right and centre. They were enthusiastic about sharing their culture through song and dance and this really came through at our welcome assembly.

Chibunda got to experience other teachers in action and I am sure she grasped all the methodologies and strategies that were used at various levels, ages and abilities. It has been a memorable short time, and I only wish it could have been longer. You have left some good memories with my family, the school, and especially my class.

We will miss you heaps.

Arohanui Julie, Red Hill and E2

Skiing time guys!

its always humphrey and i on my blog, we would like to here from you guys too and share the fun. i think my staying is educative and adventurous, its like going around the would in one week. Orewa is other wonderfull place Chibunda is stuck in, i feel like has everything you guys are missing. it is really a great place and the people are really kind and lovely. WE WENT SKIING! WOO! We attended an assembly at red beach school where Sue teaches and the programme was all being run by learners, it was so amazing seeing children talking about forces and motion having to do with the bike inventions. later after the assembly, we rushed for rangitahi fuction at redhill school. the fuction went on well good and well organised programme. the theme was working together with our youths. the function was so eductive and cultural, wish you guys were here. MISS U ALL.

LOVELY PAPAKURA

After a long drive from Rotorua with all that smell i slept like a baby in the car. We missed the cultural performance but had to see the mud pool, hot water coming out from these openings with smoke all over the the place. Papakura is really a good place to be with smiling faces every where. The first day was good. We had assembly in the morning and Humphrey and i were welcomed we great performances from pupils from different age groups. We had a chance to meet other teachers and to see the environment like in classrooms. Humphrey and i went to Julie's class where we sat and watch the teaching. She is really a good teacher and I am going to learn a lot of stuff from her. The learners were good and participating very good but kept on greeting me with hi here, there and a lot of questions about Zambia. The questions were about pupils from Zambia like how long they have to walk to school, what age is the first year, the president and so on. I stayed in Julie's class today and will have my observation tomorrow from other classes. The reason i stayed in her class was that i wanted to see all what was on the timetable and get used to the pupils. the experience was great and productive, educative and very exciting.

Love from Chibunda and Julie

Chillin' out in Kune

Patricia riding the horse.

Barabara and the twin lambs.

I am amazed at the teaching I have seen with Bridget in room one and I had a good time visiting Room 2 this afternoon. The children had so many questions to ask and we run out of time at the end of the day to answer them all. The welcome into the school this morning was very warm (the school put on another Powhiri for me). The weather is warm today. I have no more chills. We are getting ready to go to the mountain tomorrow. Will I ski? From here to there..... I will try!!!


I wish the way of teaching here could be the way of teaching in Zambia, I think it could help us make children appreciate aducation and make a big change in their lives. I was amazed by the level the children in room one were learning at.


Yesterday morning we went to church, I was blessed at church and I am very popular... everybody is inviting me for dinner at their homes (Bridget is worried she won't get to spend any time out side of the classroom with me!!!). And we are not having time with Jason. My visit to the farm was amazing, I really enjoyed the warm welcome by Bridget's Mum and Dad and I really enjoyed the roast dinner. We saw Barbara the pet sheep with her twin lambs and I was amazed at the way the dog listened to the different sounds of the whistle and rounded the sheep up in different directions. I rode the horse and was very nervous but it was really good. We went round the farm and up to the river, it was 'TREMENDOUS'!!!


I think we should utilise the chance to really aquire the strategies and then think of ways to use them in Zambia to help a child. We really need to share the experiences that we are seeing in the classrooms with ourselves here and then back in Zambia.


All our Love,


Patricia and Bridget

Time to say hello again!

Well after a few visa hiccups, our friends from Zambia finally arrived in the wee hours of Friday morning. Patricia, Chibunda, Kafuko, Jimmy and Humphrey survived the 24 hour flight via South Africa and Australia, to the chilly winter evening in Auckland. Sue, Sonia, Laura and myself greeted them, relieved to see their smiling faces walk through the gates....

Friday was a day to acclimatise to this new land they were in, with a walk around the domain, the museum....and a few coffees and cokes to keep tired eyes awake. They came into the ChildFund office in the afternoon to introduce themselves, get to know our fantastic team here in Auckland. After some cake, laughter and sharing, we headed down to the beach for fish'n'chips....however, the chilly southerly changed our direction into the curry restaurant - which was a good move.

Earlier start on Saturday, with much fresher faces today as the jet lag begins to wear off, we head to Papakura Marae for a powhiri for our Zambian guests. Julie and the team at Redhill Primary kindly arranged this for us. It was a moving and spiritual welcome, with Humphrey from ChildFund Zambia saying that it felt very close to home for him. The symbols, the carvings, the ancestry and the spiritual importance all had very close ties to Zambian traditions.

And day 2 in New Zealand even saw a piece on the maori tv news that evening - click on this link

So now the team has dispersed around the country - Kafuko is with Cheryl in Greymouth, Patricia with Bridget (and Dan) in Ohakune, Jimmy in Hamilton with Elzette and Chibunda in Papakura with Julie. And Humphrey is trying to get around to visit them all....

So watch this space - the teachers will take it from here and fill in the blog daily to keep us all up to date with the various adventures around the country.

Sally