While I love being here in Zambia and doing what we are doing, sometimes the heartache feels unbearable.  I feel this way, and then I remember that the heartache that I feel must be small compared to the people who live it everyday.
     People often disappoint. I can’t understand why adults pull the children that they are caring for out of loving learning environments and opt for environments where there are 80 kids crammed in a classroom, one small book shared by 3 students who are all crammed together at one small desk and a teacher with no supplies other than a few broken pieces of chalk.  Yet, some adults choose to do this.
      We have had a few families do this recently. It was 2 families who were initially upset because their children didn’t have sponsors yet. Ironically, after two of these kids were sponsored, the families forced the children to leave and go to a local Basic school. These schools are exactly as I described above. Additionally, they have no music, sports or technology. Children are in tears because they don’t want to leave Appleseed, one young lady even asked Mary if she could live with her instead of her big sister. Mary said, yes, while the sister said, no. I know that it is just a few adults who are making these choices for the kids that they are responsible for, and at the same time that this is happening, we have new families taking their children out of local Basic Schools and transferring to Appleseed, willing to pay fees because the see that there is a huge difference. Those who have pulled their kids, have never been to our school or attended any parent meetings. Regardless, we have become attached to these children. We have been witness to their physical, emotional and academic growth. We have come to love them. So, we will visit these few families this weekend to see the children and discuss with the families their reasons for transferring their kids. We hope that once they know what Appleseed can offer in terms of academics, that they will allow the children to return.
     Mary is also sad about this, but, she is quite used to this type of behavior from adults. She tells me, “Joy, there are so many children who need our services, and families who want it, you have to let these ones go.” But, it is more difficult for me. I have not yet become accustomed to accepting the plight of people here, keeping with the attitude that, “This is just life.”

My sadness this morning is partially about these particular children, but it also goes deeper. As I said, Zambians are so accustomed to bad things happening, that they are much more accepting than I. 
I get angry. I am saddened and angered as I write this. I just received news that another person whom I have come to know and care deeply for, has passed away.
    Shelly was a nanny for a little girl on the block. She was also a St. John’s Home Health volunteer and just an all-around good lady. The average life span in Zambia is the 2nd shortest in the world. I’ve seen different statistics, but it hovers around 48 years old. Shelly didn’t make it to that. She was 45. To me, the story of her death is an atrocity.
     Shelly had a stroke a few weeks ago. She was recuperating at home and we were working on getting a physical therapist to work with her.  Then, last week, she was having difficulty breathing. She contacted the family whom she works for and they did everything that they could to help. They got her to a hospital, where they were asked for $300. They paid it and Shelly was admitted. Next, the hospital personnel said that she had to go to a different hospital for tests that could not be done where she was. Nothing is free here and transportation would have cost as well. Our friend Jim arranged for the St. John ambulance to pick Shelly up and take her to the other hospital. I learned today that the hospital has a “high cost” area and a “low cost” area. Shelly, evidently was in the “low cost.” Here, she did not have a bed or a room. When our friends, her employer, went to visit they found Shelly on the floor with no blankets. They quickly brought a mattress and blankets and spent all day yesterday with her. They were told that she had pneumonia and needed the basic antibiotic, erythromycin. But, unbelievably, hospitals do not provide medicine! At least not in the “lost cost” area.  SO, this morning, Jim sent a driver to the pharmacy to get the medication. Shelly had died by the time the medicine arrived.
     People should not have to live or die like this. In addition, people should not have to accept it as just the way it is. I know that Zambians do this as a means of survival. They cannot dwell, as it is their reality. I have come to realize as well, that when people stay in an environment for a very long time, they come to accept these things as well. I hope that I never become accustomed to this. While I can't imagine being numb to it, I know that it will be time to leave when I stop getting emotional and angry at these situations.

While we love going home to California to visit friends and family, it is always difficult to leave our friends and students at Appleseed. Life for the poorest Zambians is harder than most of us can imagine, yet they are so very accepting of their situations. We returned to find many changes, both good and bad. 

The first thing we were told was that our student, Lucky, had been ‘sent back the village.’ Lucky’s mother died last year and he had been staying with an aunt and uncle in Bauleni. The uncle decided that he did not want to care for Lucky anymore, so he put him on a bus and sent him to other relatives, over 8 hours away. At the time, Lucky was told that he was going for a visit, but when he arrived he was told that he would not be returning to Lusaka. He cried and told them that he is supposed to be in school. Our hearts are breaking for this young man. He had never attended school before he began at RHO Appleseed. He was learning and thriving. He was happy. He loved helping around the school and with the smaller children. We are told that he has made a call to his uncle, asking to come back. The uncle said no. Since then, two of our teachers, John and Vincent, who are also double orphans, still living with relatives, have said that they would like to get a place and take Lucky in. These men are so very kind and we believe that this would be the best thing for Lucky. We have approached the aunt and uncle with this idea. They have agreed, but as of yet, have not gotten word to the relatives in the village. We are holding Lucky’s sponsorship money in hopes of getting him a bus ticket back to Bauleni and moved in with Teacher John and Teacher Vincent. We will not give up on getting him back. Vincent has an uncle who works for Child Welfare and we will go through the proper procedures to have Vincent or John designated as his legal guardian. We worry, though, about his spirt being broken in the mean time. We hope that he knows that we love him and are doing what we can to get him back to school. It is times like these that we wish we had our own property with student dorms.

Our groundskeeper, Masau, is facing hard times as well. Upon returning, he told us that his wife, Joy, is very sick. At first, the doctor said that she had Malaria. This is a common diagnosis, often diagnosed without actually testing for Malaria. When she did not respond to the very powerful Malaria medicine, they did a pregnancy test. She is about 9 weeks pregnant, but still extremely ill. Two nights ago, Massau woke up in the middle of the night to find her unconscious. He frantically tried to find a taxi to transport her to the hospital. He has no car and had no money, as he had spent it all on her previous medical care. The next day, Friday, he called and told us of his situation. He was back at his home with his boys, but had no way to get back to the hospital to be with his wife. Before taking him to the hospital, Ken took him shopping for food for his wife, as the hospital does not provide any. When Ken saw her he said she looked very sick; in fact, he did not recognize her. She has since been released, but unfortunately, this does not mean that she is better or out of the woods. Masau and his wife have 2 young boys and care for their nephew as well. We are very worried about Masau and his family. Please keep them in your thoughts.

.... and more. The young man, Lameck, who we hire once a month to help us carry the food that we buy in bulk at Soweto Market, told us that his 23 year old wife died over the holiday. Lameck has 3 children, ages 2, 4 and 6 years old. Two girls and a boy. We asked him who is caring for them while he is here, lugging our food around in his rented wheel barrel. He replied, ‘The neighbors look out for them.’ When I hugged him and said how sorry I am, he replied, “It happened.” 
Lameck is from South Africa, all of his and his wife's family is there. He feels so very alone here. He can not go back to South Africa right now as it is a very expensive trip for a family of 4. We have discussed the idea of him moving to Bauleni so that his kids can attend Appleseed, as they are not in school. When we can, we will employ him to help Masau. 

We go to the school each Monday and Thursday after teaching at AISL to watch the soccer practice. I always love these days, the kids are active, they look so cute in their way oversized PE clothes and they love it when I have the iPad and take their pictures. This is also a nice time because it gives Mary and I a chance to talk about what is going on at school and with individual students. I know that teachers are not supposed to have favorites, but there are always certain children that touch your heart; they get under your skin and are there forever. There have been many of these kids, for me, throughout my career. Here, at RHO Appleseed, it is Jimmy.  Jimmy was there on the 1st  Saturday, in August 2011, and has been at school everyday since. He is a bright light in the day. He is kind to the other children, always willing to help anyone, students and teachers. His heartwarming smile made me melt the very first day that I met him.  It has been hard for Jimmy to watch his friends, who are orphans, get sponsors and go shopping and get food delivered to their homes. He would sometimes say to Mary, “What about me, I need it too.” This always made me feel so badly, we would tell him that his time would come.  We know he needs it too, but he does have something that his friends do not; parents. 

Today, one of Jimmy’s friends told Mary what has been going on at Jimmy’s house. As it turns out, Jimmy and his 3 siblings are worse off than most of the orphans at our school. You see, Jimmy’s dad has taken another wife. This is not uncommon in many Zambian homes, especially, poor homes. The father moved out, to another housing compound. He told the mother, that she must get out of the house and she may not take the children with her.  But, he has no intention of taking the children either. So, Jimmy, John, Peter and Esther are living alone. When Mary asked Jimmy about this today, he said that his father comes at the end of the month and pays the rent and brings a bag of Mealie-meal. He (Jimmy) has been trying to find ‘piece work’ so that he can care for the family.  After the father brought the Mealie Meal a few days ago, thieves tried to get into the house to steal it in the middle of the night, when the kids were sleeping. 

Esther, is the big sister, she used to attend Appleseed but quit coming a few months ago. Esther is 17 years old.  She now has a boyfriend and leaves the house most nights in the middle of the night. Leaving the boys alone. Jimmy is 13, John 8 and Peter 6.

I am feeling heartbroken, and helpless. It is so hard to know the best course of action for this little family. There doesn’t seem to be an effective social services department here in Zambia. And I worry that if we turn them over to any authorities things will get worse for them. So for now, we will have our Outreach Worker check on the kids regularly. We know that as long as they continue to come to school they get 2 meals a day. Appleseed is their safe and happy place where they know they are loved.  There was a bit of brightness in Jimmy’s day today. Mary was able to tell him that he has a sponsor! This news could not have come at a better time. Mary said he was so happy! He jumped up and down and said, “I get to go shopping!” We will take him this weekend.

It has been our dream to be able to buy our own land and build a school with living quarters for these types of situations. I hope that this can happen sometime soon. Whenever it does come to fruition, I think we will call the boarding house, Jimmy’s Place.

     

It seems that things are always changing. It is a constant challenge to make sure we are moving forward. Two months ago, a new teacher started at Appleseed. We thought she would be a wonderful addition to the staff. She was a Zambian trained teacher, which we felt we needed. We had hired her to teach Literacy and be a coach and lesson planner for our other teachers. Well.... the best laid plans do not always work out the way you hope they will. While Agnes was a good teacher, it was difficult for her acclimate and fit in to this new environment. She was initially planning to move closer to Bauleni, but when she decided not to make that move, she had a hard time getting to work. At just about the time we were deciding what to do, as we did not want to put her out of work but we also needed to be able to rely on teachers to be there, Agnes decided to quit. She called one day, and said that she could no longer work at Appleseed. This was a bit of a load off of my mind; however, it left us with a critical position to fill. Mary set out once again to find a teacher. She hired a young man named Vincent. Now we have 2 Vincents working at the school. We have seen him with the children, and he seems like he will be a good addition ... but as with everything time will tell. 

The music and sports programs are going very well. We have two men from the Zambian Vocal Collection, a famous Zambian singing group, come to our school every Wednesday and Friday, to teach choir lessons. We are working towards the students performing for a holiday fundraiser at the beginning of December. We purchased three Zambian drums for the school as well. The children love to sing and it is so nice to hear the beautiful music coming from the building! In addition, two very good soccer coaches come out and train our kids in soccer 2 days per week. They are excellent coaches who played professional soccer in South Africa! Right now we are playing for the pure fun of the game and to get some exercise, but we would eventually love to have an actual team. The kids are pretty good players!

There are some exciting changes happening with the school building this week. The land lady is having ceiling boards put in and she is having the inside of the school walls plastered so it does not just look like cinder block walls. We have closed the school for three days so that the work can be done. We should also have electricity hooked up this week. We are very happy about this work, but also a bit concerned that she may raise the rent! 

We were able to visit another community school today. It is always nice to see what others are doing. It reminds us that we have a very nice place, with very kind and loving teachers, and that we all do the best that we can for these beautiful children.

We still have hopes of purchasing land and building a school. We feel that this will be the key to sustainability. We continue our fundraising efforts with this goal in mind. But, in the meantime, we are very grateful for what we do have and for what we are able to provide for children of the Bauleni Housing Compound.

Note: We had a request from Altrusa San Diego, which is part of an international non-profit foundation, for more information about our mission here in Zambia. They have donated books to our school, and they are considering further support. We welcome these requests as it is our goal to have absolute transparency. The questions in bold are theirs. We thought they were such valid questions that we decided to post the q & a here. Due to a request for anonymity I have erased some names and organizations. 


1) How is the school is currently funded?

From the period of November 2011 to the end of July 2012 we spent approximately $11,400 operating the school. This does not represent a full accounting as things like gas, and minor daily expenses were not figured into this. However, it does represent the major expenditures. The majority (about 70%) went for our three major ongoing expenses: rent, salaries and the food program. The rest was used for start-up costs mainly associated with capitol improvements to the property we rent. Things like a fence, latrine, doors, furniture etc. along with the associated labor costs. I have a fairly comprehensive list of these expenditures available.  

By the end of July, prior to our fundraiser, we had received just shy of $10,000 in donations from individuals both from here in Zambia and from the United States. Just to drop a couple of names: Barun Chandra and Kanni Wignaraja made a personal donation of $3,000. Kanni is the head of the United Nations mission in Zambia. Also, (name withheld) and (name withheld) committed to $300 per month for one year starting in July. (Name) is the head of (a major worldwide organization) in Zambia. I only mention these people because not only did the funds help, but it was incredibly validating to receive support from these people who work for organizations committed to helping here in Zambia. Joy and I and Jim have also contributed to this project to make up the difference between expenditures and funds raised.

At our fundraiser in Davis, CA and the immediate weeks following we received a little over $5,000 in donations. We also started a sponsorship program for the orphans who attend our school. To date we have 13 orphans sponsored at a commitment of $25 per month. 


2) What sort of status does the school have within Zambia? In other words, is there some sort of accreditation process?


We are a public benefit corporation limited by liability as defined by the Zambian Government. This was the first and most important step to legally operating the school. The title "NGO"  seems to be an unofficial designation. What defines an NGO is when you receive tax-exempt status to import goods into the country. This is a drawn out process and we have suspended our pursuit of this designation as we do not have the need for this status at this time. A public benefit corporation is defined as a company that offers goods and/or service at a free or subsidized rate. Our official title is "RHO Appleseed School Limited."

We are still investigating how we want to be designated by the Ministry of Education. This pursuit has been quite an adventure in itself. For a few reasons we are slowing this pursuit down because we have learned that once designated it is hard, if not impossible, to change the designation. This could have serious ramifications on our goal of long-term sustainability, so we want to get it right. We have been to the Ministry of Education and the Division of Education Board Secretary (DEBS). There are two classifications that could fit for us: Community School or Private School. The Community School program was born out of the unfulfilled need to provide access to schooling for the many who had none. Communities could start their own schools based on volunteerism and ... well little else. Upon finally making it to DEBS last year during business hours (which fluctuate especially toward the end of the day) we were told that due to funding cuts the office for Community Schools had been closed. We were given some literature and told they had to do a site visit which we scheduled for the middle of December. They never came. A friend who runs an NGO told us we would have to actually give the person responsible a ride to the school if we really wanted this inspection to take place. (Just a side note: Just to open a business account the bank required a site visit. This happened only after we gave the person a ride to our school and back to the bank.) In the interim we learned that once designated a Community School it is not possible to change that designation so we have decided to investigate our options further before pursuing any official designation. Because we have legal status as a public benefit corporation we are able to operate the school legally in the interim. Because of our goal of sustainability, at this point we believe our best bet is to pursue designation as a private school. This would mean having to pay employees (something we already do), but it would mean we could charge fees and then offer scholarships to our needy students. We just want to exercise patience and make sure we do it right.


3) Altrusa San Diego was also curious about how long that you thought you might stay in Zambia. They know that this contractual set of decisions could change. But what would be your current prediction? What do you envision the transition to look like when you do leave? 

Joy and I intend to stay in Zambia at least three more years for a total of four years. We will hopefully have this settled in the next month or two when we intend to sign two year contracts to extend our employment at the American School to four years. We also intend to pursue the possibility of staying in Zambia beyond that time by applying to the Lumwana (?) School. This is a kind of satellite school of AISL in the northern part of the country. Jim knows much more about this than we do. It is a small school with limited employment opportunities, but if it is presented, we intend to pursue that opportunity. So, we are committed to staying at least four years and are looking at opportunities to extend our stay beyond that.

As far as what we envision the transition to look like when we leave I will say this. We are doing this with one singular goal. We want to visit this school (and maybe others) ten to fifteen years from now after we have retired. We love doing what we are doing here, but we do not intend to spend four years working on this without a plan for sustainability. This is admittedly a work in progress, but we have numerous ideas for sustainability: 1) Receive official 501 (c) (3) status in the US 2) Establish a school fee structure that will allow for self-sustainability 3) Purchase land and build a purpose-built facility that will be paid for before we  leave and 4) Most importantly, oversee the transition prior to leaving Zambia. I believe that our last year here should be a "hands-off" time where we let the school run itself with as little intervention as possible. Just like any venture, there will be potholes on this road, so it is our goal to be here during the transition to ensure those do not turn in to sink holes. To this end we see our "transition" taking place during our last year here (2014-2015).

Please feel free to follow-up with any ideas, advice, and  requests for information etc. Our fuel has been the extraordinary kindness, interest and generosity of so many people. We appreciate and welcome the opportunity to share our vision with others. 

So much has happen since my last blog post. Much of it good, but some not so good. Through it all we are so thankful that Angela and Emma are here to help. I know that they have had highs and lows, that they sometimes feel overwhelmed and overcome, but they are such incredible young women and are contributing so much!

Emma contacted us back in April to find out if she could come and volunteer. She was a good friend of Richard’s. Richard is the young man who the school is named after. You can read about him by clicking the link on the Home page. Emma and Angela have been invaluable to us these past few weeks. So much has been happening at the school, I’m not sure how things would be going if they weren’t there helping right now.

When we arrived back in Lusaka we found out that 2 of our teachers had quit. Newlyn, so that she could begin college, taking Finance, and Rebecca, who had started a nursing program. While it was hard to lose them, we are happy for them and know that a large part of the reason that they could go back to school is because they have had jobs at the school and could save money to follow their dreams. By the time we returned, Mary had already hired two young men, John and Vincent, to take their place. It has been quite a transition, but we are all working through it. Angela and Emma have been helping them to adjust their teaching to a more American style and away from the Zambian model that they are accustomed to. It seems to me, that Zambian schools work for some, but not for most. Vincent and John seem to be adapting and are accepting help from the girls. It is a constant challenge to make sure that things are being done in the manner that Ken and I know are best because we can’t be there during school hours as we are at our full time teaching jobs at American International School of Lusaka. 

We have started our Sponsor an Orphan program. It has been a mix of happiness, satisfaction, disappointment and extreme sadness. When an orphan is initially sponsored we take them shopping for clothes, shoes and food for them and their caregivers. Our first experience with this was wonderful. We all had a great time and the caregivers seemed very grateful. Upon our return to Zambia, we found out that one of the ‘orphans’ and her family lied about her being an orphan. This was the first big disappointment. We felt terrible. We felt that we had been taken advantage of and in turn had let down the sponsor. I’m not sure what to do about the possibility of this happening. For the most part we feel that we should take the people at their word. I still believe that most people would not stoop to this level. We found out because neighbors of the family saw us at the young girl’s house with the food and clothes, they did not want us to be taken advantage of so they went to Mary.  

On the other hand, the boy who was sponsored at the same time and by the same person is still in the program. He is happy and doing well. His step father was very gracious and appreciative.

We will be taking 3 of our sponsored boys shopping this weekend.

There is also a very sad story about one of our sponsored orphans. We have been entrenched in her situation for the past couple of days and it is taking its emotional toll. Last Wednesday, we took 4 sponsored girls shopping and delivered the food to their caregivers. On Monday morning, one of our students told Mary that Dainess, (one of the orphans who went shopping) was “chased” from her house by the grandmother. Chased  is the term Zambians use for ‘kicked out.’ The grandmother dumped the 10 kg bag of Mealie Meal that we bought for the family and took the rest of the food. Dainess (pronounced Di-ness)who is 11 years old,  was on the streets of Bauleni Friday night. She was found Saturday morning sleeping in a small fruit stand outside. When the woman who owns the stand came to open, she found Dainess sleeping there. She took her in and cared for her until we found out on Monday. We spent Monday afternoon at the Bauleni police station trying to get permission for Mary to care for the child. Mary could not take her without a letter from the police because there was the fear that the grandma would claim that Mary stole her. The police gave us a letter so Dainess could stay with her until other family could be contacted. The grandmother and step grandfather showed up at Mary’s house last night, drunk and demanding to take Dainess. Mary’s daughter Newlyn answered the door, they did not get her. Yesterday (Tuesday) we took Dainess to to the clinic for HIV testing, there is a chance she is positive because both parents have died and she is unusually small for for her age. The clinic refused to test, saying that we had to bring the grandmother and have her permission. Yes, the same grandmother who kicked her out, who stole her food and who regularly beats her! We have had children tested before without guardian consent, so I’m not sure what that was about. And then to today...... as the police directed, Mary got in touch with the other family members, this was a grandma and grandpa from the other side of the family. They do not live in or near Bauleni. Mary was asking for permission to care for Dainess so that she could stay in Bauleni and continue to attend school. I was worried about this because I knew that there was a chance that they would want to take Dainess. That is exactly what happened. Mary says that they were grateful, that they didn’t know how Dainess had been being treated and that they wanted her to live with them. I understand that relatives are generally the best placement, but I am brought to tears just thinking about this. I know how much Dainess loved school, I know that she was nourished, both heart, soul and stomach, each day at our school and know that Mary would take very good care of her. I also know that she did not want to leave. This is not to say that she won’t be taken care of and loved by these grandparents.... but there are certainly no guarantees. 

It is so hard to watch the day to day suffering of these children. We love them, we develop relationships with them, but in some ways, sometimes, we are powerless to help them.

We will continue to do everything we can for them all.

Thank you for taking the time to read this very long post.....

Summer ( Winter in Zambia) has flown by and there is so much to update and so much to do! RHO Appleseed was closed for Winter break during the month of July and part of August. Ken and I returned to our hometown of Davis, California for 4 weeks and had a wonderful time visiting friends and family. We also held our first ever fundraising event. It was very successful, raising about $5000! We have also started our Sponsor an Orphan program. So far, there are 7 lucky children who have been sponsored! 

We’ve been back in Lusaka for 1 week and have hit the ground running. We are very fortunate to have 2 UC Davis students, Emma and Angela,  with us. They are here to volunteer at Appleseed and will begin at the school on Monday morning. While the jet lag from the extremely long flight is still affecting us all, we have been busy! On Wednesday, we made a wheelchair delivery to a woman who could barely stand up. She was very grateful and was able to push herself in the chair right away. It was the first visit to the compound for Emma and Angela. They were incredible with the children who naturally gathered them. We feel so fortunate to have them here with us!

Upon arriving back in Lusaka, we found out that we have lost 2 of our teachers. Newlyn, our former math teacher has begun accounting school. We are so happy for her. Newlyn will continue to volunteer at the school when she is not attending classes. Our reading teacher, Rebecca, has begun nursing school. We are so happy for both of these young women! Mary spent much time in July interviewing prospective teachers for these  2 positions. We are very happy to have John and Vincent join us at Appleseed. On Friday, we held a teacher meeting and John and Vincent our ready to begin teaching this Monday. While I know that the students will miss Newlyn and Rebecca, I think it will be very good to have these male role models in our school. 

Today (Saturday) we went to the local shopping market, Kamwala, to buy more school desks. Unfortunately, the store was out of stock on the desks. So, instead we bought a few more tables and chairs for the Early Childhood Development classroom and 2 carpets for our library. Tomorrow (Sunday) we are all very excited because we get to attend our very first Zambian wedding. Farai, who runs St. John in the Matero compound is getting married. This is a new and exciting cultural experience for us.

As the school year ends at the American International School, RHO Appleseed is in the middle of the year and things continue to come together and grow. The Zambian school calendar runs from January to December, with a few breaks in between. RHO Appleseed will close for winter break for the month of July and will reopen on August 14th. When we are home in Davis, CA we will hold a fundraiser on July 12th. We plan to come back to Lusaka ready to put new programs in place at the school. Last week a wonderful vocal group, Zambian Vocal Collection, visited the school and ran a workshop and performed for the students. It was truly amazing and the kids just loved it! We have arranged for them to run a music program for us; they are excited to start an RHO Appleseed Choir and then start with instrument lessons! We will be raising funds in order to make this happen. In addition, we have arranged for a sports program to begin in August as well. Coach K, a former professional soccer player in South Africa has agreed to run the program. This is another program that we will be raising funds to support. Once these are in place the student school day will run from 8:00am to 3:00pm. They currently go from 8:00am until 1:00pm.

Of the approximately 100 students at RHO Appleseed School, at least 30 of them are orphans. We are launching a "Support an Orphan" program. We are looking for a sponsor for each of these children at $25.00 per month. These funds will go directly to that child's education, health and general well being. Sponsors will be kept updated regularly on the child's academic and general progress. 

We are still hoping to purchase our own land and build a school at some point, but in the mean time, things have been working out at this site. We have just had a stage/patio built in the front yard, it looks beautiful!. Also, a parent from my grade 4 class at AISL and his company just hung all of our chalk boards, white boards and bulletin boards for us. They also built a bridge over the ditch to get to the school. The city is putting in drainage ditches in the compound and we have had a small plank going across it to get to the building. Now we have a wooden bridge with railings!! Thank you Julio Cerqueira and Group Five Zambia!

There has been so much more happening at the school.... too much to go into detail right now, but I will update again soon. Briefly though, we have started a Home Health Care program for the Bauleni Community out of the school. (See the St John Bauleni Branch page) We have been able to help a lot of very sick people through this effort. It has been a very worthwhile, yet emotional experience. There are many very ill people with no medical help at all. We are doing what we can, although, sometimes it is too late. Since beginning, we have seen two patients pass away. While this makes us very sad, we know that we were able to bring them some comfort and love in their last days. 

That is about all for now..... please continue to check back to learn of all of the exciting things in the works for RHO Appleseed School!

~ Love from Africa,
Joy and Ken