Dear all friends, family and generous contributors. It is with the greatest excitement that I can announce Chimfunshi School’s first day of classes was held Thursday June 21, 2007! The school is more than ever envisioned! Just days before my departure to Zambia, I was given a contribution large enough to build a proper, 2 room school building!
Construction has been ongoing for the past 3 weeks. The people from the compound have been helping 2 local builders dig the foundation and pour the slab. I have been learning the ease of building in America compared to the Zambian Bush! After we dug the foundation╉all by pick ax and shovel, we began pouring the foundation, which entails mixing each bag of concrete. There are no cement trucks here! Walls will begin going up on the 29th and from there it is up to the people here to get it done in a timely manner, which I know will happen!Classes have begun as well! Using the large tent that was donated, I have had the assistance of Gonzaga students to teach about 30-40 children. It has been an exhilarating experience. I am quickly learning Bemba and can already see the children learning English.Numbers, colors, and days of the week are in English so we have been working on those. Today we sorted different colored beads, wrote the color words with magic markers, played Chutes and Ladders, and practiced addition and subtraction. Some of the children have attended school prior to moving to Chimfunshi and are quite bright and eager to be learning again. Others, although starting from scratch, are excited to have a school and are working hard every day.The children’s enthusiasm will build the school quickly. I have found children at the building site before they come to class, helping fetch water and shovel gravel. The parents have been helping as much as they can when they are done with work, digging, moving blocks, and mixing concrete. It has become quite the community project!A teacher has been lined up to begin in August. Unfortunately, due to maximum employment at Chimfunshi, the accommodation for the teacher isn’t here! The teacher will be living in one of the classrooms and the office of the school until a proper teachers’ block is built. When there is a proper teachers’ block, we will be able to have 2 teachers╉2 classes! We are also researching the least expensive way to install pit latrines. For a school to have government support, or even be recognized by the Ministry of Education as a community school, it has to have proper toilets. This will be the next step of the project.As for myself, I am over the moon! The students are so enthusiastic and bright. Every day there is another new face. They all realize that this is the real thing and they come so clean and nicely dressed!Mothers had to walk the younger children to school the first day and now we have to shoo them away until it is time to begin lessons! I am learning their names and we will have a formal “registration” next week. I am now called “Madame Lennae” by the children, unless they forget, then it is just “Teacha’ Teacha’” I look forward to the next few months to see the children’s academic growth, the building be completed, and the success of this project.I want to thank everyone that has supported me in any way. Without your support, this project wouldn’t be happening. You have done something to change the lives forever of all the families of Chimfunshi for many years! Any additional support is still greatly appreciated. Your generosity will go far, as you have already seen. I have attached some small photos of the progress. Hope you enjoy. I love to hear from you. Greatest Thanks,Lennae Jenkins
Send contributions to:
Chimfunshi USA
c/o Lennae Jenkins
PO Box 776415
Steamboat Springs, CO 80477
