March 2022
Limapela Cedric’s has 426 pupils enrolled now, and Luyando has 351. Our teachers are hard at work and all seems to be running smoothly in both schools. COVID seems to have disappeared, but the government regulations are still in place.
Our NZ trustees have suggested that we compile a list of the various projects we have in mind for the next year for which we will need funding. Well, we need new classrooms at both schools, landscaping and paving of existing high-traffic areas, repainting, new classroom furniture, two new vehicles, fire-prevention equipment to ensure compliance with the council regulations … I guess the list will grow, because as we well know, schools are never finished!
We have now applied for an employment permit for Kirsty Lickfold, a primary teacher from Hamilton, who is now booked to fly from NZ on 21 April. We would value your prayers that Zambia Immigration will look favourably on this application.
Once again, our grateful thanks to you all for your interest, support and prayers.
— Matthew and Alison Raymond
A 19 year-old girl I will call Mapalo started coming to choir practices some weeks ago. As she did not pass all her subjects in the Grade 12 exams in December she asked me if she could come and do piecework at Limapela Lodge to raise money for the re-sit fees. She explained that her parents have just divorced and her mother has moved to Kapiri Mposhi, leaving her with her father, who runs a small retail store in Baluba, but who is not willing to give her money for the exam fees. He is not enthusiastic about Mapalo joining the Kafakumba Singers either, and has told her that if she doesn’t attend his church service on Sunday mornings she will have to find somewhere else to live.
I find myself responding with both compassion and indignation to this situation, the more so because it is a familiar story — domestic discord, a controlling father, and a sad vulnerable youngster caught in the middle and trying to succeed with something. So Mapalo is coming to work on Thursdays, but I have had to say that she can’t join the choir performances unless she can attend on Sundays. Although it doesn’t seem likely that her father’s heart will soften, I do pray that it will. In the meantime we are supporting Mapalo as best we can.
