May 2024

After leaving New Zealand at the beginning of April, Alison and I enjoyed a full week of R & R in Australia with our daughter Miriam, and granddaughter Charlotte.

We then flew to the UK for three weeks. The bracingly cold weather was made up for by the warm welcome we received. My brother Tim and sister-in-law Liz, whose home is in Maidenhead, near London, were our gracious hosts. Reconnecting with other family members whom we have not seen for many years was very rewarding, as it was with other UK friends and former colleagues who have faithfully supported Limapela for many years since it all began in 2009.

An unexpected highlight was a day at St Paul’s School in London. The partnership between St Paul’s and Limapela began last year when a group of their students and teachers spent several days interacting and sharing at Limapela Cedric’s during their field trip to Zambia, facilitated by our sister charity Beyond Ourselves Alison and I were most warmly welcomed by Meena Ridge and the St Paul’s staff, where we observed classes in action, had lunch together and watched in action the Colet Maths Mentoring Programme which has now been established online for the benefit of our Limapela students. We are grateful to St Paul’s for helping to upgrade our IT hardware so that this programme will work more efficiently.

Colet Mentoring

Colet Mentoring is St Paul's School's (SPS) online volunteering programme which connects SPS pupils with partner schools’ pupils with the help of the Colet Mentoring app.

SPS and Limapela School have run weekly maths mentoring sessions, in which Limapela pupils tackle challenging maths papers. When pupils get stuck on a tricky question, they use the Colet Web App to connect with an SPS volunteer who provides support and guidance to solve the maths problem.

Both sets of pupils gain so much more than just maths skills through these weekly interactions. Additionally, the programme offers a platform for SPS boys to foster their relationship with Limapela School pupils before their summer trip to Zambia and allows those SPS boys who have visited Limapela School to maintain a connection with the school’s pupils even after their trip.

Alison and I arrived back to daily power-cuts in Zambia on account of the drought in February and March across the whole region. Hydro dams are less than 20% full, and an estimated 50% of the country’s maize crop has failed. Good bore holes and solar pumps in both schools should reduce frustrations caused by power outages. However, I anticipate that we will need to consider alternative energy sources to keep computers and the internet running during school hours. We would appreciate your prayers as the country faces difficult times ahead.

This month our Kiwi volunteer Kirsty Lickfold officially transfers to Beyond Ourselves in Ndola. Kirsty expects to continue with a few commitments at Limapela, as she will not move from her home at Rivendell Farm, which is literally down the road from Limapela Lodge. We are grateful to Kirsty for her energetic and enthusiastic work with our Limapela people over the past two years.

Warm greetings and thanks to you all for your interest, support and prayers.

— Matthew and Alison Raymond