March 2025

The new school year has started in Zambia, and we are thankful for a settled staff. There has been no new de-ployment of teachers by the government for some time. The government is making changes to the curriculum and structure of schools which are to be introduced over several years. This was one factor in the decision to introduce a grade 10 at Limapela Cedric’s this year. Our exam results were not quite as good as in previous years, but we know that the COVID shutdowns in 2020 and 2021 certainly did not help!

We are all thankful for good rains so far this season, not only for the many people who expect a maize crop to supplement their income, but also so that the rivers and dams will fill and boost electricity supply again. The severe shortage has meant that some areas were only getting a few hours of electricity every couple of days. Students were having to get up in the middle of the night to study and charge devices, and shops that could not afford to have a generator struggled to keep their doors open.

DREAM AND DARE DAY AT LUYANDO

Luyando Community School was very excited to have a team from Beyond Ourselves Zambia come to visit them on Friday. They were conducting dream and dare days for the Grade 7 girls and boys respectively. These days are aimed to encourage the children that they have a God-given purpose. They spend time exploring the concept of goal setting and make plans for working towards such. They are also taught about common misconceptions in the Zambian culture related to gender. For the boys, they redefine what it means to be a man based on an ethos of love and care, and girls learn about the magnificence of their body in regard to the menstrual cycle and how to overcome culturally oppressive perceptions that have been inflicted for generations.

—Kirsty Lickfold

As Alison and I enter the final week of our leave in New Zealand we would like to thank all our friends and supporters for their interest and prayers. The past two months have ones of very good time of fellowship, sharing and affirmation of our shared beliefs and values. The vision of Limapela has always been to serve the least of these in Zambia. While we often feel that we only scratch the surface of these needs, we are nonetheless encouraged to see good results from the efforts that we make.

Alison and I are booked to fly out on Thursday 6 March. Our focus for the next ten months will be to tie up loose ends and to cement the systems we have developed with our staff in the past 16 years to ensure that Limapela will continue in a stable and effective way for the benefit of the Zambian children and young people of the future.

We are booked to return to New Zealand on Wednesday 14 January 2026, and we plan to move back into our home in Mt Eden soon after that. I anticipate travelling out again to Zambia for short visits from time to time to support, monitor and encourage our people there. Limapela programmes in Zambia will continue in the hands of our able staff there — administrator Margarita Kabwita, head teachers Martha Mbewe and Franchessca Mumba and their teachers and support staff — under the guidance of company directors Robert Kilembo and Prudence Muchimba.

— Matthew and Alison Raymond