The Blind Leading the Blind

Yesterday I began tutoring a young man who would like to go to Teachers' College. He has a new laptop and would like to know how to make a PowerPoint. His laptop has some assistive technolgy software installed, since he is blind, which provides screen reading. Screen readers give voice to computers. However, I'm struggling with how to use the tabs at the top to perform functions such as insert new slide. He can't use his mouse, as you can imagine. So for today, I have a list of Power Point short-cut commands ready for us to try. I'm just not sure if he has to have PowerPoint Shortcut Tools installed, or not? We'll see. Where are Linda, Casey or Skip when you need them!

Christianity by Paul

I believed in Christianity when I was a very young boy. It was at this point I received Christ to be my Lord and my Savior. Much of the time, I could see visions when I was sleeping. Whenever I told someone at my place about my dream, they would say, "Yes, it has happened." This is how people could understand that Jesus Christ was unifying in my body. I could give revelations to people telling them what God was telling me. One other time I was praying alone, and I had a prayer point. I said, "I am going to pray about experiencing the power of God. " Then I said, "God, protect me from the works of the Sit Back Evil Spirit." Just as I was speaking, and angel appeared to me and said, "Your prayers have been heard and I am giving you the authority to trample on surface and recover every sickness. As it says from the book of Luke 4:18, the Lord has anointed me to preach the gospel to the broken hearted, to those who are lost.

English Club

Kulamba Traditional Ceremony by Simon
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
Kulamba traditional ceremony is well known for its best traditional dances. It is practiced by the Chewa people from three countries; Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. Their paramount chief is called Kalonga Gawa Undi. Kalonga means come together and gawa means to give out. The ceremony takes place in a village called Undi where all the Chewa people from different places gather together. It occurs once a year. The ceremony always takes place on 25, August every year. The traditional dances that are practiced are Nyau, rite of passage, for example Muganda, chisungu as well as karat. It attracts a lot of people but once the Ceremony end a place reverts to quiet sanctuary.

School Is Out

Driving through town today I heard, "Mayshell, Mayshell!". It was one of the 2nd grade girls which I taught to hold a book and turn the pages. She had a baby tied on her back with a chitenge cloth. I'm really hoping it's not her baby since she was probably eleven tops. The kids are really given a lot of responsibilities for their age. It sure makes me wonder what the children think of a muzunga, white person, coming to their school and insisting they have clean hands and turn the pages gently.

Limbapo Nursery School

Close-up pictures of the kids who arrived early today. We made sure that George, the teacher, was going to be there today! No more of this trying to discipline in English when the kids only spoke Nyanja! George is a quiet spoken and gentle teacher. He's also a runner. Recently the 5th annual local 10 K took place with about 300 people running. The 1st year George was 4th place, then 5th, 6th, 7th and this year we was number 14. He said he didn't train this year. I took a great picture of him wearing his race t-shirt but will need to wait to post since I used my camera rather than my iPad. He's holding the orange County 10 fan in the photo!

The Two Suitcases

The night before last we went through the two suitcases which John and I brought to Africa with donations from FCSD#1, Baldwin Creek, and John and I. I shouldn't be surprised that many items had been removed before getting to Project Luangwa. Three educational puzzle-type activities, a wind up flashlight, and most of the books which my mom and I bought in Boulder at the 2nd hand stores. The books were picture dictionaries, atlases and a picture encyclopedia. The used laptops were there. The picture I'm attaching is dark because the electricity was out when we opened them. No electricity is a common occurrence. Karen, the Project Luangwa Coordinator was disappointed to learn of the missing items.

Second Day at Uyoba School

Only about half the kids were at school today. They have three terms per year and tomorrow, Friday, this term ends. So, like the Lander kids at the end of the year, many have checked out. Today we taught the 2nd graders, probably aged 8-12, how to hold and open a book. First we passed a towel around to wipe dirt and dust off hands. Then we taught them how to gently grab the top right corner and turn the page. Zambians are used to turning pages by pinching the page with their thumb and index fingers. There were. couple of kids who struggled holding the book and turning the pages. I've been told it's their 1st book. The books we used, called My ABC, are from the same Happy Reader series. We went through each page of the colorful little picture dictionaries saying the letter and reading some of the corresponding words. The kids are like parrots, so I don't say much. For example if I say, "Turn the page," rather than turning the page they will say, "turn the page!" H is for hut, V is for Village, C is for crocodile, and so on. It was an amazing feeling introducing these colorful little Zimbabwean picture dictionaries to the students. All of them were engaged, even the obvious class clowns.