Nsobe Trust School
Nsobe Trust School Presentation
The rural people in our area are desperately poor: AIDS, malnutrition and illiteracy are rife. One meal a day of starch and no protein is considered normal. Many children are not encouraged to go to school, but to stay at home to help in the fields, or look after younger members of their families. Pressure on families is increasing with one of the continent’s highest HIV infection rates, extended families now have many more HIV related dependants and orphans to support and feed. There is no way for these people to help themselves.
The only way out of this and the only way forward for Zambia, and our continent as a whole, is through education.
The standard of education is poor in Zambia, especially in the rural areas, with schools few and far between. Children living on our farm and in the surrounding villages have to walk 10kms to the nearest school, a long way for little legs. Because of the large numbers of children in the catchment area for the local government school, and the shortage of teachers or lack of money to pay teacher’s salaries, classes are held in shifts, so as many children can be accommodated as possible. This means that for Grade one, only 2 hours of taught school are possible per shift. Children from our area must walk for 2 hours to get to school, sit in class for only 2 hours of lessons with 45 other classmates (during which they are tired from their walk and lack of food, it must be so hard to pay attention) – and then walk 2 hours to get home again. This can hardly offer the standard that we want for our children.
small beginnings - children from our first class
To try and offer something better Nsobe Trust School was started in January 2009 with 16 Nursery school children. We now have 56 children in nursery school, Grade 1 and Grade 2. We shall grow the pupil numbers and add another grade/form each year until we have reached Grade 12. We hope that funding can help us to accomplish this faster. The children attending the school come from our farm workers families and the surrounding villages. The children are flourishing in the School, loving the stimulation and finding out what fun it is to learn and to be a child. They are also given a meal before school.
It is our firm belief that the private sector in it’s own interest has a role to play in education and that we cannot continually slate government bodies for the lack of quality education as in the meantime the economy is denied valuable human resources and children’s potential is wasted and their lives are committed to poverty while the problem remains unaddressed as blame is passed around. The management of Miengwe Farm Ltd decided that the solution would be to spearhead a drive to undertake these responsibilities with the support of the government, donors and NGO’s. The intention is to form a governing board of specialists in the field of education and then to implement the strategy they come up with to the best of our ability. We would like to provide quality pre-primary, basic and secondary education initially as a day school and ultimately as a boarding establishment on our doorstep and for the benefit of the local people as opposed to a facility for children with money. This facility will be supported by Miengwe Farm Ltd & Nsobe Game Camp but due to the nature of the undertaking external assistance will be required from donors, the government and private individuals.
Please contact Fiona Tomlinson markt@nsobe.com.zm should you wish to:
- make a donation
- Help us fund the school
- Sponsor a child
Teachers looking to do some community work and take 3 months off on an Africa Game Farm, are most welcome to come and help us