From New Yatt to Lusaka to Kitwe...

Have not been able to get onto the blog until today, with the result that I have far more to tell than will fit respectably into a blog! I was greeted at Lusaka airport at 6.30 am by the smell of fresh rain on dry earth... the flame trees are in flower and everything looks lush and green. I was also met by Mr Kataso and Kangwa from Bwafwano Community School and within a couple of hours I was being introduced to Tabitha, one of the three new teachers in the art room - a kind of thatched one-room cottage painted in Bwafwano's distinctive deep blue. Tabitha, like the other two teachers talked of "having a heart for vulnerable children", a sentiment we hear often in Zambia. Stanford, the grade 4 teacher was particularly committed to Bwafwano, having grown up in the area and experienced first hand the challenges it brings.

I was also pleased to meet Elsie and Edina again - they have indeed moved on to government school. Elsie was thrilled with her smart new uniform and shoes. Edina is still waiting for her's and Mr Kataso assured me it would be ready by Friday. The uniforms are made in Bwafwano's own workshop by girls who weren't able to finish school, so learned this skill instead and are employed part time to make uniforms for Bwafwano supported children. I went to the girls' new house and was given a huge bear hug by Catherine, their grandmother, who I had last met in 2008. Afterwards I discovered Elsie had worked out how to use my camera and had captured the moment (see below)! The family still struggles to find money for both rent and food - but with the girls at school Catherine feels they will eventually be able to care for themselves and for their family.

I also met Steven and Martin, both mentioned in our 2010 Summer Newsletter. Steven has become a body builder! He confessed that he had been involved in some "bad behaviour" but that his contact teacher had encouraged him to be good and that now "I am born again". He's concentrating on his studies so that he can become a car mechanic. Martin, who got the highest pass marks in his school and wanted to study humanities, unfortunately didn't get into college. Undeterred, he has used what he learned in his commerce lessons at school, spotted a gap in the market and set up a grocery store in his neighbourhood.He splits the little profit he makes between his brother and sister who live with a relative elsewhere in Zambia, his uncles family with whom he lives and saving up for a second attempt at getting in to college.

I was very heartened by these stories of determination in the face of adversity. Clearly a culture of dependence has not set in with these particular young people! They really have made the most of what little they got.

I'm now in Kitwe, in the Copperbelt Province and have spent the day visiting our children in their schools and homes. The last visit was the one which will really stick in my mind; first meeting a group of bright, confident, smartly dressed young women at Helen Kaunda High School (we discussed the merits of single sex education) and then a visit to the home of one of them, Esme, who my colleague Sophie met last year. Many of our children are in homes where they are grudgingly tolerated by relatives at best. At worst they are abused and exploited. But Esme's small, breeze-block home was a warm and loving environment. She introduced me to her brother-in-law saying "He's like my father" and to her elder sister as "my mum". They were clearly proud of this extremely bright young member of the family who will no doubt achieve her ambition to become an accountant. Yet she is not too proud to roll up her sleeves and hack away at the weeds in the family maize patch with a lethal looking hooked hoe.

I'm told my nsima with chibwawa and impwa is ready so I'll sign off for now and then prepare for another busy day tomorrow.