Tujatane Tales
Term 3
September - December 2004
Volume 8.3

E-Mail: vanessa@tongabezi.com                 www.tongabezitrustschool.com

HAPPY 40^TH ZAMBIA

Zambia became independent on 24th October 1964

On 24^th October 2004 we celebrated 40 years of independence.  Chuma and Kaluba from Grade 6 describe the day of celebration in Livingstone:

"We went to Livingstone with the canter.  When we reach the first thing we do start marching from Post Office to stadium and when people saw us they started clapping their hands.  Midness and Chuma were holding our banner which was saying TONGABEZI TRUST SCHOOL.  After that we sang the National Anthem and then we prayed.  Then we sit down and watch those who were singing and dancing.  After that we watched football.  Zambia and Zimbabwe.  The winner it was Zambia.  Then we eat after eating we went to the Post Office and waited for Tongabezi to take us home.  Then we came home singing happily in he Tongabezi canter."

Tuesday after Independence Day we had a celebration at Tujatane.

Misheck in Grade 6 writes: "We had our independence celebration at school.  It was a very happy day everyone enjoyed.  They danced and sang happily.  Each class presented something.  The Grade 1's danced, the Grade 2's said a poem and the mighty Grade 4's had one song, after that we had modelling.  Mundia was Mr Independence, Christine was Miss Independence , Gift was the first Prince, Arthur the second Prince.  The first Princess was Naomi and the second Princess was Pride. 

ZAMBIA IS NOW 40 YEARS OLD.  GOLD BLESS OUR WONDERFUL AND PEACEFUL COUNTRY."

Amanda Sherazee teaches art to Preschool

Amanda and her husband Tarek came to Tongabezi Lodge for their honeymoon in September. Amanda is a teacher in England and was happy to devote her time with the preschool and reception children to teaching art and lots of other fund things. The children had a fantastic time, mixing paint with dishwashing liquid and blowing bubbles with it, and hand painting with lots of bright colours - as Nasson's picture shows! Such a good time was had by all, the paint was everywhere and a clothes washing session had to be organised before the children could go home!

Amanda and Tarek also taught the children a song about a crocodile swimming in the river, where a little fish swims into the crocodile's mouth. Then the crocodile shuts its jaws tightly and the little fish sleeps all night. When the crocodile yawns the next morning, the little fish swims away out of sight. We always think about this lovely couple when we sing this song and we hope they will come and visit us again.

The next steps ... continuing education for our children

We were thrilled to welcome Elaine Cooper, President of the Cogitare Foundation in the USA, once again to Tujatane on 8th November. Elaine is spearheading the secondary education sponsorship programme for our children once they have completed their primary education at Tujatane. This allows sponsors of our children to continue supporting their education, by sponsorship into secondary level and beyond. This remarkable opportunity allows our children the chance of a complete education – something most children in Zambia can only dream about.

Elaine met all of our Grade 6 children (aged 12, having completed at Tujatane last year) to discuss their progress at their new schools and the development of the sponsorship programme. She was delighted to meet all the children and spent time with them individually, bringing them caps and raincoats in readiness for the rainy season. As if that weren’t enough, she also very kindly treated all the Tujatane staff to lunch at Tongabezi, which was delicious. We thank Elaine once again for her kindness and generosity.
 

New Loo Block for Tujatane Staff

We received a very generous donation from Michael Hauck from the UK, which enabled us to build the long-awaited staff loo block. Our hopes and dreams were finally realised as we chose a site for our third toilet block.

In contrast to the other two which we have for the children, this is a special new addition – a separate one for the teachers and staff at Tujatane.

Thanks to Michael Hauck for his great generosity in funding this much needed project. Dyson, a local Livingstone engineer was brought in to manage the building. We would also like to thank Kyson for his hard work and for making the building so smart.

The pictures on this page are from some of the children in Grade 1 showing how they viewed the construction programme. There is also a photo of the completed building.

Kaley and Annable Volunteer from the UK

Annabel worked in reception and preschool and Kaley helped in Grade 1 in October. Here is what they had to say about us. “The kindness and hospitality of both the staff and children has given us this amazing opportunity to gain unique experience, learn more about African culture and for us to give something back in return through teaching. The children have welcomed us into their classes, showed us the traditions of their culture through dance and song, and I suspect have taught us just as much as we have taught them. We have learned to teach literacy, creative play, language, numeracy and have had the opportunity to teach a little about the English culture and traditions (our Halloween holiday, for example). Our time at Tujatane has been rewarding, extremely enjoyable and all too short! We would like to express our thanks to all the teachers and everyone involved in this fantastic school, for allowing us this opportunity. We are certain that, with continued support, Tujatane will continue to thrive, and we will return in a few years to see how everyone is doing.”

Please note: Barclays Bank charges us $US25 to process each cheque we receive.  To avoid this and ensure that your entire donation benefits the children, please send any donations by bank transfer to the school account or direct to the UK school charity.  If you wish to make a contribution, please contact vanessa@tongabezi.com for details.  Many thanks for your help.

UK Charity Status "The Charitable Trust for The Tongabezi Trust School"
Registration number 1096710.

Newsletters will be put on our school website under "Our Newsletter". 
Click here for details on making a donation through the UK charity.

Comments/feedback welcomed.

The Tongabezi Trust School
Private Bag 31, Livingstone, Zambia
email: vanessa@tongabezi.com

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