Two earthquakes in January shook the world. The first was in Haiti, the second in Chile. There are Jesuits working in both Haiti (Some reports and pictures) and Chile and if you follow those links you may be interested to read some first-hand accounts of the disasters as well as see photographs of the aftermath and the work that the Society is doing in these areas. For our part here in Zambia, the pupils at Canisius High School were moved to donate money to the Haiti earthquake disaster (This appeal started before the Chilean earthquake had occured). 300,000 kwacha was so generously given by the students, most of whom are very poor themselves. This is not a lot of money in pounds or dollars, but every cent helps and the Church through her Aid Agencies, such as Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), is able to make sure that every donation reaches the people that need it. We might wonder why such events happen (and some people have tried here and here) and quite often left contemplating a mystery, but there is no doubt that in the face of such catastrophes, the only response is to be moved by love and charity for those who suffer – and it is humbling to see such a response from the children here in Chikuni.

This morning the Headmaster offered to take me on a trip to visit Lake Kariba and to see the primary and senior schools along the way. It was an eye-opener. Perhaps some of the staff have gotten a little tired of my wanting to make things better (which I won’t tire of) when their experience is that what is here is just so much better than what is elsewhere. I responded by saying you can’t compare something bad with something worse… you should compare it with something better and strive for that! But those schools which are worse are truly terrible! In fact, one was so bad I could not bring myself to photograph it. We were welcomed into the one boys hostel and it was just a room with 14 thin mattresses (approx. 3 cm high) placed on the floor such that the entire floor of the room was covered and about 30 boys slept in the dormitory. There were no bed-frames, no lockers, just two desks. The boys’ clothes were slung over the rafters. The ‘Dorm Captain’ (a position of some apparent importance in the Dorm) slept on top of desks that formed a rough table, though someone slept underneath the desks too!) The boys were lying on the mattresses when we came in doing some colouring-in of pictures.

The next school we visited was better. I attach the photographs of the dormitory there. It is a tough existence but despite the mean surroundings the children are well-behaved, hungry for any education and work extremely hard.

Some photos from nearby schools
A view of their dorm	Bunk-beds	Protection from the mosquitoes
View from the seats	One of their better equipped classrooms	Average class size about 50-60. The early bird...

Our school offers a holiday tuition programme where children from surrounding schools can come and register and ‘brush-up’ on various topics. Some of the children that attend this holiday-tuition come from schools such as the one we were visiting, other from those where it is very rare for a teacher to be at every class, or even most classes. When I introduced myself as coming from Canisius, every boy asked me about the details of this year’s holiday tuition programme. They were so keen to spend their holidays ‘catching-up’ because they know that they need more than what they are receiving.

I’ll leave you with some photos from Canisius High School…

Some photos from Canisius
A view of the Boarding house at Canisius	Cleaning the Dorms	Preparing for inspection
Canisius Dormitories during Inspection	Playing Tennis	Jumping for fun
Fun outside	Football	Basketball

May our Lord GOD bless you and your loved ones always!! May our Saviour Jesus Christ’s Love be born(e) again in our hearts this Christmas!

Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2010 full of health and success!!

And in Tonga – the local language here: Kuzyalwa kwa Mwami kumupe kulikkalila. Leza amuleleke mumweka wa 2010.

And to my fellow Jesuits and friends from many nations:

¡¡Feliz Navidad y un excelente 2010 colmado de salud y éxitos!!
Joyeux Noël et une merveilleuse 2010 pleine de santé et de succès!!
Frohe Weihnachten und ein wunderbares 2010 voller Gesundheit und Erfolg!!
Wesołych Świąt i wspaniałego 2010 pełni zdrowia i powodzenia!!
Buon Natale e uno splendido 2010 pieno di salute e di successo!!
Feliz Natal e um maravilhoso 2010 cheio de saúde e sucesso!!
Χαρούμενα Χριστούγεννα και ένα υπέροχο 2010 γεμάτο υγεία και επιτυχία!!
Счастливого Рождества и замечательная 2010 полных здоровья и успехов!!
Geseënde Kersfees en ‘n wonderlike 2010 vol van gesondheid en sukses!
Nollaig Shona agus iontach 2010 iomlán na sláinte agus rath!
Vrolijk kerstfeest en een prachtig 2010 vol gezondheid en succes!
Veselé vánoce a nádherné 2010 plný zdravia a úspechov!

I have completed my marking and whilst I don’t know how my classes fared overall – there was some marginal improvement from their mid-term tests to the final exams – which offers me some hope. I’ve found out that from next term my three Maths classes will be reduced to one and I’ll take over some computer science teaching as well (this is because the school has recently hired another Maths teacher). We are also expecting another Regent to join the staff.

So – after submitting the marks I am off to Lusaka for a few days rest and then will do my Annual 8-day retreat at the Jesuit Novitiate in Lusaka.

I have been settling into the routine of teaching and marking and becoming accustomed to the school and getting a firmer grip on some of my duties in the boarding house. One of the highlights of the month though was the visit of an old friend from Wits University who I knew through Debating. Richard Stupart is busy doing a Cape-Cairo trip across Africa on public transport before he begins his Journalism course at Rhodes University (it is no secret that I was very pleased to hear that he is going to attend Rhodes, especially in the Journalism Department’s new building!). Richard has written about his time in Chikuni on his blog. I would like to thank Richard for taking some pictures of the Mission. These include not only the boys school but also the Hospital, Parish, Radio Station and Teachers’ Training College. Some of these photos are in Richard’s post – and others will feature in this blog. Richard also brought some DVD’s of practice-debates which I hope to use with our Debating Society next term. If anyone would like to sponsor us to attend the African School Debating Championships in Johannesburg next year, please get in touch.

Visit Richard’s blog and read his impressions from his visit.

The school celebrated Zambia’s Independence Day with great festivities. I tried to take some videos of the day but I think I chose the wrong setting on my camera and the quality has come out rather poorly – though i think the sound is ok – it should give you some idea. I also didn’t know how to rotate some videos so please put your head on your shoulder while watching some of them…

There is a local Scout Troop which the boys in the school join and though they can’t afford the badges traditionally worn – they do a very good job at singing around camp-fires and practicing their marching;

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Today I learnt that I had passed my Philosophy studies. These are the first part of the academic training required for me to be ordained. Happy Days. The thesis was entitled “Is Pleasure a genuine element of the Human Good? A New Natural Law Perspective comparing the authors John Finnis and Timothy Chappell.” (quick answer: I think so). As with many studies – it often feels like one is just scraping the surface and I would love to spend more time reading about it. I did enjoy the thesis component. I must thank my supervisor, Dr Patrick Riordan SJ, tutors, Drs Louis Caruana SJ, Peter Gallagher SJ and Elizabeth Burns, my Jesuit community in Stamford Hill – especially Dr Tony Carroll SJ – but all of whom offered help and encouragement that kept me sane – and the staff at Heythrop College, University of London.

We celebrated Awards Day for the school today.

It was a sort of public prize-giving with some speeches by the local Political supremo and the Alumni, but the day began with a football match between the prefects and the staff and then some play-offs between the various teams. I played in the Staff match (well, for the first half), but then was busy the rest of the morning trying to get the certificates for the boys ready. The Awards day ceremony made about 320 awards.

These covered academic and sporting success – but also the myriad of leadership roles in the school – from Chapel to Chess, Drama to Debating – there were many awards. And on the weekend many boys who live nearby made visits to show their parents the awards they had won. Each award consisted of a certificate, but also a ‘present’ (wrapped in newspaper) and was mostly some form of material for school – either an exercise book, some stationery or other such useful items.

But most importantly it was the day that the old prefects (all 38 of them) handed over their authority to the new prefects. You would be forgiven for thinking that the teachers, or even the administration, run this school. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that the Prefects control everything – and their word is law. There are no discipline problems during class – or at least, none that I have noticed. This is largely due to the respect that the children accord studies and success in them – but also it is due to the role of the Prefects in maintaining order and control, and for issuing punishments. In a place where the boys clean the school and prepare the food – punishment could not entail doing ‘dinner duty’ or cleaning (examples from punishments I have been familiar with at schools) since these are every-day neccessities and if the boys don’t do them, they don’t get done. Punishment here is harsh – but also effective. There is no corporal punishment, but digging a hole (or filling one in) is a common approach – as is sweeping paths to minimise the dust around the school. I have asked them about whether they might plant trees but I appear to have too soft an approach.

One of the great differences between the Awards Day as I experienced it here and those I knew in South Africa is the very different form of behaviour. Typically, in South Africa, school children would remain silent during the occasion – but here the choir seemed to lead the entire hall in chants and songs and I can only describe it as organised chaos – which was quite refreshing to feel that the boys felt free to acknowledge and appreciate the successes of their peers in such a spontaneous and heartfelt way.

We visited Lochinvar National Game Park today with the boys. This involved us boarding the school “bus”.

We loaded benches into the back of the truck and were able to fit even more than who you see alongside in. I sat in the back with the boys for the 3 hour drive to the Game Reserve. This was a very bumpy experience but made fun by the close contact and the singing that ensued. The open top though was not the best idea when driving through the thorn trees in the Savannah and offered no shelter for the first rain of my time in Zambia – but that did not seem to bother people.

The Game Reserve is famous for one or two major sights, such as the rocks that sound like drums when you beat them (the boys took great delight in drumming the rock).

We also visited the Baobab Tree which has a hollowed out trunk that used to be the night-time hiding place for locals.

They used to make a fire at the base to ward off the animals. We then went to have lunch and celebrate Mass together at the edge of the water before embarking on some game-viewing – and the animals were the highlight of the park.

Unfortunately I think we scared away more animals than we could track – with a group of 100 boys bouncing around on the back of a truck and singing, any animal with even some hearing would have left long before we could get near them. There was one memorable exception. To find these animals we took a detour off the main road. This was not as difficult as it might sound since the only thing that defines a road in the park is the faint trace of the tyre tracks before you. There was a herd of impala that we spotted in the plains of the park. Now this was an experience that clearly captured for me that I am in a different country now. As most of you know, in South Africa, when we visit a Game Reserve we are often told, or mostly assume, that we may not leave the vehicle. Not in Zambia. As soon as we noticed the impala (or perhaps they were Lechwe?) we pulled the vehicle to a slow stop in order for us to take some photographs and to allow the boys to take a look. Well, they wanted a closer look – and proceeded to jump out of the bus and then to chase the Impala around the plains. I kid you not. Check out the photographs if you don’t believe me. Unfortunately by the time I’d realised that I could not get the kids back into the bus and thought of taking a photograph the animals had moved off a little bit – but the kids returned having had fun.

We also visited a fishing village in the park. By this stage I’d realised that there are no carnivores in this park – mostly it has bird life (420 species or so) – and as it was explained to me “it’s safe for women to walk around” (presumably the inference being that if there were carnivores nearby the women wouldn’t walk around but the men still might). This fishing village is quite famous – apparently it is the source of much of the fish sold in the Southern Province and we could get cheaper prices by buying the fish direct. Somehow for me though – I’m still getting used to buying food that isn’t from Woolworths, or even Shoprite. But it does taste ok – especially when it’s cooked over an open fire.

Our fishing village detour though had its consequences and because we were still off-road after the sunset – it took a few hours to find our way back through the bush but we eventually returned to the school at 22h30 – all in time for the kids to get to bed and enjoy the National Teachers Day Public holiday the next day.

More photos.

Greetings from Zambia! I arrived safely and have been here for almost 4 weeks now.

After leaving London I spent a week in Johannesburg with my family and with the Jesuits there before flying to Lusaka. I spent two days in Lusaka before travelling to Chikuni on Monday evening. Chikuni is the site of our Mission (if you want you can find out more about the History of Chikuni) and is in the Southern Province of Zambia (somewhere near 16°25’39.26″S 27°32’46.34″E). I arrived in Chikuni on Monday evening, 7th September 2009.

The road from Lusaka to Chikuni is only a single lane (Zambia does not appear to have a motorway or roads that have more than one lane). In fact, the most technical they get is tarring the roads. The dirt road that joins our school with the tar road is 11km long. From there’s it’s about 30km to the nearest village (we have people living near us but their setup doesn’t seem to reach the standard of ‘village’) or 3 hours to Lusaka – where we have to do our shopping for the school and for our community.

So I arrived on Monday evening and my lessons started on Tuesday morning at 07h15. I teach Mathematics to two Grade 8 classes of 45 students each and one Grade 10 class of 40. I also take a class on ‘Church Identity’ (a sort of Moral/Ethics case study/comprehension) and the Confirmation Class and help with some of the Computer Studies. We’re in Week 4 at the moment. At the beginning of this week I returned to Lusaka to collect my Work Permit. A 2 and a half hour wait and misidentifying the file was deemed to be efficient relative to the performance of other Government departments. So, now I am legally working here for the next two years.

How is Chikuni you might ask? Well, my first impression was that this is very rural, that the food was (and still is) similar from meal to meal, and that given that the fridge and every cupboard is locked between meals – there would be no chance to snack or have a late meal. But since being here a few weeks I have seen how the students and the local villagers live – and comparatively, we live very well – almost too well perhaps. One of the major frustrations in the beginning was the loss of power… and the use of chalk (it’s dirty outside with the dust, and now we make it dirty inside with the chalk???). When I realised that we were going to host a Sports Day for the entire Southern Province (a good day – if chaotic) and there was no electricity for the entire day which had the effect that there would be no water for the entire day, and the temperature was 35° or 36°… and they still continued playing flat out (and we won most of the events (there was Basketball, Tennis, Football, Badminton, Volleyball, Table-tennis, and Chess)) in the heat and then having to walk much further to access the pumps that were working I realised that these kids have a far tougher existence and yet they were smiling the whole day. In South Africa I would imagine that at those temperatures and without water or first aid the event would have been cancelled. Life goes on So now I’m getting used to marking and planning lessons and enjoying conversations with the students in the shade of Zambian trees.