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A letter from Nancy Collins serving as Regional Liaison for East Central Africa, based in Zambia

Education Challenges

Dear Family and Friends,

Two stories:

“I am Anna, 11 years old, in grade 2 at CCAP [Church of Central Africa Presbyterian] Mtendere Community School, Lusaka, Zambia. I started my grade 2 in 2009 through the help of the school caregivers who went around in our compound. I am an only child staying with my mother and grandmother in a rented one-room house. My father died when I was very young. My mother and I are living positive with HIV/AIDS, and we are on ARVs at the Mtendere clinic. Our source of living is through my elderly grandmother, who does piecework [and] sweeps the surroundings of the bars at the Mtendere market. When mother feels a bit well, she goes around to people’s homes, washing clothes in order to manage to pay rent and buy food. Many times we have one meal a day. My school requirements come from the school. Last term I was second in a class of 50 pupils. I like school because I meet friends and teachers, and we play netball. I like center position. When I grow up I want to be a teacher so I can come and help orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia.”

Visitor Fletcher Wright of Myers Park Presbyterian with children at ECD center in CCAP Livingstonia Synod

 

Frank Dimmock, Luta Garbat- Welch, and CCAP GA moderator Dr. Timothy Nyasulu discussing CCAP GA programs

 

Frank Dimmock and Nancy Collins with CCAP GA Moderator Dr. Timothy Nyasulu and Secretary General Rev. Colin Mbawa discussing the CCAP GA education project (above and below)

 

Children at a CCAP Zambia community school

 

Girls at a CCAP secondary school

“I am Naomi. My father died when I was a year old, and our property was taken from us by relatives from my father’s side. I started primary school, but took school for granted. When I realized that school was the only way to help my family out of our impoverished condition, I started working very hard and was selected for secondary school. I knew it was hard for Mom to pay school fees with her business of selling fish. In looking for school fees, she started selling things from our house. We started seeking help. Luckily enough, the CCAP Synod of Livingstonia offered to help. I will forever be grateful to the Synod of Livingstonia for their support. If not for them, who would I have been?”

Getting an education in southern Africa—in Malawi or Zambia or Zimbabwe—is a challenge. Let’s take Malawi for example. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its Human Development Index ranking is 174 out of 187 countries in the 2014 Human Development Report. Economic and political turmoil in recent years has resulted in significant inflation, which has negatively impacted all Malawians.

According to the same source, mean years of schooling in Malawi is 4.2. Officials from Malawi's education ministry admit the country is unlikely to meet the 2015 millennium development goal of ensuring every child completes a quality primary education. Enrollment numbers are rising—from 78 percent to 83 percent between 2005 and 2009—but dropout rates, though improved, remain high. The proportion staying to standard 8 is 53 percent for boys and 45 percent for girls. Schools are understaffed, under-resourced and overcrowded. Curriculum materials are in short supply. Many teachers have limited training. Teachers tend to use rote memorization as teaching methodology. Women are severely under-represented in the teaching force. Basically this sad situation is the same in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The five synods of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), the Synods of Livingstonia, Nkhoma, Blantyre, Harare, Zambia—PC(USA) partners in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe—provide education to thousands of children. As an example, 36 percent of the schools in northern Malawi in the area of Livingstonia Synod are owned by CCAP.

In the face of severe challenges across the region—poverty rates of 60 percent, HIV/AIDS rates of 12-15 percent, 65-75 percent of population surviving through subsistence farming on plots of less than one acre—CCAP Synod Education Departments are doing their best to bring education to children in their countries. They reach out to orphans and vulnerable children, to children living with AIDS, to marginalized girls. They provide inclusive education to children with special needs. They encourage 3-6-year-olds in Early Childhood Development programs. They are doing amazing work and they are making a difference in the future of children.

At the last PC(USA) General Assembly, GA approved addressing the root causes of global poverty through a “Campaign to Promote Quality Education for One Million Children By 2020.” Under the umbrella of the Education Campaign, PC(USA) World Mission is promoting a project with the CCAP General Assembly to train teachers and administrators in targeted schools in the five synods, mobilize community residents to support their schools, safeguard the rights of children through development and implementation of a CCAP Child Protection Policy, and expand programs for early childhood education and children with special needs.

I have been on the ground floor helping to define this project with our CCAP partners. I had the pleasure of presenting the concept to CCAP GA officials and General Secretaries and Education Secretaries of the five Synods in a two-day workshop in Lilongwe, Malawi, in January. The project was also a major focus of my May visit to Malawi as I reviewed proposals developed by the Synods, helped them with fine-tuning, and brainstormed the way forward. All of the Synods have exciting and impressive visions about how this project can help them improve education in their schools.

You can make a real difference in the lives of the children of Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Think of Anna and Naomi’s stories and multiple by 1,000s of children. This project is a wonderful opportunity for “collective impact.” Contact Frank Dimmock (Frank.Dimmock@pcusa.org) with questions about how you can best be of assistance. The strong power of Christ is multiplied when the Body of Christ comes together in loving action toward neighbors.

I like to think of myself as a bridge, a connector. I understand a major piece of my job as connecting international church partners in my region with mission co-workers, programs, PC(USA) constituencies, and funding programs—connecting them where there is an intersection of PC(USA) and international partner strategic objectives. What a great job! I feel immense joy when these connections are made and I see Kingdom work going forward—on both sides of the Atlantic. I thank God for the call to this ministry.

I am so grateful to all those who are engaged and interested in the work that I am doing here in East Central Africa, and especially to those individuals and congregations who pray for me and who have made a financial investment in my work. Thank you.

If you and your congregation are not currently supporting a mission co-worker, now is a wonderful time to think about doing so.

In this time of great financial need for World Mission and for mission co-workers globally, please consider prayerfully if you can begin or increase your gifts to support the work of the witness of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) globally. Let the love of Jesus Christ shine forth.

Your sister in Christ,
Nancy

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