Siankaba, notebooks and The U Foundation

We found out about Islands of Siankaba via some friends who visited last year. They had told us about the school there and about how the kids at the school could really use some basic school supplies, especially notebooks. I knew immediately that we would be taking notebooks. As we got closer to our departure date, I asked friends to donate notebooks. I had no idea I would get such a strong response. Within a couple of weeks, I had already acquired close to 80 lbs of notebooks, pencils and erasers. As fantastic as this was, I realized that, although we had a large luggage allowance on our long haul flight, our flight from Jo’burg to Zambia only allowed us one bag each of no more than 44 lbs. I looked into shipping, talked to the airlines talked to other agencies and had no luck in finding a way to get these items over. I finally found out that Siankaba works with a foundation in the UK called the U FOUNDATION http://www.theufoundation.org/ and I immediately contacted them. Knowing we were going to stop in London, I was hoping there would be a way to get these items to them so they could be included in any large shipments. Sarah responded to me saying someone would meet us at the hotel to pick up the items from us! Ahh relief! This would be a 100 mile drive for them, but it seemed to be no problem. The next day, Jay, from the U foundation emailed to let us know that the morning we arrive in London, he would be at the airport to greet a friend of theirs and would pick the items up from us there! Can you believe the luck??? Jay was so kind, offering to arrange transportation for us to and from London and anything else he could , would be no problem! Jay and Carol were there to greet us when we arrived in London. We sat down with them to have some coffee and to chat about Zambia and the new nursery school at Siankaba. This school that had just been built was a very forward thinking addition that would get kids in school at the age of three instead of them having to wait until they were 6 or 7. This new school was funded by the U Foundation. Jay collected the notebooks, which he and Sarah will be taking over at Christmas time, and he put us in our car bound for the city of London.

Fast forward a few days to our first night in Zambia at the Islands of Siankaba hotel. The 4 other guests, our hosts Sarah and Malindi and Eddie and I shared dinner together. We had some great (and very informative) conversations about Zambia and soon found out that Malindi was the brave soul taking on 80 preschoolers from several villages at the new nursery school and we set up our visit to the school for the next morning. We could already tell that Malindi was very passionate about teaching these little ones and very excited about the new school. We managed to pack up a few bags of candy as well as about 20 notebooks and some other school supplies. We were excited to see the kids and Malindi in action, but it was Saturday. Malindi told us he would arrange to have a “few” kids there.
Malindi met us at 10:00 in the morning and we began our walk to the village. Each village is comprised of an entire family and the village of Sinakaba has about 60 residents. They have some cows, chickens and their own gardens, so they produce the majority of their own food. Each house is made from mud with grass for a roof. It rains quite a bit during the rainy season, so these house need to be restructured at the end of each season. Our lodge, employs about 40 people from the village.
Our first stop was the village store where residents can buy items that don’t grow. You just walk right up to the window and make your purchase. To our surprise, the chef from the lodge was working at the store. Our next stop was the current preschool. I don’t even really know how to describe this school. A tiny, open structure that had a leaky grass roof, a couple of tables and a small little chalkboard that Malindi would have to hold when using because there was no true wall. On our way to the new school, we ran into a little girl in her school uniform , walking with her Mom. She was not so sure about us. She had just turned 3 and today was to be her first (unofficial) day of school. We arrived at the school thinking that we would see a few kids. Because, it was Saturday and what kid would want to go to school on a Saturday??? There were about 30 kids there and 10 parents!! All of the kids were sitting onthe front porch of this beautiful new, 3 room building that is the new nursery school. Thetwo rooms on the end were to be for classrooms and the middle room was for storage and office space. The U Foundation shipped over hundreds of books that completely filled the room. The parents had put up some shelves for the books and were painting them when we got there. Most books are for the kids, but there will also be a section where the parents can check out books in hopes to promote literacy amongst the adults in the village.
Malindi moved all of the kids into the classroom and did a little teaching. One of the goals is to teach the kids English as this is what they speak in primary school. The older kids showed us how they have learned to greet each other with a handshake and phrases like:” Hello my name is…” “nice to meet you.” And, “Where are you from?” They sang a few songs and then, Malindi lined them up, so they could get some “sweeties”. This was yet another opportunity for Malindi to teach. I got to give them the candy and Malindi would have them say “thank you.” They were absolutely adorable! Malindi then showed them their new school supplies, which they weren’t too excited about. I think they were just too young to understand. They sure did enjoy their sweeties, though! Malindi’s energy and passion was incredible! Those kids obviously adored him and they LOVE school! Kids as young as three walk several miles every day to and from school. Oh-and by the way-Jay, from the U Foundation, sent Malindi to college, so that Malindi could do this. Remember the little girl we saw on the way to the school? She did great! Her Dad, Lugasi, who works at the restaurant at the hotel, came to watch her and help. We saw him as we were leaving on Monday, which was her official first day and he told us that his heart was heavy, because she is his oldest. I guess some things are just universal.
From there, Richard, who drives the pontoon boat, took us on the rest of the tour. He walked us through the village and introduced us to his wife. He showed us his house and the paintings on the outside that his wife did. We were very impressed! Then, we moved into another village where they had the primary school and the new clinic (also established by the U foundation). Richard taught us to do a small little clap, when you greet elders, to show respect. It was getting hot, so we ended our tour on the beach of the Zambezi, at the end of the village. We were greeted with two, ice cold, DELICIOUS Mosi’s, that we enjoyed there and then hopped in a Mokoro (wooden, dugout canoe) for a nice, 20 minute cruise down the Zambezi.
The village walk was such an amazing experience! We learned so much about the rich Zambian culture. We are really impressed with how the lodge and the U Foundation are trying to make life a little better for the surrounding villages. The average life expectancy of a Zambian is 37 years. This is in part because of the poor water conditions. People lug water for miles from the Zambezi and too often children get sick from the water. There was a boho (sp?) near the clinic and primary school and the lodge is trying to install one in the village of Siankaba. The boho allows the villagers to pull fresh, clean drinking water from the ground. If you ever get a chance to visit this place, you should! It’s beautiful and eye opening. A lot of you asked how I heard about the school or how you could get your supplies there and I'm glad to say that I now have an answer:U Foundation! Check them out and see all of the great things that they are doing:http://www.theufoundation.org/