More news on St Pauls, Kawama

St Pauls, Kawama proposed School – Work is starting!

I was delighted to hear that the clearing of land was carried out in April and then the area marked in readiness to start building the foundation.

Ground being prepared

Members of the congregation of St Pauls Church have since started to dig the trenches for the foundation walls and their Projects Committee are now approaching local businesses for donated materials such as stones, sand etc.

St Agness Church Primary School

Hands of Compassion is continuing to support St Agness Church school, which is situated in a rural area. There are 365 children attending the school from Reception to Grade 7 classes. Their urgent need was for more pupils toilets as there were only 2, clearly inadequate. The local community have given their support by making sufficient bricks and as a result, with Hands of Compassion’s help of a financial grant, they completed an extra 4 girls and 4 boys toilets at the end of August this year. They are now completing an unfinished two classroom block..

Working on the roof
Toilet Block

St Pauls Church, Kawama

Our second current project, St Paul’s church in Kawama, has a vision to build a Church Primary school which will benefit over 100 children who otherwise can not go to school through lack of money. They are actively fund raising, and we have agreed to assist with a grant to complete the building.

St Agness Church Primary School

St Agness Church Primary School is situated in a rural area about two hours drive from Ndola. There are about 360 children who attend, from Grades 1 to 7. At present they only have 4 classrooms of which two are extremely small, walls unplastered with only openings for doors and windows. The pupils have to carry their desks and benches across the school yard to the larger classrooms every day for safe storage over night. They have very few text books and other school resources. The facilities at St Agness school was quite a contrast to the 1st school that Hands of Compassion had been supporting over the years. They only had 2 pupil toilets, 1 for boys and 1 for girls so their urgent need was to have an additional toilet block.

In addition they need help in completing a two classroom block which at present is only at window height.

Hands of Compassion promised to help them, and have sent a first instalment to enable them to start digging the foundations for the pupil toilet block.

Unfinished classroom block
Small classroom

Congratulations to Grade 7s

Government Examinations

In December we received news that 80 out of 82 of our Grade 7 students took and PASSED the end of Primary School examinations. That is a tremendous result.

It is always a privilege to see the hard-work that our students put into their education throughout their time at Hands of Compassion School, knowing that they, through your generosity in supporting the school, can make their dreams a reality. By offering primary education to these students we give them a hope for the future.

Abbishy

Abbishy was a former pupil at the school in Chipulukusu. Abbishy’s father died when he was very young and his mother died when he was 12 years old, leaving Abbishy to be looked after by his older brother. It was very tough for him, leaving his home with just one small plastic bag, no blanket or bedding.

There are many children who live in similar circumstances, no bed to sleep on, just the floor or an old chair, sharing a blanket with one’s brother. Coming home from school but having no good light to do homework, just a paraffin lamp or candle. Yet despite these tough conditions, Abbishy worked hard and is now studying to be a Teacher at College, completing in December 2018, when he hopes to become a Teacher at Secondary school specialising in Mathematics and Agricultural Science.

Former Pupil passes University Examinations

Paul Sambwa, former pupil at Hands of Compassion School, has passed his University examinations in Biomedical Science at the end of his 3rd year.   Paul now moves onto a Masters Degree course leading to qualification as a Doctor.   We are very proud of Paul and his achievement, and wish him well.