The latest news from ZIGS

2011 has been an exciting and eventful year for all of us connected with the Zambezi International Green School especially as we are now a tangible reality having opened our doors to our first pupils in September. We now look forward to the New Year and hope and pray that we grow from strength to strength.

It was in July that we found the perfect building for the first stage of our project. Within six weeks we transformed the building from an empty shell to a vibrant centre of learning. This was largely due to the hard work and dedication of our amazing staff.

We opened at a difficult time given that September sees the start of the third term in Zambian schools and many parents are reluctant to move their children to a new school at such a time in the academic year. However, despite this we managed to recruit sixteen pupils into our Early Childhood Learning Centre. From small acorns grow great oak trees and even in its one term of operation Zambezi International Green School has established itself as the beacon school across the City of Livingstone.

Despite the tremendous success of our Early Years Learning Centre 2011 ended on a sad note with the untimely passing of Mr David Khomonyane - the Headman we have worked so closely with over the past few years. Mr Khomonyane left behind a widow and six children. We hope that the success of our school and especially the Kazungula campus will be a fitting memorial to our friend and colleague.

As 2012 begins our focus is very much on growth and development. We are currently recruiting pupils for our Early Learning Centre and Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4 at our Flamboyant Lane campus whilst actively seeking an additional building in order to provide for students in Grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 from this time next year. This strategy enables us to continue to grow as a centre of educational excellence and to generate income to invest in the future vision for ZIGS which as our purpose built green school on the banks of the Zambezi.

With our student numbers growing we are in a position to bring on board new members of our team. Depending upon the exact number of pupils enrolling for the new academic year we hope to employ four or five new members of the teaching staff. This will ensure that we meet our promise to parents that all classes will be small with an excellent teacher : pupil ratio. Furthermore, everyone working as a teacher at ZIGS will be qualified as a teacher. Unlike many other private schools in Zambia we will not employ non qualified staff to work in classrooms alongside teachers. We are committed to exemplary standards. One our new teachers’ joining us in January is Mr Aqeel Ahmad – a Mathematics specialist from Pakistan. Aqeel has won prizes for the teaching of Maths in his own country and will be a wonderful addition to the ZIGS increasingly international team of staff and students!

Happy New Year from all at ZIGS!

The Rotary Club of Liverpool Garston

I have been a member of the Rotary Club of Liverpool Garston for the past 18 months. During this time the Club has taken a great deal of interest in our Green School project and has been a great supporter of the Thembinkosi Foundation. Club members were very generous in sponsoring my ‘Tour de Zambezi’ last summer and have continued to support us through a weekly raffle. Furthermore, the Club is committed to helping us still further in the future and we hope to secure funding for various aspects of the school project through Rotary International and its various funding streams.

The support From Rotary has been much more than the financial aspect though. Through my membership of the Club I have made many new friends. Many of these are at least 30 years my senior and as you can imagine I have learnt so much from them. The Club meets every Monday evening and I have always made a point of sitting with different Rotarians each week. The amount that I can learn from those in the older generation is not lost on me. Many Club members have advised me on differing aspects of our project. This advice and support has been invaluable. It has been incredibly reassuring and inspiring for us involved with the ZIGS project to know that people of great wisdom believe in us and our vision for green education in Zambia.

Our model for a Green School that helps empower the poor

We feel that our model for education as something new to offer in that in incorporates the best practice from similar projects whilst having a thoroughly unique angle.

We have researched extensively into the provision of Green Schools across the globe and have discovered that despite the fact the in our opinion 'green is the new gold' and has enormous potential for sustainable economic development there are very few purpose built 'green' schools anywhere in either the 'developed' or 'developing world.' We are convinced that our model is one that can be replicated throughout Africa and can lead to the empower of communities that are currently marginalised. We would argue that there are opportunities for Africa to lead the way globally in terms of green living and that this can be a key to development.

Rebranding - we're now ZIGS!

We've changed our name! The working title for our school is now the Zambezi International Green School. We've added 'Green' to our name to reflect our commitment to green technology and environmentalism. We think ZIGS has a good ring to it!