Myra

Hi, I am Myra (David’s wife). The above ‘photo was taken at a hotel in Hong Kong last year on our way to Australia where we had a tremendous holiday visiting friends in Tasmania and Norfolk Island, South Pacific. That was a busy holiday in the sense that we were sightseeing and travelling.

The Zambian trip will, we hope, be just as exciting but in a very different way. Hard work but satisfying in seeing improvements within the school.

My background is in banking and my hobbies are curling and skiing in the winter. I enjoy sewing, dancing, gardening. Now that my two children have their own cars I am no longer “Mum’s Taxi”. Leigh and Murray live in Edinburgh so we see them a lot.

I am looking forward to the challenge in March 2009.

David

I am Davidl. I took early retirement from Bank of Scotland in October 2005 after 36 years service. I am married to Myra and we have two grown up children Leigh & Murray who have now left the family home and are making their own way in life leaving Myra & I to pursue other interests.

Whilst I have no fears as such for our forthcoming trip to Chipembi I do hope we, as a group, achieve all we set out to do for the school and that we and the school see tangible improvements from our visit.

Personally I am looking forward to the experience of making new friends and learning more of the culture of an area of the world where I have never visited before.

Date and Time of the Next Meeting

The next team meeting will be held on Sunday 11th Jan 2009 at 12.30pm

(With Issy, Myra and Joyce providing food)

Water Tank Frame Under Construction

Water Tank and Frame Materials

Ongoing Borehole Work at Chipembi

Dear All,

On the water project front, the Engineers are on site with the materials required for the water tanks. They have supplied two tanks and each has a capacity of 5000 litres, thus, giving a total capacity of 10,000 litres.

Pass my regards to all at SLPC.

Warm Regards,

Albert

Computer Team Update

Here is an update on the Chipembi Computer Project 2009 Following discussions with the school, we have identified some key areas where the computer lab needs to be upgraded. From these discussions we have now set ourselves some objectives, which are given below.

The school have 35 Computers at the moment but we understand that only 12 of these are working. Saying these are working, we won’t know until we get there to what extent these are functional. It may be that we can salvage some of the other 23 if time permits. The lack of a constant power supply, we think, may be a reason that some of these machines have failed in the past but hopefully we can sort that. By providing 10 new machines we can network these and add up to date software properly licensed to the school.

We plan to do some “Housekeeping”!! - tidy up cabling, provide decent desks and chairs, provide good window coverings to ensure computer screens can be read and on the computers themselves provide a level of security (currently lacking) enabling teachers and pupils to log-on to their own areas of the system. All supported by specific training materials.

We may be able to add additional tasks to the list depending on budget availability.

Our key objectives are follows:

1. Provide 10 new PCs and load educational software

2. Provide power resilience against outages and ensuring that any data or power cabling is properly fixed and/or concealed.

3. Provide desks and chairs.

4. Provide window covering.


The Computer Team

VEEP INVITES HUMAN RIGHTS BODY

VICE-PRESIDENT George Kunda has invited human rights organisations to work with the Ministry of Justice to formulate the Human Rights Act to strengthen human rights enjoyment in Zambia.Mr Kunda said the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and other civil society organisations should work with the Government to make proposals that would lead to the enactment of the Human Rights Act.Mr Kunda said at a symposium held in commemoration of Human Rights Day and 60 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) at Alliance Francaise in Lusaka yesterday that the new legislation would help address some contentious issues relating to human rights.

More : http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=4&id=1228983009

From the Times of Zambia, 11th December 2008

Benefits on both sides

Both South Leith and Chipembi School benefit from the work that we do together, here's how!

Benefits for Chipembi School

• Working to make the school self-sufficient in food production
• The school exploring commercial projects
• More investment from the Zambian government
• Higher results obtained in examinations
• More pupils from the school being accepted into further education
• Teachers continuous professional development enhanced
• Facilities at the school improved
• Improvement of the teachers and pupils health
• School able to employ extensive IT resources
• Better undertsanding of how other countries work

Benefits for South Leith Parish Church

• Deeper understanding of issues in an African country
• Rich experience of meeting, living and working with people from Africa
• Enrichment of our lives and our community
• Sense of achievement
• Humility
• Joy

Ian - Parish Minister at South Leith

I am Ian, parish minister at South Leith for over 13 years. I am married to Donna, we have two daughters and two grandchildren, family connections are important to me.

I have enjoyed the two previous visits to Chipembi and so look forward to hearing the stories of the Chipembi school family, people we have not seen for three years. I also look forward to making some new friends in Zambia on this trip.

2009 is the 400th anniversary of South Leith as a parish church and we hope to welcome some visitors to Scotland from the school community later in the year.

I hope to help facilitate the trip, to sing and dance, to lead some workshops and some worship. I can't wait.

New borehole up and running!

Hi,

The good news is the new borehole was equipped today, November 17 and it is up and running.

In the meantime, it has been connected to the main tank while awaiting installation of the new tank.

More news on the water project to follow in due course.

Kind regards,

Albert Chituka

Water pump being lowered into the borehole

Stuart - in his own words!

My occupation is described as 'beadle', the best way to describe it would be the South Leith Church of Scotland caretaker.

I was in Chipembi in 2003 at that time we worked on the computer room, a cultural exchange and a basketball court.

It was a great experience; this time round I will be working with Kenny Scott on the water system or renovating shower blocks.

What do I think I will give? Apart from two weeks hard work. I’ll try singing, dancing, laughing and having a great time.

Cheers

Stuart

Country profile: Zambia

This link will take you to a profile of Zambia on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/country_profiles/1069294.stm

South Leith Parish Church Relationship

South Leith has supported the Chipembi Girls School for ten years. The school is striving to be completely self-sufficient. South Leith provided cattle to begin a herd for the girls. They now have over 100 cows. Through the school's linkage with Scotland, the African visitors fell in love with Scottish sheep, so the school also has their own flock of sheep to go with their chickens and other livestock.

Following research on the best use of the environment, the girls have three fishponds (one dug by hand) and are now able to raise their own fish as well. Each girl has her own chores to maintain the food supply.The farming endeavor includes annual crops of maize, oranges, lemons and guava, as well as a healthy vegetable garden.

The goal of the Chipembi Girls School is to be totally self-sufficient in food production for the school.

The big project three years ago was the development of a computer lab at the school. South Leith transported the equipment from Scotland and took the necessary personnel to set up the computers appropriately. The skills on the computer have made the graduates of Chipembi School top in the area and sought after by businesses in the capital city of Lusaka.

This year's projects will be described in future entries.

Chipembi Girls School History

Chipembi Girls Secondary School is one of the oldest girls' secondary schools in Zambia and it is run by the United Church of Zambia. The school was opened in 1926 and was the first girls' boarding school in Zambia that showed interest in promoting child education for girls including literacy, like skils and offering medical services.

To date many prominent women holding high positions in society are the fruits of Chipembi Girls' Secondary School. Notable among these are: Justice Florence Mumba, Dr Mutumba Bull, Gwendoline Koni, Lilly Monze and former deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of education Mrs Isabell Simukonda to mention but a few.

At present the school runs a farm with the following agricultural enterprises: maize, vegetable, beef, poultry, piggery and fruits enterprises

These enterprises provide dietary needs of the school girls. This initiative has helped to improve the welfare of girls coming from vulnerable families to access quality education at affordable rates. Originally built for 300 pupils, the school currently the school has a student population of 750 boarders.

Chipembi Girls School