True Vine and Musopelo

Today I want to tell you about 2 preschools not far from each other: True Vine and Musopelo.

True Vine is a community preschool ran by the True Vine Church. It is located next to the Malanbanyama market, about 3.5 km from the place where we are staying. At the True Vine preschool, the pupils learn the letters, the numbers, the colors and some other useful vocabulary and songs in English. Despite the fact that they don’t speak English at home, their English level is impressive.

Their teacher, Esther, is a dynamic and passionate woman who loves her pupils. In the past, she worked with orphans in Lusaka. Now, she lives in Malanbanyama, next to her parents and together with her 2 daughters in a small and humble house where there are no chairs or tables.

True Vine preschool

The second preschool I want to tell you about is Musopelo’s preschool, which is located about 0.5 km from True Vine’s preschool.  Musopelo’s preschool is connected with the Roman Catholic Church. The Church borrows its kitchen - an empty traditional round house made of cement and straw - to be used as  a preschool. They are still waiting for their own building that was promised last year.

At the Musopelo’s preschool, Mary – the teacher – has 56 pupils. There, they learn how to read and to count as well as some vocabulary and songs in English.

Mary is a fighter. She is a 26 years old woman who has only one finger in each hand. Mary has a 5 years-old daughter, who has also the same disability as her, but just in one hand. She lives with her family about 3.5 km from the preschool, so she has to walk at least 8 km per day. Many times she cannot manage to have breakfast because she doesn’t have time in the morning.

Mary is a preschool teacher for one year now. However, she is not officially trained. She was trained by Esther (True Vine’s teacher). She became a teacher because there was no teacher around. She confessed us that she is still learning Enlglish.

Despite the challenges, this teacher is passionate and she does her best with her pupils. Their English level is not as good as at True Vine, but their math and reading skills are impressive.

Musopelo preschool

In the next post, I will tell you more about the other two preschools that we visited! You can also check http://igg.me/at/12bike (section updates) for more information about the communities where me and my colleagues work!

P.S: Portuguese speakers: check my brand new blog in Portuguese (with different stories) on http://mariananazambia.blogspot.com