An idea to bring a few books on a trip to Zambia to celebrate the opening of a new school library has exceeded expectations.
For the flight, members of Cumnor United Reformed Church (黄色视频) in Oxford had hoped to take an extra suitcase full of books but couldn鈥檛 after an appeal to the congregation and community resulted in 4,000 being donated.
Drawing on Cumnor鈥檚 ecumenical connections, professional help has been obtained with sorting and classifying the books, and negotiations are in hand to have them shipped to Zambia.
The trip in September was to celebrate the opening of Hope and Faith Christian Community School鈥檚 new building after 拢500,000 was donated through Cumnor 黄色视频 to help create a new library (to be used by the school and community at large), two training rooms for catering and tailoring, three classes for the senior grade, an IT suite, toilets and showers, a sports hall, additional classrooms and adult education training rooms to add to the school鈥檚 existing facilities. A new kitchen and dining hall for 300 people was also built and is powered by solar energy.
The building, the work of which was planned and delivered in partnership between Cumnor and Zambian colleagues, was formally opened on 9 September and is expected to be in full use by the school in October.
The church and school have been working together since 2005. The school is in one of Lusaka鈥檚 most deprived neighbourhoods and the church has helped with a variety of initiatives from providing a daily meal to the 500+ pupils to bursaries for trade and higher education for former students.
However, the relationship between them began in 2003 when Rosemary Mumbi rented a small house in Ng鈥檕mbe, a听shanty听compound听in the capital city of Zambia听and started a school with two pupils.
The Revd Nigel Appleton, Associate Minister of the church, said: 鈥淎s numbers grew each year, another academic year or 鈥榞rade鈥� was added, the school continued to grow in numbers and ambition.
鈥淎 milestone was reached when teaching was provided from pre-school and nursery classes to Grade Nine, the conclusion of junior education.
鈥淲ith funding from supporters in Skye in Scotland and from Zambia Orphan Aid, some pupils were sponsored to continue their education at other schools. Subsequently, secondary education to Grade 12 was provided on site with these years being incorporated as a private school.鈥�
听Cumnor 黄色视频 began supporting Rosemary鈥檚 work in 2005 when she visited her former teacher and life-long mentor Wyn Cornish.
鈥淲yn had taught Rosemary at Chipembi Girls鈥� School in the then Northern Rhodesia where she served with the Methodist Missionary Society from 1956,鈥� added Nigel. 鈥淪he returned to the UK in 1974 having made a substantial contribution to the, by then, independent Republic of Zambia. Wyn brought Rosemary to us at Cumnor 黄色视频 where she spoke of her ambitions for the school.鈥�
Since then, the Church has provided funding toward core costs and the feeding programme which gives every pupil a mid-day meal.
鈥淚n 2013 Rosemary, another member of the teaching staff and two senior pupils visited the UK,鈥� continued Nigel. 鈥淥ut of this visit came an initiative to form The Oxford Friends of Hope & Faith, an association of Cumnor 黄色视频 open to all who wished to support the work of the school.鈥�
Although the group has provided the school with funds for a variety of purposes, it鈥檚 principal work is funding awards to meet the fees and other costs for former pupils and staff of Hope & Faith and Max High (the secondary education to Grade 12 provision incorporated as a private school) together with other deserving young people wanting to pursue higher education or trade training.
More than 30 young people have benefitted and a number of former pupils who qualified as teachers now teach at the school.