We are based in the capital, Lusaka so this was a very long trip, taking us 16 hours to drive there. I shared the driving with Ronald who is employed by CCZ (Council of Churches in Zambia) but he is now an integral part of our team, fully involving himself in the fitting of the lights as well.
The distance was 1200km, we arrived at our lodge at 11.30pm very tired!! The next day we drove to Kasisi School and fitted lights into 3 classrooms and a head teachers office. There were 550 pupils at this school, it was in the middle of nowhere and to get there we had to drive through sand roads which was fun - good job we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle!! We also gave out school dresses donated to us by Liz Toomer on behalf of the Sue Ryder Charity. They were given to the poorest children who were wearing little more than rags.
The following day we drove to Chinyingi school. This one was a big shock to us for when we got to the bank of the Zambezi river we could not see a school. We were then told we had to WALK over the river across a 1km long rope bridge. There was a stunned silence from us all. All of the equipment had to be carried across, thank goodness the pupils came from the school to collect it then all the way back to carry it across! All we had to do was get ourselves across. The sides of the bridge were made of chicken mesh wire with some big holes in it, part of the walkway was missing and broken. Ronald our poor driver was petrified of crossing over, so Margaret took his hand and slowly took him across with me behind, talking to him as well what a brave man.
Later that day we met the King of the region. He was staying at the same lodge. He was very interested in what we are doing for the people of his kingdom.
The third school we had to fit lights in, Madalitso in Lusaka Province, was situated close to one of the ones that we completed last year, we had received a report that some of the lights were not working and they asked us to investigate the reason why.
The team started at Madalitso school where there was only one classroom plus a head teachers office in the corner. There were no windows just holes in the walls. The walls themselves were so bad we had to alter our method of fitting the lights and use cord to tie it to the roof and let the cord arc down to the right height. The door was simply an iron gate. I left the team to to do the work and went over to the other school to see what the problem was, only to find that one classroom had been vandalised so badly that all light bulbs, the wiring and a full roof truss had been removed. The next classroom had most of the light bulbs stolen and some of the wiring. I was able to fix this room and it all worked. The last classroom was all OK as was the headmaster’s office!!! We reported it to Father Chikoya (CCZ) and he was going up to talk to the headmaster and the police to try and find out who stole the lights and did so much dreadful damage.
Back in the workshop in Lusaka there is enough lighting equipment for the Zambia team to fit out another school. We have left them to put everything together themselves and go and fit the lights. This will be the first time they will have gone on a trip on their own.
Roger Mugridge
