Training in Zambia

This is Brian’s seventh trip to Zambia and my second. On early trips, Brian did training geared toward coaches. Last time I did training at 2 or 3 different schools. This time our trainings have shifted.

Lusaka, the capital city, is becoming a very modern place, with lots of new construction, roads, hospitals and shopping centers. Lots of this growth is propelled by the Chinese.

I’ve just spent 3 great days training staff at Campus Crusade for Christ-Zambia in all things technology. We created so many things..
✔️ in ChatGPT …. 💥 🤯
✔️Google Forms
✔️ Hyperlinks
✔️ Canva images and newsletters
✔️ Gmail Signatures and labels for organizing
✔️ Bit.ly short links and QR Codes
✔️ Chrome Bookmarks and folders
We learned how to organize and share documents in Google Drive.
This work will support the Digital Strategies Ministry and other teams at Campus Crusade.

Brian did a 3 day referee clinic with over 30 referees from across Zambia. The refs were very excited about the high quality referee whistles that Brian brought to leave with them.

Our teammate Jesse visited a prison where he met with prisoners and worked with guards. On days two and three he then did two Incident Command System trainings with 2 different police stations on the outskirts of Lusaka.

Our time in Zambia felt short as we arrived in the middle of the night on Sunday. Monday we slept in a bit and did some errands and shopping at a tourist market.

Our big event Monday was an evening banquet with Athletes in Action coaches and special Zambia family members. A surprise at the end of the night was a fancy personalized anniversary cake in celebration of our 30th wedding anniversary on July 24th.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were long days of training for each of us as described above. The evenings were very special this time as we are staying at a new guest house that our dear friends Chris and Anne Musonda have recently finished building.  That meant that each night, instead of eating at a restaurant, we were able to enjoy traditional home-cooked meals with their family. This meant lots of great visiting and catching up.

The last night was especially great as their adult daughters (and a new spouse) came to visit as well.  Anne and Chris have 6 children  and have always had extra nieces and nephews in their care as well. Over the past 15 years we have helped to provide school fees for the kids.

Our flight home begins in Lusaka, Zambia at 3 pm on Friday. We will arrive in Calgary at about 2 pm on Saturday, which will be 10 pm Saturday  back in Zambia.  So we are about to set off on a 30+ hour journey home.

Day 3: Teacher Training starts

On day 2 we had a great opportunity to tour Grand Maria School where we would be presenting to teachers for the following 4 days. It was great to get to see the students in session in their beautifully decorated and designed classrooms and to see the teachers in action.

School principal Pauline has helped her teachers create classrooms with decor that would be at home in many Canadian classrooms. This is in stark contrast to many other African primary schools where the rooms and walls are bare. Check out some of the photos below.

Principal Pauline has taught her teachers to create engaging learning spaces, inspired in part by visits to Canadian schools.

Today, day 3, was the start of our 4-day teacher training at Grand Maria School. This was the second day of Jesse’s training with Fire and Rescue staff, and Brian’s first day of a 2-day referee clinic that was across town at the National Sport Center.

Our 4-day teacher training is divided into several different topics:

• Our team leader, Harold (this is his 20th journey to Africa and 3rd time at this school), is delivering sessions on personal and organizational excellence and vision.
• I’m delivering sessions in technology. GMS is one of few schools in Uganda that has a large computer lab for students in primary (up to approximately our grade 7.) The school does not have internet so we will be training on Microsoft and PowerPoint basics as approximately half the staff would be new to using these tools.
• Teacher Helen and Teacher Rainbow are delivering sessions on team-building. Part of their goal is to show how games can be used for valuable learning. Currently, teaching methods are very traditional so while they are having fun playing the games, it is a stretch for them to imagine these methods with their students.
• Teacher Ron is delivering a series based on the “Plan to Protect” model that is used at many Canadian churches and non-profits that interact with children and other vulnerable populations.

So after the expected technical hiccups, especially when doing technology training where you are relying on an iPhone hotspot to access the internet, all sessions settled into a valuable first day of learning.

There were two other highlights.

1. Sylvia from StickTogether donated a StickTogether sticker poster for us to do as a group. Every break time, teachers were crowded around enjoying the relaxing “sticker by number” process. By the time we return tomorrow, I imagine the full image will be completed. And thanks to the generosity of the StickTogether owners, I was able to bring 3 additional stick together posters for the school to enjoy. As an interesting reference point, the cost in USD of an activity like a StickerPoster would be the equivalent of two weeks salary for the average teacher at this school.

2. We collected so many phones from supporters in Canada that we were able to provide a “new” cell phone to every teacher who needed an upgrade. For most teachers, our collections of Androids and iPhones 6-8 will provide a much-needed phone upgrade, and for many of them, their first Smartphone. School director, Cyrus, couldn’t wait to surprise his staff and wanted to get the phones in their hands so they could use them for more of the technology training.

Their reaction in this video tells the rest of the story!

1 week to go

A week from today we will be waiting at the Toronto airport to take our connecting flight to Africa via Air Ethiopia. Hopefully.

It’s ironic that at this point the least stable part of our trip is when we have to rely on transportation in Canada.

This past week I flew through Toronto to attend a conference. I flew Air Canada through Toronto both going and returning home. Both trips were a saga of cancellations and delays.

That’s one thing when you are connecting within North America and there are lots of other options. It’s quite another thing when you are connecting internationally!

I had intended to write about what it is like to experience travel/transportation in different countries. While I might consider driving in a Zambian city, I would be no where near qualified to do so in Uganda or Ethiopia. One must be … patient… when traveling in Africa and not be surprised by anything. That post will still come- with pictures -but for now Canada is the transportation topic.

We’ve gotten all of our vaccinations and are sorting through over 25 phones to bring to Uganda. There is still lots of planning to do.

In particular, I will be focusing on finalizing plans (with Plan A, B, C, D, E…) for four days of technology training (basics in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint) in Uganda and mire technology training with office staff in Zambia. I wonder if there will be an opportunity to investigate the power of AI and ChatGPT!?! Internet reliability might be the determining factor…so time will tell.