Everyday Hero

One of the everyday heroes here at Namwianga is Sheri Sears. Sheri has been teaching at Namwianga since 1979. Currently she is the head of the English department at George Benson Christian College, so she and I work closely together. Sheri has two adopted Zambian daughters, now ages 18 and 21. Highly regarded by her students as an excellent teacher, Sheri is devoted to her work with the Zambians. Recently Sheri was asked to reflect upon the blessings she receives by being at Namwianga. This is the article she wrote.


For me, being at Namwianga has meant living in the warmth of my Zambian brothers and sisters. It has meant watching Mrs. Syanzalu, a Proverbs 31 woman, toiling in her garden at daybreak. It has meant hearing her son, Jacob, say, “Madam, I want to be a preacher when I finish secondary school” and then watching him become a preacher as well as one the best teachers G.B.C.C. has produced. It has meant that I have been the one taught by such people as Martha Moomba or Thomas Siafwiyo or by the inner strength of Precious Hakoma, one of my third year students.

Being at Namwianga has meant being able to love, name, and cuddle babies when their mothers were no longer alive to do so. It has meant watching my daughters, Sarah and Lois, grow up among their own people so that they could learn from them how to speak Tonga, how to respect their elders, how to sing, and, even how to grieve.

Being here has often meant the heartbreak of watching babies, young children, and adults die when they probably would have lived had they been in America. It has meant living daily with the reality of H.I.V./A.I.D.S. and the horrible stigma against those who have it. It has meant searching the Bible, praying, beseeching God with my “Whys?” - wanting desperately to better know him and gradually learning to do so.

It has meant having to learn how to encourage my college students to have more integrity and a greater trust of God when their families are still immersed in animism and belief in witchcraft or when they no longer have relatives who will support them physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

Therefore, being at Namwianga has meant opportunities – opportunities to teach, to love, and to grow.
By Sheri Sears, March, 2007