Award Winning Students

Patricia Machalele and Sylvia Siachalinga won awards at a recent JETS (Junior Engineers, Technicians, and Scientists) competition.

Four area schools sent students to present projects and compete in quizzes. For the second year in a row, Patricia won first place for her Village Development project. Patricia produced a natural medicine to ease coughs and throat pain, especially in cases of tuberculosis. Patricia used her grandmother’s recipe to create tablets from cassava powder, mweeye leaves, and red wild spinach.

Sylvia Siachalinga (left) won second place in the Math and Science Quiz division. Students had to answer questions orally in spelling bee format. Subject matter included all areas of math and science.

A Little Nostalgia

My new job as a second grade teacher in Carthage keeps me busy grading papers every night. My usual work station is the couch where I wrap an afghan around me and often watch TV as I grade. It's a long way from the days at Namwianga when I graded by the light of my headlamp during power outages and listened to the crickets and bats outside the window.

Update on Jason and George

James Mwale, the new "dad" at Eric's House orphanage, wrote us a note this week to tell us that Jason and George have now graduated from preschool and will start first grade in January. The photo above was taken when I was at Namwianga in June. Jason loves all things school-related: coloring, writing letters, counting, and he's even beginning to read. George is the social one and not quite as academically oriented. Jason is determined to make a student out of him, however, and loved to tell me, "Nana! He's not coloring it right!" as he frowned in disapproval.