Greg and Sophie Sangwine

Welcome all followers of our Zim blog 🙂 We are very sorry it has been a while since our last update, but plenty has been happening!

The reason for our delay, is that the school year here is set up differently to that of England, we teach for 12-13 weeks at a time (with no half terms) and then have a one month holiday. So effectively, April, August and December are holiday months. Hence why this April, our blogging has lacked, as we have been fortunate enough to go and be touristy with visitors from the UK who came to visit!

Let me go back a few weeks. Last term was absolutely phenomenal at One Way Pre School, we had around 45 regular children coming each and every day, and the progress we are seeing in them is exceptional. They are beautiful, christian, hyper-active and affectionate children who cannot help but bring joy to us every day. They are an absolute blessing to teach, even through their tantrums! One Way also had its official launch (pictures of which are on the school website One Way Pre School) and this was such a success and a delight to meet and greet the families and friends of the children at our school. It is always a blessing to reach out into the community and show them we are here and what we are doing.

The term itself was very long, no half terms makes for one long term and many teachers will know its nice to have a break! So, when term ended and April arrived, we were super looking forward to our upcoming visitors and the opportunity to become tourists for a few weeks! It is important and exciting for us to not only be able to open and run our pre school, but to also venture further into the country of Zimbabwe and see what it has to offer, especially out of the main city!

We have been blessed to have Gregs best friend Andy, and his mum Ali visit for 2 and 3 weeks respectively. (My mother in law is still here…) In that time we have travelled to a place named Gweru, where we stayed in Antelope Park (it has other stuff besides Antelope) the most exciting aspect of which, it is a lion rehabilitation project, so we spent time walking with Lions! Literally.

We also visited a lodge with Elephants as its main attraction, and had some fun interaction with them, including a spot of football! African animals are all so majestic. After a couple of early (6am!!) bush walks – which I did not suggest for obvious getting up ridiculously early reasons! – we were fortunate to stumble upon a few giraffes making an early morning stroll, so well worth it! To also watch an African sunrise is a beautiful moment.

We have also spent a lot of time with Lorraine and her family, getting to know them more and being able to support them in many ways through kind donations from the UK. We are humbled every time we visit them, and Ali has been able to support them with medical advice which they have been unable to receive due to lack of funds to visit the doctor.

Our school administrator is now an Auntie! Her sister gave birth a couple of days ago to a baby boy named Ethan, so we all send our congratulations to her. Makorokoto!

Term has now started again, and we have 53 officially registered children, which is insane! Our maximum capactiy is 60, and in the beginning we asked God for 35…so we have now learnt to have higher expectations, as our God is an awesome God, who provides! We have been blessed with a few donations over the holiday and have managed to buy a few new resources for the school, which the children are relishing having. Including an outdoor basketball hoop!

We want to send a HUGE thank you and well done to Santi, who ran the London Marathon to raise money for our charity Hope for Harare and his total is nearly at 1000 pounds!! If you would like to support him still – he ran it in under 4 hours!! – you can do so at Hope For Harare

We have had a meeting as a staff team yesterday to discuss achievements of the school so far and future plans. We have a sports day coming in around 7 weeks and our first school trip at the end of this term, so please pray they are well received! We also have many opportunities for development in the future, so please pray we would have wisdom and guidance on which of these opportunities to take forward.

God Bless and thank you for sticking with us! We value your support hugely and cannot thank you enough for all your encouragement.
Sophiexx

So today Greg had the opportunity to go with Pastor Musora to the’visa place’ (i’m not exactly sure what it’s called, ha!) to discuss what the options are for visa renewal. As our Visa was booked before we came last year, it runs out in June – so we have been thinking lately about what to do in terms of renewing it.

In short, the man at the visa place has explained that we are able to renew (with no foreseeable issues) but only for 1 year at a time. We could renew for longer, however…it costs us $500 for each year! So we could renew for 5 years…except we would have to pay $5000 combined! So at the moment, renewing yearly is our most viable option.

This is all good news, in terms that we are 95% sure that the visa will be renewed with no problems, and that we do not have to re-submit all our documents that we had to for the original visa. There are just 3 renewal forms to complete.

So if we are to renew, it would be for 1 year from the lapse of our current one, so we would be covered until June 2014.

The biggest issue will be finances. At $500 each, that is $1000 we have to find and pay asap. It can take up to 3 months for the renewal to be completed, and June is not that far away now!

So please do pray for us, we urgently need to renew and so must find the money somewhere.

As I said, this is great news for the renewal, so thank you to those who support us already and pray, we feel answers to your prayers often!

God Bless xx

This week we received a word from one of the Pastors at One Way – a vision with interpretation and encouragement. The vision was of a casket, from the UK addressed to Greg and Sophie. Inside, instead of a body, there were artefacts and gifts for us personally and the school. One such gift was keys to a 4×4 for Greg. The interpretation given, was that the casket represented things that have died, been lost, been taken, since we have arrived here. The artefacts and gifts, represent a renewal in the future, restoration of things lost and the receiving of support.

We were encouraged to hear the word, and ask that you too pray for us to continue with wisdom and understanding.

If you hear anything from the Big Man…let us know! We love to hear from you  (and God!)

God Bless, Greg and Soph xx

I have not blogged in a little while, as the children keep us busy!! But some things just have to be shared! As the children not only keep us busy…but entertained also! They have SO many little gems they come out with every day, and I wish I could remember them all well enough to tell you! But here is a small selection…

Each morning, Grade Zero are asked to say their name and one piece of information. On this particular morning – we asked what their mums name is. 2 responses stood out! David: “my name is David, my mums name is Mama David”!! haha. Second…Chido “”my name is Chido, my mums name is Amai (mrs) Taaso!”….to them…this is normal, they commonly do not mention their mothers by name, as for us as English people, we know our mums names! Humorous for us!

Grade Zero are also learning the sounds at the beginning of their names. Greg has introduce a “wiggly dance” which they must do to say their name “G..G…Greg” with a shoulder and bottom wiggle! One child – Keith – is the brain child of this activity, however has not quite grasped the sound of his name and so exclaimed “KiKi Keith!” hence forth from this moment, he is nick named Kiki! Said with a shimmy shake!

In Nursery, they are beginning to learn their alphabet (and learning well!) During the initial stages, they were asked one by one to try and say as many letters as they could..a is for apple, b is for bat and so on….one child stands and exclaim ‘K is for bat, j j bat’ – completely wrong but so entertaining – at least they know there are letters, words and sounds! Just sometimes they can’t quite get the order!!

It has been a delight to teach these children every day, especially with the language barrier causing such an obstacle! There are naturally children with big characters, and some with shy characters. There are also the ones who never seem to listen, roll around the carpet and never speak. However, I was astounded the other day, when such child in Nursery Class, had not been listening, so I chose them to come and say the alphabet to see how much they knew…and was taken aback when he named 14 letters and sounds! It is so good to know that even through personality and language barriers…these children absorb, learn and use everything around them! We may not speak the same language, but God has given us an understanding and a platform to teach on!

We thoroughly love being called Uncle Greg and Auntie Sophie…the atmosphere within the school is such a blessing to us and we gain so much from being with all the children! We can already see phenomenal progress is some children – in Grade Zero, one child had a turn around of 2 weeks from writing scribbles to writing fully formed letters!

I am thankful everyday that we are filled with joy and laughter  and see the rays of light and hope that are shining into this nation through it’s children!

I will endevour to write down humorous moments, in the hope that I can convey them to you!

xx

I am writing today’s blog from my classroom where 25 little lads snore off the affects of another busy mornings learning at One Way Pre School. You may like me be questioning the sanity of the question ‘Stick or twist?’ so early into a new project. “STICK” I’d be shouting at my computer reading this. Probably also adding that it is only a month in so why complicate things now. But this week we’ve hit 40 registrations at our school. I can’t quite believe how they’re still coming but hits on www.onewaypreschool.co.zw continue to rise so maybe that has something to do with it.

Crazily though we still have many visitors each day who require showing around and explaining about registrations processes and fees. I’m so proud that the vast majority of the parents are thrilled at what we are offering and the fairness of our fee structures. I think God guided us perfectly with how the school is running and we are now reaping the benefits. I now wouldn’t be surprised if we cannot take registrations for the 2nd & 3rd terms and reach our capacity of 60 children. Sophie’s class is nearly full already!

This ‘problem’ also makes me think that maybe we thought a little small to begin with. We have already had a few entrepreneurial thoughts regarding school expansion and I must admit to a couple of drawings on how we could double the schools capacity including adding 2 more classrooms, another playground, outdoor learning area and a hall/kitchen are that’s separate from the main church facility. Big thoughts for the long term maybe but running a school for 40 we always thought would be a long term goal. Therefore I am not surprised that our goals are now having to be revisited. A musing: what about 2 grade zero classes (reception) and 2 nursery classes. The building already has a suitable facility which would need renovating just as the current school building has been. Maybe then we could persuade 2 more teachers from our country to come in for a year to teach with us. Missionary teachers in a Zimbabwean school for 120 3-6 year olds? Ambitious? YES! But ambition never hurt anyone right?

What do you all think? I’d love some advice and prayers

Sophie read on some local news the other day (I have to admit despite being nearly 27 I still only read sports news) that the Zimbabwean finance minister said that after paying all of its civil servants they only had $230 left in the national reserve. Therefore they cannot afford to do an election and a referendum at the same time. I have to admit that I know very little about government finances and debt but that does not sound too good to me.

It must be one of the reasons why so far in 2013 we have only had 4 full days without a power cut. Many of these are in the time where you’d use most power: 4pm-9pm in the evening. It has meant that the school day has been largely untroubled but home life is rather difficult. I am guessing that the government liaises with the electricity companies to aid businesses the best they can during the working day to boost the local economy. It’s a fair assumption seeing as electricity at the weekends is very, very unpredictable.  For example during the recent Manchester United V Liverpool game we had 6 different 5 minute power cuts which predictably fell during all 3 of the games goals.

It’s very frustrating because our whole house runs off electricity. There is no running hot water and we have an electric stove and an electric shower. We would like to get a generator to run the lights and television whilst these power cuts are going on as I’ve had some adventures cooking on our new camping stove by candle light. To be honest this started as quite an adventure and very romantic but now it is just a nuisance. A generator would make our lives much, much simpler and the house already has the facility for connecting one. They retail locally for 160 dollars which is around 100 pounds so please, if you are able, to donate and pray for funds for us towards one Sophie and I would really appreciate it.

Lots of Love

Greg (Sitting in a power cut)

Today, (Tuesday 22^nd January) is the 12^th day of business at One Way Pre School and we seem to have settled at the number 35 for our school which is absolutely fabulous. It’s been a real learning curve running a school in Africa.

We found out early on that many parents really wanted their children to attend our school (which was encouraging) but that they were really struggling to be on time for work with the school timings. It seems that here, somewhere around independence, when the government put less and even less money into the school system, schools had to adapt their structure to include child care – not just education – as schools were forced to charge for education. So these schools, now do not offer a full education, as they have too big an age range in their classes (some from 0-5 in one room!) and children are missing vital schooling in their early years.

There is a school down the road from us which is open for business 13 hours a day from 6am -7pm. The prices are huge but the school offer day care facilities as well as schooling and the children have separate areas to play in, have lessons and sleep.

I know on the few days in my childhood when my Mum (who is a midwife) was working and couldn’t pick me up I had to go to Mrs Spicer’s after school or more frequently to Auntie Sarah’s before school. At the moment there appears to be little of that community spirit around. It is expected that the school would offer this service.

In light of all this new information we decided to rearrange our timings to open our school gates at 7am and the children are supervised until lessons begin at 8am. It is a really long, really tiring 9 hour day and that is just for the teachers. You look at the children and you see just how tired they are. For me this is a complete quandary. I love how passionately education is valued here by families and how important it is for these parents. Most of them do not earn a British minimum wage equivalent but save to afford 60 pounds a month, per child to send them to school. It’s admirable and forces me to ask the question how many parents back home would pay that for school. But on the other hand I am forced to ask how fair it is on these children to be (in some cases) here from 7am-4.30pm? The answer I come to is that life is tougher here than I have appreciated despite living here for 5 months already. Zimbabweans must be admired for their 100% commitment to their child’s education in spite of the adversities they face.

It’s sinking in now that we are into the second week of the newly formed One Way Pre School…and it’s a learning curve! Not only have we opened a pre school, but we have tried to combine a Christian education, with the Zimbabwean ministry education and the UK early years curriculum…and with children who don’t speak English (in large numbers!) it is proving very difficult, especially in the Nursery class, to get progress and move forwards in any form at any sort of quick pace!

I am beginning to see some small changes, some children can ask to go to the toilet in English, they can sing the songs in English and some can get my attention with a *Whack* followed by “Auntie Sophie Come” and then a *sharp tug of my clothing* across the classroom, which is not ideal! From teaching in England to teaching here, in a school we are proud of but that is so different in many ways, it’s teaching me a lot about myself and about teaching in general! Methods have to change, my attitude has to change, the way I explain, the discipline…it’s all different. There are many similarities, but often these get clouded in my mind when I think of all the differences!!

Positively, I am proud of what we have achieved with God in such a short space of time, Greg is doing a phenomenal job with the Grade Zero aged children, they are a bunch of big characters and he has excellent control and is achieving some great work out of them already. We are both enjoying working with each other and have naturally settled into roles within the ministry – Greg is most definitely more organised!! and takes on the administration and money roles, I am less organised! and take on the day to day teaching and learning and general jobs with the education side of things. It is lovely to be able to spend more time with my husband than most women do!

I do feel that Mabelreign is becoming like home to us, we are settling into our cottage, we are making some friends, we are more aware of what is available to do/go/see, and we are pleased to be in a stable day to day running of things which gives us a short term vision!

We are hoping to meet with both Pastor Musora and Pastor Gatsi in the near future to discuss what the medium/longer term visions are and to pray as to what we should do following from the success of One Way Pre School Mabelreign. We are hoping to look into opening a second school and possibly connect to/build an orphanage on the same grounds. The possibilities opening up are endless and we are grateful to God for giving us such visions.

We are hiring an administrator in March which will be a relief for both myself and Greg as it means we can share the workload and this lady has such vision for what could possibly become in the next few months/years with the ministry, so we look forward to what the future brings with her on board.

So in a nutshell, I’m tired and seem to enjoy worrying about little things, but I am learning more about myself and my marriage and God’s vision for my life every day and I look forward to continuing in this journey as things are positive!

Thanks again for all your support and encouragement, we miss you!

Love Sophie x

One week in and we are now up to 32 registered children at One Way Pre School. The ‘African’s do it at the last minute’ really shines through here as we’re expecting a minimum of 4 new pupils next week and we are expecting our sponsored orphans to start out then too. I suppose that’ll mean we will be educating 40 children at our school which really is amazing seeing as this is a completely new venture. I had one conversation with a parent this morning who could not believe the difference in the building as she remembered it was a night club when this building was a full functioning hotel. She was impressed and to be honest it is a little hard to stay humble when the school is  functioning and filled with happy faces! With everyone’s help, support, prayers and finances One Way Pre School has opened!!

My highlight of the week is seeing the children singing and dancing in the morning. It is very cute seeing them do the dances to some Family Worship classics such as “If you have faith” and “If you believe”. If I work out how to upload videos to my you tube page that Mike set us up then I’ll show you some of the children’s singing but for now you may need to settle for me saying that it is quite a picture seeing 30 Zimbabwean 3-5 year olds worshipping.

All logistics have gone smoothly and we are ironing out teething problems with the day to day running of the school.

Finally as part of this blog I thought I’d introduce you all to the names of the children to include in your prayers: In Sophie’s class we have: Craig, Kudzai, Anotidaishe, Nokutenda, Lemuel, Shalom, Anesuishe, Tristan, Muno, Maka, Chloe, Christian, Seth, Tinevimbo, Thaniwe, Denson, Zvido, Blessed & Joshua. In my class is: Terevai, Tawanayasha, Emmanuel, Lerato, Tinayeishe, Nyasha, Simba, David, Tanya, Beloved, Aleesha & Keith.

WELCOME!

Today was the opening day at One Way Pre-school and we can’t actually believe that it has happened!

We now have 25 children in the school and we know of 3 more on the way. My prayer of 35 for financial security is surely going to be smashed. Today’s been all about settling the children in and talking to the parents about routines and other things. Lateness was no issue with many of the parents at the school around 7.30 for an 8am start (and we finish at 4pm…English school teachers, take note!!)

It was great to see the children in their lovely printed OneWayPreSchool/Athelney Primary School jumpers (see pictures below). We will also have a polo shirt and a hat printed with our logo on. They looked very smart and excited at the prospect of a day at school. The children are split into two classes. Firstly, a nursery class with 3 and 4 year olds wearing the red jumpers which Sophie is in charge of and an older class including grade 0 with 4 and 5 year olds which I am in charge of in the blue jumpers.

Today we kept the children together in hope to embed some classroom routines and it was certainly an experience to tell them to stop squabbling over the maracas. Lunch was served on time, the children all slept (eventually) and all children were happy, minus a few tears over merry go round traumas!

To sum it up, today is the day when we can say we have built, created, set up and opened a Zimbabwean pre school in a building which used to be a pub. God uses people in amazing ways and boy are we two of these people! We are so grateful for this opportunity but most of all Sophie and I are just glad to be back in the classroom. Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers. We feel so supported by everyone and we really couldn’t be happier.

You can also see children reading a number of books donated, they were the quietest they had been all day whilst reading them!!

FYI: Those of you interested in how I’m coping with the little ones. (Aka Jackie, Jane and my Dad) I find it absolutely crazy but already incredibly rewarding. Seeing Tinayeishe write the beginnings of his name was amazing. But to then to record it for his evidence folder made me already feel like an early years teacher. Although may class is more like a cross between year 1 and reception. I’m going to call it the early years/ks1 room rather than the reception class.

One day down…just a few more to go!

xx