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Hello APA Parents! During December and January, we had the privilege of hosting our School Directors from our sister school in Zambia, Africa. David and Faless Zulu and their children Chichi (grade 5) and Temwani (grade 3) spent six weeks attending school, observing, learning and sharing their amazing story with us. They visited several campuses, and were able to speak to our secondary students at an assembly and answer questions about their school and general conditions in Africa. David and Faless started their school in 2013 with just 13 students in a chicken coop. They walked 7 miles each way to the school for many years, carrying their two children until they were able to walk on their own. The walk took 3 hours each way, so they left each morning at 4 am and returned well after dark each night. Fortunately, they now live in a small house on the school property so they are no longer walking to the school. They named their school African Preparatory Academy, and they use the direct instruction programs for reading and math instruction that we use here at APA, and they have had incredible success with 100% of their students passing the national exams each year! So, of course their school has grown and they now have 240 students! Yet they still cook over a fire, with lunch staff spending 5 hours daily to prepare school lunch. Because they don’t have a full installation of electricity, they do not have refrigeration, warm running water to wash hands or clean dishes, a stove or oven to cook with, or power for their copy machine, computers, projectors, or even lights in the classrooms at times! We loved learning about these amazing people and how hard working and diligent they are! We believe it is a great benefit to our students (and all of us!) to understand how our African friends live and the challenges they face, and also gain appreciation for the amazing lives we live here in America. In keeping with our Builders theme of “changing the world for the better”, we have decided to launch a builders project to assist our sister school. We developed a short video that your student(s) will be watching today or tomorrow that expresses these ideas and invites the students and others to participate in a fundraising effort to bring solar power to the African Preparatory Academy (APA-Zambia). We hope you will talk with your student(s) about the video, maybe even watch it together (see below). We also hope you will ask your student for the card they received that they can share with you and with other family or friends who might be willing to help in this effort of bringing solar power to the school. Printing of the cards was funded by a generous family who met David and Faless and their children when they were here. This donor was moved to help launch this initiative by paying for any costs associated with it. So we’d appreciate you asking your student for the card and thinking together about who you might share it with. It contains all the information needed for someone to participate in donating to the solar project. We are so grateful for all we have in our schools. We are also grateful that you trust us with the education of your children. Thank you for all you do to support us in this important work! Carolyn Sharette
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Priority #1 SolarThis is the card your student took home. |
African Prep Solar Project VideoThis is the video that your students watched in class. |
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