BAPTISMS AT AMANO 14TH NOVEMBER 2010

Sunday 14th November was special this year both because it saw the last Family Worship of the school year and particularly because this service included the baptisms of four secondary students from the school.
It was decided to place the ‘baptistery’ outside in preparation for the service, despite the fact that the rainy season has started and every day sees at least one heavy rain shower if not a more eventful storm. We were challenged to trust in God for fine weather, and that is just what we got: warm, sunny with good cloud cover and a gentle breeze. As you will see from the pictures, it proved to be a lovely setting and once all the technical details were sorted out the service began on time at 11 hours. There was a large crowd to witness this event, including students and staff, family members of those being baptised, and quite a number of visitors.
The service began with ‘To God be the glory’ as a recognition of the priority we should have when worshipping God. Most of the songs had been chosen by the young people being baptised and each focused on the theme of commitment to Jesus, placing their lives into God’s hands, and seeking to allow God to change them to become the people He wants them to be. They included: ‘Be thou my vision’; ‘God will make a way’; ‘You are my all in all’; ‘In Christ Alone’ and ‘Amazing Grace’. They were sung to the accompaniment of a small group of musicians, including keyboard, guitar, flutes and brass, and a number of female secondary students who used their voices to give us a strong lead.
A special moment in the service was when each of the four baptism candidates stepped forward to the microphone to share their testimony. For each of them they were able to reflect on the journey they had been on to bring them to this point, a journey which in all cases involved recognition of their own sin before God and their need to be forgiven. They were able to stand up and proclaim their faith in Jesus and their relationship with God, whilst also acknowledging that the process of God’s work in their lives has only just begun. The fact that they were brave enough to speak in this way in front of such a large crowd was, in itself, testimony to what God has been doing in these young lives.
Mr. Philip Grove spoke, in the sermon, about the passage in Acts 8 which gives an account of Philip meeting the Ethiopian ‘minister of finance’, and how this God-appointed meeting allowed Philip the opportunity to explain what the passage of scripture this important man was reading really meant. Mr. Grove challenged us to be those who will speak when God gives us the opportunity, as Philip did, and also to be open to God’s guidance; if He should lead us to a place that is unexpected and perhaps seems to be with little purpose, will we be obedient and open to what God wants to do through us? Mr. Grove highlighted the importance of baptism for those who are committed to following Jesus, but he also emphasised that the baptisms taking place in this service were not an end but a beginning of something new. Those baptised today should remember that God wants to take hold of their lives and use them in a powerful and effective way in the future. ‘It is not time to sit back and relax but time to get active for God!’ They should also make the effort to get to know the Bible better.
All that I have mentioned thus far was the build-up to the main event, the baptisms of Elina, Womba, Chigo and Daniel. Mr. Michael Pflaum called each of them in turn into the large blue tank which was serving the purpose of the baptistery, and spoke a few words from the Bible. He highlighted that those who are baptised should have committed themselves to Jesus and he asked each student whether they had done this. He then pushed them under the water and brought them up again as an illustration of how they have died to their old lives and are now alive in Jesus. It was great to see some of the children who are linked to A.C.S. standing close to the baptism tank and seeing for themselves close up what these young people were doing; who knows what impact that image might have on their young lives? After each baptism a verse from the song ‘I have decided to follow Jesus’ was sung, as a celebration of what these young people were saying by going through the waters of baptism, and they were prayed for individually. The service was concluded by singing ‘Amazing Grace’.
I hope that this account, along with the photos, captures something of the atmosphere and significance of this service at Amano Christian School.
Martin Smith

End of term review

August, for me as a teacher, has always been the chance to relax and unwind; in the UK, of course, it marks the end of the school year and the summer holidays, but even here in Zambia the holidays came as a relief for everyone at the end of quite a hectic but successful term at Amano.
One of the features of the whole school assemblies since May has been the focus on Paul’s teaching in Ephesians about putting on the spiritual armour. Different speakers have looked in some detail at the different items of armour and their spiritual significance and this has been taught against the backdrop of an encouragement for God’s people to read the Bible and so to become equipped to serve God faithfully. This was highlighted towards the end of term when Dr. Fernandes visited the school on behalf of the Gideons and kindly gave copies of the New Testament to all of the students from grade 4 upwards. Hopefully the students will make good use of them during their holidays, both for their own benefit and that of those around them.
Mentioning the Bible reminds me of an activity the grade 12 students did in one of their Christian Foundations lessons while revising the Gospel of Luke. Each group of students was challenged to make a tableau of one of the miracles which Luke wrote about, almost as if they were presenting a photo to go alongside a newspaper story. So we had the blind beggar by the side of the road who was given his sight by Jesus; Jairus’ daughter who died and who Jesus brought back to life; and the crippled man who was made better. I thought you might enjoy seeing an example of their work - the two photos that head this post will give you a flavour!
The primary students were kept very busy towards the end of term. Two main events dominated their final week of term: performing a musical and preparing for their sports’ day.
I am pleased to write that both of these events went well. Mr. Smith, who has been teaching Music to grade 4 to 7 students this term, had taught songs from a musical called ‘Cruising with Noah’ which the students learnt off by heart and were keen to perform to their parents. These songs were linked together by a series of short mimes which featured a number of different animals, as you will see on the photos, along with Noah. While based on the story of the Ark, the mimes and songs presented various issues which affect the developing world; these ranged from poverty, injustice, famine and war, and each mime concluded with Noah giving the animals some words of wisdom to help them think about what the world should be like. So it seemed fitting to conclude the musical with a performance of the school song ‘Wisdom Seekers’.
Sports’ Morning for the primary students was held on the last day of term this year. It provided am enjoyable way to mark the end of term, especially as many parents arrived in time to watch their children in action before taking them home for the holidays. Amanda Kirk organised the morning, while staff along with secondary students helped to run the different events. The participants were divided into four teams and enjoyed wearing the new team strips, as provided by our visitors from Judson University, for the first time. Events included long jump, the shuttle relay, distance throwing, skipping races, and a sprint relay. The final event was a fun race which involved a lot of water, much of which went over the teams rather than into the container they were supposed to be pouring it into!
Well done grey team who were the ‘champions’, but most of all well done students for taking part with a competitive attitude while also helping and encouraging each other along the way- even if they were on a different team! It meant that even those who didn’t win went home happy!
So, the students and staff have a month off. Please think of the grade 12 students who will be revising hard during the holidays as they prepare for their final exams and pray for more Primary staff to apply to teach at Amano next year. Also remember the Kirks as they continue to recover from their car accident, remembering particularly Amanda as she returns to South Africa for more important treatment on her hand, back and head. She’s doing well, and is grateful to all who have been praying for her.

Term draws to a close - sport, goodbyes and music!

Ten Steps Primary Sports Event
On Saturday 10th July the Copperbelt ISAZ ‘Ten Steps’ event took place at Amano. This was the first time we had organised this event which had previously taken place in Lusaka for schools in that area.
The idea behind it is that each school brings ten students, representing boys & girls of five different age-groups, and they have the challenge of representing their schools in ten different sporting activities. This ranged from the shuttle relay- running 10m x 6- and high jump; skipping races, long jump, and throwing a size 4 football while sitting down and standing up.
The event was well-organised, and the secondary students did a great job at helping both with the activities and accompanying the teams around the circuit. Unfortunately not as many schools sent teams as we would have liked, and one of the teams was late in turning up, but there was still a good, friendly sense of competition between the students and I think it was enjoyed by all. I also know that staff and students from the visiting schools were quite impressed by what they saw of A.C.S. that day.

Auf Wiedersehen, volunteers!
As this term draws to a close there are a number of goodbyes which the Amano community must say. Last Friday was a time for some of these.
In the evening the girls’ dormitory was the venue for the boarding students, and a lot of staff, to gather in order to wish goodbye and to say thanks to the German volunteers who have spent the last year working in the dormitories. Miss Rachel and Mr Philip were leaving Amano the following day, while Miss Tamara remains here for the last couple of weeks of term.
The students showed their appreciation both in what they said and in the effort they put into the evening’s entertainment. This was a mixture of song, both solos and groups, dance, and some comedy which mainly came from the M.C.’s for the evening, Davido and Wila. It was also good to see Mr. Matt back in the dorm, helping to run the show and also reminding us of his skill on the guitar.
The evening was concluded with a number of speeches, firstly from matron who also presented the volunteers with a gift which she hoped would remind them of their time at Amano. Mr. Phil Grove amused us with a fictional letter from one of the volunteer’s parents- which included the news that it was so windy back home that the chicken laid the same egg 4 times!- but also gave a much more serious goodbye to them in which he recognised their significant contribution towards the life of Amano during the past ten months. The students are sad to say goodbye to them, and wish them well for their futures.

Musical Recital
Earlier in the day there was the first ever Amano School Music Recital. This had been organised by Mrs. Gwen Amborski who has taught music here for the last two years. As she and her family will be returning to the United States of America in August she wanted to give the individual students she has been teaching the opportunity to perform in front of their families and other guests. There were also a number of extra items added on which helped to entertain the packed audience in the school hall for about one and a half hours.
The recital was divided into two main sections- primary and secondary- and the whole event was linked together by Davido and Wila (yes, they had a busy day on Friday!) The primaries included a number of students who have been learning either keyboard or guitar with Gwen, but the highlight was probably the Indian dance which a number of the Indian students (and guests) performed while Arushi accompanied them on the keyboard. This was followed by an amusing song called ‘Bumpy Roads’ which reflected on daily life at Amano.
The secondary section also included a number of students Gwen has been teaching, along with performances from the three flautists who have been trained by Mrs. Jo Grove. They each performed a solo piece and then joined together as a trio. We were then entertained by a visit to ‘Cafe D’Amour’ in which Gwen and other guitarists provided the cabaret, and Mr. Matt & Louise, along with Mr. and Mrs. Kirk gave us a glimpse of romance in action, or not. I am sure Mr. Matt and Louise told us they were already engaged before they arrived at Amano, but he proposed to her nonetheless! Yes (that was the answer). I don’t think Mr. Kirk was caught up in this mood of romance, however, as he kept looking at his watch and asking his wife if it was time to go home yet...
Gwen said thanks to all of the parents present who had helped their children to learn the instruments by giving them encouragement and time to practice. She also reminded all of the students that, what was important was not so much which talent they had- musical or otherwise- but that they committed themselves to using that gift for God and His glory. Mr. Phil Grove spoke at the end, adding his own thanks and those of the Board for all the hard work Gwen has put in during her time at Amano. He concluded the recital by leading us in a prayer for her and her family.

The Amano term finishes on July 30th 2010. The final event of the term will be the Primary Sports’ morning which the Secondaries will be watching and also, no doubt, helping with. Then the students leave for a month of relaxation- unless they are in Grade 12 in which case they have important I.G.C.S.E. exams to prepare for.

Busy and action packed!

This term has continued to be very busy, with a lot going on both inside and outside the classroom. As I write, all is quiet and relaxed because of the two days of national holidays here in Zambia this week (Heroes & Unity days) which make it a long weekend. All of the students have gone away for the break, either to their homes or to other places which have welcomed them in.

Secondary Sports’ Morning
A contrast to the fun and excitement that was going on only a couple of days ago.......The secondary students were busy with their sports’ morning and putting a lot of effort into doing their best, and into keeping warm since it was probably the coolest morning we have had so far this winter. The sun, for a change, went into hiding-where do clouds appear from in the middle of the dry season, I wondered- but at least this meant that there was no fear of sunstroke as the students ran, jumped, and threw in the various events. This year we had a number of visitors here who assisted with the running of the programme, including Americans from Judson University in Illinois (more of them later) and our old friend Mr. Matt who has just arrived for a visit from the U.K. after a year at university. Gabi Pflaum, Bupe Siwale, David Ng’ambi, Christina Chipemba, Luther Mukanga and Womba Musamba all received medals at the end of the morning for collecting the most individual points, while many other students received certificates for the events which they had won.

Visitors from the U.S.A.
So who are these Judson people? Well, they are from the university in the United States where two of the Pflaum daughters have recently been studying. They have spent one week here, working with the primary and secondary students separately and also giving some training to the staff. I can speak from my own point of view, since I am a primary teacher who is heavily involved in teaching P.E. at the moment. Each morning the primary students went out onto the sports field for an hour with some members of the Judson team, starting off with some warm up games and followed by a variety of activities to encourage the students to develop their skills. For example, they learnt ‘cues’ to help them improve their throwing and catching and, later in the week, had a couple of sessions which focused on field hockey. After each morning session the primary staff sat down with the Judson team to review the activities and to discuss what we had seen and listen to other helpful advice about teaching sports that they were able to give us. They often emphasised the need to make P.E. fun and I could see from the reaction of my students that they had really enjoyed themselves! We are also grateful for the variety of sports equipment which Judson brought with them in order to donate to Amano (including shirts for primary sports teams to wear) and it is hoped that this link with the university will be maintained and developed in the months ahead. Good job, Judson!

Primary Hockey
While on the subject of sport, the primary students recently took part in a hockey tournament at Simba International School- the first time the primary school has done this- and they tried hard and did quite well considering their lack of experience.

New arrivals at Amano
We have been able to welcome three new members of staff into the secondary school over recent weeks. They are Miss Debbie Scott from England, who will be teaching home economics, P.S.H.E., and biology, and Mr. Frank Wittman and Mrs. Julia Wittman from Germany. Frank will be teaching some of the Christian Foundations classes and a lot of the I.C.T. It is good to have another computer expert here who will be able to further develop our use of I.C.T. We hope all of these staff will settle in well as they enjoy the relatively cool weather in Zambia at this time of year.

Grade 12 P.S.H.E.
One of the first things Debbie Scott did was to talk to the grade 12 students about the responsibilities of parenting and then gave them a practical task for a week to help them understand this more fully. They were each given an egg to look after and were challenged to make it through the week without it getting lost or broken. They certainly took it seriously, at least to begin with, and it was fun to see them carrying these eggs into the dorm during lunchtime. As you can imagine, the primary students were fascinated by what was going on! Some of the students designed their eggs in their own style- there was even a ‘designer baby’ egg with all the latest gear, for a while!- and a number came up with carrying cots to give them added protection and warmth. Debbie reminded them about their responsibilities when she spotted them without their eggs so I am sure a number of lessons were learned during the week. The photo which Debbie took shows those ‘proud parents’ (grade 12 students) who managed to keep their egg for the whole week.
The secondary students had their mid-year exams in the week before half term. They worked very hard to revise for them, and the grade 12 class had a particular challenging time as they had the most subjects to study for and also knew that most of their exams were the ‘mock’ I.G.C.S.E. exams as they prepare for the real thing in October/November.

Inter-school debate
One other event which the secondary students took part in towards the end of June was an inter-school debate, arranged by Miss Lukundo Siwale. A team of four students practised hard to prepare for this as they considered the motion about capital punishment. The Amano students were to speak against the use of capital punishment, while the visiting school, Nchanga Trust, were to speak for it. As you can imagine, the debate got quite heated at times as both sides presented their arguments and then challenged the statements which the other school had made. It was commented on by Mr. Kirk that the debate itself highlighted how difficult this issue is. Christina Chipemba was congratulated for being the best overall speaker, as far as the judges were concerned. Nchanga Trust won the debate, as far as the presentation of their arguments was concerned, but all did very well and provided some very stimulating discussion points for the audience to ponder.

Fire fighting for Amano students
The dry season has been with us for about two months now, so incidents of bush fires in the area are quite common. However, the smoke pouring into the sky from the farm attached to Amano on one Saturday lunchtime was a bit more than the usual! The alarm went out and staff and students set off from Amano, complete with buckets, to see just how bad the fire really was and to attempt to put it out before it caused damage to the farm buildings which are now the responsibility of Amano. As you can see from the pictures, the fire was fierce and it took a combined effort to get it under control. For the students, it provided a rather different experience than the usual Saturday morning prep and they did a great job as they worked together in quite difficult conditions.

World Cup excitement
That fire will no doubt go down in Amano history. Another event to be included will be the first African World Cup! Vuvuzellas have even reached here- especially when Germany are playing- and it is just a pity that the African teams did not do better than they have. Z.N.B.C. has provided coverage, along with the satellite channel D.S.T.V., so it has been possible to keep up to date and see many of the matches live. Now we look forward to the World Cup final and to enjoying what we hope will be an exciting match. What I do know is that the World Cup has helped to focus people’s attention around the world on Africa perhaps more than any event before, and it is to be hoped that this will help people both to understand Africa better and to be more able to assist with the continent’s many needs.

Primary school staff needs
I should mention the staffing difficulties the primary department have experienced during this term so far. With Mrs. Amanda Kirk still recovering from her accident and Miss Kaye Thomas back at home in the States for a few weeks to deal with a family situation, it has been quite a task to cover all of the classes. We are grateful to Mrs. Carolyn Belton who has done a lot of teaching recently in order to help out, and Miss Hilary Millard has taught in nearly every primary class at some stage this term and is currently teaching grade One. Please pray for the staff and students, and particularly that more primary teachers may soon apply.

Wisdom Seekers school song
I reported in May that a new song had been recorded called ‘Wisdom Seekers’. Since then it has been agreed that this song will be adopted as the Amano C.S. school song and we will soon be able to make it available for you to download from the school website. More news on this to follow!