Sun, Swimming and Science!

Solar power at Amano
The sunshine always shines in Africa, or that’s what many think. At the moment, with the start of the dry season in Zambia, that is generally true with nothing but the occasional white cloud floating by to hinder this impression.
How good it was, therefore, to hear that Amano was to get its own solar panels from a German company, Solar World, who would also come to the school to install them. We were encouraged to imagine what it would be like when another power cut occurred and all we would have to do is switch over to solar power. Electricity at school all day...............
Recently a team from Solar World spent a week here with the task of fastening about 30 solar panels onto the roofs of the primary classrooms. This position was chosen, it seems, because the sun is on these particular roofs more than in any other part of the school, thus collecting the maximum energy. We have still to see the full benefits of this solar power, and there is still some solar lighting to be installed when it arrives from England, but it certainly looks impressive with a number of batteries fastened above the primary classroom containers that will be charged up from the panels. I am sure they will be a valuable addition to Amano in the future and we are grateful to those who donated and installed them.

24-hour Sponsored Swim
Recently Amano School left its site behind and headed off to Mindola Dam near Kitwe in order to participate in a sponsored swim which had been organised by the P.T.A. to raise funds for building a swimming pool at the school. The plan was for a number of teams to begin swimming in the pool there at 11:00 and to keep the swimming going for the next 24 hours. All of the teams managed to achieve this, with some students, staff and parents swimming for a short time and others for an hour or more. Even the youngest primaries did their bit by swimming with the aid of floats and arm bands.

Of course the greatest challenge was faced by those who had to keep the swimming going through the night, since it does get quite cold at this time of year, and some of the older students had to cope with being woken up at about 3 o’clock in the morning in order for them to dive into the floodlit pool!

It should also be said that the event was a social event and the Amano family enjoyed being together away from school where they could relax doing a variety of activities, other than swimming, and where some good food was also provided. Those who stayed overnight were able to make use of the facilities there, including a large hall where most of them slept.
Z.N.B.C., the Zambian national T.V. broadcaster, visited for a short time during the early part of the event and a short piece was broadcast on T.V. during the following week which let people know a bit more about Amano. A number of local companies have also provided some assistance for this event and some sponsorship towards the swimming pool project. At this time we don’t know exactly how much money has been raised but it should be enough to provide a good start towards the funds required.

Primary Science Fair
Science is an important subject on the school curriculum and at its best it is also a very practical subject which challenges students to ask the questions ‘why’ and ‘what it....’ Perhaps that is why the primary students have enjoyed preparing for this year’s science fair as they have used their knowledge and imagination to produce a whole variety of projects and experiments. Many of the projects were in some way linked to the science topics they have been studying within their grades recently, so they had some background knowledge to get them started, but many of the ideas have come from the students themselves.
So, after several weeks of preparation, the primaries were ready to set up their projects in the school hall. There was a lot of display work to be fastened to the walls or stood on tables and a whole range of experiments and interactive tasks which filled up every available space in the hall. Areas of science covered included friction- making use of toy vehicles to see how far they would go- and the effects of cola on eggs to illustrate what could happen to your teeth. Another group had tasks to do with the human body, such as food and the digestive system, while the older primaries had a number of projects to do with materials. One of these involved the use of ice as part of the experiment, although I did notice that a spin-off of this was for students to see how long they could put their hands into the ice-filled water for! Others were using electrical circuits, microscopes and a variety of liquids to illustrate the properties of materials.
It was a packed hall for a number of hours as first of all the secondary students and later the parents of the primaries came to see the projects and try out these activities. The primary students, standing by their projects, did a great job of demonstrating the activities and answering people’s questions. They also faced the additional challenge of showing their projects to three judges, all of them experienced science teachers from the secondary school, and answering their probing questions in order to try to win a place in the Copperbelt science fair which takes place soon. The students seem to enjoy the event and certainly worked hard to produce such a high standard of work.