The second term of 2009 begins . . .

This last week marked the return to school for the staff and pupils at Amano, with a staff meeting on Monday and boarders returning in the afternoon and then the start of school proper on Tuesday. The reaction of students was certainly mixed; some had had a thoroughly enjoyable break and would have appreciated more, some were willing to admit that four weeks had been a long time and that returning to Amano was a welcome event.
We have much to thank the Lord for as term begins. All the staff and students returned safely, the plans and preparations for the new term have been seen to be well done and no great disasters have marred the work. It is easy when things follow the routine to forget that they only do so because of the Lord's guiding and protecting hand. He alone is our strength and stay at Amano when times are good and when they are not so good.
Special cause for rejoicing was the arrival of Andrew and Amanda Kirk from Suffolk, England who have joined the staff of the school. Amanda teaches Grade 1 and Andrew joins the Secondary staff as form teacher for Grade 9 and teaching Maths and other subjects to Grades 8, 9 and 10. The family have come to Amano for as long as the Lord calls them to be here, for which we praise his gracious name.
Our picture shows Andrew and Amanda with their children, Samuel and Joshua, who joined the student body, Joseph in Grade 1 and Samuel in Grade 3 under the tuition of Deborah Cole. The second picture shows Hope Chitonge who also joined the school at the start of this term as a student in Grade 10. Hope is an orphan and as such should have a place in the dormitory, but sadly that is not possible at the moment. She is boarding with a family in Chingola and comes in with the day students on the school bus. This highlights the great need for prayer at Amano at the present time, the provision of dormitory parents. Hope cannot be in the dormitory because it is full and in fact two other girls are also awaiting a dormitory place. In terms of buildings at Amano we have the provision to house more boarders as the new boys dorm is effectively complete and when occupied would allow the present dorm to accommodate more girls.
Almost every day, even during the holidays, we have parents coming to school or telephoning, asking if we can accept their children at Amano. We want to take them because it is our great aim to influence as many families as possible by giving their children the firm foundation of a biblically based Christian education, but the dormitory situation means we have to turn them away. Please pray with us for the provision of at least one and preferably two couples called to the work of dormitory parenting. It really is our most urgent need at this time. And don't just pray! Might you be someone the Lord is calling? Or do you know a couple who are seeking the Lord's will about serving overseas and to whom you could introduce this need? Your prayers, your help and your interest are really needed now.

School holidays are not always what they seem!

Amano has enjoyed four weeks of holiday - no sign of the students at all and at times very few signs of life on the campus itself! Two weeks of the period coincided with a break for most of the Zambian workers, so it would be true to say that it was in general very quiet. However, the Lord's work must go on and things must be prepared for the new term which starts on Tuesday 5th May.
Our pictures show the construction of the framework for the new general purpose hall. This part of the work was done by contractors who moved with amazing speed and dedication! They lived in a tent on the site and worked from early morning until the light faded in the evening, getting the steel supports in place and the sheet roof fitted in under three days! Our pictures show the steel supports being put in place, the roofing almost complete and finally a view of the structure as it now stands taken from the school Admin block. We give grateful thanks to the Lord for this work done and look forward to the completion of the project which includes a new kitchen and dining room and an indoor multipurpose sports/meeting hall.
Inside the Admin block there was work to do on the computer system. Again we praise the Lord, this time for generous gifts that have allowed us to add to new computers purchased at the end of last year. A new server has been received and commissioned and additional desktop computers will make the work of administration much more pleasant. All the computers in the school, including the server, are using Ubuntu Linux and delivering a wide range of educational tools for our students. All the setting up of these machines takes a great deal of time. Our picture shows Harold Shamanoh working on the set up process. Harold has worked hard to learn quickly and has been invaluable in getting the work done.
Amano's head teacher, Hilary Millard, has also been hard at work on timetables and other important matters, ready for the staff meeting on Monday.
'All work and no play' is rumoured to have made a certain 'Jack' very dull, so our final picture shows a scene at Mindolo Dam near Kitwe on a beautiful day during the holiday. The aptly-named Rod Boatman is a skilled sailor and captained the yacht shown, taking various people for a very pleasurable sail. Student Daniel Vedder is cautiously donning a life jacket prior to boarding, meanwhile Daniel's father Marco and a younger sister paddle a canoe.
Please remember Amano in your prayers as the new term starts. There is much to do this year and our longing is that the Lord Jesus Christ will be exalted as a result.

End of Term!

First of all, apologies for the unavoidable delay in making the update to this blog. There is some consolation for regular readers in that this is a packed update recounting the highlights of the last week of term before Easter.
Amano's first term of 2009 ended on Friday 3rd April, but not before some special events had taken place. The first was on Monday 30th March when Whole School Assembly was moved from its usual 0730 slot to 0930, allowing Physics and Math teacher Rod Boatman to bring in wife Marja and daughter Jenny to join son Dennis (student in Grade 11) and family friend Daniel Vedder (student in Grade 9) to perform with the puppets Marja makes. The two 'performances' - one intended for Primary and the other for Secondary - were skilfully presented and much enjoyed by the school and staff. The clear gospel message was reinforced by Rod who also lead singing using his accordion. Our pictures show the puppets in action and also Rod. Mischievous suggestions that readers might not be able to tell the difference are not welcome!

The last week of term always has various things going on that dislocate the normal routine. There were various rehearsals announced, separately for Primary and Secondary drama and also for choir, and then dress rehearsals. There was much hard work being done and all of this saw the light of day on the very last day of term when Assembly was again 'delayed,' this time to 1145, allowing parents and friends of the school to be present and making a final end to the term. The Assembly theme was Easter and first Primary students presented a drama called 'Would you believe it?' in which the 'crowd' portrayed their reactions to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondary students then presented 'The Missing Piece,' a drama focussing on the disciples learning of the resurrection including the events on the road to Emmaus. All of this was accompanied by music directed by Gwen Amborski which was beautifully sung by the choir. Amano Chairman Phil Grove closed in prayer, leaving only parent-teacher interviews for some Secondary students after lunch to complete the term.

Amano inevitably has 'comings and goings' to deal with and the end of term means mostly goings. So with some sadness we said goodbye to Lyndsey Coleman from Merseyside who came temporarily in January and served faithfully as teacher to Grade 1. Lyndsey was much loved and appreciated by both students and staff. We wish her well as she completes her teacher training in the UK.
When Lyndsey came, Martin Smith from Leighton Buzzard was on the same flight, coming initially for the same period. Martin, seen above, taught Grades 6 and 7 and showed his other skills in guitar at various events, training the Primary football team and being responsible for the drama club. He was very involved with the Easter assembly and has won a real place in the heart of Amano with his relaxed but determined manner. By God's grace we said goodbye to Martin on the last day of term but only for a short while. Martin will return to Amano in time for next term, having identified the Lord's call on his life to serve for a longer period. We praise the Lord for that! Martin is pictured above.
Last but not least, Christa Hamel from Germany has served faithfully and quietly in the dormitory for more than a year. Christa serves with Liebenzell Mission and originally was scheduled to leave Amano at the end of 2008 but kindly agreed to extend until the beginning of April. She won a place in all the boarders affections, particularly the girls with whom most of her work was done. There was a student farewell for Christa on 2nd April. Staff gathered on Friday afternoon to share cake and drinks and hear Phil Grove speak highly of her as a godly lady who will be in our hearts for a long time. Christa returns to her family and friends in Germany; she is pictured here with Matron, Mrs Simfukwe, who will surely miss her next term.

We praise the Lord for another term in Amano's life and development completed. Please pray with us that we will know the Lord's guidance and blessing as the new term begins early May. We need that above all, remembering that Amano was called into being by his grace and exists for his glory.

The Amano Debate!

Last year an Amano Christian School debate team travelled to Ndola Trust School for the first Independent Schools Association of Zambia inter-school debate. This week, on Wednesday 25th March, Amano had the privilege of hosting Ndola Trust for the return match. Amano had an all-male team of five very assertive young men while Ndola had three young ladies escorted by one young man. The fifth member of the Ndola team had been unable to travel at the last minute but their 'first' spoke twice to replace him.
The motion before the house was 'Juvenile Delinquency is due to lack of parental care.' Amano Head Teacher Hilary Millard opened proceedings by making the welcoming remarks. Rod Boatman was chairman, Martin Pflaum the timekeeper.
Amano were the proposition team and so opened the debate and Ndola followed with counter-arguments. On both sides the arguments were well-made and strong, Amano arguing that young people must be properly parented and closely monitored and encouraged, Ndola arguing that modern conditions required more responsibility from young people and that parents could not be blamed. The three judges had to give a great deal of attention - having been flattered by most of the speakers in their opening remarks! The three were Mrs Malambo of Ndola, the indepdent Mr Lukavu from Nchanga Trust School and Mr G Hind from Amano.
Ndola were declared winners by just 1.6 points at the end of the debate.
Both teams argued cogently and the audience responded very well. It was a thought-provoking session and a day to remember.
Amano's thanks are due to English teacher Lukundo Siwale who trains and encourages the debating team.
Our pictures show the Ndola team, the Amano team, Rod Boatman being briefed on his duties by Lukundo Siwale, judges Mrs Malambo and Mr Hind, judge Mr Lukavu and timekeeper Martin Pflaum and Rod Boatman at the lectern.

Amano's ISAZ Triumph!

Amano Christian School competed in the ISAZ (Independent Schools Association of Zambia) Sports Finals last weekend (7th March) with great success, made all the more remarkable by the fact that Amano was by far the smallest school. Indeed, Amano is so small that our teams for both Volleyball and Football are composed of the same students and although we qualified for Basketball it was judged too much to ask the team to compete in yet another sport! What follows below is something for which we praise the Lord, recognising also the dedication of the team members and the sustained hard work by our sports staff Steve and Jo Grove.

The girls football (for which they had not had time to practice) was a valiant effort. They were defeated in their first game 2-0 which was not at all a disgrace as the victors went on to be the new champions. In two subsequent games the opponents were held to a draw.
In netball the girls improved on last years performance where they dominated in three games, losing the semi-finals by only one dubious point. Volleyball was their 'target' this year and they were motivated and determined, having reached the semi-finals last year. This year they won all their games and came home the new champions!

The boys were wonderfully successful in both football and volleyball. In football they won two games and drew one. Both the semi-final and final were determined by penalty shoot-out and Amano came home with the champions cup, plus the kudos of having Martin Pflaum win the Best Player Award for the tournament, won last year by fellow-player Benjamin Mutti. In volleyball the Amano boys team triumphed in all their five matches to easily take the cup.

Amano team members and staff recognise that all this was only made possible by the gracious blessing of the Lord.

A couple of other points to note: ISAZ represents many schools that are not Christian, but two Christian schools, Chengelo and Amano took six of the seven trophies at this final! Amano's practice of having a 'heads down' before and after each match for prayer was noticed by other schools; finally Amano teams throughout the ISAZ events this year were again noted for their good behaviour and absence of bad language, sadly not something that all ISAZ schools achieve.

Pictures on this page by courtesy Michael Pflaum. A 15 minute video of the boy's football match highlights is available to download from:
http://www.amanochristianschool.org/isaz_football_highlights_09.mp4
(10mb download - to download to your computer right-click on the link and choose Download)

Primary Science Fair

On Friday 6th March a special event took place when the Primary school held a Science Fair in the main hall. Older readers (like this writer!) may wonder what a Science Fair is. Any doubts about the event were quickly swept away, however. The children had worked really hard and some of the excellent displays and the children involved can be seen in our pictures. Each display was 'staffed' and Secondary school students and staff and parents were welcome visitors. It was quite obvious that a great deal of work had gone into the Fair. Primary staff members Kaye Thomas, Deborah Cole, Martin Smith and Lyndsey Coleman had worked hard with the students over about three weeks. The results were well worth seeing and a credit to all involved.

All work and no play . . . .

. . . . makes Jack a dull boy, as the proverb goes. Amano is very serious about its mission as a Christian School and there is always a determined effort to attain the best academic standard we can, but what would life be without sport and some time for fun?
Over the last two weekends teams from Amano have travelled to Kalulushi and Chengelo to play against other teams at volleyball, football, netball and basketball. At Kalulushi Amano boys won at volleyball and the girls thrashed the opposition with a stunning victory. At Chengelo there was less to celebrate but the girls won at volleyball and the boys at football. The matches were friendly and provided a change from the normal Amano routine. Our pictures show the boys volleyball at Kalulushi, basketball (with some post-processing!) and rugby at Chengelo.
This week ended with a 'time warp' in the Amano calendar, because next week a team will travel to Chengelo again, this time for the serious business of the Independent Schools of Zambia playoffs. Because of the distance and the number going it will be necessary for the students to leave on Friday and return early evening Saturday, ruling out any possibility of Valentine celebrations.
Two sixth form students, Jedidah and Gabi, organised a Valentine event for Primary students that took place on Friday afternoon 6th February. The 'Sir Knight and Miss Valentine' event saw some young ladies from Primary dressed first in Valentine clothes and then formally, in between performing songs etc to demonstrate their talents. The young men were dressed as knights and then more formally and were a little more reticent for the most part in the talent department!
A panel of judges wrestled with the difficulties of declaring the winners. In the end Natasha was crowned Miss Valentine and brave Sir Shadrach was the winning knight.
Our pictures from the Valentine event show the charming entrants for Miss Valentine, the judges in deep discussion, the knights, Shadrach being knighted by Mel Robson and the lovely Natasha crowned and sashed next to a decorated Shadrach.
The judges were (from left to right) Valerie Grove, former dorm parents Lil and Mel Robson (back on a visit to old haunts) and Ulfert Andresen.