Just a little update from me and what is hard. I have been here now
for over 10 months. The original plan was that I would be returning to the UK
at the end of this month, but God has other plans for me. My current time at
Amano has been extended till mid-December sometime and even my coming home in
August for Rebekah’s (my sister's) 18th can’t happen now. That’s roughly 15 and a
half months of me being in Zambia.
I am super excited to see the students again. They haven’t
been in school now since March 20th and aren’t likely now to return
till September for Term 3. If I had been leaving this month like planned I wouldn’t
have been able to say goodbye to any of the primaries, who I have spent so much
time with here.
Since we can’t teach in person we have been providing online
schooling for the students. It’s been a good new challenge for me, not only do
my lessons need to be thoroughly planned but everything I would have said to
the children has to be typed up. This is especially challenging since my
ability to get exactly what I mean down on paper is not my strong suit. I also can’t
tell from facial expressions whether or not they’re understanding, need more
help or are just completely lost. So much is done through interaction,
especially in the subjects I teach. I teach Art and Music for the whole of
Primary and I help out with many other grade 4 and 5 classes such as P.S.H.E.
The biggest challenges for me at the moment are living alone
and missing my family. When I left home over 10 months ago, the longest I had
ever been away from my family was just less than 3 weeks. I knew that it wasn’t
going to be until about July time that my Mum, Dad and sister would be able to
come out due to exams. They are supposed to be out here with me now which is
very tough. I also found out that my 2 best friends were going to come out with
my family to surprise me so that hurt even more that they couldn’t come. I love
being here in Zambia but I so wanted to show my family where I lived and
worked. I miss them. I now most likely won’t see them now till December and
that is hard.
Prayer Points
- Living alone is really hard. I’m very sociable but don’t want to become a burden on others by visiting all the time.
- Please be praying for my family. It’s hard on them as well as me that we won’t see each other till December.
- Please pray for the students here, especially the Grade 12’s (Year 11’s). They are back in school having to study for their mocks this week and most of them are very very far behind on everything. (Only G12 is back in school)
- Please continue to pray that over these coming weeks I won’t miss my family too much and I will just be able to look forwards to a time where I can see them again in person.
Thank you all for your support.
Beth Richardson
Amano Christian School, Zambia.
