Blessed Vale and Neda Sohrab School for the Arts
In a small school in Zambia, teachers show true dedication to their work. Some are in the habit of working in a district that can only afford half-day salaries and sometimes offers no paychecks at all. Still, they dedicate long hours to help students learn. The valor and dedication of the teachers shines through even in neighborhoods where poverty and crime make it a challenge to provide a safe, productive learning environment.
In just such a neighborhood of Lusaka, the first Zambian Full-Circle Learning program was requested.
Blessed Vale serves 350 students – half of them orphans--with the Lusaka School and its new Neda Sohrab School for the Arts now serving students as well. The Blessed Vale staff became such proficient practitioners after its first training that within weeks of the new school year in 2008, the students were already applying their academic and artistic skills in service to the elderly and poor in their community. The following year, the school director conducted the training for a second school on her own.
Beauty Nzila, the inspirational director of Blessed Vale School, trained 15 teachers at Lwimbe in August 2009, extending the reach to two schools just one year after Maureen Mungai had conducted the first training. Teachers wrote extensive testimonials about their experience of this training, and described their wishes for the future of their students. Through the training, they hoped their students would: “Become good future leaders; learn to cooperate and be connected; become role models; have far-sightedness, be vision-seekers, and be able to overcome challenges in their lives.”
The project arose from the initiative and sacrifices of a few people determined to enhance access to quality education. Dr. Farzin Rahmani, a physician from Great Britain, volunteers much of his time to building clinics and schools in Africa. Through his collaborations with philanthropist Kavian Maghzy, a Full-Circle Learning honorary board member, the two identified a way to help the school in Lusaka. When Kavian’s cousin, Neda Sohrab, passed away, her young children and husband created a foundation to support the Lusaka School for the Arts to be named in her honor. Orphans helping orphans helping other orphans in the community….this is the definition of humanitarianism that evolves when youth realize that their own transformation and healing comes through transforming life for others.