"Happy Readers"

Things have been happening so fast at ANESU in recent months, it's been difficult to keep up with posts to the Blob. One of the reasons for this lies in the unfortunate fact that we've been sort of treating the Blog more like a web page than a Blog. Bad idea ... I know. I should comment frequently, as people do on Blogs.

That'll have to be a New Year's resolution come January 2013. Does that mean seven months' grace? I guess not.

MayI simply say here, that we in ANESU are very grateful to be preparing for the arrival of the third team in sixteen months from the South Ridge Community Church family, led by the indomitable Steve Sargent, dynamic director of "Extend Ministries".

The emphasis this time around is going to be "Literacy".

The bottom has fallen out of the education system in Zimbabwe. There's a shared sense by many professional educators that the nation needs to go back to the starting line, and address the issue at a literacy level.

Cognitive reading is fundamentally important. If a child hasn't learned to read, he or she cannot read to learn. Too much "education" at the infant and primary levels is memorization, as opposed to understanding.

A recent morning spent with an enthusiastic group of highly energetic children shouting in unison the story of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and "London Bridge is Falling Down" only proved to emphasize the predicament we find ourselves in. Wen I asked the children if anyone could tell me what a sheep was, there was stunned silence. Naturally, the word "wool" meant nothing to them either ... but they were able to parrot the rhymes word perfect.

What does it say about the state of education at that level that the only English the children seemed to understand was, "Potty Time"? At the pronouncement of those two words, they all leaped to their feet and lined up in rows of girls and boys headed for the pit latrines.

We're excited about the "Happy Reader" program that ANESU is about to facilitate in orphan home bridging schools. It's been a very long time since something of this calibre has come along. We look forward to this launch with great expectation.

The visiting team from South Ridge, which includes a group of professional educators, will spend time with both the founders of the "Happy Reader" program, and the team of Zimbabwean workers who are dedicated to helping orphaned and disadvantaged children learn.

We're in for a fun time.

Bud Jackson
Project Director
ANESU, Zimbabwe