Sakeji School
| Sakeji School | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Location | |
| Mwinilunga, Northwestern Province, Zambia | |
| Coordinates | 11°14′00″S 24°18′41″E / 11.233233°S 24.311403°ECoordinates: 11°14′00″S 24°18′41″E / 11.233233°S 24.311403°E |
| Information | |
| School type | Primary boarding |
| Motto | Tu vero permane |
| Religious affiliation(s) | Protestant |
| Established | 1925 |
| Age | 6 to 13 |
| Language | English |
| Website | sakeji.com |
The Sakeji School is a school near Kalene Hill in the remote Mwinilunga District of northwest Zambia. It is a Christian boarding school for primary students. It is mainly intended to serve the children of missionaries in the region, including Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the school also accepts expatriate and Zambian children.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Location
The school overlooks the Sakeji River, a tributary of the Zambezi River, which provides hydroelectric power and is used for recreation by the children. At an altitude of about 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) the climate is warm in the day and cool in the evening, particularly during the dry season months of June and July. Rainfall, mainly falling between October and April, averages about 1,400 millimetres (55 in). The nearby Hillwood Farms provide fresh meat and dairy products, and local growers provide fresh fruit and vegetables. Other types of food and supplies are trucked in from copperbelt towns.[2]
[edit] History
The Fishers, leaders of the mission at Kalene Hill, founded the school in 1925 as a place to educate their own six children and those of other missionaries in the area. They had received a gift of 50 pounds for that purpose in 1922. They chose a site about 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Kalene Hill, at first calling it "Kalene School".[3] ffolliot Fisher, son of the mission founders, donated the land for the school.[4] The school was close to ffolliot Fisher's Hillwood farm. It boarded the children of European missionaries from all Protestant denominations.[5]
In the 1920s the government of Northern Rhodesia understood the difficulty of finding properly trained teachers, but the department of education was not sympathetic to the idea of an "itinerant evangalist giving a little instruction by the way in reading and writing". The head of the department said "One of the main aims of the Department should be to educate and keep up to the mark the missionaries in charge of the trainng of teachers...".[6] After an inspection of the Kelene school, the missionaries were told they did not meet the minimal standards required to qualify for grants. They were not accustomed to interference or criticism, so this triggered an extended dispute between the school and the government before being resolved when the school agreed to meet standards.[7]
The name was changed to "Sakeji School" in 1932 when a local "Kalene school" was opened at Kalene Hill.[3] In 1952 the school had almost 60 pupils.[5] Without the school, the children of missionaries would have had to be sent "home" to their parents' distant countries at considerable financial and emotional expense. The school therefore served a very valuable function in keeping missionaries in the field.[8] Although the teachers were Plymouth Brethren missionaries and the study of scripture was a large part of the curriculum, the educational system discouraged blind belief and encouraged an degree of questioning.[9] The local Lunda people also took advantage of the Brethren schools including Sakeji to educate their "best and brightest".[10] Although the Catholics closed their premier school, St. Kizito, in the 1970s and all the other former missionary schools in Mwinilunga are now run by the government, the Plymouth Brethren continue to support the Sakeji School, one of the the best in the district.[11]
[edit] Today
As of 2008 the school had 54 pupils between the ages of 6 and 13 and fourteen missionary teachers and care givers. Both the children and the teachers come from a variety of countries.[2] Although the school is remote, it provides excellent boarding accommodations and teaching facilities.[2] The boarding school is used by some of the more prosperous Zambians, ensuring that it is well funded.[12] The buildings are wood truss design with corrugated steel roofing.[13] A water wheel on the Sakeji river powers a generator that charges battery cells, providing power for lighting. Diesel generators are used to provide additional power as needed. Communications to the outside world are provided by satellite phones, which also support email.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ Sakeji School Charter.
- ^ a b c Assembly Care Ministries.
- ^ a b History - Sakeji School.
- ^ Pritchett 2007, p. 33.
- ^ a b Turner 1972, p. 8.
- ^ Ragsdale 1986, p. 80.
- ^ Ragsdale 1986, p. 81-82.
- ^ Barnett 2008, p. 208.
- ^ Barnett 2008, p. 135.
- ^ Vail 1989, p. 388.
- ^ Pritchett 2001, p. 241.
- ^ McIntyre 2008, p. 487.
- ^ Hanna 2011.
- ^ Elyea 2003.
[edit] Sources
- Assembly Care Ministries. "Sakeji School (Zambia)". http://assemblycare.org/ministrydirectory.html?sobi2Task=sobi2Details&catid=74&sobi2Id=80. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- Barnett, Gavin (2008). "Sakeji School". Like a River Glorious. Lulu.com. ISBN 0620320982. http://books.google.ca/books?id=klPWGvL_E0UC&pg=PA208.
- Elyea, Dan (Fall 2003). "Sakeji School". Simroots 20 (2). http://simroots.sim.org/documents/SR20-2_2003fl_no.pdf. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- Hanna, Douglas (2011). "Sakeji School Roofing Needs in Zambia". http://teamworkersabroad.org/missions-projects-for-churches/61-bgish.html. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- "History". Sakeji School. http://sakeji.com/?page_id=5. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
- McIntyre, Chris (2008). Zambia: the Bradt travel guide. Bradt Travel Guides. ISBN 1841622265. http://books.google.ca/books?id=p1DfesuY5HsC&pg=PA487.
- Pritchett, James Anthony (2001). The Lunda-Ndembu: style, change, and social transformation in South Central Africa. Univ of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 029917154X. http://books.google.ca/books?id=I9W9TkeHUekC&pg=PA241.
- Pritchett, James Anthony (2007). Friends for life, friends for death: cohorts and consciousness among the Lunda-Ndembu. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 0813926246. http://books.google.ca/books?id=q0Avs0RFRtMC&pg=PA33.
- Ragsdale, John P. (1986). Protestant mission education in Zambia, 1880-1954. Susquehanna University Press. ISBN 0941664090. http://books.google.ca/books?id=bwlCeGNfFkcC&pg=PA79.
- "Sakeji School Charter". Sakeji School. http://sakeji.com/?page_id=26. Retrieved 2011-12-16.
- Turner, Victor Witter (1972). Schism and continuity in an African society: a study of Ndembu village life. Manchester University Press ND. ISBN 0719010381. http://books.google.ca/books?id=NNNRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA8.
- Vail, Leroy (1989). The Creation of tribalism in Southern Africa. University of California Press. ISBN 0852550421. http://books.google.ca/books?id=L_vbebUJCBAC&pg=PA388.
