Today we highlight Mr. John Mutunduwatha Phiri, the head teacher at Sivwa Community School in Sinda District. Mr. Phiri is employed by the Zambia Ministry of Education and in 2021 he was assigned to be the Head of Sivwa, one of the schools where Impact Network operates.
Read MoreThe NetGirls season recently ended for 2022 and what a great season it was! 80 teams, comprised of approximately 1,200 girls and young women from more than 20 villages in Katete participated in the league this year. This was the most teams the league has had in 2 years due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Read MoreThe email this week comes from School Support Manager, Caroline Chibale. Caroline helped to plan a Parent Engagement Day at every Impact Network school during the last week of October. More than 1,600 parents participated in the program.
Read MoreI hope everyone is having a great fall. My kids are making their way through a kids’ book on Sonya Sotomayor, and I was reminded of her amazing autobiography, entitled “My Beloved World”. For those unfamiliar, Sonya Sotomayor is the 11th Justice of the Supreme Court in the US, serving since August of 2009. She’s the first Hispanic justice, born and raised in the Bronx, who knew at age 10 that she wanted to be an attorney. She entered Princeton University on a scholarship, and was one of the few Latino women there at the time
Read MoreMy son has been really into these short biographical novels on famous people, leaders, and thinkers. I found myself picking up one on Mahatma Gandhi recently and learning more than I ever have about the leader in a short amount of time.
Read MoreThis week, we will celebrate World Teachers’ Day, and we want to thank all of the Impact Network teachers that make our work possible!
Read MoreWhile searching for new books to read over the coming weeks, I came across some of the lesser known titles of Chinua Achebe. Achebe caught the attention of the world in 1958 with his first novel, Things Fall Apart, widely read in classrooms across the globe (including mine when I was in college). Raised in an Igbo town in southeastern Nigeria, Achebe excelled at school and won a scholarship to attend Nigerian’s first university. His novels focused on the traditions of Igbo society, and the clash of Western and traditional African cultures during colonization.
Read MoreAs students in both the US and Zambia start school earlier this month, I read an endearing letter from one of America’s most prolific writers. Over 15 years ago, students in Ms. Lockwood’s English class at Xavier High School in NYC were given an assignment. It was seemingly simple – write a letter to your favorite author and convince him or her to visit the school. It also seems like a fun experiment for an English teacher – the best case scenario is that someone is persuasive enough to get a beloved author to come to the school.
Read MoreLast Thursday September 8th marked the 55th annual celebration of International Literacy Day. Across the world, people planned special programs and projects to remind us of the importance of achieving literacy for all people and populations, as well as to celebrate the power of literacy to enrich and transform lives.
Read MoreLast month, a long-time scientist and public health advocate announced his retirement. Anthony Stephen Fauci may not have become a household name here in the U.S. had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic. But because of the last 2+ years, we have also had the great privilege to learn about his life’s work and mission.
Read MoreYou can do or be anything at any age, no matter how young or old you are.
Today we highlight Edith Phiri, one of our NetGirls Zone Facilitators. Edith truly inspires us with her desire to help young women and girls in her community.
Read MoreFour years ago yesterday, then 15-year-old student (now 19-year-old activist) Greta Thunberg started striking from school ahead of the Swedish general election. She wanted the Swedish government to reduce emissions and protested by sitting outside the Swedish parliament for three weeks straight during the start of her ninth grade in school. After her demonstration gained the spotlight, and after Sweden’s general elections, she started striking every Friday, and over the course of a few months, helped to lead 20,000 students in protests over almost 300 cities.
Read MoreLast month, the world lost a basketball hero who transformed the Boston Celtics Basketball team from 1956 to 1969. During that time, he was a cornerstone of a team that won 11 championships in 13 years, he was a five-time MVP, and he both played and coached the team for three seasons. His jersey #6 is going to be retired going forward, not just for the Boston Celtics, but across the NBA (though current players, such as LeBron James, may continue to wear #6 until they retire). He was not the first Black player in the NBA, but arguably he was the first to reach star status.
Read MoreToo often, people assume that students from rural schools will not easily learn to use English because the only place the learners are likely to hear an English word is from a teacher. Looking at where our schools operate, it is very hard for most learners to break through to the second language of English in all aspects: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Read MoreI hope everyone is doing well! We are continuing our adventure in Zambia this month and this week I wanted to highlight one of our most impactful and interesting programs to date – Read Smart Cinyanja! You may recall that I wrote about this program back in March when Katie and I observed it for the first time. Additionally, Read Smart was shortlisted for Global School’s Forums Impact @ Scale Labs as a top innovation to improve learning recovery in a post-COVID 19 learning environment.
Read MoreI had the incredible opportunity to watch the NetGirls Zambia league kickoff on Saturday with ten teams playing five different games in Zone 3! It was a highly competitive match and was extremely well attended – I have never seen so many netball fans gathered. For those that may know, netball is a hybrid between handball and basketball, and is the sport of choice for girls across Southern Africa.
Read MoreHeroes’ Day in Zambia is meant to honor citizens (heroes and heroines) who sacrificed everything for the independence of their country in 1964. One such freedom fighter is Alexander Grey Zulu, born in Chipata not too far from where our schools operate.
Read MoreIn 2017, Daniel P.J. Mwale began with Impact Network as a class teacher at Malowe Community school in Petauke District. When he joined our staff, he was in his final year of coursework for a teaching diploma and was eager for the opportunity to put this coursework into action. When he arrived at the school, there were many challenges to overcome regarding both lack of resources and community engagement
Read MoreOn Friday morning I had the great joy of waking up to dozens of photos of our students engaged in the most creative exercises I’ve seen in my ten years at Impact Network! This was part of a special day of activities across all of our schools – students made upcycled learning aides and toys related to topics they’ve learned during their Term 2 lessons. Funded by the Addax & Oryx Foundation, the initiative is part of our Impact Earth initiatives, dedicated to educating our students on our world and how we can treat it better.
Read MoreFour years ago this month, the world lost a beloved NYC Chef, TV host, author and celebrated world traveler. At the time, I didn’t know much about him, but I remember reading so many articles about how he changed the travel landscape almost as much as the food one. The word that still strikes me when I think of him is simple: curiosity.
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