We recently spent a few days in Zambia visiting the Foundation for Cross-cultural Education Training College in a rural outside the city of Ndola. When we were on a Christian schools tour in South Africa in 2008 we heard about FCE from a teacher we met in one of the schools. Chris stood out to us as a very well trained teacher with an unusual understanding of teaching from a Christian perspective. He told us he had received his training from FCE and so for some time we planned to visit there and see what we could learn from them to help us in our teacher training programs at the Timothy Centre.
We were not disappointed! It was an amazing visit and turned out to be not only very helpful in terms of ideas and resources for teacher training, but also for the community development work that Karl is involved in. We were able to sit in on a couple of the teacher training classes and were very impressed with their heart for Christ-centred teaching and their excellent quality of the work the teachers in training were producing.
One day we toured the farm where they are using “Farming God’s Way” methods with great results (the same conservation farming method Karl is experimenting with on his demonstration plots here at the Timothy Centre.
They also have a model primary school in one of the nearby villages and...lo, and behold... we found a volunteer from Edmonton in one of the classes!
We also spent a day visiting three of their community workers who live in surrounding villages and each day model Christian principles of family life, godly work ethic, and trust in God in the midst of communities steeped in fear and witchcraft.
At the end of our trip we spent a relaxing afternoon and evening at Nsobi Game Camp, a small private reserve not far away. We were able to walk the trails in search of eland, kudu, dik-dik and bushbuck and sat in the grass watching five giraffes feeding close up. A great end to a great trip!
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