The new Rapale International School has moved to its permanent site, about 45 minutes from where we live, and is outside of Nampula. The first photo is of the boys on their first day of school, in their cute uniforms, and the other photos were all taken by Kevin on the “open house” day the week before school started. There used to be an MK school here in Nampula, on the SIL compound, but now this is the school where we all send our kids, and we are grateful for the commitment of the directors (Zimbabweans) and teachers (a mix of Zimbabweans and missionary/volunteer teachers) to giving our kids a great education in English. Of course, Portuguese is the national language here and so most schools are in that language, though there are a few English language schools around, which we feel don’t come close to the quality of this school. The school is still under construction, but the first phase is ready for the kids and they are enjoying it! Ben has about 14 kids in his first-grade class, from Zimbabwe, Brazil, Mozambique, America, Germany and I don’t know where else. Toby has 9 kids in his fourth and fifth grade class plus 3 short-term students in from the bush. There are Dutch, Belgium, South African and Portuguese students, plus probably some other countries I don’t know about! I haven’t been able to go out to the school since the road is too bad for my back, but hope to visit later this year.
Our biggest problem is transport,
since the fuel costs plus time to transport (1 1/2 hours round-trip, twice a day) are too much for us to handle. So, a group of us have hired a local taxi, pictured, to transport 16 kids and teachers every day. These are the local taxis that go around town, traveling a set route (indicated by the color strip across the windshield) and dropping off wherever along the route you say “exit” (saida). It costs only 20 cents for a ride anywhere along the route, and as long as you don’t mind being packed hip to hip with up to 20 other people plus their packages (and even a chicken or two), it is a great way to travel around town. Of course, our kids have a private ride to and from school, but our driver will be opting out at the end of the first month because the road is too hard on his minivan. So, we’ll have to find someone else. Even with all the kids in the van, it costs us almost $100 per month for the transport for our two kids, and those costs will probably increase quite a bit once drivers realize how hard the road is on their vehicles!!
Ben is loving first grade so far, which is a relief to us, and Toby is a great student. The house sure is a lot quieter these days, as the kids are gone from 6:30 to 3:15 every day… – Cami
Kevin & Cami in Southern Africa 