Teaching at Kalende Mission College

For a few months now I’ve been teaching a class, every Tuesday and Wednesday at a small college

near my house. With only eight students I consider it to be just about the per­fect size

for my novice teaching abilities.

My students and myself in front of Kalende Mission College's sign.

Of the eight students and my­self, I’m the only one in my 20’s – the rest are all older than me, which is somewhat strangeto be the teacher when I’m essential­ly the correct “student” age.

This isn’t a typical class in a typical college though. The col­lege is a small Bible college where students from all over the North-Western Province of Zambia come to earn a theolog­ical degree.

The administration of the col­lege heard that I was in the area, tracked me down and asked if I would be willing to teach their first-year students in a life skills class. As it turns out, life skills in this part of the world mean agri­culture, so I happily agreed.

Every Tuesday and Wednes­day from about 8 a.m. to half past noon, I teach the students of Kalende Mission College about crop farming, gardening, for­estry and I’ve even sprinkled in some extra subject areas like fish farming, nutrition and ba­sic business skills.

So far, one term finished and midway through the second, I’m really enjoying the chance to teach in a more formal setting and have at least one structured activity during the week.

The teaching isn’t without its challenges though. At times I struggle with getting the sub­ject matter to neatly fit my time constraints. I seem to nearly al­ways go too short or too long for a period – never just right.

And I also have those mo­ments when my students try their hardest to stump me with a seemingly impossible or un­knowable question, and luckily I’m never too proud to say that I don’t know or that I’ll get back to them when I can findthecorrect answer – not something I make up.

It’s been a great experience and what makes the teaching so much fun are the students themselves. They genuinely seem to enjoy having me there.

And as the weeks pass I’m be­coming just that much more fa­miliar with each of the students and their individual personal­ities.

For example, when one stu­dent raises his hand I know to expect a very good question. And I know which student is most likely to fall asleep during a class; which student has the best humor; and which student needs a bit of an extra push and reassurance that he’s doing things correctly.

Teaching about beneficial trees (for soil improvement and food) or how mulching can pro­vide many substantial benefits to a gardener is good, but watching the idea click for them and seeing their eyes light up as if they have just made a great real­ization is the best.

Now I know what all those teachers from my years at Pennfield were talking about when they said watching a stu­dent learn was what made the job and their efforts worth­while.

My hope in teaching this class is that after the students learn from me, in my class, they’ll go back to their commu­nities and teach their friends and family what they learned.I can imagine no better means of transferring knowl­edge and nothing would make me prouder or make my time and efforts here more worth­while. 

Photos From Kalende College

Here are a few photos from my time teaching at Kalende Mission College in Mufumbwe, North-Western Province, Zambia.

I try to add to the agricultural techniques that they already know.   This can be done by adding to existing knowledge or, like here, introducing a new system or tool - this bicycle plow.

This student, Oliver, had never had a field or garden before, but told me on the last day of class that he now felt confident he could manage at least a few garden beds.

To demonstrate certain topics I would have the students travel to my village and meet with other farmers that I work with.  

Here they're meeting with my good friend Mr. Nshimbi to see how a fish pond is built and managed.

Mr. Nshimbi, the one on the right, helped twice during the year to teach certain sections in the local language, so that the students would understand the topics that much better.

Gardening is a great way to improve food security and income in a rural setting.  The students had a lot of knowledge about this topic from their own personal experiences.  I learned a lot from them.

The man pictured here, Joel, was the smallest physically in the class but used the largest hoe.  No joke, it weighed at least 8 pounds.  

Here, Wilson, is mixing carrot seeds with sand  before sowing his garden bed.

Mr. Nshimbi, a fine gardener in his own right, came one day to talk about his personal experiences in regards to growing vegetables in Zambia.