Bob and Beth Carson, founders of Education without Boundaries (EWB), started work in Zambia in the 1990s to assist an American friend with a similar focus on Christ-centered education. They quickly saw that a new approach was needed to help teachers and pupils and started work on a new Let’s Speak English program, part of the Promise Literacy Curriculum. As a result, pupils were learning to speak English within 3 months. To date, approximately 40,000 children have been impacted through their Education Without Boundaries programs.

Their focus has been on Christ-centered education and getting pupils started with English while they are under age 12, as this is most efficient. English is the official language in Zambia.

Community building is a core value of our program. EWB’s Zambian leaders worked with local communities empowering each village to choose their own potential teachers. The focus is not on importing teachers, but working with and developing trusted individuals in the community. The Promise Literacy curriculum approach is to train and assist these folks to efficiently teach pupils English, reading and core subjects. Today, the Promise Literacy curriculum has expanded to include reading and all core subjects for grades 1 and 2. The curriculum and training for our village teachers has even helped some of them become official government certified teachers.

Over the years, we have seen great progress in remote communities. Children are learning to speak, read and study in English more efficiently than their government-school peers. Community teachers have been so impressed by the quick learning that many of their Grade 4 pupils have gone to take the government’s Grade 7 exams. The results are amazing: pupils usually rank at the top of their community, even though they have had fewer years of education than their peers.

A key component in the success of many pupils is caregiver engagement. Many parents and guardians have not had schooling. Even though they are passionate about having their children learn, they have been unsure about interacting with teachers. A fascinating tool is providing footballs (soccer balls) to the schools. Fathers can certainly connect with that activity and have worked to level fields, built goal posts and cheer their sons on inter-village football activities.

Our hope as we continue the legacy of this program is to strengthen community relationships, show children a brighter future through the power of education, and continue to share the love and blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My name is Richard Miti. My father died when I was in grade three. My family moved to Eastern Province and I started grade 4 at Likwizizi Alpha Community School (LACS). After my experience in government schools, I found LACS a very different place: it turned out to be the best school ever.

Learning at school was conducted in a very friendly manner. Our teachers were free to teach in the familiar Tumbuka language, the local language in the Lundazi district of Zambia. There were no restrictions on the language spoken in class or school. We were taught by lay teachers, some of them were not even grade twelve graduates but they did their job very well for village pupils like us.

Through the sponsorship programs from Education without Boundaries (EWB), our lay teachers got some training plus teaching manuals, materials and skills to teach us. We felt their fondness for the program, which had Christian values. The program that provided primary literacy in community schools classrooms is what made a difference, an opportunity for better lives for many of us. After passing grade eight from LACS, I successfully made it through grade ten. It took hard work, but I completed grade twelve with flying colours as one of the best grade twelve graduates of year in Lundazi District.

I’m a doctor today because I went to this school, because I was given an opportunity. When I began primary school, only a few people in the community made it to grade seven. But now, the Likwizizi community has an uncountable number of grade twelve graduates and many university graduates. Every parent in our area is motivated to take their children to school because it is nearby and because they are encouraged that so many of us have completed our education. Without your contributions and dedication to Christian primary literacy education, we would not have been able to start our education journey. Our journey did not just help us get out of a doomed life, it also encouraged our youngsters to dream big, too.

On 6th June 2015, I was inducted into the noble health profession as a Medical Doctor, after graduating from the University of Zambia. Most of my friends and colleagues do not believe my career history, given the Likwizizi village part of my story. I am always told that it sounds so unrealistic to receive a good education in a village setting. Nonetheless, the experience was real. Likwizizi was a miracle for me, a big stepping stone. Going through such a life myself and being where I am today has helped me gain immense respect for the importance of opportunities given to us as pupils at this school.

I come from a very humble background. My deceased parents had little schooling and that is the reason I was prompted to put much effort into getting my education. I grew up in the small community where 85% of people have no access to education. It was like a dream come true to see such humble people from afar who had a passion to help uplift the standard of people in our community through the provision of free education.
I enrolled at the Christian community school, where I completed grade seven through senior level high school. With concentration, hard work and dedication, I wrote my senior level exams at Kabulonga High School and also managed to finish the curriculum provided through the donors. The high standard of that curriculum helped me to pass my GCE exams.

Mr. Ronald Zimba, the director of Education Without Boundaries Zambia, would come to distribute the books and materials and he used to encourage me a lot. He treated me like a son. Each time he visited our community school his words were to continue working hard.
A Christ-focused young man, Frank went on to a successful career in managing accounting software.