Wrapping Up in Ndola
Hi everyone! I’ve just got a short post today. It’s one of my last days in Ndola, and I spent the bulk of the day at the school finishing up some final to-do’s, including helping some kids to write response letters to their sponsors, working with the school staff on finalizing the new student database given the final enrollment information and figures and implementing a more rigorous system of tracking the nutrition that students receive through the meal program. It’s been a productive day, and I was sad to leave the school and staff, knowing that I will be leaving for Lusaka first thing Sunday morning. The best consolation is knowing that Spark investors, staff and I will be back in July for our Partnership Trip!
I’ve spent the afternoon in the office making final touches to and doing some final training on the new reporting templates that Hope will be using. They’ll start using them for reporting about their work in January, so I’m excited to see them start the new year off on a good foot!
I’ll spend tomorrow resting up a bit and preparing for the discussions with Charles and Sandie that I’ll be having in Lusaka. It will also be a day of goodbyes to the staff and the Mulandos who have been such incredible hosts to me over the last two and a half weeks. Nkhongono, Sombo and I will be using the Pillsbury strawberry cake mix that I brought over from the US, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will turn out well! (You never know with the ovens here!)
I’ll do my best to blog as often as possible during this final leg of my trip, though I know I won’t have as regular of access to the internet. I hope I’ll be able to send you lots of information about this business that will make Hope financially independent, sustainable and stronger than ever before. Talk to you all again soon!