Journey North Mystery Class Spring 2004

Introducing Mystery Class #5
Chipata, Zambia (13.650 S, 32.667 E)

Greetings! We are Nyakutwa Primary School just outside Chipata, Zambia!!
	Ms. Moyo's Class

Thank you for following our clues; we had a lot of fun making them up, especially knowing that students from all the way across the world would be using them to "find" us!

Under the Frangipangi Tree

Our school has grades one through seven and we are called a "peri-urban" school, meaning that we are not directly in the town of Chipata, but we are very close (about eight kilometers) away. We actually have a great location because we live in the traditional way, in villages, but we are also close enough to get to the town for shopping, business, hospitals, etc. We are in the Eastern Province of Zambia, very close to the Malawi border.

Nyau Dancer in Nearby Village

One thing that is interesting about our school is that, even though we only go up to grade seven, we have students at Nyakutwa as old as eighteen! Our students are older than American seventh graders for a few reasons. First of all, many of us come from families where our parents either never went to school, or only went for a few years, so many of our parents don't think to send us to school for the first time until we are eight years or even older. Secondly, here in Zambia we have to pay school fees to go to government or public schools. Even though the fees are only US$ 5 per year, many families can't afford it, so some students have to take years off to save up school fees for the following year. Finally, most of our families are into subsistence farming, which means we grow our own food. When the rainy season is over and harvest time is up (around April), sometimes we have to miss school for weeks at a time in order to help our families harvest and store our year's food. If we miss too many days in a term, then we have to stop school and repeat the same grade next year! For all of these reasons, we tend to be much older than our American grademates. But we don't mind; as long as we finish school, we are happy!

The best part about living near Chipata is that we are about a two-hour drive from South Luangwa National Park, which is a wildlife sanctuary about the size of the US state of Rhode Island. In the park, and even outside (Our parks have no fences, only natural borders like rivers, so the animals cross in and out all the time!) you will find many amazing species including hippos, crocodiles, giraffe, lion, leopard, hyena, buffalo, antelope, zebra, and many spectacular species of birds. We love our wildlife, especially now that it brings many tourists through our towns and villages. We have a club at school called the Chongololo Club, in which we learn about nature and how to conserve it.

Up Close and Personal

Well, we hope you have enjoyed learning about Nyakutwa as much as we have enjoyed telling you about us! God bless our American friends.