A to Zed

A Vilage and Then Some 4th Annual ~ African StoryTelling Cultural Experience

2019-02-16T05:41:00.003-08:00

Our 4th Annual "A Village and Then Some" Storytelling event will be held at 1650 Park Circle, Columbia SC 29201 on March 9th 2019 at 6 pm.

Tickets can be purchased

online: AfricanStories2019.eventbrite.com

on location:
Asanka African restaurant, 2 notch road Columbia SC
Nana Kojo Gallery, Elgin SC
Ngorli organization, 1740 Decker Blvd, Columbia SC

We thank you for your support.

#TeamAtoZed2016 Official Update - Week 1

2016-06-14T08:34:00.001-07:00

That's Lisa Bennett, one of our volunteers. "We talked about everything from national monuments to food to 2Pac and Nicki Minaj," she says of the instant rapport she built with the children at Son Shine Primary School.

We’re excited to give you this update for #TeamAtoZed2016 of the international volunteers’ 20-day missions trip!

The team arrived in Zambia on Tuesday, May 31, and since then we’ve experienced some ups and downs and we’re happy to share them with you.

As you may have already read in our previous posts, the A to Zed Mission is to provide support, supplies, and education to the teachers and students of local schools beginning in Zambia.

The schools that we’re working with this year are the Son Shine Primary School, a fee-paying school, where the co-founder of A to Zed, Lusungu, and volunteer Lisa will be working with teachers and students. We’re also working with The Lazarus Project, a community school where co-founder Kondi and volunteers Vanessa, Marcia, and Clavis will be serving. Matthew 25 Orphanage is an additional institution in Chilenje that A to Zed is supporting this year by providing supplies and interacting with the children. They will be invited to the guesthouse (where the team is staying) for dinner, empowerment talks, games, and surprises. “Our work with them is more service related rather educational,” says Kondi.

“This year, we will not be able to visit Shantumbu (another institution in need of many types of support) even though we wanted to. It was going to be something that we did in addition to all of the other work we’re doing with Son Shine and Lazarus,” Kondi adds. "A to Zed served them in 2014 and because of our full hands this year, the team won’t be able to go. That’s why in the future we’d like to travel with more small, intimate teams so we can serve more children."

***

Help A to Zed serve more children in Zambia by donating or volunteering.

***

By building on common interests, the team is making great rapport with the children who seem to be well versed in American pop culture. "We talked about everything from national monuments to food to 2Pac and Nicki Minaj," she says of the instant rapport she built with the children at Son Shine Primary School.

Our team’s itinerary loosely looks something like this: Keep in mind the trip took about 3 days. “We arrived, went to bank took a day to get people climatized. Then we took a day to observe the schools, one public, another is an orphanage. That was a lot for the ladies to take in.”

A beautiful girl notices the camera at Lazarus Community School in Zambia.

Kondi continues, “Then we took a few days to do cultural immersion, we visited Victoria Falls and after that everyone was refreshed and ready to work the next day.”

Monday, June 6, 2016 was the first full day of observation in the schools. When visiting a country that lacks the same infrastructure and resources in all areas such as running water and electricity for the first time, you must mentally prepare for major culture shock. “Emotionally there were lots of highs and lows. We identified opportunity-for-improvement areas, did self-reflection, debriefed during lunch and during dinner, we strategized,” Kondi explains. There isn’t much downtime during the 20-day trip. "It's not a vacation," she emphasizes.

Twenty days doesn’t seem like a long time to make a lasting impact, but enduring changes can and do happen. “We come and see what the need is, and using collective experience and strategies we professional development for the teachers. One teacher said to Lusungu who is a teacher, reading interventionist and coach, "I don't need help with creative writing this year because I’m still applying the techniques you taught me last year." That kind of feedback is important to keep in mind when doing short missions trips. We do have the power to catalyze lasting improvements.

As time goes on we hope to have individual blogs from all of the volunteers. Due to limited wifi and time, we’ll see how that goes and keep you posted. We just wanted to let you know that A to Zed is off to a strong beginning on the ground in Zambia.

#TeamAtoZed's work on the ground in Zambia is off to a great start!

Much love from your international and stateside volunteers and we thank you for following our journey! Subscribe to our blog and follow us on Facebook for more photos and updates.

Peace, Love, and Education,

Helese Smauldon

Stateside Volunteer
Media and Communications

Introducing Team #AtoZed2016 !

2016-05-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

Introducing Team #AtoZed2016 !

The A to Zed team consists of our core staff, educators, and volunteers who are helping to continue the work of our mission: to enrich the lives of children, beginning in Zambia, by providing them the tools, exposure, and education they need to live inspired and empowered lives.

[Back row, left to right: Kondi Sibande, Clavis Anderson, Michelle Shackleford, Vanessa Whitehead, Lusungu Sibande-Simwinji. Front row left to right: Marciá Gridine, Lisa Boykin.]

A to Zed is a 501c3 organization founded by sisters Kondi Sibande and Lusungu Sibande-Simwinji.

As a Registered Nurse and Health Care Administrator, Kondi specializes as an educator on feminine reproductive health and hygiene on behalf of A to Zed. A second grade teacher and professor at the University of South Carolina, Lusungu brings her expertise as a reading interventionist for children and a reading coach for teachers to the table. Both sisters collaborate with leaders in their respective areas of focus to offer techniques for identifying and improving diverse challenges fellow Zambian educational professionals face.

Kondi and Lusungu consider themselves blessed to have a unique team of volunteers to join #AtoZed2016 for the 2016 mission trip to Zambia. This month they will travel to Zambia with Kondi and Lusungu to fulfill the organization’s original mission. Team #AtoZed2016 includes four extraordinary and accomplished volunteers: Clavis Anderson, educator; Lisa Boykin, high school teacher; Vanessa Whitehead, seamstress and home economics teacher; and Marciá Gridine, elementary school teacher.

Our stateside volunteers lend their talent and skills to provide support in the most fundamental areas. Safiyaa Bennu-Ma’at Pearson, also known as ShYne, procured and donated “brown books” with uplifting and relatable images for the children of our partner schools and is also a writer and editor for our site. Ron Moses donated teaching aids and posters for our #postersforZambia initiative. Michelle Shackleford helped interview staff for #AtoZed2016 and provides invaluable support in other areas of administration. Kareem Reed adeptly designs and manages our website and Helese Smauldon shares her skills and experience in media, communications, and writing.

Our blog will keep you up to date on what’s happening with us on the ground in Zambia, and check our Facebook page for status updates. See our About page for more in-depth bios of team #AtoZed2016 !

PLEASE CHECK OUR BLOG FOR OUR CURRENT INTITIATIVES.

2015-06-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

We have initiatives that change so we ask that you come an visit our blog.......
We are always working, thinking and planning. www.AtoZed.org
Our current initiative is "posters for Zambia". We are asking for everyone's participation. All teachers and parents can donate posters that they are no longer using in the classroom or at home. Posters you get from the dollar store and from teachers educational stores.

As you have just seen, (the pictures above) are of Lazarus Project. This community school is one of the schools we volunteered at in 2014 and plan to revisit in June 2016. As you can see, supplies are scarce. It is a common practice for teachers to have to hand draw all of the posters they have in the classroom. Please assist us in DONATING CLASSROOM POSTERS for our mission June 2016.
******* Visit our blog and postings for updates.

www.atozedinc.blogspot.com

Our Business is the Zambian Children. The mission of A to Zed is to educate the children INSIDE and OUTSIDE the classroom. Maximize the value of education in the children's lives to lead educated, inspired and empowered lives.

2015-06-22T17:32:00.004-07:00

The mission of A to Zed is to educate the children of Zambia INSIDE & OUTSIDE of the classroom. Maximize the value of education in the children's lives to lead educated, inspired and empowered lives.

"Wholistic" education is our mission. Our desire to educate our children inside the classroom can be seen by how we have strategically structured our programs.

Maximizing the value of our children
In everything we do, we can improve the value of our children by what we impart into them. The service we provide, by the experience and exposure we give them, and what we do for them.

Our teachers, life coaches, nurses, and volunteers are committed to learning about the Zambian culture, preparing for our coming trip, donating funds to meet a need and participating in service projects. The success of our children is OUR success.

Our target areas

As a missions group that is embarking on its second group trip in June 2016, the areas we have targeted are two community schools, an orphanage and a fee paying school. While there are many areas of need, we are focused on these areas for our up coming 2016 mission. Our goal is to build a bond with our volunteers and have established relationships with our schools wherever they are. We are careful to assess where the needs are and where we can be of service. It is never appropriate to

enter a school setting and tell our sites that they are doing something wrong or demand that how we do something in the USA is better than what our teachers in Zambia are used to doing. We are specific about using discretion and working with individuals that are culturally sensitive to the Zambian culture.

Spreading like wildfire
As we have recognised that in today’s digital world, information is spread quickly. Our excitement is spreading like wildfire across the USA, Zambia and accross the world. The internet gives everyone the opportunity access to the information – so they can access detailed trip information and organizational information with a few flicks of their thumbs. Social media encourages everyone to share and participate with while mobile devices, laptops and computers whenever and wherever. www.AtoZed.org

We thank all of our participants, donors and supporters who have chosen to assist us in our mission and help us with a successful mission. We appreciate your support, your prayers, love, energy, time and service.
For together, we can accomplish more for the children of Zambia.
www.atozedinc.blogspot.com

A to Zed team ~ JUNE 2014

2015-06-22T17:16:00.004-07:00

We are inspired by individuals and organizations that are benevolent of their time, talents and resources. We seek out innovative, expansive and impactful individuals and companies that seek to grow and develop Africa beginning with Zambia.

We work with nonprofit organizations, public and private groups, churches, communities and individuals around the world. Our foundation seeks out individuals and organizations well-regarded for their leadership and expertise in their field. As well as people with a reputation of compassion, success, and integrity.