Are you prepared for an experience that will change your life?

Mary has a chance to break free of poverty through education.

Announcing ChildFund Global Schools 2009

You are invited to be part of a unique and challenging year long schools programme. You will join a team of committed Kiwi teachers. You will use your teaching skills and experience to help improve education in practical, lasting ways for children living in poverty.

You will undertake a 10 day teacher interchange in one of the poorest communities in the world. You will work alongside dedicated local teachers who are committed to teaching and learning and meet children who will touch your heart.

Children just like Mary.

Mary dreams of being a nurse…

Little seven-year-old Mary lives in Mumbwa in Zambia, one of the poorest communities in the world. Malaria and HIV/AIDS are real killers here, and have left many children like Mary as orphans. She lives with Grandma Judith and Grandpa Samson, who are passionate about ensuring Mary has a proper education.

As Grandpa Samson says, “We are looking after seven grandchildren now. We do our best to look after the children, but we are very worried. Sometimes it is very difficult to find food, and they must go to bed and sleep without food. I am at this old age and I am thinking night and day what will happen to these children, especially Mary, if I die. She will have many problems, and my fear is she will end up being a street kid.

“That is why it is so important for Mary to go to school now, to a good school. If she can be educated, then she will lead a better life than the way she is now.”

For children like Mary, education is the key to a better future and can mean they realise their true potential and help themselves out of poverty.

Mercury Bay Area School teacher Karlene Robottom was one of the lucky Kiwi teachers who got to experience ChildFund Global Schools in 2008.

Karlene spent most of her time at Shimbizhi School in Mumbwa rural Zambia, working with a dedicated team of teachers in extremely difficult conditions.

“I was able to share our excellence in teaching practice with a school on the other side of the world. It was so exciting for me personally to know education really can make a difference.

“Our involvement in this project is on-going. Our support will help fund a continuing professional development programme for the Zambian teachers and, supply teaching and classroom resources for the school which Zambia as a developing nation so desperately needs.

“Our students will develop awareness of a world that is so similar but so different to theirs through on going communication and Shimbizhi’s 1100 students will know about my school, as a friend and a support.”

Interchange your teaching and help change lives

ChildFund Global Schools is more than just a teaching experience. You will help change the lives of teachers in a poor community, you will help children living in poverty to help break free from poverty through education. But it does not stop there.

The teachers you work with will visit your school in NZ, and give your students an insight into a different culture even to theirs.

This experience will change many lives, even your own.

This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take your classroom to the world and bring the world to your classroom is available to only 24 teachers from across NZ.

“I am amazed by how much Karlene has come back to school so motivated, and inspired by her experience in Zambia. She is committed to helping the children of Shimbezhi school, and to sharing her experiences with staff and our students.

“I would highly recommend ChildFund’s Global School Programme to Kiwi teachers and their schools. It is an exciting programme that has so many benefits for every school involved.” – Principal Mercury Bay Area School.

Applications for ChildFund’s 2009 Global Schools are now open.

To be a part of this unique experience take the first step today, contact ChildFund for more information or an Application Kit: globalschools@childfund.org.nz

0800 223 678

www.childfund.org.nz/global schools