Our current project is in Zambia, a land-locked country in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has a population of around 11 million. Zambia is a poor country, with the vast majority of its population living below the poverty line. Most of these live in poor urban shanties or ‘compounds’, which are neglected by the government. The majority of people living in compounds are illiterate. Shine’s current work is in one such community where we are helping to give the gift of literacy to over a hundred children through our first free literacy school, Shine Zambia Reading Academy.
- May 2006: Shine becomes a registered charity in England and Wales
- Jan 2007: Shine starts its first literacy school in Kalikiliki compound, Zambia, with 30 pupils and 2 teachers in a rented room
- Apr-Oct 2009: Shine builds its own school building in the compound, with 4 classrooms and flushing toilets.
- Jan 2010: Shine Zambia Reading Academy opens with 90 children and 3 teachers
- Jul-Dec 2010: Shine builds a library and admin building for the school.
- Jan 2011: The next academic year begins with 105 children and 5 teachers
- 2013: Shine plans to build 4 more classrooms with a view to having 240 pupils and 10 teachers
Shine Zambia Reading Academy is different from other schools: it runs a free 2-year course focused on literacy and numeracy aimed at the poorest, most vulnerable children. At the end of the course children are expected to graduate, provided they have reached our prescribed literacy level. Shine then places them in formal education in nearby schools where they enter directly into Grade 5 and we pay for their tuition fees until they complete Grade 7.
