Do you want to pat yourself on the back, feel good, and make yourself and others happy? Then try to help someone or donate; it will work great if it doesn't screw up!

The following lines are a bit personal, so if you are not interested, please skip down to the second to last paragraph or here: https://cecinafrica.cz/donations/

The original idea grew about seven years ago when I volunteered at an orphanage and educational center of Salesians of Don Bosco in Zambia – I had an idea to establish a kindergarten. (More about volunteering here.) Many people have these thoughts sometimes, I guess. But already, two years later, I was closer than others to make it real because I married an African woman from Zambia. (For more about Zambian marriages, read here.) The kindergarten was still on my mind, but after some months in Zambia and South Africa, we moved to the Czech Republic.

However, the first attempt at establishing a kindergarten/school I started in cooperation with my Zambian sister-in-law and her husband immediately after moving to the Czech Republic. My sister-in-law works as a teacher, and my brother-in-law (her husband) is a gospel singer and sometimes has clients for private tutoring. But soon after a few weeks, I realized that establishing a kindergarten wouldn't work like this. Although the communication worked perfectly, the pieces of information I used to receive were always incomplete, unrealistic, and unclear. So establishing a kindergarten was over before it had even started.

Why did it not work?

I do not mean to sound like it was my in-laws' mistake. The problem was in getting the facts. For example, if I wanted to know the kindergarten's possible location, the price of the rent of the building/rooms, the costs of furnishing, and the necessary formalities for establishing a school, might be quite challenging in Africa. In the Czech Republic, people browse the internet, check the possibilities and offers, make some calls, or write some e-mails. In a few days, they can make a more-less solid plan. It has yet to work like this in Africa; five years ago, it did not work at all. The person has to know where to handle the stuff, go there personally, wait for hours, or try it the next day. If he wants to check the prices of goods or rent, he has to visit the locations, which is very complicated and expensive without a car. Also, public transport is expensive and finite. It is also surprising that if you want to see a house for rent, you often have to pay for it.

It is challenging for Zambians with an average or even below-average salary. I did not realize this, so I did not understand why my brother-in-law could not send me factual information. For them, it was probably hard to understand why I kept asking for such specific things and wanted to be clear about what and how much I will pay for and how it will work. I'm not a perfectionist, so I didn't feel I was asking for too much specific information. But it just didn't work.

Back to the Czech Republic for a while, and the punch of a lifetime for my wife 

In the meantime, I started to work as an English teacher at a primary school in Moravský Beroun. I also was financially supporting my wife's brother and sister in education. I was reconstructing the attic of our house, and our son Gabriel was born. In addition, I earned extra money by giving lectures and seminars on tourism at Palacký University in Olomouc. Then Covid-19 occurred, and Ruth's (my wife's) dad died in Zambia. Because of Covid-19, she could not even say her last goodbye at a funeral.

This sad circumstance contributed to our decision to build a house in Zambia. The first reason was to have a place to stay while visiting our family. The second, more urgent reason was making a home for Ruth's Mom after her husband passed away. (Ruth's father worked as a security guard in a government company, where he was entitled to a state apartment, but after his death, the family's entitlement to this apartment ceased.) Because her Mom used to take care of her ill brother (who died just a few months before Ruth's father), three kids, and two kids of her sister, she had to stop working as a hairdresser. The only income was Ruth's father's low payment. After his death, everything got complicated, so we decided to build a house where Mom could live, and we will have a place to stay while visiting. So my mother-in-law was building the house, and we supported her financially.

The emergence of the idea of living in Zambia. And why did I quit my job twice?

The following year, while the building was still going on, we thought about moving to Zambia for a year or two before our kids started attending school. We wanted them to meet their African Grandmother, and I also wanted to understand Zambian culture in depth. It was not an easy decision, but finally, we made it. I ended up at work, and we were ready to fly to Zambia after the summer holidays. However, because of Covid-19, the birth of our second baby boy Benjamin, and the change in other circumstances made us remain. I started working as a teacher at the same school and in the same position as before. This opportunity encouraged us that postponing our moving was the right choice. By then, I agreed with the headmaster to work only up to the end of the school year because of moving to Zambia afterward.

Still challenges, but the kindergarten is back in play

The construction of the house in Zambia was still in progress, and we kept solving various problems, such as transferring money to Zambia, choosing the windows, or finding ways to avoid the building material being stolen. The solution was buying food for workers so they would refrain from stealing the material. But we weren't able to monitor it anyhow. 

We were also dealing with fair prices for the materials and workers. Another problem was that the $2500 I sent for the construction got lost in some Kenyan bank. After a year and a half, the financial arbiter recommended leaving the case because there was nothing else I could do about it.  

It was not easy to deal with the construction to avoid extra expenses. The workers and the materials sellers should not have known they were working for a European. Otherwise, the prices could have been two or three times higher than usual.

I knew how I wanted the house to be done. So we did it like this: I sent my mother-in-law a house plan and instructions, and she consulted it with the bricklayer. Then she called me back about how he wanted to do it. I repeated how I wanted to do it, and we agreed. However, the bricklayer did it his way.

During that time, I started thinking about kindergarten again. Because we were going to move to Zambia, I would have more control over everything and be able to monitor the progress. 

Extra earnings, the beginning of a non-profit, and the first project

I started to cooperate with my friend Jiří Slimařík on web development, not only for an extra money but also because of my growth in other areas of interest. He was also involved in some charitable works, so our idea of creating a solid base for our charitable activities was born. We also wanted to allow other people to get involved. I invited another friend Jarda Šotola and we established an NGO that supports developmental projects and intercultural understanding. See z https://cecinafrica.cz/ for more info. Our first project is the kindergarten in Zambia.

From the beginning, I wanted our kindergarten to be different from other kindergartens. That's why, in addition to a child-centered approach, or teaching to understand - not memorize as is common in Africa, I want the children to learn the basics of CS (computer science). CS contains logical thinking and creativity combined with the basics of a programmer's reasoning, critical thinking, etc.

Due to my interest in technology and web development, and experience teaching IT at primary school (besides English, I also taught IT and PE), implementing CS into our school's curriculum will add to my experience. For the school, especially the children, it will be a great advantage for their future development.

There are various comprehensive methodologies for kids who can't read. There are also many offline materials and possibilities to teach computer science without computers. Of course, in time, we will be glad if we can buy some notebooks or tablets.

How far are we with the construction in Zambia, and how is it related to the kindergarten?

I had more plans for our house ( accommodating tourists, running a hair salon for my mother-in-law, drying fruit, or raising chickens). But in Africa, plans are like paper flags in the wind. However, because of these plans, we built a bigger house than we would have needed.

After a one-year delay, we finally flew to Zambia with my wife and kids, who were 1 and 3 years old. And our plans started to change.

It's good to plan, but here in Zambia, I have found that most things in Africa don't work or don't work as one thinks they will based on the European plan. Apart from the plans mentioned above, the main plan was to start living in the house as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this has also changed due to the different perspectives of Africans and Europeans. After three months with my family in Zambia, we are still living in a rental even though we have built a house. I will describe what I mean by different perspectives in another article.

However, the kindergarten will open on January 9, 2023, the beginning of the school year in Zambia. The kindergarten will be in a part of our house, and our first teacher (my sister-in-law) with her family will live in another part. We will see if we will be able to move in there one day.

The school is located on the periphery of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, where people cannot afford regular school fees. So, for now, I'm planning to support the running of the kindergarten. In the future, when the kindergarten expands, it should be able to earn its own money for its operation and teachers' salaries; then, we can focus on another project. For education to take place, we need financial support to buy equipment for the kindergarten and provide electricity by installing a solar power unit and an electricity generator, as the electricity grid is not yet within reach. You can read more about the kindergarten on our website https://cecinafrica.cz/projects/.

Fundraising - Donate a kindergarten

I want to ask you or give you the opportunity to support children's education. If you have the chance and want to do a good thing, please donate to our fundraising campaign "Donate a kindergarten" https://cecinafrica.cz/donations/. Until the preschool becomes independent of external funding, we want to continually support its operation so that we can reduce or waive tuition for parents (children) who cannot afford it.

Thank you very much in advance for any form of support - for sharing the fundraising among your friends, financial aid, a donation through a donation agreement, or even for an encouraging message :-)