Moira builds community school

Moira Cooke has just self-published a book outlining her experiences of building a community school in rural Zambia with her husband.

‘Bwanakula Thandi... the story of the building of Kaputula School has been described as a ‘tale of blood, sweat and tears’ and a ’rollercoaster of a read’. Even if at times it seems to describe how not to go about building a community school, nevertheless, the story is guaranteed to grip your attention.’

Moira and Robert began their work in 2004 on behalf of The Tanworth Starfish Fund. ‘At the time there was only £600 in the kitty. Though we knew the project was never going to be easy, if we had had any inkling of the problems building a community school in rural Zambia would entail, we might have caught the first plane back to the UK!

‘What we had not bargained for was a community so divided against itself that it threatened to bring the project to a complete halt. Nor had we realised that the project would become a political football kicked around until it reached the echelons of the Zambian government. The headteacher was forced to leave, the workforce dwindled to a mere seventeen, the budget was blown time and again, accounts refused to balance and finally, yes, the money ran out.

‘That a school does indeed stand there today, is evidence of grit and determination somewhere along the line. Maybe you need to read the book to find out whose! Oh, and if you’re wondering about the title, it means ‘grandmother of Thandi’ which is the honorary name the Kaputula community gave to me on the birth of my first grandchild.’

Moira is already at the revision stage of the second book in a series of three, all covering her experiences of charity work in Zambia. The second, entitled A Heart for Africa and due for publication in 2010, tells of their work with orphans and vulnerable children in community schools in the Copperbelt Region of Zambia. The last in the series, The Jacaranda Season, will take a more personal look at their life in Zambia and Zimbabwe both thirty years ago and over the past eight years.
Bwanakula Thandi is £7.99, plus £2 p&p, from: Moira Cooke, Belmoor, Blackheath Road, Wenhaston, Suffolk IP19 9DH; tel: 01502 478503; email: moiracooke@belmoor.plus.com. It is also available online from major internet sellers including Amazon, Waterstone’s, Tesco, and Indepenpress.