It’s hard to teach with your back against the wall, but that’s exactly where educators found themselves in the cramped and crowded classrooms of the John Laing School – a Community School of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) in the Synod of Zambia. More than 200 eager learners were squeezed into three 5x5 meter (about 16x16 feet) rooms. The only place for the teacher to stand was against the chalkboard. Such tight quarters make education almost impossible.

Challenges start early for children in Zambia. Drinking the water may give you cholera and other diseases. Hanging out on the streets leads to trouble and abuse. Education can be a way out but the government schools are overcrowded and the private ones are beyond what they can ever afford.