Saturday, June 26 was the dedication of the Shelby Goldstein Schoolhouse in Twapia—a village outside of Zambia. Last year, Spark Ventures raised the money to fund the construction of this new seven-classroom building now serving more than 350 orphans and vulnerable children. Many generous people invested in our Igniting Hope/Building a Future campaign. And we say thanks to all of you. One family made a very large contribution in honor of young Shelby Goldstein, who died at the age of four. Her memory and spirit of joy and the love of learning now live on at Hope Community School in this new facility, a building that is helping provide hundreds of extremely poor children with education, nutrition, and health care, thanks to the Spark-Hope partnership.
The ceremony was filled with singing and speeches, dancing and dignitaries. Board Member Tasha Seitz read a beautiful reflection on Shelby and message from the family. Joyful children, families, friends, colleagues, and community members came to mark the official opening. We'll have more about this important event in Spark's history in the coming weeks on our website. For now, a special thank you to Shank and Renee Lyer and Greg and Rachelle Goldstein for helping make this possible.
Here are just a few pictures from the day.
Crowd at the dedication. Zambian and USA flags in the background.
The student choir performing during the ceremony.
Churchill Lombanya (advisor to the President of Zambia), Rich Johnson, and Charles Mumba (Executive Director of Spark’s partner Hope Ministries.
All quiet on the school front a few days before the celebration.
To follow the Spark in Zambia story, visit the Spark in Zambia blog.
Rich Johnson is the Director of University Ministries at North Park University.
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