© 2009   Foothills School of Arts & Sciences. All Rights Reserved
Nkokwe Sister School
A schoolwide program established Fall 2008

Greetings!

Please allow me to introduce you to Nkokwe Sister School and Student Support, Inc.  This organization is a non-profit corporation in the proud state of Idaho, housed right here at Foothills School of Arts and Sciences.  This program is a cornerstone in our efforts to promote Foothills students’ social responsibility on a global scale. 
    
As Foothills students learn about Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by communicating with Nkokwe students and exchanging gifts in the fall and spring each year, they construct new understandings of the larger world and their place within it. At the bottom of this page is a Venn diagram created in the Primaries that compares students in the two schools.  The students’ comments are insightful and genuinely compassionate, the kind of reflection this relationship will continue to generate.  

Our long term vision for this project is that in 10 or 20 years, when the DRC is enjoying stable peace, and ecotourism is thriving in the nearby Virunga National Park, our Seniors will travel to the DRC and be welcomed not as tourists but as old friends.  That will be an incredible day towards which we can take the first steps together.  Please commit to joining the Foothills community in supporting the Nkokwe School project.

Respectfully,

Jess McGinnis, Junior Teacher

A Foothills Education
Fidel Nshombo shared his poetry about life in the DRC with FH students.
SCRAP BOOK

(Click to enlarge)
Bahati at Nkokwe sharing our letter and gift with Mr. Maheshe and Nkokwe families.
Nkokwe's gifts to Foothills, now on display in the music room and at the front desk.
Singers from New Heart Christian Ministries International shared Congolese music and good humor with us at all school assembly! 
MOST
RECENT
LETTERS
TO AND FROM
NKOKWE
This photo of Katelyn and Emily was sent to Nkokwe  in the spring of 2010.

COINS FOR NKOKWE FUNRAISER

Thanks to the efforts of the Senior Nkokwe CHOICE students

$845

was raised to send to our friends at Nkokwe!

$60 of that was spent purchasing 2 soccer balls, 1 volley ball, a hand pump and replacement needles to send as a gift with Bahati when he travels there to visit the school in January.  We are also sending the new letter (2011 message on the left) and several more yearbooks.  They like to see pictures of us! 

27 Nkokwe students were sponsored this year by 10 Foothills families and all the Foothills classes!  EL's sponsored 2 students.  Primaries sponsored 3 students.  Juniors sponsored 2 students.  Intermediates sponsored 5 students (and won the raffle for the class party!)  Seniors sponsored 2 students and the Nines also sponsored 2 students.  Prinicipal Maheshe will choose sponsorship students based on efforts and need with priority going to girls and orphans.  Their names and some basic information will be shared with us by springtime. 




THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT!



Eager for Education
An evening adult literacy program was offered for free last year and the classroom was filled with adults and children alike excited to learn to read and write.  A Parish in Chicagoo has also been helping Nkokwe rebuild some of their crumbling buildings.  Our combined support has contributed to new hope in the community.  (Click on these images to enlarge.)
What's in a name? What does "Nkokwe" mean?
by Bahati Jacques, policy analyst with African Faith and Justice Network,
Principal Maheshe's son and former Nkokwe student

Nkokwe is the name of a hill.  The name comes from the word "Inkokwe" which means an expert.  It could be in good or bad deeds.    "Inkokwe" also mean a old person, woman or man.   The name comes from the verb Kurura, to grow.   In most African cultures there is a link between age and wisdom.  Wisdom mean expertise in what you know and in this
case the knowledge is all your life experience.

Nkokwe Primary school is named after a hill .   This place is historically known as a place where men used to meet to
talk and socialize.   In these meetings men learned and taught traditions.  Also in these meetings new insights would be developed as people reflect as a group on different topics and issues in the community.

It is fitting that the first primary school in the area was given the name of the hill where the old and the expert met with the young topass on their knowledge.

There had to be a meaning behind the school's name because names, if not always but most of the time, carry a meaning.  Let us take the example of some of the names of the girls Foot Hill's families sponsored last year.
Hagumimana, Nsabimana, Dusabimana respectively means "only God is eternal, I ask/ pray to God, we pray to God or let us pray to God.  These names shows the significance of faith in the families where the girls come from.   Imana, the common denominator in all these names means God. Names with the name of God in them are very common.

Also you have a name like Uzamukunda which, depending on the tone of your voice,  could mean "will you love her? or you will love her very much or to the one who will love her.  Most of the time it is the third is the common meaning.  In this case the parents wish that their daughter marry a man who will love her.

N'Safari (Nyirasafari) which means the person of the journey is the name given to children bone during a trip, far from their home town, or maybe the child whose mother went into labor going to theappropriate and expected place to have her child.


How fitting that our Sister School should also be named after a hill...
The more we learn about each other, the more we find in common.
Senior Nkokwe CHOICE class participants (Ryan, Gav, Monique, Ella, & Ryan [Lily absent] ) with guests Keziah Sullivan and Immaculee Ndaizeye from the International Rescue Committee.  These kids do good for FUN!
(Click to enlarge)