Our Moon

Our Moon is happy to announce that we are launching the application for our 2021-22 Young Leaders programme. We are inviting applications from recent Grade 12 leavers (either 2020 or 2019) who have strong academic grades, come from financially-disadvantaged households and want to make a difference in society. We want students with varied academic interests. Mostly, we want students who yearn to learn, have an open mind and are passionate about making a difference in the world.

PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION BELOW CAREFULLY. A LINK TO THE APPLICATION FORM IS AT THE END 

ABOUT OUR MOON

Our Moon is a small education NGO registered as a charity in the UK by the Charity Commission and an international NGO in Zambia by the Ministry of Community Development. We unleash the potential in Zambia’s young people so that they leave us with the skills, knowledge and dispositions to contribute to positive social change in the country.

ABOUT OUR PROGRAMME

We run a full time programme which incorporates academic development, volunteering, physical and emotional health and university and careers guidance. Typically, this would incorporate a period of 9-10 months full time on our residential site in a rural area of Chibombo District. It is then followed by a period of project work and/or internships which you would do from your home.

The academic component of our course culminates in two pieces of work:

• A 4000 word reflective essay on a global issue which is examined within a Zambian context
• A maths project which tests understanding of statistical techniques and programming using data on a SDG related issue.

Students on the programme will be involved in volunteering on our site with a choice of projects which could include agricultural projects and tutoring of local out of school young children. We encourage suggestions for projects the students would like to initiate based on issues they see around us.

ABOUT OUR TEAM

Our Moon is run by Justin Mushitu in Zambia and his team which includes tutors for the volunteering programme, English and maths. In addition, he has a chef who cooks healthy and varied meals for everyone, a social worker who ensures the safeguarding of everyone on-site, a healthcare assistant and various other people who ensure the safety of the site and help with cleaning and maintenance. It is an important part of our programme that all Our Moon staff and students are treated with respect and that each person has time to develop new skills.

Helen Leale-Green, the UK based CEO, is responsible for the careers and university guidance part of the programme which operates both online and on site.

ABOUT OUR SITE

Our Moon acquired some land from the Chief in 2019. It is in a beautiful area of Zambia and is blessed with wonderful large skies. All the students who have visited us on both long- and short-term programmes say that it is very conducive to study here.

We have built numerous structures and started developing the land. We have recently acquired some additional land which we hope to use for both recreational purposes and to grow our own produce. Building work is still ongoing when funding allows.

We have installed a few solar panels and have a bore hole with a solar pump. We are, therefore, self-sufficient in terms of water and electricity, but at the same time, a little restricted as supply can depend on the weather.

NEW FOR 2021

Because of a change in the exams required to apply to university, we are offering a more intensive maths programme than before and will include coding classes as part of our curriculum. We are also starting a little later than previous years to allow us to take students who have just completed their grade 12 in 2020.

Because of the pandemic, we are changing the selection process so that it will take place over a longer period and will include online statistics classes which will need to be completed well and with significant effort as part of the selection.

TIMETABLE FOR SELECTION

• Saturday 3 April at midnight – deadline for emailing application forms to Helen Leale-Green and Justin Mushitu.
• 6-7 April – we will run some maths tests at a location in Lusaka of all applicants who meet our criteria.
• 13-14 April – longlisted applicants will be invited for interview at a location in Lusaka as above
• 18 April – final six students selected
• 24 April – final six students come to Chibombo

Students will need to have a calculator for the test and all students must have family or somewhere safe to stay in Lusaka during the period of the maths tests and the interviews. This can either be their main home, with extended family or with family friends. We will ask for a phone number and address so we can verify this.

IMPACT OF COVID ON YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAMME

We are preparing to bring our selected students on site full time from 24 April. All students meeting us face to face and coming on site will be expected to observe strict health protocols and take a COVID test before travelling (at our expense). Bringing students to our site is, however, dependent on the COVID situation by this time. If we do not feel it is safe to do so, we will provide the programme online until such time as we can safely bring students on site.

For our final six selected Young Leaders, if we have to move to online classes, we will provide internet access, a chromebook and a kindle so that they will be able to participate fully. All devices will need to be returned in good condition to us once the programme has ended.

APPLICATION RESTRICTIONS

All applicants are expected to have achieved a high academic standard. We would typically expect students to have gained between 6-10 points from six out of eight subjects in their Grade 12 ECZ exams. There is a little leeway for a student with a very strong application in other areas.

We expect all students to be from low-income families who would not be able to afford our programme or to go to university without full financial support. We run an ethical programme and any student found to be lying about their financial situation will be asked to leave the programme with immediate effect.

All students will be asked to withdraw from any local university applications they have made until they complete our programme. There is plenty of time to make applications for the following year’s admission, if they still want, following our programme but the workload on our programme does not allow for students to leave our site to process applications.

Students will need to provide a recommendation from a teacher who can vouch for their academic success, commitment and drive, and write about any extra-curricular activities that have been done (this can include acknowledgement of significant help the student provides within the home).

Students will also need to provide transcripts of each terms’ results from grades 10-12 before being allowed to take part in the main part of the programme. 

PLEASE SEND THE FORM BY EMAIL BY MIDNIGHT SATURDAY 3 APRIL TO:

HELEN LEALE-GREEN: helen.leale-green@ourmoon.org.uk, and

JUSTIN MUSHITU: justin.mushitu@ourmoon.org.uk

THE APPLICATION FORM CAN BE FOUND HERE