It started in 1939.

A group of Dominican Sisters arrived in Lusaka and opened a school for girls – a quiet, deliberate act of faith in the power of women’s education at a time when that faith was far from universal. They called it the Dominican Convent, and for nearly four decades, it shaped the minds and character of young women in Zambia with a particular kind of rigour – the kind that stays with you long after you’ve forgotten the syllabus.

In 1978, the school was renamed St. Mary’s Secondary School and management of the school was taken over by the Handmaid Sisters. The nameplate changed. The mission didn’t.

For over 85 years now, something remarkable has been happening inside those walls. Girls – and for a brief season in the late 1960s, boys in the primary section – have been leaving those gates with more than certificates. They’ve been leaving with a standard. A sense of self. A quiet confidence that the world would later test, and that mostly held. You know exactly what we’re talking about. You were there

For over 85 years now, something remarkable has been happening inside those walls. Girls – and for a brief season in the late 1960s, boys in the primary section – have been leaving those gates with more than certificates. They’ve been leaving with a standard. A sense of self. A quiet confidence that the world would later test, and that mostly held. You know exactly what we’re talking about. You were there