Unfortunately, there was severe drought this year at Nyachuru Secondary School which resulted in a very poor harvest and insufficient maize for the lunch program. ZimKids responded to the school’s request for additional assistance by purchasing and arranging delivery of maize meal.
Batsirai Ngoshi, an orphan who we have been providing educational support for since 2007, will be graduating with a BSc. Honours degree in Urban Planning and Development in June of 2019. He says that one of his goals, once he’s employed, is to help less fortunate students.
We have supported Batsiria Ngoshi through his university studies as he did exceptionally well in high school and had no means of financing his studies. He is an orphan who was raised by his grandparents. We are very proud of his academic accomplishments.
Maori Primary School students celebrated the arrival of boxes of new books for their library this month. This generous donation was made by Canadians Scott Wilkie and Denise Quick, to mark Denise’s retirement from a career spent as a librarian. Rural primary schools in Zimbabwe rarely have the resources to purchase library books so this donation was received with great excitement. The book selection was made by the teaching staff at Maori Primary School and the organization SchoolBooks4Africa. Scott and Denise have been donors to ZimKids for a number of different projects at the school in recent years. Thank you Scott and Denise. You are making a real difference in the lives of these children.
Opal stone
140 cm high, 64 cm wide and 44 cm deep
Ascending Spirit is a beautiful hand-carved Opal stone sculpture by Zimbabwean sculptor Simon Chidharara. A two-time former artist-residence with ZimArt, Simon has travelled to Canada twice (2007 and 2013). In 2014 he became the first artist from the African continent to be represented in the permanent collection of the Haliburton Sculpture Forest.
Ascending Spirit was damaged in shipping the work from Zimbabwe to Canada. It has now been fully restored. ZimKids is looking for an individual or organization who would donate $3000 to ZimKids in exchange for the sculpture. 100% of the proceeds would go towards project implementation in Zimbabwe.
This sculpture was sold with all proceeds going to Zimkids.
Maori Primary School in Mashonaland Central has now been registered by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Education. Two furnished classroom blocks, teacher accommodation, toilets for staff and students and a drilled well and bush pump have already been completed. In addition two of the storage rooms have been converted into a library and resource centre and text books have been purchased.
The main focus for ZimKids in 2017 will be to raise funds for the third and final classroom block so that all students can attend school in a safe learning environment. This much needed school facility will serve 350 children and their families for generations to come. It will be a hub for the entire community.
In 2008 the principal of Nyachuru Secondary School in Chiweshe, Zimbabwe was looking for a donor to pay school fees for Batsirai. Both his parents had died and he was being raised by his grandparents, who are subsistence farmers and could not afford his school fees. Funds were raised in Canada so that he could stay in school. He successfully completed his O Level exams in 2010. He had excellent results and was accepted by Howard Secondary School for his A level studies. Once again funds were raised in Canada for his final two years of school which he successfully completed in 2012. Then we lost touch. A few months ago he found ZimKids’ board member, Fran Fearnley on Facebook and contacted her to see if she could find help in Canada for his university tuition.
The ZimKids board agreed to support Batsirai’s request for his tuition fee and accommodation costs for his fall 2016 semester. We are currently looking for donations to continue the support of Batsirai’s university eductation.
This is Batsirai’s situation, in his own words.
I am studying at Great Zimbabwe University, a state university which is located Masvingo Province. I started my studies in August 2015. Currently I am in the second semester of my first year. One semester consists of four months and we have two semesters in a year.
I am staying at the school campus.
I am studying for an Honours Degree in Urban Planning and Development which is a four-year course of study. I have three years left to complete my degree. My third year will be a year of work related attachment, then, in the fourth year I will be back on campus to complete my studies.
The tuition fees per semester are $650 USD.
Accommodation on school campus is offered on a first come first served basis after paying full fees. The current cost is $200 USD per semester excluding food.
Students can only pay for accommodation at the main campus after confirming availability.
Last year my cousin decided to help me after discovering my potential. He was able to help me with tuition fees and accommodation for this academic year. On my last vacation I went to South Africa where he is living and worked there as a general cleaner in Kempton Park, so that we can help one another in raising the funds for the fees and accommodation. It was not safe for me though because I faced some challenges in terms of social life. I was afraid of xenophobic attacks.
My cousin is not able to help me going forward which is why I am looking for assistance.
After graduation I want to apply for work with city councils and to keep upgrading my education while I work. My aim is to have enough resources to look after my guardians who are my grandfather and my grandmother. I would also like to help some other people who have faced the same problem I have of losing both parents at a tender age.
My home is with my grandfather and my grandmother in the rural areas of Chiweshe. I’m also receiving some help in terms of food and other supplements from my late mother’s cousin though she has a lot of family responsibilities.
We are being sustained with subsistence farming.
I am aiming to improve the quality of my results as far as my studies are concerned. I am pleased to inform you that I am working hard so as to improve my results. I believe and I know that I can do better once I have financial help with my tuition because mentally I will be stable.
I’m looking forward to continue receiving positive responses from you. Thank you for being considerate.
Yours faithfully
Jameson Batsirai Ngoshi
Check out our updated video on progress at Maori Primary School. With thanks to David Brazier for the images and Scott Cisco for putting together the video.
Maori Primary School has just finished painting their new sign. The school motto is Education, Character and Unity. Nyasha Kharari, ZimKids project manager in Zimbabwe, also reported that the new bush pump was successfully installed on the drilled well last week
Fran Fearnley, one of ZimKids board members visited Maori several times on her recent visit to Zimbabwe. These comments are from her report to fellow board members.
“The new School Development Committee is pursuing registration for the school and has been successful at the regional level. It is now with the head office of the Ministry of Education in Harare. An interim School Head has already been appointed and a final appointment will be made once registration is complete. There has been great progress on the site in the past few months. All of the buildings have been painted. The teachers’ house and their toilet facilities are now complete.”
The classrooms have been transformed into vibrant learning environments. The donation of school furniture by Stuart and Victoria Lazier, has made a huge difference to the way teachers and students are able to use the space. Thomas Kavhai, a Head of Nyachuru Secondary School, one of the schools Maori students attend for their secondary education, noted that this year’s intake from Maori showed that students had good marks and were much more prepared for secondary school compared with previous years.