Dear friends,
After losing my family and home to civil violence when I was 14, education became my only source of hope for a better future. Despite the sub-par quality of education at the only high school in Tongogara Refugee Camp, Zimbabwe, I achieved remarkable results that led to my scholarship at the United World College of Southern Africa and now Pomona College, California. This was made possible through the support of refugee mentors and, crucially, access to online educational resources via my phone.
Recognizing the transformative power of education, I joined four other young refugees four years ago to found TWEENS Tongogara. Our mission is to mobilize resources and stakeholders to help young refugees realize their full potential through education. We started by providing free tutoring lessons to 11 refugees who had dropped out of school due to dire circumstances. Today, we have built a youth centre where more than 500 high school refugee students can access study spaces, books, the internet, laptops and tablets, free tutoring, college application mentorship, and extracurricular activities such as a book club, chess, and ball games.
We have reached over 1,000 students through awareness campaigns and motivational sessions. Seven TWEENS students have earned full scholarships for their last two years of high school studies at the USAP Community School, run by Education Matters, and eight members have gained scholarships to pursue higher education at top colleges in the United States. Additionally, we have donated solar lights to more than 50 girls who would otherwise be unable to study at night and facilitated the donation of over 200 books to the camp's library.
These achievements have been made possible by people like you who believe in TWEENS' mission and the potential to "use education as the most powerful weapon to change the world," as Nelson Mandela said. Today, TWEENS' mission is more important than ever given the rising numbers of refugees due to various violent conflicts. That is why I am asking you to join me during World Refugee Week 2024 in supporting TWEENS by donating whatever amount you can or sharing this within your network. This year's campaign funds will be used to maintain internet access and tutoring lessons at the TWEENS Youth Centre, which are central to our work.
I have made my donation. Join me in helping TWEENS reach its target goal and achieve even more.
Thank you for your support.
Warm regards,
Prince Bashangezi
