Building Classrooms for Zvamaida Primary School

Dear Friend

When I wrote to you last month, I indicated that the 6 classrooms were almost finished. Well, the good news is that they are and the children are now using the classrooms. Just think about this, around 300 children can now have a desk in a classroom and not have to have lessons out in the open. This alone has brought delight to the whole local community. It will certainly make a real difference for the children.

However, all the headwinds  have meant that we have gone well beyond our budget. On top of the problems along the way, from the bricks problem, Covid, and a variety of other things - the collapse of the Zimbabwean currency and the surge of inflation in the country and shortages of materials have meant that the last stage of the classroom buildings has taken a longer time than expected. 

Here is where we are now with the project. Keep in mind the classrooms were always going to be the first thing (and most expensive) part of the project. 

• Three classroom blocks (6 classrooms) now completed.
• The foundation work on the Library has been completed, but not beyond that (my hope was that this could have been completed, but no money left)
• Some of the training has been done. The most important bit I think - the WASH training (water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming)

Where does that leave us now?

To provide the necessary school desks etc. They have some desks for the one classroom building they had provided recently by UNICEF, but more is needed.

• Completing the Library building. 
• The solar panels and power for the buildings.
• An additional number of toilets, wash basins etc
• Rest of training

 If I could tell you the costs of these outstanding items then I would. The problem is that the economic situation in Zimbabwe currently makes it difficult for our Rotary club there to get prices on building and materials, but they are working on it. I will continue to try to raise funds from Crowd Funding and any other means possible to try to complete the project.

 I attach some recent pictures including children in the new classrooms.

 Yours sincerely

Danny

PS – if you have the means to make a larger donation GlobalGiving have a special deal for next Wednesday 20^th July. I attach details of this, which you will see that you can get up to a 50 percent bonus on top of your donation!

See below:

 Matching Funds

The 2022 July Bonus Day campaign will have a Matching Fund of $400,000 USD.

While funds remain, the following matching structure will apply:

Note the campaign is on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, starting at 9 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 2 pm London time.

• Donations of $100 - $499 USD will be matched at 30%
• Donations of $500 - $749 USD will be matched at 40%
• Donations of $750 - $1,000 USD will be matched at 50%

Donations will be matched based on the order in which they are received while funds last.

• Donations above $1,000 USD will be matched on the first $1,000 USD while funds last. The match offer is restricted to donations made by unique donors per organization.
• Each organization can receive a maximum of $3,000 USD in total Matching Funds to benefit as many partners as possible.

Dear Friends

I am so pleased to be able to tell you that the 3 classroom blocks with a total of 6 classrooms, has virtually been completed, with just a lick of painting still to do.

This is indeed great news and comes as a relief after many months of delay and frustration. I thank and congratulate everyone who has donated to the project to have got this far. Really importantly, it will mean that 300+ children can benefit by having a classroom to work in and not have to endure learning outside in the cold at this time of year. Although we know the country has such a wonderful landscape and where the sun shines, they also get relatively cold weather at this time of year in their winter.

However, because of many complex issues, including covid, exchange rates and inflation, we have not so far been able to install solar panels to supply the electricity for the buildings. We are currently urgently trying to raise funds to pay for the school desks/chairs, for the children to use (this will cost around $5,500).

My worry also is being able to raise the funding to complete the school library which has had the foundations laid and is currently at ground level (picture attached). I hope to be able soon to inform you how much this will cost. I may have mentioned this before, but the evidence is that having a school library can dramatically raise standards and improve exam results. We are working with another Non-Government Organisation (NGO) called AussieBooksForZim who will supply us with books for the children and some for adults as well it is hoped. Recently, this NGO reported that in 2019 they set up a school library at a primary school in Zimbabwe. Exam results passes since then for this school increased from 6 percent to a remarkable 48 percent. Not only that it benefited the community of all ages.

As I outlined above, our immediate need is to fund the costs of the school furniture. If you can help us on this it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you again for your support

Very best wishes

Danny

Dear Friends

Sometimes it feels like your treading water and things are just are not moving along the way you want it to. I am sure you have had that feeling at times!

In December, the buildings were bricked up to reach the level of completing the 3 classrooms to the top of the door frames ready for the interim Cadre inspection and report. By then we had run out of our first tranche of money and had to wait for reports to get the second tranche of funds that were coming from Rotary Foundation. That has taken some time and caused delay.

Now for the good news. The funding is now with us and the building has restarted, with the roofing soon to be worked on.

So, my friends, the project is on the move again and next time I write to you I hope and trust I can give you a more comprehensive update on the progress towards completing the buildings on the site.

In the meantime, I thank you so much for your help and support.

Very best wishes.

Danny

Dear Friend

Further to my recent report to you when I advised you that on Tuesday 30th November, our appeal for the Zvamaida Primary School project would be re-launched, as more funding is needed to complete the project, and why we have a problem.

GlobalGiving have a special fund raising day on 30th November which is why the appeal starts that day. This 24-hour campaign takes place on 'Giving Tuesday' a global day of giving. GlobalGiving is offering a $1,000,000 Incentive Fund that will be distributed to participants proportionally based on final fundraising totals. The more your organisation raises, the more prize money you will earn!

GlobalGiving’s 2021, 'Giving Tuesday' campaign will last 24 hours, from midnight to 23:59 EST on November 30, 2021. Remember that in UK time that is from 5 am in the morning on 30th November until 4.59 am on the morning of 1st December. 

We would be really grateful if it is possible you could make an additional contribution to the project on 30th November, and tell your family and friends about our project.

Thank you very much for reading our appeal. 

Very best wishes

Danny

Dear Friend

Since my project update in August we continue to make progress on the building of the classrooms and library at Zvamaida School. In addition, last month we delivered WASH training (water, sanitation and hygiene) to the parents, teachers and children at the school; this is a Rotary programme to ensure that - particularly now, the community is aware of good practices to protect them from disease and viruses like Covid 19 and the many other tummy and numerous infections that circulate because of poor hygiene.

As the attached pictures show, the groundwork of the foundations and brick walls to the damp course and the slap level have been completed. This past week progress in brick laying has been made to window level. This will be a very significant stage for the project, on our way to the roof level and the laying of the roofing materials.

Of course, we have had our challenges along the way. The prime one, has been with bricks for the project. The local community made 60 thousand bricks and were going to make more, but we suffered a major blow when the builder said that none of them were satisfactorily made because of the local soil materials used, and also they were the wrong size!  As you can imagine such news has had a massive impact on our budget as we have so far had to buy 60 thousand bricks. We have 15 thousand from donations, but it still leaves us with the prospects of having to buy up to another 45 thousand more to complete the buildings. At the moment until we finish the buildings - which is our priority, then the other things we want to do, like the solar power for the classrooms and library, school furniture, etc are on hold until we can find additional funding. 

We are intending to re-launch our funding appeal on Tuesday 30th November and details will be shared with you on this.

Thank you for your support

Very best wishes

Danny