Change Student Lives through Education in Zimbabwe

We are only 12 days into 2019 and accordingly, we say Happy New Year to you all. We bade farewell to a difficult 2018 for most Zimbabwean families. The last few months of the year were incredibly hard with petrol and diesel queues which not only have persisted into the new year but have got even worse. There are also shortages of basic foodstuffs such as bread, flour, cooking oil, sugar, and other necessities. Makomborero has managed to weather the storms of Zimbabwe well and are incredibly grateful to the employees, volunteers and donars who have bouyed us up during this very difficult season.  Thank you!!!! 

At the end of 2018 we tragically lost our Chairman for Makomborero Zimbabwe, Pagiel Chimudzi.  He was a humble, gentle, wise man – who we relied on for wisdom, direction and was an ever-present sounding board. Pagiel will be greatly missed by Makomborero and many, many others!  Our hearts ache at the loss his wonderful family are experiencing and our love and support extend to them at this sad time.

 End of year activities

The third term always starts with the Prize Givings of our various partner schools.  All such different evenings, celebrating the wonderful individual characteristics of each school but also incredible to witness so many of our students shine! The term is also one of Leavers dances as the academic year draws to an end.  Our students loved the joy of getting dressed up and attending their dances with friends and celebrating the end of their school journey. Our Graduation was a wonderful celebration of the outgoing class of 2018 as they completed their 2yrs with Makomborero. The students sang a beautiful song, which brought tears to many as they bade farewell. We wish them all the very best as they enter their next phase of life. As a tradition, we ended the year with our wonderful Christmas party – bringing together again all the Internal and External students.  Good food, good fun, and little gifts!

Our Recruting process took place during November and December.  It was an incredible opportunity to leave lasting memories on many, many students hearts even though we can't take all of them.  We completed our recruiting process by visiting inspiring families just before Christmas. What a privilege to be welcomed into their homes.Families who have given everything to get their kids to this point. As the 2019 school calendar starts we welcome new students in the house. This year we have 5 boys and 4 girls. We are grateful for the family that has enabled us to take on an extra student, their generous sponsorship of one school fee at one of our partner schools, will go a long way in making a difference in the family of a promising young person.

We also gathered our super hero university grant beneficiaries during the Christmas break. We took time to encourage each other, share hearts, and we love each of these incredible students. Zimbabwe has such a bright future because of these young men and women. We even have a doctor among them now. Lesley is qualified now and ready to serve!

Upcoming activities for the term

The Girl Mentorship programme will continue this term, after a very successful pilot project in 2018. We look forward to having 2 groups of new students to be inspired and empowered by our past Makomborero girls. We will also take time to train the new Mentors as they both begin to prepare to leave for University in August this year. The Mobile lab sessions will also resume on Saturdays with our Science teacher and dedicated assistant. We have already started receiving inquiries from students who want to join the programme. Once again, we look forward to busy weekends, but all worthwhile and productive.

Our Results for 2018 Cambridge examinations have come out! We are thrilled with our students performances and look forward to feeding back the data from this year.  We remain hopeful for the local exams (ZIMSEC) results which the External students sit, that come around February.  Not it's waiting to see what tertiary education scholarships will come through!

We thank you all for your continued support of us!  You are what make all this work possible and thank you just does not seem like enough to express our gratitude!   We brace for another challenging year for the Zimbabwean economy, but it's one we face with great hope because we have an incredible team and we know we continue to shape the future of Zimbabwe through these young people. Once again we wish you a prosperous 2019!

Links:

• Christmas Party 2018
• Makomborero Facebook page

• Financial report (XLSX)

This is our busiest term, end of year Cambridge exams have already started. We wish all our students the very best. We are grateful to you our sponsors for ensuring they have had all they require to get to this final stage for many of them!  We are also grateful for the in-kind donations we have received at the Resource Center (RC).  These included solar panels to help keep our invertor running during the power cuts, especially at this critical exam time. The students were also given toothbrushes and stationery from Australia - these little things are big deals! We are often so overwhelmed by the generosity of individuals giving what they can when they can!  Every contribution plays a part in keeping Makomborero going!  It is heartwarming especially as Zimbabwe is going through a difficult transitionary phase. We have had to deal with fuel shortages, price increases across the board and hyperinflationary conditions. This has been punctuated by a Cholera outbreak in Harare and other parts of the country. We have had to be extra vigilant with hygiene at the RC and help our student's families with detergents and water purifying chemicals, as a control mechanism.  It has been an honour to be able to do this!

Makomborero Camp

The August School holidays were ended with our Makomborero Camp, where all of our current students (internal and external) come together for 3 days at the Resource Center. The first day was a full day of community service and this time we went to Jonas Primary school, in the communal lands to the south of Harare where we did blackboard painting. The Headmaster and staff were very grateful for the gesture, as they are celebrating their 100year anniversary. It was a good experience for all the students being able to give back and see how little things can impact lives. Other highlights of the camp was the 3D printing workshop run by the MakerClub, what an eye-opener for most students. The camp also had focused group discussion on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The students demonstrated a great level of awareness and we took time to encourage them to engage in social entrepreneurship, finding solutions in their communities to the problems they face. The camp concluded with a combined birthday party for everyone with games and much fanfare. The camp was a great opportunity for the students to bond as a family, to feel motivated for the term ahead and encourage each other as some reach the end of their Makomborero journey.

Fundraising

We held our annual Fundraiser the Openair movie screening at Hellenic Academy again this year. We were thrilled to be able to screen the movie "The Greatest Showman" starring Hugh Jackman and many others. The support was incredible. We are grateful to Hellenic Academy for their generosity towards us in allowing us to use their facilities and a big thank you to the families who came through to support. We are very grateful to Zim Openair Cinemas for this valuable partnership.

Students Achievements

We celebrated with Ntombi, a rising senior at Arizona State University for winning the African Young Achievers Award for Academic Excellence.

Roy and Shyline, current upper sixth students both had the privilege to attend the Yale Young Global Scholars 2018 programme in America. Life changing opportunity and very enriching academically and culturally.

Clarety and Rufaro led the Davis Peace Project, Facilitating Equal Access to Modern Education: A Road to a Peaceful Society, at Seke 1 High School in Chitungwiza. It was attended by over 70 students and many of our current and past students took part as volunteers.

We are excited to have four more students graduate this year, Rodwell who was studying Electronics and Electrical Engineering in Brunei. We also are proud of 3 of our local University grant scheme beneficiaries at the University of Zimbabwe. Paidamoyo graduated in Pharmacy, Chido - Business Studies (Banking & Finance) and Lawrence who was studying Geoinformatics and Surveying. We wish them the very best in their next phase, as they begin to look for jobs and find their way in life. It was Prizes galore at St Georges as all six of our boys won awards at the Speech and Prize Giving night. The boys are flourishing under the care of the school.

Visitors from the UK

We are thankful for the Campbell's who came to visit Makomborero all the way from the UK. They fully immersed themselves into the life of Makomborero, spending time with staff and students. They were hosted by Peter's family (a lower sixth student) for dinner, what a lovely evening and it gave them an opportunity to appreciate where our students come from and the hardships that their families face.

2019 Scholarships!

We have begun sending out forms for the 2019 scholarship applications. There is greater interest from across the country with students hoping to get one of the few places given. This process shall soon be followed with the selection and testing process to ensure we select the right students.  

This is a brief summary of what we have achieved over the last 3 months but if you would like further information, please do follow us on Facebook.

Links:

• Facebook page
• Girl Mentorship Project

• Finance breakdown (XLSX)