Help Feed Hungry Children in Zimbabwe

Dear Supporters,

Many years ago, when our safari lodge was up and running, we hosted a lion conference attended by researchers from all over Africa.  At dinner one night, I was talking to Professor Claudio Sillero, an Argentinian, about the economic disasters affecting both his country and ours.

“Things couldn’t get worse,” I told him.  “I think we’ve reached rock bottom.”

 Claudio laughed.  “There is no such thing,” he said.  “Take a lesson from Argentina – we just dig a deeper hole!” 

17 years later, and Zimbabwe is still digging.   

Hunger, inflation at over 175%, 18 hour power blackouts, water rationing, fuel queues and 3.5 million rural people facing starvation – it’s been bad before, but this time it’s worse.  Much worse. And there seems to be no way out.

Anyway, the point of this update is not to give you a rundown on the state of the nation, but to tell you how the children of Marula school are faring.  At present they are on “holiday” (whatever that means these days to a hungry Zimbabwean) but they are back to school in the first week of September, at which time a truck full of the term’s provisions will arrive.  I’ve said it before, but here it is again. Nothing is so heart warming as seeing groups of children on their way to school in the early mornings – when every one of them is smiling and waving as you pass. Some of them have walked for hours, but they know that at lunch time there will be a full plate of food waiting for them.   Thanks to you, our wonderful donors.

Progress has been slow on the outside kitchen – the footings have been dug, the cement has been bought, but Public Works are as usual dragging their heels.   So – I’ve enlisted the help of Craig Tilbury, who has been cutting and baling grass on the farm, and is very happy to assist not only with transport but with any building that needs to be done.   At last, someone we can rely on!

In my next newsletter, I’ll be posting photos of the school vegetable garden – made possible by our water reticulation scheme.   I just hope that someone has been watering it during the holidays!

As always, with our deepest gratitude 

All at Marula School 

Dear Supporters,

Our beautiful gate is finally up thanks to The GVI Trust and all of our donors! The old one hung together relatively well for a very long time, until an army truck backed into it some years ago and nearly took it off its hinges. Since then, goats have wandered in and out at will and eaten everyone’s vegetables - so you can imagine how happy the school is to finally be able to lock them out for good. Not only that, once the side pillars are built, the entrance will give the school the start of a much-needed facelift.

In the images attached, an orignally built storeroom, now a classroom for 40 children and their lovely teacher, Alice, have to squeeze in there for their classes. In fact, there are only three proper classrooms for over 300 pupils, the rest have been converted from storerooms, the infirmary and other unsuitable spaces.

But things are happening. Now we have the gate, and the public works department is about to start on the outside kitchen for the day scholar cooks. It’s taken a while for them to get going, because they have been fully occupied in building the nearby Marula secondary school. What is impressive about that is that to date, the community has managed to provide much of the wherewithal for the construction. A great deal of this has been in kind – youngsters working only for a food allowance, farm bricks rather than expensive bricks from town, plus some locally sourced donations.

The plan was for the secondary school to open at the beginning of this year, but this has not been possible.  They have completed one block and partially finished another. Mr. Edgars, one of the builders, is at work on the teacher’s cottage. Roofing material is needed, plus a water storage tank. The toilet behind is of the “Blair” variety – invented in this country – and for those who might be interested: “The vent pipe sucks out air from the pit and fresh air is drawn down through the squat hole. ... Any flies escaping from the toilet are attracted to light coming down the pipe, but these will be trapped in the pipe. All Blair toilets are fitted with a roof and a semi dark inside.”   So, nothing flash, but they work!

Mr. Sibanda is our head cook and thanks to frequent unscheduled load shedding, he often has to cook for 70 or so boarders and teachers over an open fire. There’s always a plan in Zimbabwe – there has to be!

And unfortunately, some very sad news, our Headmistress Dube has just lost her husband of 37 years – a fine man who often helped out at the school, and was always on hand to assist the community.   

We are hoping that Tyrone, GVI Trust representative, will be able to come and visit us in July, so he can see what is happening at both schools. He’s given us constant support and encouragements and we really look forward to meeting him at last and showing him around.

Thank you once again, to all our donors who have shown their commitment and care by continuing to support our school.

As always, you are all hugely appreciated!

With love,

Zimbabwe