Transformative Education for Refugees in Zimbabwe

Over the past couple months TWEENS has had rewarding and exciting developments that we are excited to share. From April to May, we reached out to 1,920 individuals across nine Christian denominations, advocating for the importance of education within the refugee camp. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with church leaders pledging to reinforce the value of education as a long-term solution for refugees.

May was a month of student engagement and enrichment. We held Math, Chess,and Teqball Competitions. These provided a fun and educational break for our students. Twelve students competed for Math, eleven for Teqball, and eight for Chess, with the winners receiving water bottles as prizes.These events not only showcased their talents but also honed their strategic thinking skills and practiced their teamwork skills.

TWEENS also partnered with TDH, who committed to conducting monthly reproduction health sessions on HIV/AIDS and STI awareness. This was a huge step as one of the goals at the center is to address teenage pregnancy. TDH generously donated chairs, chess boards, a ping pong table, and an office table, enhancing our facilities.

June saw the successful launch of the Tweens Book Club for Grade 7 to Form 2 refugee girl students. The turnout of 30 boys and 45 girls exceeded our expectations, demonstrating their enthusiasm for reading and being a part of an engaging literary community. We are grateful for the donation of 28 novels from Mai Mano that has allowed the expansion of our library resources. In the same month, we provided tutoring and mentoring to over 80 Form Four (Grade 10) students, preparing them for their upcoming national examinations.

In very exciting news, July we were able to secure a 10-month Wi-Fi data plan and equipment rental, ensuring stable internet connectivity for our educational programs. We also invested in stationary for our tutors and paid our operations coordinator for three months. Additionally, we upgraded our solar system, ensuring reliable power for night studies and providing more charging outlets for our students and 39 devices.

As we look to the future, we are excited about the potential of TWEENS. Your continued support allows us to provide these essential services and create a positive impact on the lives of our students. Looking forward to sharing progress in the following months. Thank you for being part of the TWEENS journey.

We are excited to share that the efforts of TWEENS have resulted in a significant increase in the pass rate of Form Four students who received help from TWEENS. National exam results came out in February this year and out of the 70 students at St Michael's Secondary School in Tongogara Refugee Camp who received assistance from TWEENS, 28 passed at least 5 subjects, resulting in a 40% pass rate. This is a remarkable improvement compared to the 17% pass rate of the previous year. We believe that this increase in pass rate is a testament to the effectiveness of our tutoring programs and the resources TWEENS provide to students in the camp. 

 In January 2023, the UNHCR Regional Representative for Southern Africa and the UNHCR Zimbabwe Representative visited TWEENS Center to learn about our positive impact in the camp and discuss plans to further empower secondary-school refugee students. During the visit, we presented our achievements in the past year, including the array of services we offer, which have reached nearly 1,000 students both in and outside of the refugee camp through educational and extracurricular activities. We also highlighted the installation of Wi-Fi at our TWEENS Youth Center, which has attracted many students seeking online research assistance.

We are thrilled to share that Kevin Burns, CEO of Chobani, visited Tongogara Refugee Camp in late March to explore ways to enhance the quality of education for refugees. In addition, our book reserves have been augmented with 36 much-needed science textbooks, including Biology, Physics, and Chemistry O-Level textbooks donated by Kevin Burns. These textbooks will complement TWEENS' efforts to teach pure science subjects for the first time to our students.

Our recently graduated A-level and O-level tutors are also leveraging the internet connection at the TWEENS Centre to explore and apply for educational opportunities to further their studies. We are excited to share that as of now, five of our tutors have been accepted to United States universities on scholarships, while others are still in the process of applying. This is a remarkable achievement for our tutors, and we are proud to have played a role in their success. Holiday lessons commenced at TWEENS Center on April 4, 2023, with Form 3 and 4 refugee students from St Michael’s Tongogara and other schools in the vicinity of Tongogara Refugee Camp coming in numbers. Our capable tutors are having fun spending their time and energy to positively impact their younger brothers’ and sisters’ lives. We are currently tutoring English Language, Mathematics, Geography, and Combined Science. After taking tutoring lessons, some students stay to use the few TWEENS’ textbooks, computers, and tablets to do further academic research in their subjects or relax with tecball, chess and other games.

Thank you for your continued support of TWEENS!

Administration 

TWEENS is made up of 31 volunteer tutors and one full time employee holding the position of Operations Coordinator who monitors all the activities at TWEENS Center. TWEENS has a committee ( General Coordinator, Secretary, Treasurer, Accountant, and a Spokesperson)  and an advisory council to decide and put every action in place to maintain the progress of the TWEENS organization. TWEENS has contrived a monthly salary for the Operations Coordinator for the past three months. Furthermore, awareness campaigns, on the noteworthiness of education, in both local schools and within the community have been taking place in order to regerminate a seed of hope into youths who failed their national exams and encourage them to rewrite. 

Resources and activities at TWEENS Center

“I wonder how we would have completed all the CALA ( Continuous Assessment Learning  Activity ) ZIMSEC assessments without having internet and mobile phones. Luckily,TWEENS made our lives easier and paved a smooth way to our education journey”, said a TWEENS tutee. The monthly subscription of WiFi at the TWEENS Center has made 200 students  step ahead academically and with the ZIMSEC CALA assessments which covers 30% of their national exams results.  The connectivity also helped  4 tutors in their personal works like completing online courses and working on college applications. More resources such as the projector, whiteboard markers, stationery, new curriculum textbooks, gadgets (laptops and ipads) among others have made holiday tutoring lessons productive and smooth. 

December 2022

New curriculum Pure Sciences textbooks were delivered and TWEENS center set up the schedules which includes lessons for Biology, Chemistry, Pure Mathematics, and Physics for ‘O’ Level students and, we are well prepared with resources for those subjects.

TWEENS  power system has improved at the center and made it possible for other  intellectual support to students such as  having open hours and  self study during the Night Study to better their academic performance. We recognise students' talents and  seek to give them a space to collaborate with tutors and fellow tutees through extracurriculars at TWEENS Center.

All of thses services would not have been possible without your continued support and Education Matters and TWEENS are grateful for your genorisity throughout the year!

TWEENS Tongogara

GlobalGiving Report

August 19, 2022

Since fundraising took place, TWEENS has managed to fill many financial gaps which led to an increase of the services we offer. Besides the extra lessons that are offered to TWEENS students during holidays, the funds have helped to provide wifi subscription for students to access in depth research that goes beyond the syllabus.

Moreover, the funds have been used to repair the roof and fence construction. More chairs have managed were purchased and now TWEENS students have a better space to study. We also added more resources in preparation for national exams as more “New Curriculum” textbooks were purchased. We continue with additional tutoring lessons for Form Threes and Form Fours. TWEENS information sessions have been held to help tutees in applying to after “O” Level programs like USAP, Rise, and Makomborero scholarships.

The power system and Internet at TWEENS center has helped TWEENS to fulfill the following:

     Charge TWEENS gadgets

     Charge tutors’ and tutees’ gadgets

     Support the internet system at the Center

     Support the lighting system at the Center

• TWEENS_REPORT2.pdf (PDF)
  

We are excited for the first round of college acceptances for our inaugural Class of 2021 alumni! We wish them all the very best as they set out to pursue their higher education in the United States. We remain grateful to the many colleges and universities who have worked and continue to work with our students in the admissions process. 

While most of the acceptances have been from US institutions, our alumni have applied to various global universities that are able to offer them scholarships.  We look forward to the next round of admissions acceptances for the rest of our alumni in the class of 2021!