Transformative Education for Refugees in Zimbabwe

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! 

As we end what has been a challenging year for everyone, we wish you healthy, happy and restful holidays with your friends and family.  We are very grateful for what we have been able to achieve in 2021 to provide truly tranformative education for determined, high-achieving, refugee youth here in Zimbabwe. 

None of this would have been possible without your faith in our initiative and continued generous support.  We look forward to moving onwards and upwards in 2022 with a third cohort of USAP Community School studnets that includes three refugee students from Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC as well as with more initiatives and opportunities for refugee youth at Tongogara Refugee Camp through our TWEENs program. 

From all of us at Education Matters and USAP Community School, thank you.  

We are very excited to announce that three of the 45 students in our first cohort of USAP Community School to graduate last Saturday, December 4, were refugee students from Tongogara Refugee Camp.  Olive, Damascent and Chrinovic, who originate from Burundi and the DRC, did us proud as they graduated.  

We are also happy to continue our commitment to educating refugees by admitting three more refugee students from Burundi, Rwanda and the DRC, to the class that will begin at our school in 2022.  This will keep our current refugee population to 7 students which in January will be 11% of our school population.  It is your kind support that allows us to pay 100% of these students' school fees, uniforms, and other supplies needed for them to be fully equipped to learn at our school and in camp with resources like solar panels and batteries during lockdowns.

Two weeks ago we also launched the TWEENS Youth Centre in the camp, a place where young people will be able to get tutoring, read from a library and enjoy activities such as pingpong, darts, chess and other games.  We are proud of the USAP students and alumni who have made this centre happen and look forward to watch it develop and grow as a by youth for youth project

Thank you for helping us to continue to prioritize transformative education for refugees in Zimbabwe! 

We are excited to share some great news from USAP Community School!  Our first Cambridge AS results are out for the 45 students including the 3 refugee students from Tongogara Refugee Camp in the first class of the USAP Community School. We are so proud of this achievement during these challenging COVID times of remote learning.  27 students earned A's in all three subjects, and 7 more got 2 A's and a B.

In Zimbabwe, schools are currently closed under COVID-19 lockdown restrictions but all our students continue their learning remotely through lessons delivered via Whatsapp. We are looking forward to schools reopening safely in the next few weeks. At the Tongogara Refugee Camp, our refugee students who are part of the peer tutoring group, TWEENS; have been actively tutoring other youths in the camp as well as carrying COVID19 awareness campaigns.   Across the country, all our 45 students continue to prepare for their second and final Cambridge A-level exams later in October.  We wish them success in their preparations and final exams!

As always, we are grateful to you as all of this would not have been possible without your support. We continue to raise funds to reach our goals of building our permanent campus and sustaining the costs of our operations, which we vigorously keep as low as possible. Together we are transforming lives, assisting talented and determined young people by providing opportunities to reach their potential.  We can not thank you enough! 

Links:

• Education Matters 2020 Annual Report
• Education Matters 2020 Annual Report

Greetings from USAP Community School!

We are writing as we complete our first month back physically at our campus in Goromonzi!  Schools resumed in March 2021 for the first term as the government relaxed lockdown restrictions in Zimbabwe.  We welcomed all of the students back on campus and everyone has settled in comfortably. 

The three students from the camp who are part of our initial USAP Community School class move into their second and last A level year. There are joined by four more refugee students in the second class. This brings our total to 7 students from our population of 70 overall, or 10% of our student body coming from the Tongogara Refugee Camp.

The TWEENS (Together We Educationally Empower Non-priviledged Students), the initiave started by our students at Tongogara Refugee Camp became even more useful as students in the camp were not going to school and depended on the tutoring provided by our students and peers.  The initiative continues to source books and materials from Embassies and recently from the Naledi Foundation which supports girls education at the camp. We are proud of the TWEENS initiative and continue to support them in their service to youth at the camp.

As always, we are grateful to all of you for supporting the transformation of lives of refugee students through the USAP Community School and Education Matters Africa Foundation initiatives.

Best regards from all of us at Education Matters and USAP Community School!