Transformative Education for Refugees in Zimbabwe

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