St. Jude the Apostle Parish Social Justice Group, SCORESBY

Zimbabwe Appeal

Over the past 12 months we have established contacts in the Rotary clubs both here and in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We have spent the last 10 months collecting and sorting donations of clothing and shoes, stationery, primary reading and reference books, computers and classroom furniture as well as donations of soap, toothpaste, sanitary items, etc. It has been a wonderful effort from everyone involved.
One of our parishioners has recently returned from a trip to Zimbabwe where she was able to meet with the members of the Victoria Falls Rotary Club. She was able to discuss with them in more detail the items we have collected and deal with the logistics of getting the container to this land-locked country. As she has been in constant contact with the Rotary club this past year, they were well aware of our project but were delighted at the size of the potential donation. She was able to meet with the people who will be directly responsible for receiving and distributing the goods. She was able to tour some of the schools in the area to see for herself the different needs of each school. It was agreed that one particular rural school could best utilise our donation and it was decided that we would sponsor this school. What this means is that everything on the container with the exception of the computers will go directly to this school and any future support could go towards classroom building projects and/or scholarships. The computers will be sent to Chamobondo Primary School, which has power and is better equipped to receive the computers.
Here are a few facts about the school.
Mizpah Primary School is situated about 30kms from the township of Victoria Falls. It was once a mission school and has a population of 370 students. Of this number 180 of them are Aids orphans. The Aids orphans are currently getting assistance with their school fees from guardians but there is a huge potential for dropouts if their guardians find the struggle too difficult. School fees at this school cost the equivalent of $3 Aus/year.
There are not enough classrooms at this school so classes are held in two sessions 8am -12noon and 12noon -4pm. The morning group begins their classes indoors and does their afternoon classes sitting on tree stumps outside and the afternoon class begins their lessons outside. This system becomes more difficult when the wet season arrives and all children must be accommodated inside. Then two teachers operate at either end of the classroom with one teacher using the back mud brick wall as a blackboard.
All lessons are taught in English. The school has no reading or reference books.
There are not enough desks/chairs to accommodate all students. Many are in need of repair. The blackboards also need attention.
There is no power, no telephone and no running water but there is a bore pump down the paddock where the children go to fetch water.
UNICEF has supplied the building materials for a new classroom block, which is currently being built by the locals but more classrooms are need.
Although the container is close to full we are still seeking donations of Primary School stationery, more classroom desks and chairs and library shelves. We are also fundraising to cover the cost of shipping the container to Zimbabwe. If we receive adequate interest in this project the potential is there for future classroom building projects.

Copies of the Knox Deanery petition in support of the Make Poverty History maybe downloaded here