Life through my eyes: Learning to count every little blessing

Children are very near and dear to my heart. When I was still a young woman, I used to visit an orphanage in my hometown of Rusape, just to hold the babies that someone had thrown away because they didn’t want them. My heart would just break, thinking, how does someone sleep at night just throwing a baby into the bush and walking away, not giving two hoots if the baby would be found by a person or a wild animal? How would they live with themselves years later? Would they think about that baby for the rest of their lives or just pretend it never happened? I remember hearing horrendous stories about how some babies were found in Blair toilets, with maggots feasting on them, or in the forest with ants coming out of their eyes, noses and mouths… I’d just hold the babies, look at them, and think, “I’m glad you survived and got a shot at life.” I believe every child deserves a fair chance in life. They should be given all they need to equip them with all skills to survive. I believe every child should have access to education. I believe the onus is on every responsible citizen to help in every way possible to help a child get that education, even if the child is not biologically ours. They say it takes a village to raise a child, so we should all do our bit. Some children are from poor backgrounds or have parents who are losers. The circumstances don’t matter. What matters is if we accord the child an education, he might help us when he’s a doctor, teacher, lawyer or some professional someday. But if we wash our hands and deny them help that we can afford, that child might turn into a rogue and steal from us, or murder us or our loved ones. We have a choice. We don’t need to be as rich as Sir Richard Branson or Bill Gates to help a child get an education. Every little bit helps. It might just be a book donation or sponsoring to pay fees for a child for one term. The story below, from my friend, inspired me to also try and do my bit to help children get a decent education:

My name is Sihle Nyashanu and I am a mother of two boys, one of whom is a student at Gateway Primary School in Harare, Zimbabwe. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you about the Class Outreach my son’s class did on the 17^th of March 2015 to Tichakunda School in Hatcliffe. I felt privileged because of the opportunity that my son’s school gave his class to go out there and be a blessing to the Grade 6 class at Tichakunda School. Tichakunda School is a disadvantaged school in Hatcliffe and it is registered as a Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO) with the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. This school is in a community that was started by people who were displaced by the Murambatsvina programme as well as the former commercial farm workers who were affected by the land reform programme. Currently the enrolment at the school stands at 1000.It comprises of Early Childhood Development (ECD) class that has 358 children and the rest are Grade Ones up to Form Four. A special mention goes to my son’s teacher for organising the trip and rallying us parents to get together and be a channel of blessing to others.

All our children were asked to contribute a dollar each in order to buy school supplies for the Grade 6 class at Tichakunda. Some of our children gave more than the dollar that had been requested, and the parents brought in books and stationery over and above what the class had managed to buy for the outreach. All the teachers at Tichakunda School work on a voluntary basis. Of the total number of the children at the school 33 are boarders. These are orphans and vulnerable children who have just been left there and no one came to claim them. The whole idea of this outreach was two pronged: to be a channel of blessing and also for our children to see the kind of life that others are leading.

An Empty classroom

When we left Gateway Primary School it was all smiles as none of us really had any idea of what we were going to see and neither did we know what God had prepared for us in terms of lessons. For me, personally, the two hours that I spent there were life changing and these changed the course of my life forever. Our way back to Gateway Primary School had a lot of reflection. The way we live our lives day today was challenged. We realised that the things that we think are important are not really important. We thought of the number of times we have thrown away food or said we could not wear a particular dress because people have seen us before in that particular dress!

It was humbling to hear that the pass rate at this school for 2014 was at about 55%. When I looked at the poor conditions of the school and the surroundings and heard about this, I felt the hand of God was really at work there. I was challenged to see that despite the difficult circumstances the children learnt in (with a low staff turnover of their teachers because of non payment of salaries) more than half of them stood against all odds and conquered. The fields in which they do their sporting activities are hard to look at, let alone play in, yet quite a number of them qualified to represent their school at District level.

Boys' toilet

The School’s Vice Head boy is in the Grade 6 class that our children brought stationery to and he proudly welcomed us to his school and spoke a bit about his school. It was so warm to see the confidence as well as good command of the English language he had. Our children got to interact with their counterparts in the Grade 6 class and some made friends. As we left their class going to the bus for the presentation of the books most of the children were continuing with their conversations. Given that Tichakunda is a registered PVO everything they do is mainly funded by kind donors, who at the moment are not that many. All their 1000 students get food at school. They still have a lot of ground to cover but just like their name Tichakunda, they will conquer.

They charge a minimal fee of $10 and even then,just a handful is able to pay. There is a common feature of children wearing different uniforms in all the classes as their minimum requirement is for all children to wear a uniform, even if it is not their school uniform. Their uniforms are made in a community project and they sell them for $8 each.

ECD, Grade 6 to Form Four Block and two rooms serving as dorms for 33 boarders

I felt proud that Gateway Primary School is indeed doing something to better the lives of the children at Tichakunda because 75% of all the books that are used there were donated by our school.

All our children came back changed as they realised the major differences that are there between what they are used to and what they saw. Most of them commented on how their counterparts did not have proper classrooms and toilets and how they had “few things”. Some commented on their sporting field and were touched by the fact that they did their sporting activities in that kind of field. The realisation that some of the children did not have families to go home to was quite something as well for our children.

Staff toilets

Given that I have a special interest in the education (either academic or in activities of daily living) of mainly those children who have challenges because of the fact that I am a special needs mum, I was challenged by what I saw. I had been toying with the idea of going back to school to do something in Special Needs Education and the idea was cemented on this trip and I will do something about it! I will continue and will not tire in my volunteering to assist in helping children in reading at the Remedial Department each morning. I was challenged by looking at all those men and women who are volunteering their service to better the lives of the children at Tichakunda. Their love and passion despite the harsh conditions has led me to also follow in their footsteps. One life that improves because of my or your contribution leads to a better future indeed.

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