Give education & training to Zimbabwean girls

This quarter we’re delighted to introduce our newest member of the team and she has been busy! Welcome Anita, who’s taking over as our new Programmes Coordinator. Since coming on board she’s been meeting the girls on the programme, checking on their progress on Life Skills courses such as health a hygiene (including cleanliness, infection prevenetion and menstrual management) where they learn some of the things which many have never heard about, due to dropping out of school or not having family to teach them.

Anita’s also met our next incoming intake of girls, helping us make assessments of who most needs a place on the programme and what sort of support then might need. Continually oversubscribed this important stage takes into account orphan status, HIV/AIDS status, family support, education level, living in poverty and much more.

Anita has settled in really well and last week we had a meeting about appropriate targets for our work. Did you know that we aim for 98% of students to complete the Life Skills part of the course and 93% to complete their Specialist vocational training? When you take into account the challenging life circumstances of the girls on the programme keeping this level of engagement is a real achievement so many benefit from.

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In a little departure from the norm, we’d like to take this update as an opportunity to tell you about something new we’re thinking about. You’ll hopefully know by now about our Cosmetology specialism. This covers a curriculum including braiding and weaving, nails, skincare and more. Well…we’re very excited to be working with a new (potential) sponsor to offer a graduate Cosmetology course. Available to approximately half of each class this follow-on curriculum will teach the students how to safely and professionally create their own skincare products including creams and masks. Made with organic and locally sourced ingredients it will be a real boon to graduates going into business for themselves or offering their expertise to a prospective employer. We’re really excited about this work so watch this space!

We’d also like to tell you a couple of things that students have said about the course recently;

Talking about a class which helps students put their experiences (and often traumas) into perspective, while encouraging independence and empowering students, one said “Choose Freedom class as it helped me forget the past and to move on”

Another was talking about whether she felt the gender gap was closing when she said “Yes women and men are equal because women are also able to bring food on the table like what men do and also in work places women are also taking roles which are meant for men.”

To all our supporters – thank you for the life changing support you give.

Links:

• ZET Twitter
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• ZET Website