Give education & training to Zimbabwean girls

It has been another busy few months at Rafiki Girls Centre, as we have continued to adapt the project for the challenges of COVID-19. We are doing everything we can to ensure our vital work and outreach continues for our students and are proud of everything our staff and students have achieved.

We continued supporting all 240 students through our educational courses and beyond this. One intake has just finished the life skills part of the course and are moving onto vocational skills. Another intake has just completed their vocational skills, and although this was challenging we are pleased to announce they have taken and passed their exams. We have also just completed socially distanced recruiting for our next group of Rafiki Girls. We are so proud of all our students and how they are progressing in their studies.

The main change we have made this year is moving all of our courses online, to provide virtual teaching and educational support. This has been a learning curve, of course, as some of our students struggled with access to online classes and many of our courses are based in practical skills and demonstrations. However, we have supported our staff and students with purchasing new technologies and training them up on how to use these effectively. Our teachers have also worked tirelessly to adapt their lessons, create engaging content, and build a strong virtual learning culture which is accessible for all students, abilities and learning styles.

We have also provided counselling and mental health support, hampers of food and sanitary items, and ongoing outreach online, over the phones and with socially distanced home visits. We know that this pandemic disproportionately affects women and we want our students to thrive and fulfil their potential. So, we worked closely with them to tackle any issues that came up from the pandemic, such as isolation, struggling with food or money, additional responsibilities or wider anxieties.

We are preparing for the Centre to reopen in line with government guidance, and have procured vital supplies like PPE, thermometers, sanitizers and cleaning supplies. We have passed an inspection by the Ministry of Health on our plan for restarting and look forward to getting the students back in as soon as it is safe to do so.

Unfortunately, we have been unable to run some of the extra-curricular and recreational activities that are so valuable for our students, due to COVID-19. This includes our HIV workshops, educational trips and careers events. However, we are providing one-to-one support on these issues where possible and look forward to resuming these activities when we can.

If you would like any more information on our work and projects, you can check out our work on our website and social media pages or contact our team.

Thank you so much all your support this year, you are helping us to continue our work supporting young women to thrive, even through this challenging period, and we are so grateful for your ongoing support and donations.

Links:

• ZET Website
• ZET Facebook Page
• ZET Twitter Page

While coronavirus rocks the world Zimbabwe has been both in and out of lockdown. Rafiki Girls Centre has been closed for classes for the majority of the last 3 months but this hasn't stopped them providing the kind of support that the vulnerable young women who normally attend have come to rely on. When lockdown hit it made hard lives harder and in some cases this came close to the brink. One of the students lost her ability to earn the small amount which keeps her and her baby going. Without being too explicit - this created a feeling of hopelessness and caused some dark thoughts. In stepped the Rafiki team to help with counselling and in a break from normal protocol, with a little money to help the family eat. The young mother reports to be feeling better now and with the lockdown partially lifted she can earn again. The reality is that so many in Zimbabwe simply cannot afford to observe lockdown even when it is imposed. Communities live hand to mouth and they neither have the food stocks in the home to go inside for weeks at a time or the money to be able to buy more. Vulnerable people are hit hardest by pandemics and we're proud to say that we've adapted to simply help people getting by. 

Currently classes are being delivered via WhatsApp and efforts are being made to deliver the courses as best as can be whilst at the same time the school prepares for reopening, buying thermometers, masks, gloves, sanitisers and more. 

We hope that things return to normal soon and we thank each of our donors for the support given to help people who need it more than ever. 

Thank you. 

Links:

• ZET Website
• ZET Facebook Page
• ZET Twitter