Change Student Lives through Education in Zimbabwe

The end of 2021

2021 was another amazing year at Makomborero Zimbabwe! As we draw near to the end of the year, we feel the usual concoction of happiness, sadness (to say goodbye to our upper sixes), relief about the things that have gone well and the kind of gratitude we always find difficult to put in words. The end of the year is another reminder that we could never have done this without our donors, supporters and partner schools. We are truly humbled.

Covid-19 and its effects continued to be felt throughout the last part of the year. Our team is now accustomed to re-jigging things and taking small windows of opportunity as they present themselves. With Covid-19 easing up and the team ‘refusing’ to be stopped, we managed to do a lot more of the ‘normal’ Makomborero things at the end of this year than we did during the past two years.

A-Level students

Thanks to our partner schools, our internal students continued to have face to face learning right up until exam time. The Upper Sixth internals completed their exams in November and stayed at the boarding house for various end of year celebrations such as end of year dances, the Christmas party and the annual camp. All internal students did a great job of keeping their spirits up and coming up with ways to keep themselves entertained such as movie nights, games nights etc. This year, internal students have had to spend a great amount of time at the boarding house to minimise the risk of Covid-19. Weekends at home proved too risky and where it was possible, parents and guardians visited. Lower Sixes managed to go on their leadership camps which they all enjoyed and learnt a lot from. It was worth all the Covid-19 protocols they had to adhere to upon their return. We are proud that despite the anomalies, there were some impressive academic achievements where many students received prizes! We celebrate all our students and were pleased to be able to do so in person at some of their prize giving ceremonies. We continue to be extremely grateful to the teachers who worked so hard with our students to make these achievements possible.

 Our external students have also had face to face lessons this term. We were able to have meaningful contact with them on a few occasions when they came to the boarding house for their life skills sessions and to have more study materials loaded onto their tablets. A lot of them felt they were still playing catch up but were relieved to be back to normal lessons. Their tablets which had pre-loaded studying materials proved to be an invaluable resource. Third term for our external students started later than usual as the country was emerging from Covid-19 restrictions. The knock-on effect is that the Christmas break is much shorter and they will be writing their A’Level exams into the new year, some starting back as early as the 3^rd of January 2022. We continue to be amazed at the tenacity of our external students. Year after year they surprise us with how adaptable they can be and how fiercely they chase their right to education. External students, we are so proud of you!

 There were a few opportunities to jointly celebrate with both internal and external students, starting with our graduation ceremony. While it was very sad to say our goodbyes to the Upper Sixes, the occasion was beautiful. All our Upper Sixes had achieved so much under very difficult circumstances and there were some real precious moments when Mrs Albertyn and Mrs Chikowore reminded each individual of how far they had come and how amazing they are. Our Lower Sixth internal students helped out with pointing guests in the right direction, sanitising hands and giving out masks and they did an amazing job with serving the food.

The Christmas party followed soon after and once again all our students had a great time playing games and eating food lovingly prepared by staff.

To top it all off was a joint weekend camping experience with a focus on mental and emotional health. It allowed for deeper relationships amongst students and was a breath of fresh air after two years of not being able to host a joint camp.

 Our recruiting process for 2022 A’Level students has just ended, leaving Mark and Laura Albertyn with probably some of the hardest decisions they have to make each year. However, every single year great comfort can be taken in that the testing process is not just a selection exercise but a conscious effort to impact the life of each and every child that comes for testing, whether they receive a scholarship or not. The process gives students the opportunity to explore their artistic sides, to hear from others who had a difficult start to life and were able to make something of themselves, and to build relationships. The team speaks a language of hope and the past students who volunteer at the testing process not only speak hope but model it as they themselves would have gone through the testing process in recent years. We are so grateful for all who make this process a success and continue to marvel at the past students who give back by volunteering.

 Our UZ students attended face to face lectures until the tail end of the semester where they were learning online and going to university for exams only. They too have continued to overcome obstacles and deal with unpredictability in admirable ways as they chase their degrees. Travelling to and from university is not always easy for them and the fluctuating prices of public transport make it even harder. Due to Covid-19, the universities have had to reduce the amount of students they give residential places to and while this is understandable, it caused some panic amongst students at the start of the semester. Many had a difficult time finding places to stay that were close enough to the UZ and if they did find places, the rentals were extortionate. Many thanks to our donors, we have continued to give stipends to university students and were able to take in five students into our UZ house. This was our first ever intake into the newly renovated Beit Trust project, we will be increasing the intake annually until we are at a point where the house can fully support the maximum capacity of twenty students. On a fun note, Mrs A held a social with UZ students this term. It was a great afternoon of food and lives being spoken into. One of the students helped capture the memories with some top notch photography.

 Other projects

Ndeipi entrepreneurial training carried on this term without a hitch. We received a wonderful donation of baby clothes from the UK. Ndeipi participants were able to buy a batch for a dollar and re-sell individual items making huge profits. This term we were able to celebrate the success stories of this initiative and all that participants had learnt. Participants were given certificates at the annual graduation. Thank you One Hope Initiatives for continuing to partner with us in changing lives in this way.

 Girl Child Mentorship programme also ran smoothly this term with a nothing-less-than-awesome end of year lunch. We were sad to say goodbye to our girls but incredibly humbled to hear from them what they had learnt in this period and to be witness to their transformation. Our heart is still to add more schools to the programme even though we have not managed it this year. We are grateful for our mentors who week-in and week-out continued to give of their time to invest in these girls!

 The Mobile Science Lab did very well this term though numbers had to be kept to half the capacity as part of our Covid-19 protocols. We were so pleased to be able to welcome Nyasha, one of our past students to assist in the lab and teach Physics lessons. Together with our overseeing teacher Mr T and our Intern Milton, they made a powerful team and week in, week out the students came eager to learn. Well done and thank you team!

 Farewell to Mrs Banga

Staff had a lovely evening celebrating the first and only house mother that Makomborero Zimbabwe has ever known, Mrs Banga. She has retired and taken her final courtesy this year! Staff and students will miss her motherly nature and unmatched knack for keeping the house going as it should. Happy retirement Mrs Banga. We love you!

 Round up

This term has been a notably easier term after much illness and loss last term, we are so grateful! We have not been without our challenges, Covid-19 scares and seemingly impossible logistics but we have also had some lovely moments this term. From student proposals in the boarding house to having a past Girl Child student and a past Mobile Science student making it to our testing process. We have always been a team that celebrates the little things but more so this year.

 With all the highs and lows, Mark and Laura Albertyn have had to be more conscious than ever of staff and student mental and emotional health and this has unashamedly played a great part in how we did life this year. Group therapy sessions have been amazing for our students and a great way for them to end the year.

 This year we celebrated ten years of Makomborero being able to give hope through education and all the projects that were birthed out of that that are changing lives for the better. The online event was nothing short of heartwarming and a great reminder that none of this would happen without you our sponsors, donors, volunteers and encouragers. We thank you! We honour you! Term after term, year after year, we are humbled that you continue to choose to partner with us.

We wish you all a merry Christmas and a Happy 2022!!!

Links:

• Our Makomborero Website
• Our Facebook Page

• Operating Costs - Sept-Dec 2021 (XLSX)

Starting Term 2

The start of the term at Makomborero brings with it lots of excitement and this term was no different. When we started the term with our enthusiastic staff, volunteers and students, we had no idea that we were about to face one of our hardest terms yet. Covid-19 hit closer to home than ever before. With the support of our board members, we were continuously challenged to come up with effective ways of keeping students and staff safe. As expected, this involved making some tough decisions. Emotionally and mentally, this term has taken a lot out of students and staff. We felt very blessed to have been able to draw on each other through the term. Parents and guardians were gracious and supportive as we navigated new territory. We are truly grateful for this. Staff played a huge part in making sure the day to day runnings of Makomborero remained as they should. This was most appreciated especially taking into consideration that for one reason or another, we have not been able to run on a full complement of staff at any point this term.

Online learning continues

There was general disappointment around schools not being able to remain open at the beginning of June and much hope that online learning would not last the full term. Students physically attended school for only five weeks before they had to go back online. At the time of writing this report, schools are still closed and all learning continues to be carried out online. We continue to support our external students with wifi bundles to assist them with online learning where online learning is possible/available. We are so pleased to let you know that the Makomborero learning app was finally launched at the start of May 2021. It has proved to be a necessity and has been very well received by our external students. Under the supervision of Mr Albertyn, our Gap Year students Yeukai and Milton designed and developed the app which is loaded with resources including notes, worksheets and past exam papers. These materials would normally be difficult to find and would generally come at a cost that our external students would not be able to meet. The app works completely offline making it greatly accessible to our students. Each student was given a tablet with the app pre-loaded and a 128Gb memory card to add any other study materials of their choice. We are very grateful for the donation of the tablets and the long hours Yeukai and Milton put into the app. When the students gathered to collect their tablets, they were also given some donated clothes and food parcels.

Our partner schools Hellenic, St George's and Gateway have continued to provide our internal students with excellent online lessons. Our Lower Sixth students, initially daunted by online lessons are now quite used to learning in this way. Well done to them and to our Upper Sixth students for doing their mock exams from the boarding house. We are aware that this is completely different from the norm and takes some mental strength and integrity. We are proud of you!

Examination Results

In our Term 1 newsletter we were not able to give you the Zimsec A-Level results as we normally would. We are pleased to let you know that despite the many difficult challenges that our external students faced, they did extremely well in their exams. In total, our students had 17As, 8Bs and 5Cs. We are very proud of them for these excellent results.

2020 Leavers

Our 2020 leavers did not get to experience the normal two years at Makomborero that other students would have. Activities such as the annual camp, community service and hiking in Domboshava, which are annual staples, all had to be cancelled due to Covid-19. A social had been planned for the 2020 leavers for the beginning of this year. We hoped it would be a time for them to have a reunion as well as say goodbye as they would all be going off to different universities.  Unfortunately this too had to be cancelled as the lockdown restrictions would not allow for gatherings. We are grateful for technology and social media which has availed platforms for the leavers to keep in touch with us and with each other. Here is a quick update of how our twenty 2020 Upper Sixth students are doing. 6 students were accepted at local universities. 9 students are taking a gap year, 4 students were accepted at USA universities and one student is waiting for a response from a local university. We are truly pleased to see them launch into ‘adult’ life and wish them well in their studies whether they are taking them on this year or next year.

University Life

Our local university students have also had a disrupted second semester. They had to have online lectures and many are finding this difficult to cope with. Some of the challenges include power cuts and internet provider network issues. Some exams had to be postponed and those who needed to carry out practical work did this under much pressure as they had limited time on campus due to the lockdown restrictions. On the bright side, some students are grateful they have longer to study for their exams. We have continued to support our university students with university fees, wifi bundles and stipends. This would not be possible without our sponsors and we are very grateful!

We are thankful for the opportunities we have to continue to keep in touch with our university students who are studying outside of Zimbabwe. It goes without saying that wherever our students are in the world, they are affected by Covid-19. It is particularly difficult for those who are not able to travel to see family because of the travel restrictions. Our students abroad often find themselves supporting family at home, we have observed that the need for such has been higher this year. The burden of not being able to meet family needs at home can have quite a negative impact and Makomborero has been involved in assisting such students and families where possible.

The Alumni programme which was started during the last year continues to play a great role in keeping past students in touch with each other and serving the A’Level students with the mentorship programme.

Other projects

We were able to hold a few Girl Child sessions from the beginning of April. Sessions had to stop in June as the lockdown restrictions did not allow for gatherings. We however managed to have the much loved Girl Child lunch on the last Saturday of May 2021. It was wonderful to see staff, mentors and mentees gather together. There were lots of laughs and a wonderful talk from Mrs Albertyn. Each mentor and mentee walked away with three sanitary pants and a menstrual cup as well as a food hamper. We know these goodies are life changing for the girls and we are extremely grateful to those who have made it possible. Our focus during the rest of the term has been making sure that all necessary craft and teaching materials are in place for whenever Girl Child sessions are able to resume.

Mobile Science Lab sessions took place from the last Saturday in March to the end of April. The students had a great time having fun practicals with ‘Mr T’. Our Science teachers and interns have taken advantage of the long break by doing inventories as well as cleaning apparatus. We are looking forward to a time when lessons can resume as we feel students benefit hugely from this project.

Ndeipi started off with some great sessions at the end of the first term. We have had some lovely donations of baby items which will be sold to Ndeipi participants at heavily discounted prices so they can sell them on for a profit. Participants have been keeping in touch with our administrator Mrs Chikowore via a Whatsapp group, they are all looking forward to seeing eachother in person again.

UZ Residence

Our UZ residence is still an ongoing project. We had hoped to have everything completed by the end of July. Unfortunately the progress has been slow as the building had to be used by A-Level students for six weeks during the months of June and July to help with social distancing and to fulfill Covid-19 requirements. Staff that were over-seeing the project have not always been available and contractors were often tied by the shorter working hours. Despite the delay, we feel we are getting back on track. We will not be able to take in students this year but there is hope that we will be able to do so in January 2022.

A final sign off

Term 2 2021 has been a challenging and humbling time at Makomborero Zimbabwe. Never have our family values been put to test as much as they have been in this term. At some point it felt as if students and staff continually dealt with sickness and loss. We are so grateful for the support that came from each other as well as parents/guardians and board members.  Mr and Mrs Albertyn were able to organise a therapy session for internal students and staff and this went a long way in helping to deal with the trauma that some had gone through.

It was not easy to keep things ‘normal’ at the boarding house. However, Life Skills sessions and newly introduced Book Study sessions continued in person when possible or via Zoom when this was not possible. Mr and Mrs Albertyn visited the boarding house and managed to spend some time with the students. The term has just ended with a fantastic week of activities put together and led by Yeukai and Milton. The internal students enjoyed painting, sport, walks and a braai.

A huge thank you to all our donors! We know we say this every term but we really could not have done this term without you. Your impact went far beyond what you could imagine. You helped to keep our students protected, fed, clothed, entertained and encouraged. We felt incredibly supported by all your donations, often humbled by your generosity which often seemed to come just when we needed it the most. We are privileged to have your support and look forward to the next part of the journey with you.

Links:

• Our Makomborero Website
• Our Facebook Page

• Breakdown of expenses for Term 2 (PDF)