Help buy a school bus for Makomborero students

Another fantastic term under our belt!  The students have all embraced the full winter term – lots of co-curricular extras making it a very full and busy term. We have so enjoyed seeing the Lower Sixth students find their groove in their respective schools.  They have also fitted well into the house!

 Community Service

Our Mobile Science lab sessions ran again for 12 weeks and we enjoyed getting to know the 30 participates.  They slowly warmed up and by the end of the 12 weeks deep friendships had been formed and hearts had connected.  These sessions do accomplish a great academic side but it is also our hope that each student will leave the program feeling like they are significant, have a voice and that there is hope even if life is incredibly hard.  I think our fantastic team accomplished that!  Saturday’s for many of these students are their lifelines!

Our Girl Mentorship Programme continued during this term and we have thoroughly enjoyed the delights of girls from Mufakose and Mbvuku.  Their faithfulness to the program and their hunger to grow, learn and change has been inspiring.  These girls are blossoming and the mentors who facilitate each week are true heroes.  Giving up their Saturday mornings to feed life into each one of these girls lives.  We ended the term with a fabulous lunch at our Resource Centre and were thrilled to team up with Pad Up and give each of our girls a set of reusable sanitary pads.

 NDEIPI? Entrepreneurship

Makomborero finished the NDEIPI? Entrepreneurship program with 25 people completing the course. We look forward to their graduation at the end of the year. This course is all about teaching people how to fish, rather than just giving them a fish, as the saying goes! We have seen it reigniting hope in many of our Makomborero families' eyes! Watch this space for some incredible testimonies!

These words couldn't describe this process better, in the words of John Perkins: 
 

"Go to the people.
Live among them. 
Learn from them. 
Love them. 
Start with what they know. 
Build on what they have. 
But of the best leaders, 
when their task is accomplished, 
when their work is done...
the people will remark: 
"We have done it ourselves."

Past Students

We had a reunion dinner at the Resource Centre in July for all our students past and present.  It was a special evening seeing Makomborero Siblings reunited and a little overwhelming for our current students as their space was invaded by so many confident young men and woman.  It was a wonderful opportunity for us to look back and celebrate all that has been accomplished. Many of our students use the summer break as an opportunity to come and give back to their communities, running their own little projects.  It is always inspiring to see them do this! 

It has been wonderful to celebrate so many students graduating this year - Clive graduated in Engineering at the Arizona State University, Ntombizodwa also graduated from the same university with a Bachelor of Science in Medicinal Chemistry (Biochemistry), Pamela graduated at the West Virginia University with Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer and Electrical Engineering, Clarety who graduated in Biochemistry at Barnard College, Columbia University, Taringana 2^nd graduation in Engineering at Dartmouth College and Blessing who graduated in Computer Engineering as one of the top 20 international students. He received awards (Samsung tablet) from the President of Turkey.

We have also bid farewell to 10 students as they go off to study in the States, Mauritius, Botswana, and Scotland.  What an exciting start to a new season for them!  We also celebrate our students who are commencing their tertiary education at the University of Zimbabwe and NUST and have been so humbled by local businesses that continue to help us pay these University Fees, as well as give living stipends and groceries for our students!  Without these sponsors, we would not be able to continue supporting 25 Makomborero University students.

We have continued to meet regularly with the Zimbabwean University students and has spent this term talking into mental health and how to cope in the current very stressful economic environment, as well as studying.