Mentor the Vulnerable Girl Child to Impact 1000s

The mood meter at Makomborero Zimbabwe went up a hundred notches on Saturday 10^th April 2021 when we were finally able to hold our first Girl Child session after nearly 14 months of not being able to meet!! In case you are wondering what the mood meter is, it is something that was introduced to us by our co-founder Laura Albertyn, fondly known as Mrs A. We use it often at Makomborero Zimbabwe to gauge how people are feeling before and after a meeting or a session. In the case of Girl Child, the mentees draw a face on the white board before the meeting and another after the meeting. It’s often good fun and a great way of hearing from those who wouldn’t otherwise be vocal about their feelings.

Preparation 

The last few reports have felt like we mostly spoke about how much preparation was going into the time when sessions could finally resume. Part of this preparation was recruiting new mentors from our past Makomborero Zimbabwe students. We were so pleased with how many past students were keen on mentoring and the excitement and dedication that they have brought into the programme.

Mentoring mentors

There were some fun times to be had while we trained our mentors. Training was done online as lockdown restrictions meant gatherings were not permitted. This worked well as most mentors were able to play the recorded messages in their own time and discussions were held as a group on Whatsapp. We had a Mentor’s Quiz Night that saw existing mentors, new mentors and Makomborero staff exchange over 700 messages as we all tried to get to know each other better and equip each other for the year ahead. It was a great laugh! The prize was a bar of chocolate and it went to our trainee mentor Tadiwa.

Recruiting mentees   

There was much excitement amongst Makomborero staff, mentors and staff at partner schools when it was becoming clear that sessions were going to begin in March/April 2021. We had to move the start date a few times as the reality of what it would take to orchestrate everything unfolded. Our partner schools are all based in the high density areas, they have huge classes of sometimes over 60 students to one teacher. It was impossible for them to social distance and as such the students were split into two sets and  took turns to go to school for two/three days a week; or half a day each set. This had a direct impact on the recruitment process of Girl Child mentees as some of the potential mentees were in different sets to the recruiting staff. We waited this process out and it paid off! We had twenty excited girls start the mentorship programme on the 10^th of April and another ten start on the 17^th of April.

And so it began….finally! 

Our introductory session is about getting to know the girls, telling them what Makomborero is all about and making sure they understand the policies and procedures we have in place to protect them. On paper, it looks very much like a tick-box exercise but in reality, this session is worth gold! For a lot of the girls, having been forced to grow up before their time through such experiences as taking on lead roles in their families, it is the first time they get a good understanding of their rights not only as a female but as a child. Mentors do a great job of melting the ice as well as answering some tricky questions in this first session. We are 4-5 sessions in at the time of writing this report and attendance has been great, with a hundred percent at one school last week, which is rare. There was lots of excitement around the library books, which was lovely to see. Those who never thought they would get the hang of crotcheting are becoming pros. Girls who started off shy and not keen on contributing are coming out of themselves especially with the reassurance from their mentors. Snack time while someone reads an inspiring story is a huge hit as always. Stories about girls or women who achieved great things give the girls an instant dose of inspiration and eating together at gatherings is a much loved part of the culture. There is a proverb in one of the local languages, Shona, which says ‘Relationships are somewhat empty, it is food which completes them’ and it rings true at our sessions.

This year’s group is loving their group photos and silly poses, we are too! What a lovely celebration of finally coming together.

What’s next?

Remember that end of term lunch that we had planned for but couldn’t have in March 2020? Well, we have another planned for two weeks’ time. Our thirty girls will be served a delicious lunch prepared by staff and mentors. We won an amazing grant that will allow us to give each girl sustainable sanitary wear. There will also be a fun and educational session on menstruation as well as a relaxing art therapy session making use of the white t-shirts we so eagerly purchased last year. This group of girls will be with us for the year and we look forward to discussing more topics, having healthy debates, learning new skills and eating and chatting together with them.

Putting all this in writing has made us see how much has been achieved in such a short space of time (though we did have over a year to prepare). Thank you to all our kind donors who helped us stock up the materials that are now coming into use. Well done to the mentors who have done a great job at adapting to the new protocols necessitated by Covid-19. Verbally communicating through masks is a bit of a challenge especially during that first session, the mentors handled it beautifully! Well done to our trainee mentors for their enthusiasm and for being such quick learners. It would have been so easy to come under the dark cloud of Covid-19 and stop planning or hoping but there was a certain Mrs A whose positivity and forward planning kept everyone upbeat and focused. Thank you Mrs A!

Mood meter – at the start of this report, I had a smile on my face and now it’s turned into a big cheesy grin. Hope it’s infectious!

Links:

• Facebook for Makomborero
• The Girl Mentorship Programme

• Finance breakdown (PDF)
  

It is hard to believe that 2020 is coming to an end and we have not been able to hold any Girl Child sessions since February. Our sessions thrive on face to face interaction and not being able to see each other has been a great disadvantage. There is some sadness as we reflect on 2020. However, the joy of Christmas is truly with us and we are grateful our girls are gearing up to enjoy the festivities as much as they are able to.

The lives touched by Girl Child so far and the passion the Makomborero team has for disadvantaged girls has fanned the flames of hope and given us all strength to keep looking ahead. We are grateful for the generous donations we have received this year, they have been a much needed practical element to our hopes. We were able to buy more than 40 books which will be added to the existing libraries of the three schools on the Girl Child programme. The rest of the books will make up starter packs for the two schools we hope to add to our programme by the end of 2022. We are pleased that we have not just added numbers to the library but we have been able to add some variety too! Most, if not all our girls will finally get to read classics such as Roald Dahl for the first time.

We have also been able to buy the much needed materials for the 'Baby blanket crochet project' which the girls engage in throughout the year. The office was filled with ooohs and aahs about the fun wool colours we were able to get and we are excited for our girls to start crocheting. We look forward to passing the skill of crocheting to a new set of girls, the happiness of making something from scratch together and to teaching them the value of giving to others.

Normally, we would bring all our girls from the different schools together at the end of each term. We would have a big lunch, play games and do an art session that involves t-shirt painting. We were not able to do this this year but the donations meant that we were able to gather all the art session materials needed for 2021. We were also able to buy all the t-shirts we will require for the painting activity. That is huge and we are immensely grateful!

Perhaps most heart-warming of all was that we were able to make a small parcel for each girl to enjoy with her family over the Christmas period. Each girl will receive a pack with dried sugar beans, dried soya meat, rice, pasta and some biscuits and sweets. We know the biscuits and sweets will be a real treat and the other food stuffs a welcome change from mealie-meal and a real life saver for our girls’ families. We feel this makes up in part for not being able to have a joint end of year lunch.

Earlier this year, we were busy writing session content, refreshing what we have and adding what we felt the girls needed. January will be a time of re-visiting those session plans and sorting out timetables.

We have been in communication with our 2020 girls through their mentors who live locally to them. We are always so pleased to hear of their well-being when they bump into each other at the local shops or while taking walks. They miss the sessions, are looking forward to Christmas and perhaps like us are just getting ready as much as possible for 2021.

Sadly, we will not be holding sessions with this particular set of girls in 2021 as we will be recruiting again at the beginning of January. Filled with hope and joy, we have prepared as much as we can for the next 18 months and look forward to welcoming the new girls.

Links:

• Our Makomborero Website
• Our Facebook Page

• Finances for Q4 2020 (PDF)