Our Team Volunteers in Zimbabwe: Tatenda Toera—Coordinator ElizabethToera—Financial records Paence Kuture—Women's development and instructor Volunteers in Australia: Suzanne Reynolds—Coordinator Lindsay Reynolds—Accountant Bob Cameron—School mentor Louise Furniss—Administraon and support Chrisne Turner—Administraon and support Paid Staff: Collins Tlou—Newly appointed Fort Rixon Secondary School Teacher Tatenda Toera Paence Kuture Some Local Community Information Fort Rixon is a community with dwellings scaered at a distance over a large area. There is no community centre, water supply, electricity or medical service and only a ny tuck shop. The primary school has around 265 students and 3 or 4 teachers. The standard of educaon is good and the children have an enthusiasc approach to learning. Sadly they find it difficult to reach their potenal – factors such as a long walk to school, very poor nutrion and oſten poor health affect their ability to excel. Unemployment in Zimbabwe (and probably Fort Rixon too) is approximately 90%. There is very lile agriculture as water is not readily available. Approximately 30% of people are affected by HIV/AIDS, and Zimbabwe by populaon is said to be one of the worst AIDS affected countries in Africa. Our Mission Living Foundaon aims to provide a secondary school and other community projects at Fort Rixon, a rural community approximately 70 km from Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and it is hoped that in me we will also be able to extend to projects in other areas. We aim to encourage and increase community development and learning through such things as a sewing group (already established), the provision of a bore and establishment of an educaonal community garden. The creaon of a combined school and community centre will be a focal point for the community, largely built, run and owned by the community. Newsleer Edion 001 January 2013 † Living Foundation ZIMBABWE Fort Rixon Community Project AUSTRALIA in partnership with...
Transcript
Our Team Volunteers in Zimbabwe:
Tatenda Toera—Coordinator ElizabethToera—Financial records
Patience Kuture—Women's development and instructor
Volunteers in Australia: Suzanne Reynolds—Coordinator Lindsay Reynolds—Accountant Bob Cameron—School mentor
Louise Furniss—Administration and support Christine Turner—Administration and support
Paid Staff:
Collins Tlou—Newly appointed Fort Rixon Secondary School Teacher Tatenda Toera Patience Kuture
Some Local Community Information Fort Rixon is a community with dwellings scattered at a distance over a large area. There is no community centre, water supply, electricity or medical service and only a tiny tuck shop. The primary school has around 265 students and 3 or 4 teachers. The standard of education is good and the children have an enthusiastic approach to learning. Sadly they find it difficult to reach their potential – factors such as a long walk to school, very poor nutrition and often poor health affect their ability to excel. Unemployment in Zimbabwe (and probably Fort Rixon too) is approximately 90%. There is very little agriculture as water is not readily available. Approximately 30% of people are affected by HIV/AIDS, and Zimbabwe by population is said to be one of the worst AIDS affected countries in Africa.
Our Mission Living Foundation aims to provide a secondary school and other community projects at Fort Rixon, a rural community approximately 70 km from Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and it is hoped that in time we will also be able to extend to projects in other areas. We aim to encourage and increase community development and learning through such things as a sewing group (already established), the provision of a bore and establishment of an educational community garden. The creation of a combined school and community centre will be a focal point for the community, largely built, run and owned by the community.
Newsletter Edition 001 January 2013
† Living Foundation ZIMBABWE
Fort Rixon Community Project
AUSTRALIA
in partnership with...
Secondary School Project—Suzanne Reynolds
Fort Rixon is a community that has been seen as a place in need by Cosmos Healthcare, an Australian Christian medical aid group, and Sizolwethu, their Zimbabwean partner. In May last year, a number of the Cosmos team plus Tatenda Toera, a Zimbabwean registered nurse employed by Sizolwethu, visited Fort Rixon to carry out general health education. The school headmistress and teachers were keen for the whole school to participate and Suzanne Reynolds, a registered nurse with the Cosmos team, was asked by the Year 7 teacher to speak to his class about child abuse. In talking to the teacher and headmistress, Suzanne discovered that the vast majority of these children would end their schooling at the end of Year 7 as distance and poverty meant attending a secondary school was almost impossible. Zimbabwe is so much in need of a new generation of educated people to restore, develop and lead the country and it is only through empowering the people themselves that this can happen. Without education these children are destined to a life of poverty and hardship with little hope for change. We were all deeply affected and when Suzanne hesitantly but courageously announced that she thought we should start a school, she was overwhelmingly cheered on!
Suzanne Reynolds and the Year 7 teacher and students
Fort Rixon Primary School
Going Forward
We have made it to the point where the secondary school commenced on January 8th 2013 with Form 1 (Year 8) and a small number of students in Form 3 who have already completed Form 2 in the city (but were unable to go on) and who have come forward for a second chance at education. They are using a classroom at the primary school. A teacher, Collins Tlou, has been employed and given temporary accommodation in Fort Rixon. He is being mentored by Bob Cameron, a teacher at Cornerstone Christian College in Busselton, Western Australia who was very involved with the establishment of that primary school and has the appropriate expertise for this project. Another level of schooling will be added each year. The aim is to provide 4 years of secondary education with the possibility of offering promising, motivated students the opportunity to go further with their studies through sponsorship.
Partnering with the Community
The local chief has said he will make land available for building a community centre/school and the venture is supported by the local council. It is envisaged that the centre will be built with local building materials, eg: thatch, mud and stone and with as much local volunteer labour as possible. Starting the school has been made possible by donations, but of course there will be establishment costs for the centre and ongoing expenses such as the teacher's salary. The hope and plan is that over time, with development of income generation in the community, local people will be able to make a contribution towards costs and the project will become less dependent on outside help.
Since then there has been a lot of hard work done. Tatenda has been meeting with the people of Fort Rixon, government authorities and anyone who can offer wisdom and advice. Our overriding desire is to achieve our goals through consultation with the local people, respecting local culture and values and working in partnership with them, so that they will feel ownership of the project.
Thank You !
The Sewing Group—Louise Furniss
We want to open our communication with you with this newsletter. We want to give you a sense of these lovely Zimbabweans being no different to us.
We want you to feel their hope and their gratitude and their cheerful bubbly enthusiasm!
And most of all, we value your interest and support and we ask you to partner with us and to pray for the project.
Please know how much good so little is able to do, how much it is appreciated
and what potential it has for giving these beautiful people a better future! We will be writing a quarterly newsletter so that you can see how donations are used.
If you do not wish to receive these newsletters or require further information, please contact:
In 2011, on the Cosmos Healthcare medical trip, we had taken a few cloth shopping bags with us as gifts and were awed by the gratitude with which they were received. When I went back to Fort Rixon with the team last year, I brought small basic sewing kits that people had made and material to make bags. We were not prepared for the enthusiasm the sewing provoked and at each place we visited we couldn't keep up with the number of people wanting to make a bag. The ladies (and some men) would make a small bag that they could finish at the time and they were then given the material for a large bag to take home to make. At the Fort Rixon primary school, the headmistress let us use one of the classrooms and we started off with about 10 ladies. I don't know how the news travelled but ladies kept arriving. We couldn't bear to turn anyone away, especially when the headmistress was enthusiastically sending off students to carry in more desks! In the end the room was packed with 48 ladies (plus babies and children) all helping each other. The group now has a volunteer lady, Patience Kuture, a qualified tailor, who comes out from Bulawayo to help the ladies each week. Hand operated sewing machines have been donated and the possibilities for ongoing income generation are being investigated. The group has become a good place for community support and for health and life skills education. We appreciate so much those who have donated money, sewing kits, material—and so many other things. Unfortunately transporting goods is very expensive and when goods are available at relatively cheap prices in Zimbabwe we think it is better to try to give local people the business. We wish we could take more of what people want to give! We are able to send some things by container as another aid organisation allocates us some space - but it takes a long time for the goods to arrive. We are always thinking of the best way to do things and are open to suggestions!
Bank Account Details: Harvey & Partners—Accountants—Trust Fund Account
BSB: 086-565 ACCOUNT: 684478784 Transaction Description: Fort Rixon
Please send an email (see details below) to let us know of your deposit so we can provide you with a receipt
