Teach for Zimbabwe celebrates Day of the African child.

The Teach for Zimbabwe in donated sanitary pads and stationary to Mukombwe Primary School in commemoration of Day of the African Child which is held on the 16th of June. The donation was sourced from DHL a bona-fide partner of TFZ. The donation seeks to eradicate period poverty experienced by rural girls and promote the right to education in vulnerable communities of Zimbabwe. 

Many children in rural areas grow up with little or no information concerning their reproductive health and life coping skills. The impact of climate change has left over 90% of t rural households that rely on agriculture in deep poverty and this cripples their ability to afford important reproductive items like sanitary pads as they focus on securing food for survival. Many children especially young girl, thus, end up being susceptible to absenteeism, virginal infections and drastically amounting to lack of self-confidence.

Mukombwe Primary school is located at the Murewa- Motoko boundary along Nyamapanda highway and it falls under Mutoko district. According to the school head, the Mukombwe Primary School was handed over to the Jairos Jiri by Motoko RDC in order to facilitate for specialized restructuring of the school to accommodate children with special needs.

To strengthen the economic well-being of this important school, students are doing projects such as, goat keeping, horticulture and poultry. These projects help the school to sustain itself and be able to cushion its children in times of need. The school is located in farms hence its enrolment of less than 500 pupils may not be enough to generate tuition that is enough to sustain it. In order to fulfill the urgent needs of children with disabilities, the school was furnished with a borehole to provide clean water whilst water system ablution facilities were also constructed

The Day of the African Child is celebrated on June 16th of each year to honor the 1976 Soweto Uprising in South Africa and to raise awareness about the need to improve education and protect the rights of African children.

Mukombwe Primary School is an ideal model of a special needs institution. Even the staff members’ positive attitude towards some students with various forms of disabilities gives hope to the wellbeing of the students.  The gesture by Teach for Zimbabwe to provide essential needs for this vulnerable cluster in such a time of need is crucial.

The SDC chair of the school expressed his joy upon receiving sanitary pads and stationary for the kids. “We are so happy for your generous support, if you have more resources could you kindly support us with computers because we already have a computer lab.” He added.

Mr Zinhanzva who was representing the District Schools Inspector said he is so impressed with the marvelous work and support being done by TFZ in Mutoko, he also said that this support will go a long way in fulfilling the needs of vulnerable students and the education sector.