Matopo Primary School

Visit August 2011

2011-10-14T11:47:00.001+02:00

Teacher-to-Teacher Project, Matopo, Zimbabwe, by Cindy Hauert

Zimbabwe customs officials just don’t seem to like tourists. We had to use all of our wits, and even cheat a little (don’t ask) to finally get across the border from South Africa to Zimbabwe…but we made it. As we wended our way along the dusty, pot-holed road towards Matopo, it was lovely sunny weather and we spotted a few vervet monkeys playing on the smooth rounded high rocks that are typical of the region. I was really looking forward to the 6th annual Teachers’ Workshop Day, and seeing the progress the seven schools had made since our last trip.

Just as we rounded a curve, whom should we spot but our partners on the ground in the project, Norma and Chris Ferguson. They were showing some American volunteers around the area and all of us were overjoyed at the chance encounter. We stopped right away, took our folding camp chairs out of the Land Rover and settled in for a nice chat and a snack. Later that afternoon, Norma and two of the volunteers helped me pack the bags for the big event on Saturday.

Unfortunately the warm spell was short-lived, and the next day winter came back with a vengeance. But the atmosphere for the workshop was warmed by the good cheer and enthusiasm of the 62 teachers who came to take part in the day’s activities. The program this year focused on fluency vs. accuracy, a new concept to most of the teachers who tend to stick to the tried-and-true rote learning methods of days of yore. I think everybody came away with a new understanding of how a mix of types of activities can liven up their classes and make learning more fun. We also tried out some TPR (Total Physical Response) games that soon had everyone laughing and moving around the large room. Each primary school in the project cluster received a copy of Graham Workman’s book, “TPR for Primary English”, which he kindly donated for the event.

We were incredibly busy during the rest of our stay, meeting with the school Heads, touring all of the schools to admire newly painted blackboards and walls, and brainstorming ideas for the project next year. We also took a look at the proposed site of a girls’ dormitory we are hoping to build at Silobi Secondary School. As we stood in the sun (but shivered in a freezing wind), we were taken aback to spot a Cape Cobra slithering through the brush just in front of our feet! We were assured that once the building started the snake population would move elsewhere!

Everyone is tremendously excited about the new ETAS initiative, “send-a-girl-to-secondary-school”. The Heads of the 6 primary schools have already started working on details about how the girls will be chosen. We hope to be able to collect enough funds to send 10 girls starting in 2012. At a cost of US$600.00 per girl per year, that means we need a total of US$18,000.00 (each girl must be assured of 3 years). At the time of writing, we’ve collected US$13,000.00. This amount includes a record-breaking raffle intake at the SIG Day in Zug, so we still have a way to go to reach our goal. Please contact me if you are interested in helping.

A fascinating book I’ve been reading, “Half the Sky: turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide”, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, is about fighting poverty in developing countries. The title refers to a Chinese proverb: “Women hold up half the sky”. The book has this to say about girls’ education: “One study after another has shown that educating girls is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty.” We can’t do anything about Mugabe and his cronies’ plundering of the country’s resources, but we can make sure that at least 10 girls have the chance to escape the cycle of poverty that will be their fate without further education.

I hope you will join us in giving ten girls a chance to hold up half the sky.

Cindy Hauert
trea@e-tas.ch

send a girl to secondary school initiative

2011-01-27T18:39:00.001+01:00

It’s been an incredible year! As you all probably know, my husband Peter and I were in Zimbabwe last July to work on our project, visiting all of the schools, officially opening the new toilets which ETAS funds built at Matopo Primary School, and running the annual, ever-popular Teachers’ Workshop Day. I hope you have had time to read my article in the latest ETAS Journal about our doings. If so, you will also know that our trip almost had a disastrous end—Peter contracted a deadly form of malaria during our holiday trip to the Zambezi River and shortly after our return to Switzerland he collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital. He very nearly died. I’m very happy to tell you that he has recovered now and is eager to start planning our next trip!

The Federer parents, Lynette and Robbie, and Janine Händel, the new CEO of the Federer Foundation, visited the project personally in October 2010. They came back full of praise (and a few criticisms!) for what we have accomplished, and with big ideas about how we should proceed in the future. When I met with Janine in November, she particularly stressed the importance of supporting the teachers in their training and development. You can imagine how glad I was to hear this message—it has been my dearest dream from the start! This is truly the meaning of the ETAS Teacher-to-Teacher project.

To that end, for 2011 we have allocated a large part of the Federer Foundation budget towards reaching this goal by hiring Chris Fergusson, a semi-retired teacher who lives in the area and has been helping his wife, Norma, with her duties as a volunteer partner in our project from the beginning. Norma is responsible for coordinating the orders the schools place for materials and she has also helped to organize workshops aimed at child development programmes and girls’ empowerment training camps. This “power pair” will be our partners on the ground for 2011.

Chris will be giving regular workshops for the Matopo teachers as well as developing various programmes to support, observe and measure their progress. The goal is not to impose our “western” methods or approaches in teaching, but rather to “empower” the teachers in their development. I have big expectations of Chris and he is very enthusiastic, so I am confident that we will make progress.

So because teacher training and development will be getting a big shot in the arm in the coming year, I started thinking about what could be the next project for ETAS to tackle. As I was mulling this over, an ETAS member, Linda Walsh, wrote to me about an idea her 13-year-old daughter had…Sinéad had heard about our project from her mother and wanted to do something to help. Do you know what she and her friend Sara did? They baked cupcakes! Hundreds of them…and sold them at the entrance to their school before Christmas…and earned CHF800.00 for our project!

I was so thrilled and overwhelmed by these girls’ efforts that an idea I’d had on the back burner suddenly became urgent. I’m calling it the “Send-a-girl-to-secondary-school” project, and I’ll be launching it at the AGM in January, where Janine Händel will also be giving a presentation about the Roger Federer Foundation. Sinéad and Sara, as young women reaching out to children far away from where they live, will serve as the impulse behind this exciting new direction I want to take.

Girls in Zimbabwe often don’t get the chance to continue their education, for a number of reasons. Although the Ndebele culture of Matabeleland (southern Zimbabwe) is not particularly discriminatory towards the female sex—many women have important positions in education and government—in the poorest regions, of which Matopo is one, things are not so easy. Girls who have only one parent, or are orphans, are especially at risk of being shut out of further education. The Federer Foundation recognizes this problem and is very keen on supporting girls’ empowerment, so this new ETAS initiative dovetails nicely with our common goals.
On our visits to Matopo over the years, I have met quite a few worthy young ladies and regretted that many of them will never have the chance to reach their potential. This portrait of Princess, a girl I met on our trip last year, is an example of a very talented and ambitious person whose gifts may be wasted for lack of funds. Although primary school in Zimbabwe is obligatory and free, secondary school is usually a boarding situation as the distances are too great for girls to walk every day (10 kilometres or more). And that costs something.

Secondary school in Zimbabwe consists of 3 years, at a cost of (boarding) US$600.00 per year. Would you be willing to make a commitment to a girl’s education, or to making a donation towards her future?

2010-11-11T20:57:00.001+01:00

I hope some of you might be interested in this show!

2010-11-11T20:46:00.000+01:00

Federers visit to Matopo, plus an interesting event

2010-11-11T20:39:00.002+01:00

We have all been very excited in the last couple of weeks, as Robbie and Lynette Federer and Janine Händel, the new CEO of the Federer Foundation, prepared to visit the project.
Our partners on the ground, Denis and Sandy Paul, and Chris and Norma Ferguson, put in a lot of time and effort to make the visit run smoothly, and the school Heads all did their best as well to make sure our guests of honour were made welcome.
I don't have all the details yet, but from what I've heard everything went swimmingly and everybody is very pleased with how the project is going.
A HUGE success story for us!

News from our latest visit

2010-10-05T19:14:00.001+02:00

It may seem strange to many people, but when we have summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern one. So when we planned our trip to Matopo in Zimbabwe this summer we had to pack our down jackets and arctic temperature sleeping bags! Africa isn’t always hot, as you will find out if you ever venture there in the months of June and July.

However, everything’s relative, and although temperatures can quickly plunge to below zero the second the sun goes down—which it does amazingly quickly in Africa—during the day you can stroll around in t-shirts and thongs (the footwear, I mean).

I was especially excited about this visit as it was our first one since the Roger Federer Foundation has been supporting our project there. I couldn’t wait to see with my own eyes the progress that’s been made—and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished. We have truly made an impact on so many people’s lives: around 2,000 children, their parents and caregivers, plus 80 teachers, and extending to include the whole community in the school cluster where our project is happening.

The first event was the official grand opening of the row of Blair (“long-drop”) toilets which ETAS contributions built at Matopo Primary School (you may remember the “Spend a Penny” Project I’ve previously written about). With great pomp and ceremony, the day’s programme unfolded including speeches, songs and dancing. I even got to cut the ribbon which had been strung across the neatly made, freshly painted doorways! Since the toilets are for the boys, I didn’t get to try one out myself, but I’m sure they will do their job for many years to come.

Together with my husband Peter and Norma Ferguson, one of our partners on the ground in Matopo, we took the next few days to visit each of the schools in the project. Besides Matopo Primary School, there is now Silobi Primary and Secondary, Sigiti Primary, Dobi Primary, Isotscha Primary, and Lukadzi Primary, 7 schools in all. It was such a pleasure to see the smiling faces of the children, teachers and parents as they proudly showed us the improvements: renewed blackboards, smoothed floors, new window panes, doors with locks, text books and school materials. It hasn’t all gone without a few hitches and glitches, mostly because materials of all kinds are still scarce in Zimbabwe and backlogs on orders have caused a few frustrations. But some teething problems are to be expected and we’re convinced that now with some routines in place things should go more smoothly and efficiently. There are lots of plans in the pipeline, such as refurbishing desks, setting up solar-powered lights at the schools without electricity, and furnishing each school with a laptop, hopefully with internet access wherever possible.

Then it was already time for the BIG EVENT: the fourth annual Teachers’ Workshop Day. This has already become a well-loved and anticipated tradition and speaking for myself, the highlight of our visit. Teachers from a total of 14 local schools attended, 60 in all. As usual, I tried to show them lots of activities that they can use instantly, adapt easily, and which don’t require much in the way of resources except what’s in the teachers’ and pupils’ imaginative minds. A really cool part of the Workshop was the activities on how to use puppets to teach children English. The puppets were made by a local ladies’ sewing cooperative, organized by Norma, and each one is unique and incredibly creative. The teachers got right into it and were spontaneously coming up with their own ideas! The spectacle of one of the burlier male teachers with a frilly pink bunny rabbit puppet on his hand, speaking in a squeaky voice, is one I won’t soon forget. It all went down a treat and the time flew by.

I would like to take this opportunity to encourage those of you who are pen friends with a teacher in Zimbabwe not to lose faith in this initiative. I know it has been difficult if not impossible for some of you to keep up regular correspondence, due to the unreliability of the Zimbabwe Postal “services”, the high cost of mailing letters from Zimbabwe, or other problems. But I beg you not to give up: the teachers in Matopo really love the pen friend project and I’m convinced it’s doing some good. If you would like to join your ETAS colleagues in becoming a pen friend, please contact me—I collected another 25 names of potential pen friends in need of a Swiss correspondent at the Teachers’ Workshop Day.

And a very special thanks goes to those of you who are sponsors. Your contributions of 600 francs a year are making a huge difference in the lives of Matopo teachers, whose meagre salaries (US$ 150.00 per month) barely keep their families’ stomachs from shrinking to the size of a walnut. New sponsors always welcome, need I mention…please get in touch with me for more information.

After the Matopo visit my husband Peter and I travelled up into the wilds of Zimbabwe to the Zambezi river valley where we participated in a canoe safari. It was an amazing adventure, filled with up-close encounters with elephants, hippos and crocodiles. We enjoyed it tremendously…but unfortunately brought back a souvenir we could have done without: malaria. Peter became very ill shortly after our return to Switzerland and almost lost his life. He is now slowly recovering, but it was very frightening.

However, we have not been deterred from continuing our work on the Teacher-to-Teacher Project, and are more determined than ever to keep up our spirits and the momentum. We’ll be back!

Spring update from Norma Ferguson

2010-05-06T20:21:00.001+02:00

Education
The Roger Federer Foundation work is moving along, with several of the schools organizing maintenance of their classrooms through the April holidays. It was interesting to see what each school ordered and what they perceived as priorities - from gardening tools to bicycles and solar panels. Some requests we referred to Cindy for approval, but generally it has been exciting to see how each school is progressing. Unfortunately not all orders have been delivered yet as some items, mainly textbooks, are not available at the moment. Hopefully in the next term the schools should have a bumper delivery. We have taken many pictures, but can only include a few as we have difficulty sending bulky emails from here. I will upload more on our facebook page for those who are interested in viewing more.

Silobi High School is the only high school in our area, but it has been great to watch the Headmaster, Mr Moyo, take hold of the project and move forward – quicker than we have been able to deliver in some cases! He has already sent us his 2nd Term order for processing – his enthusiasm is infectious and he has already done so much to improve the school - a man with a vision.

Isotsha Primary School has probably been the most neglected school because of its inaccessible position way out in the hills, along a really bad road. Teachers tremble when they are told they have been posted there and try to find alternate positions as soon as they can. For a long time there has been no bus or transport service to this isolated community and it is a long 2 hour walk to the nearest shops or transport. When they requested a couple of bicycles on their first order it made complete sense. The excitement was great when we delivered them!

New text books are like Easter eggs to a child! Even little Chiedza was excited to check out some of books while we were allocating them to the different schools. It was interesting to hear high praise for the quality and content of the books from our sister-in-law, who is a teacher in Zambia. She felt that generally, the books available in Zimbabwe are of a better quality than those available to her in a private school in Zambia where she is teaching.

Workshop
I have spoken in previous newsletters about the GEM (Girls Empowerment Movement) Project. A quick recap: the headmistress of Sigiti Primary School has started this project to help orphan and the ‘vulnerable’ girl children with life-skills so they can better cope with the problems they face. Most are living in extended families with grandparents and some, at the tender ages of twelve and thirteen, have the responsibility of looking after younger siblings in child-headed families with no adults around – a situation which is becoming more common in Zimbabwe which has over 1 million orphans. Child abuse statistics are not available, but we know that it is common, particularly in isolated rural communities where help is largely unavailable. GEM has discovered that male children are also suffering abuse and so has recently launched BEM (Boys Empowerment Movement).

We had the privilege of hosting the first GEM camp in our district, at ‘Morning Star’, over the Easter holiday. Twenty six girls, from 13 schools, along with teachers and facilitators a (total of 39 participants), had fun and laughter mingled with serious ‘business’ over the 4 days. We had miserable weather, light rain a lot of the time, which of course ushers in mud and chilly nights – but the teachings and role-plays kept the children busy. On the few nights that it was dry enough to sit around the camp-fire, the singing was something special. The children were between 10 and 13 years old and, in the encouraging, nurturing and supportive atmosphere they found themselves in, were able to share some of their difficult situations. The teachings were really ‘from the hip’ and the facilitators spoke directly into the children’s lives. The usual cultural inhibitions were put aside and the messages the children received were very honest and straight. When the Provincial Education Officer, Mrs Thabela, visited and gave a talk to the girls, she spoke to them from the heart and told them just how unique and special each one of them was. She shared the story of her climb to her present position and encouraged them to never think they were not able to achieve their dreams. What a very special lady she is.

ETAS AGM Biel

2010-02-01T21:02:00.002+01:00

What a wonderful event it was! This last weekend in Biel, the annual general meeting and convention of ETAS, the English Teachers Association of Switzerland took place. Despite blizzardy weather almost 400 people braved the storm to come to Biel.

There were presentations, workshops, publishers' stands, plenary speakers, and a raffle for the ETAS Teacher-to-Teacher project in Matopo Zimbabwe. We collected almost 2,600 Swiss francs! A big thank you to Astrid, the organizer of the raffle, who rounded up top-notch prizes.

I gave a slide show presentation of the current projects we are working on, and half-jokingly challenged members to come with me to Matopo. To my surprise several people came up to me afterwards and earnestly expressed their desire to come and paint blackboards. I might have to think about organizing an ETAS contingent to Africa next year.

If you go to the ETAS website you'll see a nice slide show of the event very shortly.

Thank you to the people who have already volunteered to sponsor a Matopo teacher, and to the newcomers to the sponsorship initiative. I'm truly overwhelmed by the postivive response to this project, especially when you consider that we are not yet out of a recessionish economy and there is no shortage of worthwhile projects in the world...

Schools have opened now in Zimbabwe for the first term. I am sorry to say that things are not looking good. The teachers are supposed to earn $150.00 per month (!) but they don't even always get that. The threat of strike is always present.

I'll be writing a report for the Federer Foundation this month, where at least I'll be able to tell about some little victories. Let's take Roger Federer's Australian victory as a good sign of better times to come.

David Coltart, Minister of Education in Zimbabwe

2009-12-16T18:30:00.002+01:00

In the photo below you see me, Cindy Hauert, on the right, on the left Norma Ferguson, a partner in our project, and in the middle David Coltart, a civil rights lawyer who is now the Minister of Education in Zimbabwe. I was very fortunate to be able to meet David during our last visit and get his insights into the state of the education system in Zimbabwe.
Things might seem to be hopeless, but despite the challenges David keeps an upbeat yet realistic view of what can be done given the constraints. There are some good things happening too, and we want to focus on what we can aim for. The gains may seem small, but you have to start somewhere, and every child we can touch with our efforts has a chance he or she wouldn't have without us.

Teachers Workshop Day, October 3, 2009

2009-12-10T14:00:00.001+01:00

Things are moving!

2009-12-09T19:15:00.002+01:00

Things are moving on apace! The "Spend a Penny" Project is about halfway there--Norma Ferguson, one of our partners in the project, has reported that the walls are climbing. There has been some rain--never enough, but it's still early days--and the "Teacher Twinning" scheme (pen friends for Matopo region teachers with Swiss teachers) is in place. We still need volunteers to be pen friends. I'm going to be recruiting at the ETAS AGM in Biel in January.
Plans have been laid for a meeting of the committee for GEM--Girls' Empowerment project, which the Federer Foundation will be sponsoring. I'm very excited about this project as it will support girls and give them a chance to continue their education beyond primary level to secondary. The local pilot project is located at one of our cluster schools, Sigiti Primary School, where Eleanor Chiwaka is working hard to promote it. As her Deputy Headmistress, Omina Nalevu, who gave a speech at the last Teachers Workshop Day put it, "These girls must have a chance to go on to secondary school. Otherwise (to put it bluntly), they will be pregnant in a short time."
There are plans being laid by Norma and Chris Ferguson and Denis and Sandy Paul to obtain materials for refurbishing the shabby classrooms and furniture, starting with painting the blackboards. Those of you who are spoilt by IWB can laugh, but for these schools having a pristine black surface upon which to write notes is a real luxury. We plan to furnish text books for the schools this year too, but the blackboard is and will remain an important tool for these teachers.
For my Swiss readers, I hope to see you in Biel for the English Teachers' Association annual meeting, where I will be presenting an update with slide show. For those who can't make it, I'm posting some photos from the Teachers' Workshop Day in October 2009.
Please let me know if you enjoy these posts--a short comment is very welcome!

Teachers Workshop Day, October 3, 2009

2009-11-04T18:38:00.002+01:00

We've just returned from our trip to Zimbabwe--the Teachers Workshop Day on the 3rd of October was exhilarating, soulful and very motivating. You'll be pleased I'm sure to know that I finally got delivery of the parcels--just in time! The only thing missing was 50 erasers--inexplicable, since there were more valuable things in there, but anyway, not tragic.
On the following Monday we made a tour of the other schools in the region which will be part of the expanded project, thanks to the financial support we're getting from the Roger Federer Foundation. The conditions in all of the schools is as dismal as Matopo Primary was in the beginning, with broken windows, 3 to 4 kids sharing dilapidated desks meant for 1 or 2 children, cracked blackboards, a lack of toilets and clean water. But I am always amazed at the discipline, motivation and eagerness to learn and teach that I see every time in Zimbabwe. They may be dressed in rags, but the children stand up straight, look you in the eye and smile! The teachers' pride in what they can accomplish against all odds is humbling and inspiring.
As you may know, I'm trying to recruit teachers here to be pen friends with Matopo teachers. At the Teachers Workshop Day, the queue to sign up for a Swiss pen friend stretched the whole length of the room! Please get in touch with me if you would be interested in corresponding with a Matopo teacher. You needn't be a primary school teacher to take part--everyone is welcome--you don't even have to be from Switzerland.
I've gotten cannier about which activities work well at these Workshops. In previous Workshops, I have always used the idea of stories, especially folk tales, as a springboard for many games and activities. This time we acted out, translated and drew illustrations from some Ndebele tales which some teachers from Matopo had prepared in advance for the Workshop. It was wonderful! I also used a version of one of my favourite childhood stories, "Stone Soup", and it was great fun.
Stay tuned for more developments and please encourage us by leaving a short comment.

slow progress, maybe...plus ETAS SIG Day

2009-09-14T15:36:00.002+02:00

Well, the parcels are still sitting in customs in Bulawayo, but some small progress has been made. Several people have initiated action to help us liberate the goods, and with any luck, I will have my materials for the next Teachers Workshop Day on October 5! Please cross your fingers!

We held our annual SIG (Special Interest Group) Day in Basel last Saturday. I gave a short presentation about our project, including the exciting news about the Federer Foundation support. I introduced my "Teacher Twinning" Scheme as well, and have already got a handful of interested teachers to partner with Matopo teachers. I think this could be the start of something big!

If anybody would like to participate in this please get in touch with me. It would mean so much to the teachers in Zimbabwe, and would certainly also be an enriching experience for you.

I'll probably have time for one more update before we leave for Africa on September 27. Lots to do until then--looking forward to it, to say the least!

A blow

2009-08-06T20:29:00.002+02:00

Just when we finally get a breakthrough, the bill comes in, literally.

My husband Peter and I spent long days collecting donated materials, books and other things in preparation for our next visit in October, when I'll be giving the third annual Teachers Workshop Day, a much-anticipated event. Packing, weighing, sorting and lugging the boxes to the Post Office. Paying over CHF 1,300.00 to send 200 kilos of goods. But, I kept telling myself it's all worth it to see the looks on the faces of the teachers and kids when the lovingly prepared items are distributed.

To my amazement the parcels arrived in good time--only 7 weeks.

Now for the blow: Zimbabwe Customs has decided in their wisdom to charge a tariff based not only on the value of the donated items (which is actually less than US$100)but also on the cost of the air freight! 40%!!! HUH?????? We don't get it either, but it's going to cost us US$500 just to get the goods into the country.

I'm convinced this is a rip-off and nothing short of highway robbery--in the end, they are only stealing from their own people, as the money I'll have to shell out would otherwise have gone for things for the schools and the children.

It's one thing when bandits rob you at gun point and take your car. But when the government officials do so too? Rule of law? It's badly missing in Zimbabwe.

The really unfortunate thing is that I will certainly not be sending any more materials to the school--not like that! And who misses out?

Innocent children, hard-working teachers, and parents who are sacrificing everything so their children can get an education.

Some people should be really ashamed of themselves.

Amazing news!

2009-07-17T12:33:00.002+02:00

We just got the most amazing news!
The Roger Federer Foundation is going to sponsor our project at Matopo Primary School!!!
This will give us the opportunity to do so many things we just couldn't afford before--for the next three years at least, we can build on our small beginning in a truly meaningful, sustainable way.
I'm over the moon!

Please help me celebrate this wonderful news by posting a comment!

Cindy

little victories

2009-06-17T20:34:00.004+02:00

Although the situation in Zimbabwe is far from clear, we have achieved some little victories. The "Spend a Penny" project, which is going to rebuild the Blair toilets at Matopo Primary School, is finally getting started. Thanks to so many kind people who listened and took action, we have managed to accumulate the necessary funds to repair the toilets.
This may seem trivial to those of us who walk into a room with a clean flush toilet, spend our pennies and walk away without a thought, but for the children and teachers it is a big relief to have decent facilities to get them through the school day!
I am presently collecting ideas and materials for the next Teachers Workshop Day which will be held on October 3, 2009. Thanks to the Internet, I have made contact with some really interesting people who do similar work in developing countries, such as Bill Templer, who gave me some excellent tips on activities which don't need much in the way of resources. Bill is a member of IATEFL (International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language) and in the Global Issues SIG (Special Interest Group).
My summer "holiday" will partly be spent on preparing the activities for the next workshop. This will be fun now that I have so many good ideas!
The ETAS (English Teachers Association of Switzerland) link will always show the latest article about the project. I hope you will be interested.

struggling on

2009-05-19T21:14:00.001+02:00

The letters from Matopo Primary School which I recently received paint a gloomy picture. 98%--that’s right—of Zimbabwean schools have shut down in the face of overwhelming disasters including economic collapse, the wide-spread cholera epidemic and starvation. Inflation has been estimated at over a quadrillion percent. A single egg costs $35 billion. News that forex is now being accepted and circulated may or may not be good news. Most people haven’t got any money of any kind.

Mind-boggling numbers, indeed. But the situation at Matopo Primary School is not entirely hopeless. Thanks to ETAS support, morale there has faltered but not disappeared. Patson Mpofu, the Deputy Headmaster, thanked us effusively in his letter for the materials we collected and shipped to the school last year (they particularly admired the T-shirts with phonetic symbols donated by OUP!) and expressed his gratitude for my facilitation of the second Teachers’ Workshop Day which took place on October 6th. Incredibly, Matopo is still fully staffed with teachers eager to begin the new term, despite the fact that there was no electricity or water.

From Patson: “Thanks for taking your precious time to be with us—helping us, encouraging us and uplifting our spirits…we remain hopeful. We will not give up!” As I read these lines I must confess they are blurred by the tears which well up in my eyes. Patson also had these words to say about my husband, Peter, who took the marvellous photos some of you saw at the AGM in Chur and acted as my assistant and general dogsbody at the Matopo event: “Thanks to Peter your precious, handsome, kind, fatherly husband. He is …a living legend…”. This praise has swelled Peter’s head to unbearable proportions but its sincerity is not in doubt!

How can I get discouraged in the face of such courage? So I’m determined to go forward with the project and not let Patson, the other teachers and the children down.

In concrete terms, here is what I’m hoping to achieve this year:

Spend a penny?

The entire school infrastructure has been badly in need of a total overhaul for years, but the most critical area at the moment is the repair and re-building of the “Blair” toilets. For those who may not be acquainted with this style of loo, a “Blair” toilet is an outdoor cubicle which shelters, not to put too fine a point on it, a hole in the ground. Surprisingly, if properly maintained Blair toilets are quite effective at doing the job and not at all disgusting—I can personally attest to that. (In any case, flush toilets of the type we take for granted would be impossible in the arid climate of the Matopos.) The Blair toilets at Matopo Primary School were badly damaged in torrential storms a couple of years ago—it’s either deluge or drought in this part of the country—and I’ve been anxious to tackle this project for some time. The problem is that even amidst all of the administrative chaos so prevalent now in Zimbabwe it’s always possible that some civil servant could get wind of this state of affairs (sorry!) and come along and close down the school due to a lack of adequate facilities for the number of pupils. So re-building the Blair toilets is at the top of my list of priorities this year.

Team up with and sponsor a Matopo Primary School teacher

Another brainwave I’ve had concerns teacher training and support. I hope to continue with the annual Teachers’ Workshop Days, but while these events have done a tremendous amount of good they’re still only once a year. The fact that the teachers are left for the rest of the year without direct support has always bothered me, and I was discussing this recently with Brigitte Zulauf, an ETAS member and friend of mine, when we came up with a brilliant idea: long-distance teacher training by “twinning” a Swiss teacher with a teacher from Matopo Primary School.

Many people have approached me at ETAS events and asked how they could get more directly involved in the project. Here’s your chance to do that! The idea is that a teacher here in Switzerland would volunteer to partner with a Matopo teacher with whom he or she would set up regular correspondence in order to exchange teaching ideas, stories, poems, and so on. The teachers at Matopo would be very grateful to receive worksheets and other materials to help them with their teaching, and the Swiss teacher would surely gain some insights from reading about the experience of teaching in Zimbabwe.

If you’d like to take it a step further, ETAS member Jane Coughlin has proposed the idea of sponsoring a teacher. A teacher at Matopo Primary School should get $US 50.—per month, a paltry enough sum which they have not received now in many months. The government is broke (except when it comes to lavishing extravagant goodies upon themselves, naturally). Until that situation changes, if you would like to sponsor a teacher’s salary for $US600.—per year it would be an enormous help. Of course, you can both be a teacher’s “twin” and sponsor him or her as well! I plan to do some recruiting for this endeavour at the SIG Day in Basel, but in the meantime if you’re interested in participating in this project please get in touch with me. (business@e-tas.ch)

I’m a bit concerned that our current economic crisis may distract us from remembering that there are places where life has been a struggle for survival for countless years. But I do hope that our commitment to Matopo Primary School will not weaken despite our own difficulties, which are, truth be told, very small compared to those in Zimbabwe. I’d like to thank all of you for your continued support for this very worthy project, in particular ETAS member Fay Rogers and her husband Raymond, who encouraged me to submit a proposal to the company where Raymond works, Cargill International S.A.. The company donated $1.000.--!

Just what the toilets at Matopo Primary School need!

hope?

2009-04-02T19:38:00.002+02:00

The school is finally open--and a really exciting new project is taking place. It's a Pony Club, sponsored by our friend Sandy Paul, whose rescued horses are what brought me to Matopo in the first place.
What Sandy is doing is called Equine Assisted Education, and it's a lot more than just bouncing around a ring on a pony. Sandy's goals include teaching the children about how to care for animals, how to understand how they think, and at the same time developing the children's skills in team work and taking responsibility.
It's a marvellous undertaking and I'm so happy that the children at Matopo have this chance to participate. They deserve this and so much more!
Things are still very unsettled in Zimbabwe and as the world drags its heels in response, speaking for myself I'm very proud to be able to help these small initiatives in a small way.

...and still not open

2009-03-12T16:22:00.004+01:00

Things were finally looking positive for school opening when last week's tragic accident threw the country into grief. Everyone is still in a state of shock.
However, it does seem now that Matopo will finally open its doors this coming Monday, nearly a month later than they hoped. News from Patson Mpofu paints a depressing picture of uncertainty and frustration, but as always he remains as determined as ever to stay the course and not let the children down.
There are a few rays of hope--ETAS is continuing with the project for this year, and I and my husband Peter are starting to plan our next trip to Zimbabwe. If all goes well, we will hold the third Teachers' Workshop Day on October 5th. It is already being eagerly anticipated by the Matopo teachers and those from the surrounding schools who took part last year!
Sandy Paul has also organized a Pony Club for some lucky Matopo children. Their first session will be next Monday. They are all looking forward to learning how to ride, care for the horses and have some fun at the same time. I'm so glad I can also support this endeavour by helping Sandy out with the costs for feeding and caring for her herd of 14 rescued horses.
If you're an ETAS member, watch for my article which will shortly be appearing in the Spring Journal.

still not open

2009-02-24T10:05:00.002+01:00

Matopo Primary School is still not open--nor are any of the schools in the Matopo area. They were due to open a couple of weeks ago, but there are many problems. One is that the teachers have not been paid for several months, and also not received any compensation for the time they put it at the voting polls last spring. They have also not been given anything for the time they spent checking the exams taken at the end of the last term.
Of course, even if they had been paid, the money is worthless anyway.

Another worry is that the cholera which has caused so many deaths in the rest of the country has not yet come to Matopo. There are concerns that when teachers and pupils from contaminated areas return to Matopo they will bring the dreaded disease with them.

A parcel I sent to the school last December 18th finally arrived last week! I had just about given up all hope.

Travelling in Zimbabwe now is getting dangerous--we heard reports of banditry along the way from Beit Bridge, which is where we usually cross into Zimbabwe from South Africa. Going to have to find another route this time...

I'm working on getting some corporate support for the project--as generous as the English Teachers Association has been, the funds raised so far just keep the school from drowning. For serious projects, more money is needed. Any ideas out there?

Cindy

School opens on a difficult note

2009-02-04T20:59:00.002+01:00

Most schools in Zimbabwe have closed, due to lack of resources, including teachers, many of whom have fled the country in the face of the present hardships.

An exception is Matopo Primary School, where Patson Mpofu, the Deputy Headmaster, and Newman Ncube, the Headmaster, are determined to stay the course. Thanks to the donations of the English Teachers' Association of Switzerland and other generous benefactors, the school is better off than the majority of schools there--they have books, materials, and 9 teachers.

What they don't have is electricity, needed not to run the non-existent computers or even lights, but the water pump. Denis Paul, our friend who has helped so much in keeping things going at Matopo, has promised to try and help out with that problem. Denis is also organizing a food package to tide the teachers and their families over--they have not been paid for many months.

The infrastructure in the whole country is breaking down. What you read in the newspapers and hear on the news about cholera and the crippled health care system is all true, and phone lines and the post are also providing very sporadic service.

What is so frustrating for me is that during my teacher training workshops there I was able to observe how well-trained and competent the teachers are. If only they had the means to do their jobs, the education system in Zimbabwe could once again be the best in Africa. The will is there, the motivation is there. People outside the country are willing to support those professionals and help those kids.

Why can't it happen?

a little good news

2009-01-19T19:16:00.002+01:00

For the English Teachers' Association of Switzerland event in Chur this past weekend, I prepared a short presentation of the project which included pictures and even a recording of children singing! I had a wonderful time preparing the show and the response was overwhelming! So many people came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they enjoyed it and asking how they can get more involved.

There are many ways to help out. For example, if you are a teacher, you could create a lesson about the problems in Zimbabwe and get your pupils to write letters to the children there. The address is:

Matopo Primary School
P. Bag T 5391
Bulawayo
Zimbabwe

You could also collect school materials and send them to the school--pencils, pens, drawing materials and so on are very welcome. So far the shipments we have made have all arrived intact, although it can take up to six weeks.

You could also collect money for the project--let me know if you would like to do this--I can help with advice about that.

If you are a primary school teacher, I would be delighted to get some ideas from you about your favourite lessons which don't need any materials or infrastructure, stories, games and so on. These can be sent to the school and are very much appreciated!

Thank you all so much for your kind words and support. We collected over Sfr. 3,000.-- for the project in Chur! That's a record!

I'd love to hear from you
best wishes
Cindy

Despair

2009-01-08T21:10:00.002+01:00

As things drag on and nothing good seems to happen to bring a glimmer of hope, it's all too easy to feel like giving up!
However there are a few people who regularly read this blog, and some of them even leave nice messages--thank you all for that.
You have doubtless read and heard the news about Zimbabwe recently--cholera, which Mugabe denies even exists, desperate people clogging the borders as they try to obtain a few meager bags of corn meal, stalemate on the so-called agreement between the ruling party and the opposition--the list goes on and on.
In Europe and the US people are understandably focussed on our own economic woes. At the risk of seeming moralistic, our problems are nothing compared to those of the teachers and kids at Matopo Primary School--indeed, everyone in Zimbabwe has to suffer hunger, disease and dangers that we cannot even begin to comprehend.
Please, spare a thought for those who are undeservably much worse off than we are.
School term should have started, but I am sure that most schools in Zimbabwe won't open. Matopo Primary School is one of the lucky ones--as long as they continue to get our support.

best wishes
cindy

The children of Matopo are not alone

2008-11-28T10:53:00.003+01:00

Last summer Cindy and I started a collecting materials for the school of Matopo. It was a call to people who care. In particular my private English class of 5 4th and 5th graders decided that they wanted to make a difference (see post Collecting for Matopo)

In the meanwhile Cindy has been there to give teacher training and to bring the materials that were collected over the summer. On the side you will see the most recent slideshow of this trip.

Well, you can imagine the surprise when they received a packet full of letters of thanks from the pupils of Matopo Primary School and a letter from the Headmaster. They are now undertaking the task of preparing to inform the children of their school, who donated so many things, and to write an article about what they did and the results they see. In addition, they will write back to the children.

I see this as an example of hope and will do my best to keep up the connection between the two schools.

I have blogged about it on their class blog as well: Swiss Primary English

Cindy, you are not alone. Readers of this humble blog, please leave a short comment to show your support for this noble woman and the children and teachers of Matopo.

Frustration as the negotiations drag on

2008-11-27T20:01:00.002+01:00

Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, barred three leaders of a peacemaking group known as “the Elders” from entering his country to assess its situation. The three are a former American president, Jimmy Carter; a former secretary-general of the UN, Kofi Annan; and the Mozambican wife of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel. (from The Economist, Nov 27 2008)

Amidst the current panic over the financial crisis here in Europe and in the U.S., it's easy to forget that people in Zimbabwe have been suffering much worse for a far longer time. A cholera outbreak has claimed hundreds of lives; Patson Mpofu, the Deputy Headmaster of Matopo Primary School has lost 2 sisters.

All the more reason why I cannot give up on this project, even though I feel very discouraged at times. It would be nice to hear a few encouraging words from any readers of this blog!

Cindy

Teachers Workshop Day, October 6 2008

2008-11-10T20:41:00.002+01:00

It was a great event! More than 60 teachers from Matopo Primary School and the surrounding region attended. Each received an Oxford Bookworm reader, a set of colored felt-tip pens, a workshop booklet and assorted other "goodies" including a Toblerone chocolate which I'd brought all the way from Switzerland, worrying about them melting in the heat all the way. They survived!

I had the workshop booklets printed and bound in South Africa, thanks to English Teachers Association of Switzerland donations. It was fun putting the activities together: I included jazz chants, pantomime, songs, drawing and story telling and writing as well as some more theoretical aspects of teaching English, and I feel sure that I achieved the right mix. The feedback was overwhelming!

That said, things are worse than ever in Zimbabwe. The border crossing experience from South Africa was a sign that all is not well--it took us over 5 hours, due to the long queues of people who'd been shopping in Musina for basics which are since a long time not available in Zimbabwe. I thought things couldn't get any worse when I was there last year, but unfortunately I was wrong.

I'll be posting some pictures of the event here soon, so please come back and check for further news.

My own thoughts afterwards were mixed--it seems so discouraging--but in the end I resolved to keep the project going as long as humanly possible. I simply cannot turn my back on these teachers and children now--they need our help more than ever.

Slideshow

2008-09-10T20:02:00.003+02:00

With Cindy about to head off to Zimbabwe to train the teachers there, and the ETAS SIG day coming soon, I thought I'd draw your attention to the need still going on there with this slide show. It's 2 months old and still very true.

Zimbabwe in Crisis

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: social refugee)

hope?

2008-09-01T20:37:00.002+02:00

In just a few weeks, I'll be heading for Zimbabwe. I can hardly wait! The amazing Teachers Workshop from last October is still so vivid in my memory, and I'm expecting this year's event to be just as wonderful, even though it will be a challenge to gather the necessary resources.

I've already prepared a super programme of activities, games and discussions for the teachers and I'm so excited about sharing the fun with such motivated teachers. It is truly humbling, how enthusiastic these teachers remain in the face of the formidable difficulties in today's Zimbabwe.

It may be a bit quiet here on the blog when I'm away, but please leave your comments, and I look forward to telling all about this year's Teachers Workshop at Matopo Primary School. I hope those parcels I told you about in a previous posting have arrived! We'll be collecting some donations at our next English Teachers of Switzerland event which takes place on September 20th, too.

OK, we're not the Bill Gates foundation so we're not talking millions here (except in Zim money :-()

but every little bit helps, and this money and these materials have been lovingly collected by people who really care. Thank you all for your support!

Cindy

Collecting for Matopo

2008-07-29T14:30:00.000+02:00

It's amazing how far just a couple of kids and an idea can go!
After a mere 3 weeks my 5 private students had collected quite a pile of materials to go to Matopo Primary School, and in the meanwhile learned about politics, geography and corruption.

They went to each class in their school and presented the idea of collecting the materials that lay at home, unused, or used no longer , to send to other children who really need them.

These same kids now know where Zimbabwe is and can find it on the map at the drop of a hat.

They have also learned that there are people running countries who don't always have the people's interests at heart--a hard lesson, but an important one.

They have learned that there are children who don't have the same lifestyle as they do, nor the material wealth. And they have learned to care about that.

Maybe the difference they are making is small, but if only a few young lives are helped, that is already something!

2008-06-23T20:01:00.003+02:00

good news, bad news

2008-06-23T19:52:00.001+02:00

I'm having some trouble figuring out if the latest news about the election run-off on June 27 is good news, or bad news.
Don't get me wrong. I want a change in governments in Zimbabwe as much as anybody else does--but the reports of violence running up to the election farce were getting me more and more worried. Who pays the price in such situations? The poor, the weak, the young, the disenfranchised.
What do I want to happen? I want Zimbabwe to become a star of Africa, shining with hope, freedom, better chances for everyone including the sadly diminished wildlife which once was the most prolific in Africa. I want the children and teachers at Matopo Primary School, indeed every school in Zimbabwe, to have devoted, well-paid teachers and the necessary resources to do their jobs. I want those children to have a future when they have completed their education. I want too much?!?!?

Please join me in showing that we care about the future of Zimbabwe! Send a donation, be it money or materials, or just a message of support.

best wishes
Cindy

2008-06-16T21:39:00.002+02:00

The results of our drive have been encouraging! Quite a few people have sent messages of praise and hope, and even some pledges to donate funds for shipping the growing pile of books, paper, pens and drawing pencils which is gathering in my garage from many sources. Thank you all for your generous donations and please pass the word: the need in Zimbabwe is growing every day.

The teachers and pupils at Matopo Primary School are in dire straits from no fault of their own. Whatever the misdeeds of the colonial times, the present regime has shown itself indifferent and even hostile to the welfare of its own people--while the whole world watches, and perhaps sympathizes, it is so frustrating to feel helpless in the face of events bigger than we can control. But here is a chance to do something--hands on and direct!

I wish we could be optimistic about the results of the expected election run-off at the end of this month, but I fear the worst about the outcome. So please, if you care, let us know and lend a helping hand!

Cindy Hauert
Coordinator of the English Teachers Association Teacher-to-Teacher project, Matopo Primary School, Zimbabwe

The 3 week challenge

2008-06-15T21:32:00.002+02:00

If you've just landed here from Switzerland and you want to join in, use these last three weeks of school to help out.

If you are working in a Swiss school, then I challenge you to fill an entire schoolbag with school materials - and send the school bag as well!

If you don't have an English class, then that certainly is no reason to keep from helping. All the materials go directly to the school (Cindy has them shipped directly and will be going down soon to check on the school and bring the materials). Money is used for transport costs and food for the children, who have little to live on. Some are orpheans - all are poor.

Please just leave a comment and we will reply and give you all the details you need.

Thank you for helping

How much is 100 Swiss franks?

2008-06-10T21:12:00.002+02:00

There's a 1 Frank store just down the road from my house. The last few days I decided to go down and see what was there and whether there was anything useful to send to the kids in Matopo.
The first time I went, it was just 5 of this, that and the other - a 20.- deal. But I realized how many things there were in the store that might not be availbale in Matopo and would probably be much too expensive anyway. So I started buying things in 5s and 10s until I had spent around 100 Franks.
Above you will see how far it went. Not bad really, when you think that there are quite a few pencils and pieces of chalk per pack.

But looking at it, my son and I started thinking about what was missing.
There are no staplers, let alone staples. No clear tape or tape dispensers. Erasers are missing as are pencil sharpeners.

My son had the idea of filling his school bag with stuff and sending it all to the pupils there. Now that is an excellent idea! A school bag full of stuff, multiply that by however many you can think of, and you've got yourself a great source of materials!

In the US we used to have food drives. We would go around the neighborhood asking for cans of food for the needy. Then we'd stack them in the classroom so could see how much we had collected. It was really motivating, and I'm sure it planted a seed in many a young good-doer.

There has been some response to this challenge so far (thank you sooo much to those of you who have contributed with your comments, suggestions and motivating ideas) but I must say it falls short of what was expected. Maybe the challenge needs to be lengthened. Maybe just a bit more time is needed. Maybe I was naive.

I won't give up, though!
We're looking forward to hearing from YOU!

Cindy and I certainly hope to hear from more of you and be able to end this challenge with a feeling of success.

Day 5 of the 21-Day challenge

2008-06-05T09:11:00.002+02:00

The ETAS Teacher-to-Teacher Project

Cindy Hauert, the initiator and co-ordinator of the current ETAS Teacher-to-Teacher project, became interested in helping Matopo Primary School on a visit to Zimbabwe in 2003. Through friends in the region, the first steps were taken to make contact with the Headmaster, Mr Newman Ncube, and the Deputy Headmaster, Mr Patson Mpofu.

Cindy proposed the project to ETAS in 2006, and after its acceptance, she began organizing funding and donations of materials to the school. In October of 2007, she led a Teachers’ Day Workshop at the school, which 35 teachers from the region attended. It was a glorious success, one which she hopes to repeat this year.

Through the help of ETAS, uniforms have been provided for about 160 pupils, text books have been bought, and even basic food supplies have been given. It has all been a big help and the morale amongst the teachers has been raised tremendously.

With the rapidly deteriorating conditions in Zimbabwe the need has become more acute than ever. Hardly anything is available in Zimbabwe, even if the school had the money to make purchases.

This challenge has been set up by Cindy and Illya to address these needs. We hope you will be moved to assist—400 children at Matopo Primary School, and their teachers, will be so grateful.

The best thing about this project is that all donations and proceeds go directly where they are most needed—there’s no middleman taking a cut!

If you’d like to make a cash donation or collect materials for the school, please leave a comment here and we'll get back to you immediately

The 21-day challenge for Matopo

2008-05-27T21:54:00.002+02:00

The 21-day challenge

At the moment there is much suffering in the world and all eyes are turned east towards China and Burma. People’s suffering in these places is horrifying, but the charity being generated throughout the world is commendable.

Yet there are other places of need and suffering. Places that don’t get in the news, or get forgotten as soon as the next media story comes up.

For these smaller, less “famous” places I’d like to set up a challenge. How much goodwill can be generated in 21 days?

The challenge will begin June 1st and last for exactly 3 weeks.

If you know of a small project that you could contribute to, then feel free to generate money, goods or any other kind of support for this project.

However, this challenge is being made with a particular project in mind.

The English Teachers Association of Switzerland (ETAS) is currently supporting the Matopo Primary School project (http://matopoprimaryschool.blogspot.com). I’ve been trying to support it as well through my blogging, but feel this just isn’t enough – thus the challenge.

For Swiss teachers and any others willing to join in, here is what you can do:

Primary schools – start a collection of school materials (they need everything!). What can be found around the homes of the kids in the school? What are neighbours willing to donate?

The class can then write a letter to the school and say something about themselves and their work.

Remember that materials should be in good condition, especially considering that getting the materials down is very expensive and so shouldn’t have to land in the garbage.

Business classes –If you are working in a company, the learners can present the case to the person(s) in charge and make a suggestion for a possible donation (a good one is to pay for part of the shipping!) Again, include a letter to the school, giving them your support.

Adult classes – You could write letters to different firms requesting donations with a description of the project and what is needed.

Send us your statements in a form of a comment to this post and how much you hope to achieve, and these will be added to the Matopo primary school blog and followed by the etasblog.

Please let us know if you are willing to take the 21 day challenge!

Thank you

Illya and Cindy

update

2008-05-17T15:28:00.000+02:00

News from Zimbabwe

ETAS Teacher-to-Teacher project 2007-8, Matopo Primary School

It was with a keen sense of anticipation that I awaited news of the election results in Zimbabwe on March 29. If ever a country was in need of a change, it is Zimbabwe, and all the signs seemed to be pointing towards that.

The first reports even seemed encouraging, but my cautious optimism soon began to fade as events unfolded, taking bewildering and terrifying twists and turns as days went by without an official announcement. My mood shifted from dismay to despair.

Due to deadline constraints I am writing this update of the Teacher-to-Teacher project at Matopo Primary School in mid-April, so by the time you are reading this who knows where things will stand. At the moment, however, the situation doesn’t look good at all and I fear that the current impasse will lead to even further deterioration of the quality of life in Zimbabwe. In any case, whatever finally happens, Matopo Primary School will be in need of our help and support more than ever before.

Here are some current facts and figures about Zimbabwe gleaned from press accounts (The Guardian, The Economist, and The Zimbabwe Independent) as well as conversations and e-mails I had with Denis and Sandy Paul, our on-the-spot “go-betweens” on the Matopo Primary School project, as well as Patson Mpofu, the Deputy Headmaster of Matopo Primary School:

Half the population of Zimbabwe lives on 50p a day.
The unemployment figure is 80%; even those lucky few who still have jobs are paid a miserable wage.
Electricity and water supplies are unreliable, telephone connections are intermittent, open sewers are widespread, and the number of Aids orphans is multiplying daily.
Dealing with cash is “like a torrid game of pass the parcel…Everyone wants it but then unloads it as quickly as possible in exchange for something worth having…” For example, a street hawker sells cooking oil, (5 tablespoons at a time), then gets rid of the money as soon as she can by buying two eggs.
The death rate for children under five has almost doubled over the past decade; so has the number of women dying in childbirth because so many women are giving birth at home as they can no longer afford hospital charges. Medicines and doctors are simply unavailable for most people.
The current regime’s “land reform” has led to massive drops in production, sparking the collapse of the country’s agriculture-based economy. Farms are lying idle in the hands of corrupt politicians.
The GDP has shrunk annually and is now 40% lower than in 1999.
Serious food shortages have led to starvation and a third of the 13 million population now need food aid (which is controlled by the government). Malnutrition kills thousands every month.
Inflation cannot be seriously measured any longer—the current figure is 150,000%. A newly-issued 500 million dollar bill will do nothing to correct this.
Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world: 37 for men and 34 for women.

If an election run-off does take place, there are serious doubts about how fair it would be, as Mr Mugabe will postpone it as long as he can in order to “give his party time to flex its muscle and re-establish control over voters, especially in the countryside…heavy-handed violence or massive fraud look like the only things that could now keep Mr Mugabe in power.”

An article from The Zimbabwe Independent, “Mugabe’s government gives Education a Bad Name”, details how bad things have become in the country’s education system, which was once the best in sub-Saharan Africa. “Impoverished teachers (who) last year were earning less than vegetable vendors and bus conductors are now ranked in the same category with poor farm workers and prostitutes…rural schools are the hardest hit…the education sector teeters on the brink of collapse…”

From Patson Mpofu I also heard that “things are bad in schools as teachers are on strike and not at work…schools have become meeting places for the kids since teachers are not there…(but at) Matopo we are at work and our focus is to help the pupils though things are tough and the regime clings on to power…”

I think it would not be exaggerating to say that Matopo Primary School has been able to survive the worst of the devastation because of YOU—ETAS members who have supported our project.

In February this year ETAS funded 62 boys uniforms and bought a further 200 text books. Planned now is to buy cement to finish the toilets, and a “good-bye” gift for Mr Moyo, who after 30 years as a teacher at Matopo Primary School will be retiring this year. Further ideas include paying school fees for the neediest pupils as well as more refurbishment for the most dilapidated school rooms.

Illya Arnet-Clark, our Learning Technologies SIG Co-ordinator, and Tania Erzinger, our Young Learners SIG Co-ordinator, together with a student of mine, Sabrina Fasano, have also begun collecting paper, books, pens, pencils and other school materials which will be sent to the school. If you would like to participate in this drive, please contact Illya, Tania or me—we’d all be grateful.

The SIG Day on September 20^th in Baden will be another chance to find out more about the Teacher-to-Teacher project in Zimbabwe. I will be giving a short presentation about the Teachers Workshop Day I ran last October, and, I hope (!), about the one which will take place this year.

It all doesn’t really sound like much, by our standards. But these “small improvements” mean a great deal to the children, families and teachers at Matopo. They show, first of all, that somebody out there cares enough to give them a chance to help themselves. Thank you, ETAS members.

Cindy Hauert

in limbo

2008-04-28T14:58:00.002+02:00

We were so hopeful--only to have those hopes dashed as the current government refuses to acknowledge defeat.
Patson Mpofu, the Deputy Headmaster of Matopo, emailed me a couple of days ago. He says that although most of the violence is concentrated in regions away from Matopo, their main problem is getting food. He had gone, like thousands of others, to South Africa to pick up basics such as corn meal, cooking oil, and vegetables as these things are totally unavailable in Zimbabwe now.
On a more positive note, he said that although many schools have closed or become "meeting points for children" due to the mass exodus of teachers, he plans to open Matopo today. I am convinced that he and the teachers at Matopo have not given up, in part because they have our support.
So let's keep that up, and let them know that we have not forgotten them!

Cindy

hope?

2008-03-11T20:29:00.003+01:00

As many of you may kn0w, there will be elections held in Zimbabwe at the end of this month---we are all waiting with baited breath to see if the opposition will make a stand.

In the meantime, things are not improving--there is 100,000% inflation, and even if people had any money, there is nothing to buy...no drugs at the hospitals, no food in the shops.

On a more optimistic note, the English Teachers Association of Switzerland has been able to buy some more books for Matopo Primary School. I am happy kind of sad about this, because I have the feeling the kids need food more than books at this point.

Read the article from The Guardian to get an idea about what it's like to live in Zimbabwe now.

Cindyfile:///D:/Data/Teaching/Materials/Articles/Guardian/The%20true%20cost%20of%20living%20in%20Zimbabwe.doc

Divide and Conquer

2008-02-26T20:48:00.001+01:00

file:///D:/Data/Teaching/Materials/Articles/Economist/Zimbabw6.doc

not looking good...

2008-02-26T20:42:00.002+01:00

Take a look at the latest article from The Economist about Zimbabwe. It isn't looking good for our friends there...

But I refuse to give up hope, and I hope you will join me in supporting Matopo Primary School, whether in thought or deed!

I don't have any news, as communication is terribly difficult at the moment. Patson cannot send emails unless he gets a ride into town. I'm just hoping they are managing to hold on.

Cindy

thank you for your words of encouragement!

2008-02-09T14:53:00.001+01:00

I've been in touch with Verity, the South African woman whose blog is linked below. She's been so kind and encouraging, and I'm looking forward to keeping in contact with her about our experiences in Zimbabwe.

I've also received warm words from Jeb, one of the makers of the wonderful video about Zimbabwe which appears as well on this blog. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend taking a few moments to have a look.

It's so fantastic to be able to reach people this way--I can't thank you enough!

News from Zimbabwe on the other hand is far from hopeful--everybody is waiting in trepidation for the outcome of the March elections.

Another Zimbabwe Blog

2008-02-01T19:49:00.001+01:00

My attention was just called to a blog from a lady (South African) teaching in Zimbabwe.
international nomad
She shows in her posts the daily life and problems she confronts.

update

2008-01-30T17:39:00.000+01:00

This video really captures the spirit of Zimbabwe--the desperate conditions as well as the eternal hope that I always feel when I'm there.
Things will be heating up soon as the elections in March approach.
Inflation is now so high that it can't be measured anymore, particulary as there is nothing to buy in the shops.

I and my friends at Matopo Primary School are so grateful for the help ETAS has provided so far--and for whatever support readers of this blog can offer, thank you so much.

Cindy

Changes- going from bad to worse

2008-01-29T21:50:00.000+01:00

Despite the terrible condition of things in Zimbabwe, I'd like to share a video of hope. You too can make a difference!

worse and worse

2008-01-28T19:01:00.000+01:00

In Zimbabwe, police tear-gassed hundreds of protesters in Harare after they held a rally in a football stadium. They were demonstrating mainly against the parlous state of the economy; inflation is now thought to be over 50,000%, but the government has stopped counting. (from the Economist on-line, 24.01.08

As you can see, the news gets worse and worse...there have even been rumours of a civil war. As much as I would like to see the back of Mugabe, a war would certainly affect our friends at Matopo in the worst possible way.

I hope you will all join me in continuing our support for Matopo--they need it more than ever!
Cindy

2008-01-14T21:10:00.001+01:00

2008-01-14T21:04:00.001+01:00

ETAS AGM in Lugano

2008-01-14T20:58:00.000+01:00

Thank you to all of the ETAS members who bought raffle tickets at the AGM in Lugano on January 12-13--we raised over CHF 1,600.-- which will help to buy text books, school uniforms for the neediest pupils, and even some basic foodstuffs.
Things are set to get even more miserable in Zimbabwe. The Economist reported that it is the fastest shrinking economy in the world! But thanks to our support, the teachers at Matopo Primary School see a small ray of hope, enough to keep several of them from leaving the country. Seeing that kind of courage, I feel we MUST go on helping.

Please feel free to place your comments, no matter how brief, and a few words of moral support!

Cindy

Happy New Year?

2008-01-03T20:37:00.000+01:00

Most of us think of the new year with optimism and as a new start. I am not so positive about Zimbabwe, unfortunately.

Mr Patson Mpofu recently sent me an email, though, where he said: "We will never surrender Zimbabwe...we will never give up on our children's future..."

With these words he gave me heart to keep trying to help Zimbabwe's children, despite the odds.

If you would like to help with financial support, or with donations of materials, please get in touch with me! Any small help is very welcome and much appreciated.

cindy

2007-12-18T20:09:00.001+01:00

2007-12-18T20:01:00.001+01:00

Teachers Day

2007-12-18T19:43:00.001+01:00

2007-12-03T18:51:00.000+01:00

Christmas is coming, and your mail box is full of "begging letters." Many are surely worthy causes, but one does get a little fed up...how can we know if our donations are really getting to the root of the matter?

One reason I like the Matopo project so much is that it's small, hands on, and transparant. No ministers skimming, no Mercedes for the civil servants, no profits for "aid workers"!

Please do get in touch with Cindy Hauert if you have any ideas about how to help--not only money, but IDEAS!

best wishes
Cindy

2007-11-26T17:08:00.000+01:00

Great news! The English Teachers' Association of Switzerland will be supporting Matopo Primary School in 2008!

I will also of course be running the second Teachers Workshop Day--to everyone's delight (including mine)!

If any readers of this blog would like to help us out in this endeavour, please let me know.

cheers for now,
Cindy

2007-11-20T21:10:00.000+01:00

Hello everybody! Thank you so much for your interest in this blog and in the Matopo Primary School project.
Things are set to get even worse in Zimbabwe. But the good news is that our Teachers' Workshop Day on October 5 at Matopo Primary School was an enormous success. I can't begin to describe how moving it was for me, the workshop faciliatator, to see so many bright, eager faces on that day. So many people went to great efforts to make the day a day to remember. It was thanks to the enthusiasm and motivation of the participants that it all worked! I am working on getting the photographs ready and will post some here shortly.

Best of all for me was that my concept of the day's activities was pretty close to the mark. Naturally one always sees afterwards what could have been done a little better! But for the most part, everyone was right with me all the way. The teachers especially liked activities and games which were very interactive (and active!), standing up and moving around the room and talking with the other participants. The energy in the room was electric! Even with no power lines ;-)

Please keep writing and giving us your moral support--it really means a lot to us. I intend to repeat the Teachers' Workshop again next year, so donations in currency are also clearly more than welcome.

Cindy

Welcome back!

2007-11-15T08:19:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to blow the welcome horn for Cindy, who is back from some intensive teacher training in Matopo.
Welcome back!
We can't wait to hear about your time there :-)

ETAS TEACHER-TO-TEACHER PROJECT, 2007

2007-10-28T21:55:00.000+01:00

NEWS FROM MATOPO PRIMARY SCHOOL, ZIMBABWE

At the moment Cindy is in Zimbabwe giving teacher training courses to teachers there from the school as well as surrounding areas. I admire her dedication and hope that this blog reaches many people. Each comment is a small treasure of encouragement and greatly appreciated.
I'm sure that she will be surprised by the number of readers this blog has reached already.

Soon she will return and will be able to share her experiences with you here.
In the meanwhile, I have been thinking of ways to further help. It isn't possible to help everywhere in the world, but setting a stone rolling can move mountains.

Last year I read an article about a boy that was moved by the poverty he saw on television in a report about children in foreign town in a country far away from his own. He decided to start collecting coloured pencils for the children of this town.

I would like to take this boy as an example and begin a motivating people to collect plain and coloured pencils. This would be a great world wide project and perhaps if you would be willing to donate to this town in Zimbabwe, a village in Brasil, or some place in Sudan, just to name a very few examples (showing that poverty can be found everywhere).

Since I know that many teachers read this blog, perhaps it would be an opportunity to collect with your class or school and find out more about another place and reasons for poverty.

Just some simply suggestions.

Thank you for caring!
Illya

Summer update of situation

2007-09-28T21:42:00.000+02:00

NEWS FROM MATOPO PRIMARY SCHOOL, ZIMBABWE

ETAS TEACHER-TO-TEACHER PROJECT, 2007

Summer Update

It is with a growing sense of concern that I follow the news about developments in Zimbabwe. Probably you, too, have read some of the articles that have been appearing fast and furiously in the international media, none of which have anything good to say about the current situation in that beleaguered country.

I fear for our colleagues and friends at Matopo Primary School, and worry that all of our combined efforts may be in vain, given the prognosis. At the time of writing (April 24, 2007) this was what was being reported:

From The New Yorker, April 9, 2007:

Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is already more than seventeen hundred per cent, the highest in the world, and the International Monetary Fund warns that it could exceed five thousand per cent by year’s end. Unemployment is around eighty per cent, and the average income is less than a dollar a day. With chronic food shortages and no medical system left to speak of, life expectancy has plunged from sixty years, in 1990, to less than thirty-seven years (the shortest anywhere), while the infant mortality rate has increased by more than fifty per cent. Not surprisingly, as many as three million Zimbabweans—a quarter of the population—have fled the country. Yet last week Mugabe’s information minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, declared, “There is no crisis whatsoever in Zimbabwe.”

And from The Economist, April 5, 2007:

For eight straight years the economy has been contracting; it has shrunk by half since 1999. The collapse of agriculture, after Mr Mugabe snatched commercial farms to give to political cronies, is one big problem. Lack of confidence in the rule of law deters investors. A once booming tourist industry is all but dead, with safari lovers deterred by violent repression. Most aid money stopped long ago…What has taken a decade or so to sink is likely to take a generation to get afloat again. (my emphasis)

This last sentence is one reason we can’t give up on Matopo Primary School. These children ARE the generation who will have the task of rebuilding the economy when the time comes, as it surely will.

The other reason we can’t give up is the dozens of hand-written thank-you letters, poems, and stories which I received from Patson Mpofu, who has managed to send three bulky envelopes to me via kind well-wishers from the U.S and U.K. He writes:

“Thank you so much for the donation of Swiss francs to purchase English textbooks. We have bought English textbooks for grades 1-7, 40 sets per class. (That makes) the ratio 1-1 for English instead of 1-10 which was the case previously…We hope the pass rate will improve this year…Thanks for the uniforms for 60 girls (see photos)”

In the envelope were many letters of thanks from the children. I wish we could print all of them! Here is a typical one, from Princess Ndlovu, 9 years old:

Sadly, many of the letters and poems describe an all-too-common problem: no parents. Half of the children at Matopo Primary school (about 200 kids) have been orphaned, and are living with relatives or in child-headed families. Another oft-repeated theme concerns water—Matopo is a very arid place indeed, and when the rains don’t come, people really suffer. Obviously, the consequences of a drought will be exacerbated this season by the economic collapse. When families cannot earn a living or even feed themselves, how can they afford to send their children to school? It’s a tragic situation.

On a brighter note, a long letter from Patson describes the delivery of the English textbooks which ETAS donations provided. He wrote: “Coincidentally the 14 March (when the books were delivered) is my birthday, so the textbooks will be a very good birthday present for me and the school…We are grateful to ETAS for helping us…We are thankful to ETAS for sending material for the uniforms. On 7 March, 60 girls, all needy pupils, received school uniforms from ETAS in the presence of Mrs Sandy Paul. Sandy photographed the pupils (see photo). Their parents danced, sang and ululated and shouted “ETAS! ETAS!”

How I wish I could have seen that!!

Patson and I have been discussing the possibility of my giving a teacher’s Development Day this coming October when we will be visiting Zimbabwe, and have already started putting together a programme. Everyone is very excited about this idea. I’m looking into ways to transport the necessary materials and books; I only hope that events will not intervene and disappoint Patson and his colleagues—keep your fingers crossed.

Many thanks to everyone who has supported this project so far! As you know, we collected money from the raffles at the convention in January in Solothurn, and the SIG Day in May in Wil. Quite a few friends, colleagues (including Cambridge University Press) and my students have also given money and materials towards the project. This money has already made a big difference to Matopo Primary School, but there is still a long list of things to be done. If you would like to help, please do contact me.

Cindy Hauert

Help Matopo School Project!

2007-09-25T10:38:00.000+02:00

Below you will have seen figures, worrisome to say the least, but imagine the kids suffering. A whole generation can be ruined by bad politics, war and poverty.

This blog has added advertising in order to generate money for the children on Matopo.
The more often you visit this site, the more money will be generated.

Join the cause, leave a message of hope for the children of Matopo!

Matopo Primary School project

2007-08-29T18:55:00.000+02:00

In case anybody out there has been in a coma, things are not going well in Zimbabwe. Every news report I read boosts the inflation rate--the latest figure I saw put the prognosis at 100,000 % by the end of this year!

Even if people had money, the shops are mostly empty and people have been resorting to barter to get a few daily needs.

Rural areas, such as Matobo Hills where Matopo Primary School is located, are particulary hard hit.

The English Teachers' Association of Switzerland has been supporting Matopo Primary School this year through donations by members. I organized the project and am planning to visit the school in October. So far we have been able to get some text books and uniforms for about 80 girls. But so much more is needed!

Together with the school administrators, I am in the process of setting up a "Teachers' Training Day" which will take place in early October. As teachers have nothing in the way of support from the government, and the pupils' parents are in no position to help, this is quite a challenge. I hope to support the teachers with ideas about how to teach English (and other subjects as well) without any access to resources--this means, forget about the Internet and CD-ROM--this school doesn't even have enough paper and pencils to go round.

Many people have already helped out on this project, and with this Blog I hope to capture the attention of others who may be willing to contribute, whether it be financially, collecting and sending much-needed materials, or even just moral support.