We are over half way through our cycle in Zimbabwe and time is certainly flying!
The Mid-term review was certainly a success with praises for all the teams, and has allowed us to breathe a sigh of relief. It was lovely to be able to catch up with the groups from Bulawayo and Nyanga after a long time of separation, getting to know what they have been doing and how they have been coping. Mid-term has certainly motivated us to use our initiative to think of more activities, restored the importance of teamwork, and injected us with a new burst of energy that has encouraged us to make the most of our time left in Zimbabwe.
Our Community Liaison team have been busy over the past few weeks and have managed to secure two places where we can go to host sessions and workshops. One of which works with women over a 12 month period to teach them vocational skills such as sewing and cooking where we are doing HIV/AIDS training with them alongside dream design workshops. As a lot of the women are mothers to vulnerable children, we are also planning different activities for the children, including promoting child rights.
The Place of Safety has changed a lot over the past few weeks with three of the children leaving and a new child being introduced. However, it has given us encouragement to do as much as we can with them whilst they are here by making it as fun and enjoyable as possible. Many sessions have been running in The Place of Safety ranging from sporting activities to HIV and AIDS sessions to creative activities. All the children have been responding really well and are even asking for extra sessions on different topics and suggesting things that they would like to learn which highlights the effectiveness and inspiration that our sessions have.
At the Education and Rehabilitation Centre in Sakubva, we work with the Early Childhood Development which is a preschool split into two classes, one older and one younger. We do a range of different art and sport activities with the children who attend ranging from making paper chains to singing Tobhururka. Whenever we enter the preschool we are always greeted with a mass of smiling faces that are eager to do the activities that we have prepared and always provide us with enjoyable sessions. As well as our activities, we are also helping with the preparations for the graduation that is happening mid-November for the class who will be leaving to start school. There is a lot to do ranging from watching the rehearsals for the nativity play that the children are doing to deciding on where to put the stage so that all the relatives will be able to proudly watch their children. It is certainly going to be an amazing day to remember!
Alongside the graduation, we have a range of fun and exciting activities that are planned to happen such as the Scout camp. This is going to include a range of different sessions for the Scouts, many of whom are children who attend the after school club which we work with at the Education and Rehabilitation Centre. On top of that, we also have our cultural exchange coming up which will involve going to stay with a family in a rural community to get a better picture of what life is like living in Zimbabwe and their cultural traditions.
Looking ahead, we have a jam-packed few weeks full of exciting activities that we can’t wait to get underway after all the intensive planning that has gone into them. We hope that they will all be a great success!
Written by Sophie Arthur and Zacharia January
