Just recently I was informed of an act of kindness by the Head of Mapanga Primary school, a recent contributor to this blog, Mrs Maenzanise – see https://friendsofpakati.com/2020/03/07/saturday-star-mrs-maenzanise-former-teacher-at-pakati-primary-school/
Mrs Maenzanise is seen here on her way to donate vital supplies to an elderly lady who is disabled, and lives not far from Mapanga school.
The lady is clapping her hands together – a traditional way of gratefully accepting gifts in Shona culture.
Pictured above is the lady’s grandson who is deaf and dumb. He is a Grade 4 student at Mapanga Primary school. Below is one of many responses to this story, which was posted on a whats app group for Ward 14, Murewa:
“To the Headmistress and all those behind you in this noble cause, we say thank you very much for the heart that gives and a hand that’s extended to the needy” (posted by F Madziwa)
Such kindness appears to run in the family….her neice, Vari Marez set up VaTonatsa Foundation in honour of her late mother, an active charitable foundation in Murewa Ward 14.
I got this message recently from Vatonatsa Foundation, an organisation which has supported friendsofpakati.com and given us stories to tell on the blog about other small scale developments in Ward 14 of Murewa District:
“There is hunger in Zim and with inflation poverty is worse now so we are going to Mapanga to donate food and footwear for the kids 28 March 2020 as VaTonatsa Foundation in order to just ease and help the kids learn with full tummies.
We have a paynow platform which gets funds into our bank account so people can go to the donate link and donate whatever they can.
The kids will also share poetry and prose to voice their future goals and ambitions so that after we hear we can galvanize more support.
If you feel able to, please help👍🏽
https://VaTonatsa.org.zw/donate/
Thank you.”
Here is an added comment from Vari – the story should be about the recipients, not the donors:
“We don’t want the trip to be about us going there to donate – it is about the children so we want them to present poetry, essays & hear their stories on their future goals and ambitions – this will help us to know how best we can support them along the way.”
