What’s happening at Friends of Pakati…

The author is busy on a number of fronts on behalf of Friends of Pakati. Here is a brief summary of what is going on in the background:

Charitable status

With help from contributors, supporters and independent advisors, I am in the process of changing Friends of Pakati from an ad-hoc fundraising charitable cause, to a more formal footing. As we dont have much money in the bank we do not qualify to become registered as a Charity in the UK, but starting on that path seems sensible to help it grow. We can, in time, initially gain Trust status, and can add that to the name.

Collabration

We will continue to talk to other organisations as they arise, but currently there are talks going on between Friends of Pakati and VaTonatsa Foundation (search earlier posts) about how we can best collaborate on a practical level, to our mutual benefit, but only on the proviso our aims and target audiences also benefit even more. We can benefit from each others knowledge, experiences and pooling of resources where we may overlap in our efforts. Cooperation in terms of cross-promotion, supporting each other on social media for example, has already been going on for some time.

Posts

I am aware of different stories still under wraps but hope to include a mixture of life in and around Pakati Secondary school, adventures of more former ex Pakati students, and if plans come to fruition, contributions from people who are just interested in the blog with no other connection. Also, Lockdown Laughs 4 is under construction too.

Longer Stories

Just in the early stages of editing is the first part of what I hope will be another first, a much longer story. I have a recent contributor who is keen to develop her story into an even more personal, detailed view of her life in recent years. I would like to try and use it as a new way of garnering a number of small donations…something like this: If people like the first chapter, the second will only be published if and when enough new, small donations (maybe US$2 to 5 each) are made to the fundraising page…and so on. I can tell you from what I have read so far its a VERY good story…

Weight loss

I haven’t posted much on this recently, but still going well…down from 113.4kg to 102.0kg in 15 weeks….not too bad. Steady progress.

Sponsors and Supporters

The following are our current list of sponsors and/or supporters, who have donated goods, money, and/or publicity – please visit/support/find out more:

Stephenson Group – http://stephensonpersonalcare.com

Nakai Skincare & Cosmetics – https://www.nakaiskincarecosmetics.com

Scunthorpe United F.C. – https://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk

Scunthorpe Telegraph – https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/all-about/scunthorpe

Mortz Property Services

Important Links

http://gofundme.com/friends-of-pakati

http://twitter.com/friendsofpakati

http://facebook.com/Friends-of-pakati

friendsofpakati@gmail.com

We welcome any suggestions, stories, photos and/or short videos from anyone who has any interest in Friends of Pakati, whatever you do, wherever and whoever you are.

Author:

My name is Chris Walker, and between January 1989 and September 1991 I worked, through VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), at Pakati Secondary School in Murehwa South district in Zimbabwe. I was a Maths teacher for 2 years, the Acting Head for the last 8 months there. I have also taught in Botswana & the UK, had 4 years working for VSO, and have been a Civil Servant in Bradford since 2005.

Leave a Reply