Welcome to the Author’s Annual Review for Friends of Pakati! I hope you enjoy it & can help us by sharing across your contacts & social media platforms.
Let me have a quick word while I can…
I am going to cheat a bit for the first 6 months – here is the link to find out what we did between January & June this year: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/06/26/friends-of-pakati-6-months-review/
Now, let’s take a look at the most important things to happen to Friends of Pakati in these last 6 months – some of them are potentially very significant for our future.
So, in July this year the first thing that happened was something potentially bad – the Author had a (thankfully) mild heart attack.
Due to the efforts & expertise of the NHS here in the UK, I was treated swiftly & relesaed after only 3 nights in hospital. Read about it here – https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/07/08/from-the-author-thank-you-to-the-nhs/ I am very glad to be able to say I am back to full health & taking the medication & advice I need to prevent a reccurrence.
July provided some important news for us, not least the promise by http://Stephensonpersonalcare.co.uk to have more computers to send to Pakati schools as soon as we are safely able to. Read about it here: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/07/17/great-news-more-it-for-pakati-schools/
During my recovery from the heart attack, at home I was able to spend time on Friends of Pakati, and it allowed me to make sure I was well enough to attend the ‘Positive Change Makers’ event in August. It was wonderful to meet the members of http://theteamcarofoundation.org.uk who had lived up to their promise to fund our website.
Here are two key posts about our preparations for, and attendance at that event – https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/07/31/promoting-friends-of-pakati/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/08/15/an-amazing-evening-for-friends-of-pakati/
Strangely, we have only had two new profiles of people to introduce to you, but they were ones I had been trying to get hold of for some time. Both were former students of mine, and were sisters. I have very fond memories of my time at Pakati, and remember both sisters very well. Read all about them here: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/07/24/from-pakati-to-london-weekend-star-epiphania-chiroodza/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/08/11/pakati-sports-star-profile-of-juliana-chiroodza/
Every now & then I blog from more of a personal perspective, rather than reporting what is happening at the schools or with interested parties. These next few posts are good examples of that…https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/08/22/wherever-you-have-friends-its-the-best-place/ plus these two posts about my concerns regarding Friends of Pakati: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/09/28/founders-concerns-advice-needed/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/10/03/founders-concerns-follow-up/
Both Pakati schools have provided information, photos and updates on what has been happening, here are a couple of them for you, firstly at the Primary https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/10/17/ecd-block-back-in-use-plus-other-news/ then at the Secondary https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/09/09/pakati-students-return-to-school-plus-some-other-news/
In the last couple of months, Friends of Pakati have become involved in two different, but overlapping collaborations. Firstly, the idea has emerged that we should become ever more closely tied to one of our partner organisations, VaTonatsa Foundation.
Secondly, a Consortium of Zimbabwe Charities is now being formalised, an initiative by TeamCaro for organisations in both the UK and Zimbabwe. Both ourselves and VaTonatsa are now members. Read about all this here: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/10/24/collaborations-under-discussion-plus-other-pakati-news/
Both of these collaborations should develop significantly in the New Year, and will feature in the blog accordingly.
The consortium is already active, as seen in our recent blog about an event in Harare, Zimbabwe: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/12/07/consortium-event-a-great-sucess/
We are gaining publicity and interest among the NGO community, not least thanks to the NGO News Digest recently, who have come on board in support of the Consortium – see https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/12/19/hold-the-front-page/
Sometimes I don’t have a theme, or main story to tell, but a number of smaller items to discuss. Here are the most recent examples: https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/11/14/bits-pieces/ plus https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/11/28/odds-ends/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/12/12/this-that/
During this year we also added new social media platformsto our list – Instagram & Youtube. Here is our full social media presence:
http://Twitter.com/friendsofpakati http://Facebook.com/Friends-of-pakati http://Instagram.com/friendsofpakati http://Youtube.com/friendsofpakati
In addition to the stories, we have added more pages to this website, most recently this one: https://friendsofpakati.com/our-merchandise-satisfied-customers/ Others are updated regularly, such as these two pages: https://friendsofpakati.com/income-expnditure-monthly-information/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/pcs-to-pakati-check-our-progress/
Our main aim at the start, 3 years ago, was to get some computers to the two Pakati schools. This remains the principal aim, along with others, as can be seen in our Vision page https://friendsofpakati.com/2020-vision-friends-of-pakati-the-project-continues/ A blog will be released to go through our finances, and our plans for 2022
If you can help in any way, please contact us by email friendsofpakati@gmail.com If you can donate, large or small, then please use http://Paypal.me/friendsofpakati
