The week gone by…& things to come

Well, what a great week that has been for us here at Frends of Pakati! Last Sunday’s blog set the scene nicely for us – https://friendsofpakati.com/2022/02/06/a-busy-week-ahead/ – so let me report on what I have managed to do in recent days.

Ok, first I want to start with the biggest news of the week – my discussions with two academics from the University of Huddersfield.

A work colleague of mine used to be a Marketing Manager, & he suggested a few things I could do to try & improve the profile of Friends of Pakati. One idea was to contact a University nearby which offered Business/Management/Marketing courses & see if they would get some of their students involved with real-world problems faced by organisations, be they businesses or charities.

Well, thanks to a positive response to my request for help & advice, a Teams meeting video appointment took place on Friday between myself & two members of the University of Huddersfield Business School – namely Carol Sibbald and Dr. Radi Haloub. They are both involved in  a Consultancy Project, where the students can choose who to help, overseen by academics.

I received a very positive response to what I told them, about Friends of Pakati and the main support/advice we are looking for – Marketing & Website/Social Media. I am told this will be mostly from May to August this year, with the help coming from Masters students.

My thanks go to Carol Sibbald (Business Development and Engagement Co-ordinator) and Dr. Radi Haloub (Senior Lecturer in Strategy). I look forward to a fruitful collaboration!

Earlier in the week, following other advice from my work colleague, I created a new page to include the list of all members of the Consortium of Zimbabwe Charities with their links – see here about our collaboration https://friendsofpakati.com/2021/10/24/collaborations-under-discussion-plus-other-pakati-news/ – as it helps the profile of each others websites if they appear on other sites. I invited them to follow suit on their own websites. Here is a link to the new page: https://friendsofpakati.com/members-of-the-consortium-of-zimbabwe-charities/

Following our recent successful interview on local radio in Bradford – see https://friendsofpakati.com/2022/01/30/this-weeks-news/ for a link to the broadcast – I have requested a follow-up interview, and expect to announce it soon. I have also made efforts ro contact Bradford City FC about our fundraising event on 23rd April ‘Get TIED UP for PAKATI’, so far without success but I will keep trying.

Some good news on the other planned fundraising event – we have a date & a venue confirmed! It is to be on Saturday 9th July at Redbourn Club in Scunthorpe. It will be billed as ‘An Evening With….the Iron Bru Podcast’ featuring special guests. Will reveal the guests once we confirm them, but we do have some live music from a singer & accompaniment, who go by the name of ‘E.v.i.e.’ as part of the entertainment.

I have also got an agreement in place regarding sponsorship of the event….much more on this in a future post. The sponsor concerned, Roj Rahman (as mentioned in last week’s blog) has also agreed I can do a post about him soon – so watch this space!

Photo courtesy of Luke Broughton Photography – Chris, Roj & Dan at Scunthorpe United

Now, I wonder what this next photo could be about….? Find out more in the coming days!

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.

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