First blog in Zimbabwe since 2019!

A very warm (28-30°☀️) welcome to our first blog from Zimbabwe in 3 years!

For me the Author, it is wonderful to be back in Zimbabwe, where I will be spending time in the Pakati area for a week starting on Sunday afternoon. It will be my pleasure to be staying in the area again where the welcome is always generous.

Here is a brief outline of what’s been going on before the visit, & what the itinerary currently looks like.

Before visiting Pakati

I arrived in Zimbabwe on Wednesday 21st September at 11.30am after 27 hours of travelling! Delighted to have been met at the airport by Felix, my driver/fixer, and also Liorraine Mapuranga, my former student & reoresentative of Friends of Pakati.

As usual I marked my arrival with a display of support for my football team, Scunthorpe United, & Lorraine seemed happy to join in!

Soon after, we met with Vari Mayez from VaTonatsa Foundation, our partner organisation in Zimbabwe. We had a Nandos meal & chatted about our plans after a great welcome from them all, including Lorraine’s sister Rose.

L to R: Felix, Rose, Vari, Lorraine & Chris

Currently I am staying in Marondera, a town about 50 miles from the capital, Harare, and maybe 30 miles from the Pakati area. Here is the view from my room, and as the sun rose at the back of the house:

Thanks to Vari from VaTonatsa, we now have the necessary letters of Intention to Donate for all 5 schools we are visiting, and on Monday morning we are to present them to Murewa RDC to meet the protocol requirements.

Visiting the Pakati area

The 5 schools are: Chanetsa Primary, Chanetsa Secondary, Mapanga Primary, Pakati Primary & Pakati Secondary.

The itinerary for the visit is as follows:

Monday – Murewa RDC in the morning, Pakati in the afternoon

Tuesday – Pakati schools, continuing the informal visit from Monday

Wednesday – Formal visit, including discussing support for the schools including MP, Councillor, Heads, SDC’s, & other interested partners, before official handover of donated goods

Thursday – Both Chanetsa schools formal visit to handover donated goods

Friday – Formal visit to Mapanga to hand over donated goods.

To come in a future blog…

Friends of Pakati has already been in action, as I tracked down recent former Pakati Secondary Englulish teacher & Deputy Head, Mrs Pindura to her new school, Mukombami High. Following the format set by our podcast host, Bradley Mell, I interviwed her with questions Brad suggested. I added in one or two others myself.

The recording is on its way to Brad for editing, & will feature soon in a future blog as an audio file, as another episode in our podcast series to enjoy👍 here are our previous episodes: https://friendsofpakati.com/friends-of-pakati-podcasts/