Written by Chris Walker:
Greetings to you from Friends of Pakati! We find ourselves in June already, with things going on in the background to help us raise more funds; which will of course enable us to support both Pakati schools where they need us to.
In the meantime, I found myself looking once more at the photos which Debbie Chadbon shared with me earlier this year. You can read about our meeting here https://friendsofpakati.com/2023/04/08/3-friends-of-pakati-re-united also you can see more of her pictures here https://friendsofpakati.com/2023/04/10/debbies-photos/
These are some of the students at Pakati Secondary school in 1992, as photographed by Debbie in class. It is their fellow students now at the school and its sister Primary school, who Friends of Pakati was set up to support, primarily to provide some basic IT equipment. Since then we have also provided sports gear, t-shirts and help to restore solar power. We hope to do much more in the future for the schools.
The pictures below show a number of things which bring back so many memories for me – the state of the school buildings, staff and students relaxing in and around school and the community, Debbie having visits from family & friends from the UK…
I had visits from friends, but most importantly for me, two visits from my parents. I was delighted they had come to see me, to see Zimbabwe, but essentially to see where I lived & worked at Pakati Secondary school. It helped greatly whenever we talked about it years later, they understood far more about my reasons for being there, and what the conditions were like. It became clear to me just what an impact it had on both of them. This was in 2019 when we uncovered my Mum’s written notes about it after she had passed, and again this year as we cleared my parents’ home following my Dad’s passing in late December 2022. We found so much more – photos, slides and memorabilia from their two trips. Both are remembered as Friends of Pakati here on the blog… find out about them here: https://friendsofpakati.com/2019/03/16/saturday-star-a-friend-of-pakati-and-of-zimbabwe/ plus 2 posts about my Dad https://friendsofpakati.com/2022/12/24/merry-christmas-and-other-issues/ and https://friendsofpakati.com/2023/01/15/looking-back-a-very-personal-story/
More to come from the blog soon…
