….and I still believe it is the best thing I ever did. Please read, enjoy & share widely!
I have just been looking back to some of my very early posts here on Friends of Pakati, & reading them takes me back to January 16th 1989 when I first set foot in a classroom as a newly-qualified teacher.
But how did I come to be in Zimbabwe? Well as ever, it is a bit of a story….
It began in Sheffield really, in 1984. I was out of work & a bit lost to be honest. A friend of mine told me she thought I would make a good teacher, suggesting I applied for a teacher training course which would start in September that year. She also thought the best way to find out if I would enjoy it would be to volunteer in a local school.
To my amazement, it turned out to be exactly that, as I went to a nearby Middle school, where I became a volunteer teaching assistant 2 days a week for 5 months, with a class of 10-11 year olds & their class teacher. It gave me valuable experience, which helped me gain acceptance onto a teacher training course.
I don’t have many photos from my student days to illutrate this story, but I will use those that I can. The picture above is me with 3 of my college friends, Sue, Joan & Toni. In those days I played a lot of Badminton hence the sports kit.
Like many students, a group of us were regular visitors to local bars, pubs & clubs. Some of those places featured live music, and one group in particular were popular with many students. They were called Somebody’s Brother, & some of us followed them to venues across Bradford, Leeds, Manchester, & even London.
The band were made up of 3 men from Sunderland, one man & one woman from Bradford, plus a Zimbabwean…
As a fan of the group, I got to know them very well, in particular the bass player called Cecil Zinyuku whose family are from an area called Headlands. He had a sister, Dorcas, who I spoke to several times. The first time I met her was during my first yeat, and as we introduced ourselves, she asked what I was doing. I said “I am training to be a teacher, at Bradford College”. She responded by saying “you should come to Zimbabwe, we need teachers!”
She planted the idea of working abroad in my head, and after graduating in 1988, an opportunity came my way almost by accident. I was in Bradford city centre one saturday, & a large bus was parked up, advertising for an International Development Charity called Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). They recruit trained professionals to work in the developing world.
I took their literature, filled an application form, sent it off & waited to hear from them. Soon after, I was invited to a day-long interview with a number of activities designed to find out if I was suited to become a volunteer. Amazingly, I passed…
After two attempts by VSO to find me a placement (in Sierra Leone, & the Solomon Islands), by an incredible coincidence, I ended up in Cecil & Dorcas’ home country of Zimbabwe.
So, that is the extended story of how I came to Pakati Secondary school in 1989…, & here are some of my early posts about my time at Pakati,,,
https://friendsofpakati.com/2019/01/25/memories-from-1989-my-own-early-days-at-pakati/
https://friendsofpakati.com/2019/01/27/more-memories-from-1989/
https://friendsofpakati.com/2019/02/02/the-day-i-was-surprised/
If you can, please support us to deliver IT to the two Pakati schools this year via http://www.paypal.me/friendsofpakati or http://www.gofundme.com/friends-of-pakati
Thank you!