Greetings everyone! I am writing this post soon after revisiting Pakati Schools, doing exactly what Friends of Pakati was originally set up in 2019 to do – deliver computers to both Pakati schools, Primary & Secondary.
I arrived at Pakati on Monday 7th October bringing some of the items promised – namely the Friends of Pakati t-shirts and an extension cable with USB ports for each school.
At that time, we did not yet have the donated computers, as they were stuck in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) at the airport awaiting transfer to Harare.
However, due to limited time available, we decided to go ahead with the Handover ceremony at Pakati Secondary school on the Tuesday afternoon, in agreememt with the Heads of both schools. Below are the details & pictures from the event.
I arrived at the Secondary school late in the afternoon on the Monday, so I just took the time to discuss the plans for the next day with Mr Chizenya, school Head, and catch up with him & some colleagues about issues of things like power, wi-fi, sports, lessons, etc.
On the Tuesday morning I gave the t-shirts to the Heads to try on, & gave some out to their staff too in preparation for the afternoon event.
Mr Mahachi took me to the room currently being used for their handful of computers donated in 2019.
This is in sharp contrast to the converted classroom at the Secondary school, which has been transformed into an IT Suite & library, thanks to some external funding.
The afternoon event began at 2pm, attended by a good number of people, including the following:
Ward 14 Councillor Mr Njenje, plus Councillor frlm Ward 25, Nicholas representing the local MP ‘s Office, Security/Police representing the Presidents Office, Village Heads, Vari Mayez of VaTonatsa Foundation, Heads of both Pakati schools & their staffs, both School Development Committees local parents, & Mrs Maenzanise, Head of nearby Mapanga Primary school, and the students of both Pakati schools…as well as the Author!
So there were various speeches by the local political representatives & local dignatories, along with entertainment by students of both Pakati schools…
Then we came to the Handover. As the donated computers had yet arrived in Harare, we had to improvise…we decided to use one of the previous computers from 2019 as representing the new machines, plus a pleasant surprise for me😁. Here is how that went:
As usual, after the handover ended there were many demands for photos…here below are several of the best ones!
So the day wrapped up around 4.15pm, after mamy photos, discussions, laughs & smiles…and I thought that was it for this trip.
Find out in the next blog what happenend next!
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