Greetings, everyone! Welcome (back) to Friends of Pakati for another insight into life in rural Zimbabwe. This time, we are looking at how the people of the Pakati area live & work.
When I was getting ready to go to Zimbabwe as a newly qualified teacher, I was given a basic outline of what it was like at the school & the surrounding area. All Pakati students were day-scolars, coming from a local community of subsistence farmers – who grew crops for consumption, & any excess was sold in markets in nearby towns, or even as far as the capital, Harare, around 60 miles away.
One of the first of the local farmers I met was Mr Mdaziwa, who was widely respected in the area for his success using a mixture of traditional & modern farming methods, consistently growing a variety of crops, even in difficult seasons. I taught some of his children, the family lived close to the school & I enjoyed the their hospitality several times
Recently, I have been sent some pictures of this growing season in the area by a Friend of Pakati who comes from one of the local villages. Looks like it will be a bumper crop this year at harvest time across the area!
The photo & video above were taken in February this year, while those below were from early April in the same area
The principal crop is Maize, the staple diet of much of Southern Africa. It is used to make porridge, some beer, and what Zimbabweans call sadza. In th picture below it is shown with meat, vegatables & a relish/sauce and is eaten by hand.
A good season for the farmers usually means a good season for the schools too, particularly the Secondary, which charges fees which, although relatively low, can be too much in years of poor harvests. There have been droughts in the area, notably in the early 1990’s & early 2020’s
In 2022, I stayed at the home of one of my former student as Friends of Pakati delivered IT & other donations. This gave me an even clearer view of life in the area..
Pakati is an area I am always delighted to return to, a place I still feel at home in as I did back in 1989-1991.
Coming up next:
I now have the next podcast ready to publish, over the coming days – a great interview with our friend & donor Sharlom Chaitika! You can catch up on her history & recent exploits on the cast – it is one of our best for suređź‘Ť
