Helping the wonderful students of Pakati schools in Zimbabwe
Author: Friends Of Pakati
My name is Chris Walker, and between January 1989 and September 1991 I worked, through VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas), at Pakati Secondary School in Murehwa South district in Zimbabwe. I was a Maths teacher for 2 years, the Acting Head for the last 8 months there. I have also taught in Botswana & the UK, had 4 years working for VSO, and have been a Civil Servant in Bradford since 2005.
I was born in 1976, in a town called Gokwe, Zimbabwe where I grew up, and in my early years I went to Primary school there. I later moved away from Gokwe, and found myself then attending Pakati Secondary school, from 1990 to 1993.
During my time at Pakati I can remember a number of teachers, including the Headmaster Mr Samakomva.. My favourite subject was Agriculture, the teacher was Mr Gororo. What was unusual for the school was that a number of teachers came to work at Pakati from the UK, including Miss Ison, Miss Chadbon, Miss Beattie and Mr Walker. We were surprised but delighted that they came to teach in such a poor rural school such as ours.
I can also remember a number of former schoolmates, such as Philomen Hove ( an actor in school dramas like myself ), also Wilbert Hondo, Kennedy Chanetsa and Learnmore Njenje, plus Edwick Nyakujara, Lucy Tagumirwa, Juliana Chiroodza and Hatipedzi Tsinya.
Unfortunately I was unable to complete my Form 4 ( O levels, final year ) due to family circumstances, as my ( single ) mother who took care of me became sick. I do have a lot to admire at my former school, and I am glad to have been reminded of this by Mr Walker!
The people in the Pakati area are very hard working and are lovely to be amongst. Even though they are in a remote area they try very hard to make a better life for themselves and their children. They do this by means of education and a lot of effort in their working lives as subsistence farmers.
I was married to the father of my two children, but divoced sone years ago when they were still quuie young. I am now working in Capetown as a maid to a white family.
Lucia’s children, the boy is in Form 3, the girl is at University
The sun would rise around 5.30 am, and soon after so would my housemates & me. In my first year I shared the house with two colleagues, Regis Chirape & George Mutatapasi. Sadly I have lost contact with them so if any readers here find them please let me know ( friendsofpakati@gmail.com ). We had a small 2-ring gas stove, so breakfast was usually tea & bread, sometimes with eggs.
There were in those days two ways to take a bath or shower. We used a metal bucket full of water & heated it on the stove, then added cold water for the right temperature, before either using the room in the house with a large bathtub in it, or the outside area surrounded by a grass thatch designed as an open air shower room. I went fot the bathtub. When you have to physically carry the water from the borehole yourself, you would be surprised how little water you actually need to use….
By 7.00 teachers would already be at the school as the students -all day scholars – would start to arrive from the surrounding villages. Some of them came from as far as 8 km/5 miles away or more. Assembly at 7.15 looked exactly like it still does now…
Assembly at Pakati Secondary School
Assembly, like all lessons & breaks, was introduced by the ringing of the school handbell by a student, then was always begun with the then- National Anthem of ‘Ishe komborerai Africa ‘ (God bless Africa), something I never tired of hearing the students sing. Then the usual notices – sports reports, new staff, school visitors, changes to the day, reminders to pay school fees, whatever was needed to be passed on to the students.
If I remember correctly lessons would be from 7.30, with a morning break around 9.30 – 10.00, lessons then carrying on until 12.00. Lunch would be for an hour – back at the house, more tea & food – then afternoon lessons from 1.00pm until 2.30. After lessons there would be sports most days, athletics in the first term, ball games in the second term. On Fridays there was cleaning the school, tidying around the classrooms inside & out, sweeping, taking bleach to clean the toilets, whatever needed doing. Monday to Thursdays would usually end at 4.30, Fridays lessons ended at 2.00pm & cleaning ended at 3.00.
I can remember how quickly the students all dispersed, with a few lingering to chat a while with some of the staff, but once they had gone home, the silence was remarkable….you could just hear noises in the distance – the odd cowbell, people talking in the distance in nearby villages, maybe music from radios in the teachers houses…we cooked the evening meal, often sadza, sometimes rice or pasta, occasionally potatoes, make a sauce with onions, tomatoes, spices, we cooked meat such as fresh chicken or beef, sometimes tinned corned beef, or kapenta (small fish similar to anchovies), along with green vegetables. By 7.30 we had eaten & it was dark, the sun going down around 6.30pm. We had candles & parafin lamps, we sat around talking about anything – students, events from the day, friends, politics, sports, our homes & families, music, whatever we liked. By the end of the day we were tired, and as the days were goverened by the rising and setting of the sun, we woul be in bed by around 8.30 most days….I would listen to the radio or some music, but by 9.00 would be dead to the world, exhausted, but happy to be at Pakati.
Article by Mrs Pindura sent to the author, 5th March 2019
Living in a new place which is far removed from your previous reality can be a tough time. I had just been newly deployed at Pakati Secondary School back in 2013 when I decided to go back home to Harare for the weekend. I had been having a hard time adapting to my new environment. I just could not believe that I, “a city girl” was now living in the village. The whole week I had been walking in a daze. I had no friends yet, nothing to entertain me except going to work and phone calls back home to moan about chronic loneliness .I was soo homesick and inwardly I told myself that the following term I would transfer to somewhere as long it was not Pakati. So the week after I had been deployed I decided to go home . Soon after work on Friday, I went to the bus stop . From the school to the busstop it’s roughly 3.5km. Unfortunately I did not get transport as planned. This meant no going home for me. I had a choice to either retrace my steps back to school or hopefully wait for people with cars who might be going in the same direction as me. I chose the former. The dark frightens me so I had to call a colleague to come get me. He told me to walk and he would meet me along the way. I lit the torch on my phone and started walking back. I could hear every sound in the bushes. These sounds coupled with my fear of snakes rampant in that area threatened to loosen my bowels. Fortunately I did not have to walk for long before he caught up with me. He laughed at me saying the light from the phone would have drawn robbers and I would have had more than snakes to worry about. After that incident I never tried to look for transport after working hours. These are now fond memories as I have grown to love the school and working with the community .
Ok, time for a progress report. Preparations, donations, contacts, etc…
Preparations….I have continued to go walking in and around my area of Bradford, plus have walked to work and back a number of times. It is a 50 minute journey but the city is not known for being flat….I feel physically better as a result & feel confident of completing the planned walk. My route is coming to fruition & I will publish it soon along with sponsorship forms for those willing to sponsor, either a fixed amount or per mile. The route I am looking at comes out to around 57 miles in total.
Donations….so far I have had a few small donations plus one larger one. Total thus far is £335. I expect to raise significantly more from the walk and am looking at other ideas & events too. I have had a donation of football kits from a local club in North Lincolnshire, and will send them to the school next time someone I know is flying to Zimbabwe. I have offers of computers too from a company in Horsforth near Leeds.
Contacts….the list of contacts continues to grow, and it is great to have such support from the community around Pakati, especially from former students & their families. I gave been getting good advice about a variety of things both here in the UK and in Zimbabwe, including use of social media, publicity etc. Scunthorpe United are also helping & hope to have more local publicity soon.
