A number of items are currently being prepared that I am delighted about, including the following:
• Release of full details of our Merchandise for sale including full price details & how to order/pay
• Part 3 of Rev Aggie Fombo’s story – her Foundation to help disadvantaged people in Manicland Province
• Former Pakati student on holiday in Cape Town – Lorraine Mapuranga adds another chapter to her story
• Stuart Pine tells us about his & his employers plans to support Friends of Pakati – more comouters for us are not the only things being lined up…
• Latest news on Lockdown in Zimbabwe and how it affects Pakati schools – looks like similar things are happening in the UK and South Africa among others
The very good news is that our various products are almost with us! Soon after, they will be available for sale. Full details will be in a forthcoming blog, which will also become a new page.
Our producer of 3 of our items – mugs, coasters & key rings – is MJB, based in my home town of Scunthorpe.
This week he delivered the finished items to my Dad’s home nearby. This weekend I will go to collect them. Here is the box containing our items at his home.
Also, here is a sneak peak of the new badges being prepared….we are expecting them early in the New Year.
Hoping everyone has a Happy New Year for 2021, we can only hope it turns out better than 2020! Very Best Wishes to you all, from all of us connected with Friends of Pakati.
As I sit here in my home in the UK, I often think back to what I was doing at Pakati Secondary school. This time 30 years ago, I was back at my parents home in Scunthorpe for Christmas, and planning to go to Bradford where my closest friends lived. The idea was to celebrate New Year at my favourite watering hole – the now defunct MacRory’s Bar, close to Bradford College where I had trained to be a teacher.
I spent two terms as Acting Head, and I have always thought I did more for the school than I had in two years as a teacher. I was able to organise the administration, sort out the timetables, resolve staffing issues, and occasionally, I still took a lesson. Eventually however, there wasn’t time for me to teach, and it wouldn’t have been fair on the students for that to continue I felt.
Mr Chifaka, Head of Pakati Secondary school, with the Author in 2018
Now, after recent re-visits to Pakati in 2018 & 2019, Friends of Pakati is becoming more established as it enters its 3rd year in January 2021. I am optimistic, looking forward to the next round of challenges ahead – Charity status, Merchandising, Fundraising, IT & other equipment, new stories & profiles, tales of life at both Pakati schools & among the community, developing the reach of friendsofpakati.com in new ways – all likely to be celebrated in some style come September/October, circumstances permitting.
As always, there are things going on in the background, which I am unable to elaborate on at this time. There are people also in the background helping me – us, the team running & advising Friends of Pakati – some of whom do not want to be named. There are new people becoming involved in our venture, as supporters, fundraisers, advisors, facilitators, etc., which is part of the reason for my optimism.
Please allow me to thank everyone concerned with Friends of Pakati for their efforts, either as contributors, donors, sponsors, collaborators, writers, photographers, advisors, readers, supporters, followers on the various social media platforms, those who like/share/retweet our posts, those who contact us with encouragement – All of you give me personally the inspiration to continue. So THANK YOU! and please keep spreading the word as widely and as often as you can.👏👏👏👏
From everyone involved with Friends of Pakati, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you, our readers, supporters, donors, sponsors and contributors, A Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Myself, the Author, would also like to say a huge **THANK YOU** to all who follow us and/or give of your time and resources to help us. I can tell you that everything you do for us is greatly appreciated by the schools and local community which they serve. Let us keep friendsofpakati.com going into 2021 and beyond, and I hope that I, and one or two others, will be able to visit once more in September/October 2021. Best wishes, Chris😁
As we approach the end of 2020 – a year many people will be glad to see the back of – Friends of Pakati will be launching its plans fot 2021 very soon. Below is the outline of what we have in mind:
Vision for 2021
Our Vision for the coming year will be taken from our document ‘Charity Purposes’, which has been compiled for the application to be registered as a charity here in the UK.
The basic ideas are that we aim to use our funds to help both Pakati schools with things such as IT equipment, internet access, and other educational equipment to help the schools improve the educational experiences of their students. In addition, if funds allow, to provide a small number of scholarships to those most in financial need. Also if funds allow, we may try to help the 3 other named schools in the same Ward in similar ways. We may also provide assistance we deem necessary should funds allow at the schools requests. Joint ventures with similar organisations locally may also be considered where relevant to our stated purposes.
The ‘Charity Purposes’ document will be published in full very soon.
Fundraising activities
This coming year we have some very ambitious plans for our fundraising, centred around a new Walking Chalkenge – this time not just for the Author, but for any who wish to help us! Below is a picture which hints at the plan….dont worry, its more about the total distance & funds raised, I aren’t planning to walk to Pakati myself!
Full details will be published soon, but the idea is to get as many people as possible to walk at least 1 mile and donate at least £1 for each mile to Friends of Pakati. This will be spread over a preiod of time, aimimg to cover the equivalent distance between Bradford and Pakati. People can do as few or as many miles as they wish, as often as they wish. They can just donate, or raise sponsorhip to donate if they wish. People can choose when & where they do the walk – and it doesn’t have to be a just a walk – a run, a cycle, a wheelchair – are also acceptable, as long as its under their own steam.
In addition to this, there is the merchandise being prepared for sale at the start of the year, as indicated in previous posts.
No doubt other ideas/events will come up, new donors/supporters/sponsors will come on board to help us in the coming months
Organisation
Myself, the Author – Chris Walker, my fellow former Pakati Secondary school teacher – Debbie Chadbon, and IT Manager for the Stephenson Group from Leeds – Stuart Pine – we will be the Trustees of the Charitable Trust to be set up as Friends of Pakati. Other Trustees may be added as required.
There are other key participants with whom we consult, including the Heads of the 2 Pakati schools, M Mahachi (Primary) and Mr Chifaka (Secondary), along with local councillor, Alderman Israel Maliki. Two former students of Pakati in particular have become involved as both friends and contributors/advisors, namely Bothwell Riside and Lorraine Mapuranga. We are most grateful to all contributors, including many current and former teachers and many former students of either/both Pakati schools.
Publicity
This coming year we will need more publicity in order to spread the word, to help us raise the funds needed to meet our ambitious aims. I am already trying to get local media on board, and hope to do more press/radio and maybe TV interviews, at least locally here in the North of England. Any who read tbis blog, please can you share each post with yoyr contacts on social media as mych as you can. Thank you👍
Let us as Friends of Pakati, including the Heads of both Pakati schools, plus contributors and helpers behind the scenes, give all who follow, read, share our stories and support us, the warmest of greetings! The Author would also like to thank everyone of you, and wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year for 2021. We have some great plans ahead to look out for…!
Earlier in the year I did a 6-month review, and here is the link to see what happened in the first half of 2020 with Friends of Pakati:
This post will therefore cover the months from July to December, where activities have been continued to be affected by the global Corona Virus pandemic. We begin with something we are particularly proud of, our first collaboration with a different organisation. This came about because of the pandemic.
SEPTEMBER saw a reminder of the events which took place last year, as Friends of Pakati formally handed over the computers and sports eqiupment we had acquired for the two schools – see links below:
There have been a number of posts about the effects of Corona virus on Friendsof Pakati and the schools themselves. Here is the link to our page about the effects of Covid 19 on Pakati schools, and how Friends of Pakati reacted to it.
A string of new pages have been added to the site, to help people find out more about specific things, such as fundraising, sports, schools histories, stories, profiles, corona virus, and joint ventures with partners. Merchandising and Charity status pages still to come. See https://friendsofpakati.com/2020/11/15/friends-of-pakati-website-update/
Merchandising and fundraising are progressing, and we are becoming a formal, registered charitable organisation. Friends of Pakati is about to enter its 3rd year of existence, looking forward to continuing to help the two Pakati schools.
New fundraising activities are being planned, new goods being produced for sale, and an update on the vision is being prepared for the coming changes to Friends of Pakati. I expect there will be new people to intoduce and many new stories to tell. All in all, an exciting year ahead is in prospect, with what is hoped to be another visit to Pakati in September/October. This time, the Author may not be alone when he comes….🤔
Firstly, I have had word about a second batch of chairs which are being delivered to Pakati Primary school, donated by a former student currently working abroad. The first chairs were delivered back in September, see photos above & below.
Secondly, we have now ordered 100 badges…
…circular, with the design above. Next thing is mugs. We have ordered 50 in total, with 3 different desgins. 20 of the first, and 15 each of the second & third designs:
We are also ordering 50 key rings and 50 coasters, which will have the banner on…
..along with our website address of http://friendsofpakati.com and if possible, one of the pictures shown in the mug designs seen above. All being well, if we sell enough of them we can order more. If there are events we can attend, we can sell nerchandise, raising more funds for us in the long run. Other items may be ordered if there is a demand, such as t-shirts, mouse mats etc.
We are working on a pricing structure, and full details will be announced once the various items are ready for sale, most likely soon after Xmas.
Thirdly, Stuart Pine, IT manager at Stephenson Group Ltd of Leeds, UK, tells us more about his (and their) imcreased involvement with Friends of Pakati. The story will be based on a wide-ranging interview I had with him recently, which contains a number of positive developments in our collaborations.
Fourthly, discussions are ongoing about our transition from the current informal set-up, to becoming registered as a Charitable Trust. This will bring us greater accountability and scrutiny here in the UK, but will alsoallow us greater recognition, and public trust in our organisation. This can bring benefits, such as access to additional funding and publicity, which ultimately will allow us to help meet our Vision. As this progresses, our Vision will develop to match our Charitable Purposes as a Charitable Trust. Much of this will be included when I post on 16th January, to launch our plans for the coming year.
Finally, I am now preparing our Review of the Year, to be published between Christmas and the New Year. There has been a lot to cover this year!
