To me recently, from Mr Mugove Chifaka, Headteacher, Pakati Secondary school:
Hi Chris, let me give you a brief report regarding the meeting :
İt a 2018 AGM that should have been held by February 2019 it was therefore over due. It was held on 26 March.
This is a mandatory parents’ meeting for the proposal of the head’s annual report, SDC chair person’s report, financial statements presentation and elections for new School Development Committee (SDC).
These went on well, and parents agreed not to change the SDC as they still have confidence in the committee. The SDC consists of 5 elected parents, the head, deputy and one senior teacher who is in the administration. Elections were presided by the ward’s local councillor as per regulations.
Further comments from an observer:
They came up with additional resolutions i.e introducing of ICT, purchasing of new curriculum text books, arranging of electronic for payments of school fees among others.
There were some questions around some pupil behaviours, not unlike any school anywhere in the world, including why they ddnt suspend those students who are suspected of gambling, and those who bully others. It was said that the school would consult with parents first.
Some further developmntal projects..such as keeping of chickens – broilers & or layers – plus repainting of teachers’ houses, renovation of classroom windows and new desks as well.
Authors comments: It brings back memories for me, as I had to take one of these meetings with no experience of what to expect. Thankfully it went well, and I ended up being able to pay for new desks, text books & even new football kits. Looks like some things are always in demand.
Glanford Park (Home of Scunthorpe United) 30th March 2019 Presentation to the Author by Rob Noble, Head of Marketing
I have been given some football shirts kindly donated by my hometown club, Scunthorpe United to Pakati. I have also had a further gift of football shirts by some fellow supporters of the Iron (nickname of SUFC), who are involved with an amatuer side in the Scunthorpe area. I will get them all to Pakati soon as I hear of someone I know going to Zimbabwe in the near future.
As I get ever closer to my sponsored walk – 25th to 27th April – I am training each day walking around my local area in Bradford where I now live. Anyone wishing to sponsor me, please donate through the link below to my fundraising page:
The Iron matchday programme 30th March 2019 – great to get a feature in here!
Publicity is ongoing including in the programme for last saturdays football match in Scunthorpe, plus another interview on BBC Radio Humberside’s Sports Talk programme, with Mike White & Matt Dean, on Tuesday of this week.
Any help anyone can give please let me know…see important links below:
I come again to talk more about my life experiences at Pakati in the early 1990s. When i was at Pakati Secondary school I remember we had 4 blocks with 2 classrooms in each block. We used wooden benches at which we would sit 4 or 5 pupils per bench.. 2 benches and one desk This was very uncomfortable though I can not really tell how long the benches were.
So we were grouped mostly according to perfomance, thus group 1 for the best students group 2 ,3 and 4 which of course had the worst students. We usually were about 40 to 50 students in a class and in many cases we had 4 textbooks in each subject..meaning the ratio was 1 text book between 12 to 15 students… it was not easy because we then used to read the book upside down from the other angle. We could still not take the text books home because the teachers still used those.
It appears little has changed since Lorraine’s time at Pakati
Generally all I am saying is we did not have enough stationery and furniture for all the students. Imagine spending so many hours with this seating arrangement . We could copy notes from the blackboard or the teachers would dictate while you jot down. This made it so difficult for slow learner students who would end up borrowing notes from other students, not knowing whether they were correct notes or not…
Despite all these challenges I mentioned above, the teachers were very determined to teach us as best they could, and most of them if not all were results oriented. During the 1990s we started seeing a reasonable number of students passing their ZJC (Zimbabwe Junior Certificate – end of Form 2 exams) and O levels unlike in the previous years.
For sports, we had a football pitch which we could use as well for athletics during the respective seasons. We participated well within the school and as well competed with other schools in our zone. We had some talented students who could make the school proud and go on to represent the school at national level. I still remember Juliana Chiroodza was one of the outstanding students in sports during those years.
Unfortunately on the sport side many parents did not manage to buy sportswear for their children, and students ended up going for practise sessions in their school uniforms. There was an occasion where Julianna represented the school in the National competitions, and the Head agreed to use school sports fees to fund a new athletics kit for her.
Cleaning of the school yard, classrooms and ablution facilities. This was done by students through the duty rosters and coordinated by school prefects. This was good for us as students because it taught us some life responsibilities, but on the ablution side it was a challenge, because sometimes we did not have the right equipment to use, e.g. gloves, disinfectants and protective clothing. This left us as kids vulnerable to diseases at some point.
Observations….During this period of the early 90s we did not have electricity at the school, meaning that we did not have access to IT and so e-learning was just a dream to us.
Comments…. I greatly appreciate the authorities for making efforts to put electricity at the school, which now means if the resources are available IT will be very essential so that Pakati school will at least match the standards of the schools in the zone, such as St Pauls Musami and Chemhondoro, where they currently have IT. Looking at this modern world it will be of paramount importance for Pakati to have computers. I still think more could have been done to improve and nurture some different talents since not all students are academically talented.
COMPILED BY LORRAINE MAPURANGA..FORMER STUDENT OF PAKATI UP TO 1992
My name is Kudzanai Mandishayika. I love playing volleyball and I am in form 4. My favourite subject is mathematics and when I finish school I want to be a nurse
Head Boy, Pakati Secondary school, 2019
Hi, my name is Fradreck Makuwaza and I am in form 4. My favourite subjects are Maths and English. I want to be an automative engineer. My favourite sport is soccer, and I love eating rice and fish.
I went to Chidiya Secondary school that was in 1989 for my form 1. 1n 1990 I transfered back to my home school, Pakati Secondary, because of unforseen circumstances at Chidiya where I was staying with a relative.
It was good meeting my former primary school student friends again, one of whom is Wilbert Chanetsa, and am delighted that I have just reconnected with him some two weeks ago. There are a lot more but I have forgotten most of them. I was so glad to reconnect with them after a very long time.
“Assembly has not changed much since I went to Pakati Secondary school” says Lorraine Mapuranga, 2019
I was very good in Engish and Shona. I still remember some of my teachers Mr Nyamauya, Mr Vheremu, Mr Siyawamwaya, Mr Chifamba.. not forgetting Mr Walker. Miss Ison, Miss Beattie and Miss Chadbon. We had a blessing to have such teachers at the school – why ? Because I have a testimony to share.
1n 1992 when I was in form 4 there was a severe drought, and my parents could not manage to pay for my exam fees, probably because they could not afford it, or because the girl child was looked down upon.
My parents advised me to go back to form 3 and would sit for my O levels the following year. Miss Chadbon and Miss Beattie seeing me in a form 3 class asked why…I told them my reasons. Little did I know that good samaritans had knocked on my door. They told me to go back to my class and then they paid for my Exam fees. I was very grateful to them for that.
After completing my O levels worked for my community under Agritex, and when the contract expired I moved to Harare where I met my husband, who encouraged me to do a course. I did a secretarial course with Trust Academy, then I worked for Karina (pvt) Ltd but sadly the company collapsed because of a liquidity crunch.
Keith
I’m a proud mom of Keith and Michelle. Keith is 23 and has just completed his four year Programne with Airforcre of Zimbabwe. Michelle is 18 and is waiting to go to university. Unfortunately my husband passed on and I have been hustling to make a living in Zimbabwe, but after realizing that things were not working well I relocated to South Africa, where I am currently working with a Doctor (Occupational Therapiist) in her office- so far so good.
Michelle
Mr Walker was my Maths teacher and the other white teachers at the school made us proud, to an extent that when you hear me communicating, you would think this is not a woman from a grassroots school.
I got a lot of inspirstion from Mr Vheremu who would always teach and encourage us to work hard, and I qoute”vapfanha verengai otherwise muchatengesa shiri dzirikubhururuka muchiti ndedzenyu” close quote. He meant we must study hard and not sell what does not belong to us e.g. – if you don’t make it in life you will end up pointing at a bird that is flying and claim it is yours and then demand money for it!
There is a distinct possibility that we will hear more from Lorraine soon…
My name is Joakem Musindo Njenje, and I was born in 1977 at St Pauls Hospital, Musami. I lived in Njenje village near the bus-stop known as pachuru.
I was at Pakati Primary school from 1986 to 1992, then at Pakati Secondary school from 1993 to 1996. My favourite subject was Geogeaphy, and I was an actor of dramas, together with my friend Bothwell Riside. My favourite sport was soccer.
After OrdinaryLevels I spent the whole of 1997 farming, before working as a store keeper from 1998 in Harare where I stayed for 5 years.
In 2001 I then married my intelligent and lovely wife, Lydia Mangwani. She went on to join the Ministry of Health for 3 years as a student nurse. She qualified in 2007, and she currently works at St Pauls Hospital in Musami. We are blessed with 2 girls (Devine Njenje & Hamilton Njenje) and a boy (Disney Njenje).
I later worked for Bakers Inn for 4 years, but due to economic hardship I had to start my own piggery. Unfortunately this was also affected by economic crisis in Zimbabwe. Now we have opened Oasis Poly Clinic, at Musami Cross, along the Harare-Mutoko highway.
I am still in touch with some of my former schoolmates, notably Bothwell Riside, Regina Tsinya and Eddie Dzapasi among several others.
My name is Lorraine Mapuranga. I was born in 1974 in Harare Central Hospital. Both my parents were peasant farmers, and I was born in a family of 3 girls with me being the second child.
Growing up in a family where we were only girls made life a bit difficult for me, because we had to do all household chores, some of which are culturally men’s duties, like herding cattle or milking cows, and though it was our major source of protein I hated it so much.
I also had to make sure the goats and our chickens were cared for by me and my sisters, so we would take turns to do it. As growing up girls we were also taught to till the land sometimes before we went to school.
I had also to fetch water from as far away as 2 kilometres, and sometimes halfway back from the well I would fall and had to go back again to fetch more. This time around I would will be crying. Then there was fetching firewood, where you would come across snakes in the mountain and sometimes get stung by scorpions.
Our daily food was sadza (finely ground maize made into a thick porridge) and vegetables, with peanut butter. I can also say we use to survive on seasonal foods. This is an umbrella term to describe what a girl from the grassroots survived on.
I did my primary education at Chanetsa primary school from 1982 to 1988. Something to smile at now is that my parents used to buy me a bigger size uniform so that it stays longer as I grew. However for me it was fine like that.
What was very interesting about waking up for school was we had our own brown rooster. It would guide us when to wake up and prepare for school. But then it sometimes used to get confused, like when the moon was too bright it would end up waking us up at 1am!. I would set a fire and prepare everything, only to find out later that it was actually midnight and not time for school….When going to school we were guided by the sun setting on a particular muhacha tree, but now this kind of watch was not reliable because it would differ with seasons.
As I write this im actually laughing at myself because now I can’t wake up at a certain time without an alarm, but you would wonder how I did it for so long, as young as I was. I will write a full book about this one day!
Now let me go to my high school. At grade7 (end of Primary schooling) I passed well and I vividly remember Enniviolata Chingoriwo who would always take number 1 and set me on second position. My other threat was from Kennedy Saide. I wish I could one day meet them again.
I am pleased to report that as far as I have heard the Cyclone has not affected the area in any way.
However, I have had reports from some sources, of relatives and friends living in the affected areas around Chimanimani, some of whom have perished.
If I hear of any details I will add them in to future posts on here. If anyone wishes to send information to be published please use any of the contacts shown on the ‘Important Links’ page. Thank you
