Through Lisa Gavin, the chaplain at Emory, I got in touch with lots of Methodists in Zim. Reverand Washington was in Bulawayo. As mentioned earlier, I met him at his church. He remembered to call me weeks later so I could visit his school. They decided to build the secondary school- which is just 15 min from NUST, but in the country - because there was no H.S. in the area. The kids had to walk a long way or they quit school. There are 2 buildings. I noticed the building with the restrooms, but the students were all headed to the outhouses, across the field. The reason? It was the end of the month and they couldn't pay the water bill for the flush toilets.
The reverend wanted me to donate the few paperbacks that I had. However, their "library" consisted of a locked storage room with boxes of textbooks. Instead I gave my books to the public library.
I sat in on a math class pf 14 year olds. They were learning - how many weeks are in 3 wks and 10 days. Pretty disappointing to see this level. No computers. The science teacher left so others are pitching in. The teacher said they don't have enough calculators or compasses to do the work for the exams. They have a challenge getting teachers because they are located so far from the city. Their school day is shorter because of the teachers' commute. They want to build housing for teachers. Friends said they would still have problems recruiting teachers because of the distance.
We walked to the fields to see the fruit trees that the students had planted. Each one had the student's name who was responsible for the watering. The parents, farmers in the area, had uprooted the thorn trees for the orchard. Visited the chicken coops and gardents. Saw the very nice house of the assistant Reverand. Told she provided counseling to all. I would want to find out why some of the rooms in her house could not be used as a library or some school activity!
The reverend is trying. After my visit, he was picking up a group of student visitors from Ohio. I told him not to be shy- be specific on the type of help you needed. Maybe this is a place I could go back and volunteer.
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