An eleven year old New Zealand based girl, Ropafadzo Kunaka, has been named a top donor in a massive campaign that has seen thousands of cash and other valuables being shipped to struggling rural Zimbabwean schools.
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This was announced as Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Professor Paul V. Mavima, last week endorsed the “Ziva Midzi Yako/Yazi Odabuka Khona/Remember Your Roots Library Project“.
Minister Mavima was speaking at the handover ceremony of resources purchased using money raised by three children based in New Zealand and a young Zimbabwean graduate based in Australia.
St. Peters Tokoyo in Nyazura, where a state of the art library was sponsored by Dr. Solomon Guramatunhu, received books worth over US$800 purchased from money raised by New Zealand based 12 year old twin sisters Shefali Sinha and Shivani Sinha, an Australia based young Zimbabwean woman who has chosen to remain anonymous and a donation from the Zimbabwe Publishing House.
Nyamasanga Primary School in Chitomborwizi received a donation of US$575 raised by New Zealand based 11 year old girl Ropafadzo Kunaka and the anonymous donor whose donation of US$500 was split equally between Nyamasanga and St. Peters Tokoyo schools. Nyamasanga Primary schools has just identified the books needed at the school from a catalogue supplied by the Zimbabwe Publishing House, who have pledged to donate additional books in addition to those to be purchased.
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Professor Mavima applauded the Zimbabwe Rural Schools Library Trust’s Ziva Midzi Yako/Yazi Odabuka Khona/Remember Your Roots Library Project initiative and encouraged Zimbabwean based in Zimbabwe and abroad to support the concept. “There will be many people who went to rural schools at the same time as Dr. Guramatunhu, and my hope is that some those will emulate Dr. Guramatunhu’s gesture and work towards constructing libraries at these schools to ensure that the rural Zimbabwean school children get the same exposure to information as their counterparts elsewhere”
The Ziva Midzi Yako/Yazi Odabuka Khona/Remember Your Roots Library initiative seeks to encourage Zimbabweans to give back to the deserving rural schools which they, their parents or grandparents went to by providing reading material to the schools or helping construct libraries at the same schools. Plans for the construction of the second Ziva Midzi Yako library at Fairfield School in Lalapanzi have reached advanced stage.
Meanwhile, the trust’s New Zealand operations have since raised enough money to ship a 20 feet container of books donated by well wishers in New Zealand for distribution to identified schools in rural Zimbabwe.