An Update from Mark and Laura Albertyn – 2nd Term 2017

This second term always feels the busiest term of the year.  I think the cold winter mornings and the incredible demanding co-curricular programme makes it feel very, very hectic!  So much happens during the term that it is often hard to capture it all here, so for more details and photos please follow us on our  Facebook page. Our students have all loved the term and found it challenging at times.

The term started with a wonderful visit from Derek and Jenny Gibbs from the UK.  They through themselves wholeheartedly into Makomborero life, while they were here and we loved the wisdom and love that they extended to all of us.  A great trip up Domboshava with all our students was a highlight!  We were also all hosted at Brandon’s family (Lower Sixth Student) for dinner and it was a wonderful opportunity for hearts to connect and for us all to find our common ground.

Some of our students had the privilege of attending the Science Olympiad Focus Week Trip to Pretoria – 6 of our students were invited due to how well they did in the competition.  It is always an exciting trip and often the first time out of the country for our students.

It is always great when our students are able to go on trips and meet and mix with other students from around Africa.  The Yale Young African Scholars programme is a fantastic opportunity for this.  Some of our Lower Sixth were accepted onto the programme.  Kuda went to Uganda, Roy and Shyline to Rwanda and Isabel attended in Zimbabwe.  They have come back changed people!  Thank you Yale and your team.

Our Hellenic and St Georges Lower 6 have all been on their school leadership camps this term.  These trips are such a great way for our students to build deeper relationships with their peers and to really discover so many things about our country and themselves!  They can be tough camps but they all come back changed people!

We love seeing how our students get so involved in not just the academic life of their schools.  Here are a few examples.  Ropa took part in the Enviromental Club planting trees in a rural area that has had severe deforestation in Goromonzi.  Taku learned to play hockey for the first time this term and loved it.  Roy, despite dislocating his shoulder, loved being on the Rugby team.  Isabel is the top goal scorer in her football team.

The lower sixth students also all had their eyes tested and we have managed to get glasses for those who need them and one of our students discovered that he has a bad degenerative eye condition and is receiving treatment for his condition.  We feel so grateful that we were able to find this out before it affects his vision completely.

We have had to do extensive work on converting a little outside kitchen into the boys shower block.  This has been done in two phases and we are thrilled with the final outcome now.

Community Outreach

We launched our Mobile Science Laboratory this term.  It was our first 7 week pilot Biology Sessions.  Wow – a steep learning curve but also such an awesome opportunity to see students doing the practical side of their Biology syllabus, it has been so wonderful to watch.  The joy of understanding fully what you have learnt on paper in school.  Our past and present students have owned the set up and helping on the day, as their giving back and it is a joy to witness their passion for this project.  We have a wonderful teacher Tongai, aptly supported by a young UZ graduate called Stuart.  These two made a great teaching team!  We can’t wait to start the next lot of sessions. Well done to Joan for all the admin support and to our team of past students who wrote the curriculum – Joseph, Sikho, Lazi and David.

We also traditionally run our Revision Schools in the High Densitiy areas this time of year but this year one of our students, back from USIU in Kenya, has been running her own programme at Seke 1, which we have all been supporting.  We are so proud to see our students giving back and running with programmes themselves.  We will be blackboard painting in a rural school at the end of the school holidays with all our Internal and External students, as well as running a mini camp at the boarding house for 3 nights with both internal and external students.

Past Students

I had the privilege of travelling to Rochester University in New York to attend the end of a month orientation for our 4 Mastercard-ALA students just about to start their University journeys.  It is always an incredible opportunity to spend time with other African partner orginasations and University Partners.  We feel so privileged to be part of Mastercard-ALA.

This year sees the first of our University Graduates – our Pioneer students!  What a wonderful feeling this is for all of us at Makomborero!  7 years!  Simbarashe Nembaware – Pharmacy – UZ, Terrence Chitawa – Electrical Engineering – UZ, Brian Muneri – Actural Science NUST, Ryan Muponda Electrical and Computer Science – USA.  We are so proud of all of them and really can’t wait to hear what their futures hold.

We have said good bye to many students going off to start their lives at University both internationally (6 Students) and local university students (4 students).  It is always so exciting to see them all starting this next season in their journey of life!

We have four new students joining our University Grant Scheme this month – 1st year students at local universities – Tadiwa and Sharon studying Medicine at UZ, Meckie studying  Medical Laboratory Sciences at UZ, and Munashe Pindirire studying Electronic Engineering at NUST.

This second term is always a lovely term filled with many returning students on holiday from University.  We love seeing how they are maturing and growing up.  It is always a joy to have them in our homes and back at the Resource Centre – hearing about their internships, University life and friendships!!!

Fundraising

We will be hosting 2 fantastic events in September – 2nd of September is a Music event from 2pm at Hellenic Academy (come and support this wonderful event) and Saturday 30th September an Openair movie night.

We are so thankful to our local Zimbabwean sponsors who have continued to support us even through the difficult financial crisis we find ourselves in.  We are so grateful!  Many donations this year have been in physical food donations and these are just as valuable as cash!

So many of our supporters and friends in the UK have taken part in 10K runs, marathons etc in support of Makomborero over the summer months in the UK and we are always, always humbled by their efforts.  Thank you guys!  You really do change lives!

Thank you also for the continued support from people in the UK and US who generously donate, give of their time to raise money, volunteer etc.  We are often humbled by your efforts and words are not enough!!!

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