An Update from Mark and Laura Albertyn – 2nd Term 2018

This newsletter is to update you on the success of the 2nd term 2018.

Condolences
As Makomborero we had two tragic losses in our Makomborero Family this past term. Takudzwa Tinarwo tragically passed away during Air Force training while studying his Pilots Licence at Charles Prince Airport. He was a graduating External student of 2016. His death has affected many of our students and we have been able to walk with his family during this incredibly sad time. A young man taken before his time – a kind, humble, loyal, hardworking young man!

A few days after Taku’s death our House Mother, Mai Banga, tragically lost her son Danford Banga, in Capetown, where he was doing his Masters in Molecular Biology. Mai Banga has been incredibly brave, faced with the hard events surrounding burying a child. We continue to stand with her in her grief over the coming months. Another young life gone too soon.

Our sincere condolences to both families.

Current News
Another term has flown by – as always packed with so much! We started the term with our external students and their families coming to the Resource Centre to collect their school fee proof of payments. This was a great opportunity to get to know their families a little better! Our external students also had the incredible opportunity to attend a leadership and team building camp in Nyanga. We were so thankful that they were given this experience, some of what our internal students naturally get from their schools. Thank you to the sponsors who so generously paid for this.

For some of our students this term was busier than others. Roy took part in a musical theatre production of the Lion King at Reps Theatre. For many reasons it was an incredible experience. He had never been on stage before, never performed in a play and never been in a theatre. It was a huge commitment night after night but he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and really learnt to push through exhaustion and juggling lots of balls!! We were so proud of him. We were also able to take the whole boarding house to watch him perform, which was also a first for them all! One of our past students, Taku, was taking part in the production too!

14 of our Upper Sixth internal and external students qualified to attend the Science Olympiad awards ceremony in South Africa. This is always a huge highlight for our students and often the first time out of Zimbabwe. We scooped a few prizes – Shaun and Roy winning prizes at the prize giving for coming in the top 5 in Africa!

Tinotenda, L6 at St Georges had the incredible opportunity to be part of a St Georges exchange programme to a school in Boston in the USA. He had a wonderful time! We so appreciate our continued partnership with St Georges!

Martha and Lincoln (both in Lower Sixth at Hellenic) travelled to Rwanda and Rutendo an external student at Dzivarasekwa High 1 to Ghana, for the Yale Young African Scholars (YYAS) programme. A few of our students have qualified for this over the past 3 years and we are incredibly thankful for the depth and experience this adds to their lives. Thank you Yale. Shyline and Roy travelled to Yale in the USA for the YYAS Global Programme. Shyline’s time focused on The Frontiers of Science and Technology and Roy’s time focused on Biology and Biomedical Engineering. This three week experience at Yale University was a once in a life time opportunity and we are so grateful for all those that made this possible for them!

Community Service
We continue to run our Science Mobile Lab with two sessions every Saturday. It is a wonderful experience to witness the growth of these Form 3 students as they learn it is a safe place to ask questions and find deep joy and fulfilment in what they are studying each week. We have seen them blossom over the 9 week programme! At the end of the programme one of our Makomborero Graduates, who is now studying at Ashesi in Ghana on a Mastercard Scholarship, purchased equipment and wrote a physics practical session to add to the end of our 9 weeks. We are so grateful to him for this generous way of giving back to us and for expanding our reach through the Mobile Lab! Thank you Micheal!

Our Girl Mentorship programme was launched this term and we have had the privilege of working with 10 young girls in Form 2. These sessions are held every Saturday in a High Density area. Our past Makomborero students (young ladies) have run the programme and it has been an incredible experience for all involved to build deep relationships, seeing these girls literally blossom. The depth and scope of the material that our past Makomborero ladies have produced is phenomenal and it is humbling to see all that they have learned during their time with Makomborero, being passed on in such a life changing way. We look forward to our last term with these girls and look forward to two groups of new girls running in the New Year.

Past Students
Mark travelled to the States in July and got to connect with a few past Makomborero students who have graduated this year in the States. Reconnecting and seeing their stories begin to unfold. As well as travelling with 5 of our students as they attended a one month orientation at Rochester University in the States. It was a great opportunity to connect with other partners like us from around Africa, to help our students settle in and meet their university representatives. Thank you Mastercard ALA for this humbling partnership!

We also said goodbye to another 4 students as they headed off on scholarships around the world. So a busy season of saying goodbye!

I ran a workshop with all our University Grant scheme beneficiaries here and we had a good morning discussing, debating and encouraging one another through this hard Zimbabwe economic climate!

As many of our students wait to start their tertiary education they often get the opportunity to intern at various different places. Belinda worked at Omnia Fertilizer and Chenai at Hellenic Academy, as well as both helping every week with our girl mentorship programme. Prince was at Netro Electronics giving access to simple programming, robotics etc to many Zimbabweans. Many of our other students were able to secure short term jobs to earn a bit of money for their families during this time.

Ngoni was able to set up a small gas business for his mum to run before he went to Canada on a scholarship. He secured a loan and had repaid it within 4 months and had left with great peace of mind that his family will be ok while he is gone.

Many of our students have come back over their summer breaks and virtually all of them have been involved in various initiatives back in their communities. For more details and inspiring stories of these please look at our Facebook page. Many of them have also been nominated for awards for the work that they are doing in their communities. We are so proud of all of them and the passion they have for Zimbabwe!! We’ve also loved seeing students get involved in community work in the communities they are studying abroad in, addressing issues that are on their door steps there.

We have also enjoyed celebrating many graduations from University this year. Years of hard work come to fruition!

Fundraising
A big thank you to Leonie and Tobie (10 years old) for the fundraiser you did for us by climbing the Yorkshire 3 Peaks! What a great achievement. We are so grateful!

Stuart Campbell ran Peter’s Commute for us again this year at Sheffield High School. What a fabulous initiative this fundraiser is and we are so grateful for Stuart’s commitment over the past 8 years. Thank you Sheffield high for your continued support and belief in what we do!

Thank you to all individuals and corporates who faithfully continue to support Makomborero and the work that we do, even though the economic climate in Zimbabwe can be incredibly difficult, you have stood by us. We so value your commitment to us.

To our three partner schools – without you this all would not be possible. Thank you!

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