The journey of past Makomborero female students

A look into the journey of a past Makomborero female student

October in Zimbabwe means we are right in the thick of spring. The jacaranda flowers are in full bloom, filling the air with a mild yet sweet scent and as they fall, they lay a distinctive purple carpet all over the country. Most teachers around the country joke that jacaranda flowers falling are nature’s way of telling O-Level and A-Level students that exam season is beginning. While most people are filled with the hope and sense of newness that this ‘jacaranda season’ brings, many young people around the country approach their O-Level exams with little to no hope for their future. A lot of students would have struggled to raise their exam fees, most writing their exams while owing lots of money in school fees and school levys.

Today we tell the story of three young ladies who were each awarded a Makomborero A-Level Scholarship. Makomborero (a Shona language word meaning blessings) was founded by Mark and Laura Albertyn in 2011,  its aim being to make quality and holistic education accessible to young people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. While the A-Level scholarship is Makomborero’s main project, over the years Makomborero has been able to assist in educating young people through various other ways. In 2021, Makomborero Zimbabwe took on its first male and female gap year interns. Yeukai, Nicolle and Nyasha who are featured here are our 2021, 2022 and 2023 female gap year interns. While they share this common bond of having been part of the staff at Makomborero Zimbabwe, it’s wonderful to watch their stories panning out so differently and we are proud of how each young lady is tenaciously chasing their dreams.

Starting the Makomborero journey

Yeukai, like many of our students had been facing financial difficulties which were a huge obstacle in her life. She would have to sell food stuffs in order to go to school and understandably this became more and more challenging as she drew towards her O-Level exams. Sometimes the money for school fees was not enough and she would be sent back home from school. Yeukai was awarded the Makomborero A-Level scholarship and completed her A-level in 2020. She reminisces on her time as a Makomborero student as being an eye-opening experience and a growth phase. The boarding house and the move to a new school exposed her to many more opportunities than she had ever encountered in her life helping her to widen her views and learn about different cultures. Yeukai says, ‘Makomborero came to my rescue and I am forever grateful for such an amazing opportunity to achieve my dreams.’

Nicolle not only came from a family where income was inadequate, as a family, they were also battling illness and facing huge medical bills. Without a scholarship, A-Level education was out of reach for her and she would have had to find some sort of employment after O-Level. In a country where the unemployment rate is incredibly high, finding work was far from guaranteed. Nicolle was awarded the Makomborero A-Level scholarship and completed her A-Level in 2021. She describes her two years at Makomborero Zimbabwe as similar to being adopted into a brand new, devoted family. She feels the family bonds were strengthened by games evenings, impromptu chats over meals, and annual camps. She appreciates the sympathy shown by staff and students and never having to experience tough emotions on her own. It was a perfect opportunity for her to identify her interests and passions and broaden her horizons, particularly the understanding of and support around mental health issues. Her new high school prepared her to embrace cultural diversity. Nicolle says, ‘The Makomborero A-level Scholarship allowed me to pursue a world-recognisable high school education, which enabled me to be awarded a MasterCard scholarship for my tertiary education.’

Nyasha was in her final year of O-Level when Covid-19 hit Zimbabwe. Being a day scholar meant she was heavily affected by lockdowns and had to outsource for learning resources and teach herself from home to supplement for the classes she barely had. Nyasha was awarded the Makomborero A-Level scholarship and completed her A-Level in 2022. During her two years at Makomborero, she feels she was able to find a perfect balance between school and home life. With access to a large supply of textbooks and teachers always at her disposal, she was able to stay up to date with all her classes which she appreciates. This gave her an opportunity to explore extracurricular activities out of interest rather than for transcripts. She tells us she loved spending time taking in the views of the massive yard at the boarding house where she lived during her A-Levels and she enjoyed getting to know her Makomborero siblings. Nyasha says, ‘Long and unpredictable commutes to school and inadequate lessons would have been my fate again amidst the pressures of being an A-Level student had I not been granted the Makomborero A-Level Scholarship.’

 

Becoming a Makomborero Gap Year Intern

All three ladies had found a new family by joining Makomborero and they say after completing their A-Level, they were not quite ready to leave this family yet. In addition to that, they had one more thing in common – they wanted to give back to Makomborero somehow and the gap year internship provided the perfect opportunity. Were there any lessons learnt?

Yeukai feels that through interacting with other students as well as being part of the Girl Mentorship programme, she learnt the power and importance of communication. She also learnt to appreciate the differences in people and how to accommodate others in this.

Nicolle says the most crucial lessons she took away from the internship were developing respectful relationships with coworkers, having fun at work, maintaining confidentiality, good communication skills and good time management. ‘It has been a big help in college to remember that if it’s not my story, it’s not mine to tell.’

Nyasha wanted to become a gap year intern at Makomborero from the moment she knew the position existed! She wanted to know what went on behind the scenes to ‘make everything flow’. She learnt to appreciate the contribution of every small effort to the bigger picture as she noticed how handling even the most minor of tasks affected the work output of the entire team. ‘For someone with a poor memory, I learnt how to stay on top of my plans by making use of my diary to plan my days.’

 

What life is like now

Yeukai: After completing her internship, Yeukai went to the University of Zimbabwe where she is currently studying Biomedical Science. She was awarded a Makomborero University Grant which means her fees are covered for the duration of her degree and she will only pay back once she is employed. Those funds will then be used to offer local university grants to other Makomborero students creating a cycle of students helping students. Yeukai lives at the Makomborero University Residence free of charge meaning she is a walk away from campus and does not need to worry about transport costs. As and when donations allow, all students on the University Grant Scheme receive stipends which help towards food costs and other personal costs. She says, ‘I start the day with a little bit of exercise early in the morning at around 6 a.m. The environment I stay in needs to be clean so I make sure I do my daily cleaning duty before I head out to school. It’s quite a distance to walk to school but I have learnt to make it a time to reflect and think about my day as I listen to some music. I start lectures at 8 a.m. and normally finish around 5p.m. We have an hour lunch break from 1p.m. to 2p.m. where we get to boost energy with some snacks, you know, and interact with friends. In rare cases where we finish earlier than 5p.m., we engage in some group discussions, maybe academic or social.’

Nicolle: Nicolle is currently studying a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering at the African Leadership University in Kigali, Rwanda on a Mastercard Schholarship. A typical day for Nicolle starts with an early online Software Engineering class. She says, ‘We have a late brunch with housemates while we whine about how difficult school is. After that, it’s a 10 minute walk to the campus, during which I pass many motorcycles vying for my custom. When I arrive on campus, I acknowledge the security guards in my limited Kinyarwanda before looking for my peers in a learning pod or at the outdoor study tables for peer study sessions. The rush for the bus by my classmates ends these study sessions, and I walk home in the safety of the Rwandan night.’

Nyasha is in her first year at Harvard University. She is currently an Undeclared STEM Major as she hasn’t decided exactly what she is studying. She says, ‘I wake up at 8a.m. and prepare for my first class of the day. My dorm is less than a 5 minute from all of my class venues (I love this!!) so I head out to my 9a.m. classes at around 8.45a.m. I take advantage of an hour or so break in between classes to grab brunch from the dining hall and prepare for my afternoon class. At 3p.m. I am done with classes and I head out to my room to take a power nap. At 6p.m. I have dinner with my friends. This is the best part of my day! After dinner, I head out to choir practice which goes on for about 2hrs. At 9p.m. I meet up with my friends to work on assignments and just hang out with them. My day usually ends at 1a.m. when I retire to my room.’

 

Experiencing the world as a young woman

Makomborero is passionate about empowering and supporting young women. With this in mind, we wondered how our three young ladies are navigating their new environments.

While Yeukai is still figuring out her place as a woman in her new environment, her advice to girls and young women would be, ‘Disappointment and failure are part of life. You can’t always control the outcome of things. You may not like the results, but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you tried.’

Nicolle feels that due to the seriousness with which her university treats women’s empowerment, she is experiencing the world in a manner comparable to that of a young man. She has observed that at her campus, women are given preference if they are more qualified or equally qualified for an opportunity and this deviates from the norm. With this, she feels confident in her feminism and is motivated to be her best self rather than constantly trying to prove a point. Outside of the university, Nicolle feels things are different – young women in tech are not seen as credible candidates because it is assumed that a young man with similar qualifications would perform better. To girls and young women, she says, ‘Respect yourself no matter where you come from, and whatever bad thing your heart tells you not to do, don’t convince the mind to do it.’

Nyasha says she has had the privilege to be in spaces that have made her feel that she is not any different (Makomborero and currently Harvard). But on a personal level, there are still moments she finds herself at war with her cultural norms and background as she feels like she is living outside the definition of a young Zimbabwean woman. She would encourage girls and young women by saying, ‘Whatever you do, give it your best shot! None of your efforts will go unrecognised in the long race that is your life. In the midst of it all, embrace every moment. No one moment will feel the same as another.’

Looking into the future

We have absolutely loved catching up with Yeukai, Nicolle and Nyasha. To conclude, we would like to dream with them about the future.

Yeukai would like to become a surgeon one day. She says, ‘I hope that in future I will always look for opportunities to give back to my community and be the amazing doctor that I have always wanted to be.’

Nicolle would like to become a mental health nurse and use the skills she is currently gaining in Software Engineering when she has her own practice. She says, ‘I desire and dream to improve the quality of other people’s lives in the future. I hope to be in a better position to provide for my family and give back to the community. I want to assist others in pursuing their aspirations by introducing them to opportunities they might not have otherwise known about.’

Nyasha who wants to become a neurosurgeon says, ‘My hope is to continue to grow into someone with an open minded view of the world that will enable me to embrace all the diversity and great life stories I am yet to encounter and to make meaningful relationships with people.’

A look into the journey of a past Makomborero female student

October in Zimbabwe means we are right in the thick of spring. The jacaranda flowers are in full bloom, filling the air with a mild yet sweet scent and as they fall, they lay a distinctive purple carpet all over the country. Most teachers around the country joke that jacaranda flowers falling are nature’s way of telling O-Level and A-Level students that exam season is beginning. While most people are filled with the hope and sense of newness that this ‘jacaranda season’ brings, many young people around the country approach their O-Level exams with little to no hope for their future. A lot of students would have struggled to raise their exam fees, most writing their exams while owing lots of money in school fees and school levys.

Today we tell the story of three young ladies who were each awarded a Makomborero A-Level Scholarship. Makomborero (a Shona language word meaning blessings) was founded by Mark and Laura Albertyn in 2011,  its aim being to make quality and holistic education accessible to young people who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. While the A-Level scholarship is Makomborero’s main project, over the years Makomborero has been able to assist in educating young people through various other ways. In 2021, Makomborero Zimbabwe took on its first male and female gap year interns. Yeukai, Nicolle and Nyasha who are featured here are our 2021, 2022 and 2023 female gap year interns. While they share this common bond of having been part of the staff at Makomborero Zimbabwe, it’s wonderful to watch their stories panning out so differently and we are proud of how each young lady is tenaciously chasing their dreams.

Starting the Makomborero journey

Yeukai, like many of our students had been facing financial difficulties which were a huge obstacle in her life. She would have to sell food stuffs in order to go to school and understandably this became more and more challenging as she drew towards her O-Level exams. Sometimes the money for school fees was not enough and she would be sent back home from school. Yeukai was awarded the Makomborero A-Level scholarship and completed her A-level in 2020. She reminisces on her time as a Makomborero student as being an eye-opening experience and a growth phase. The boarding house and the move to a new school exposed her to many more opportunities than she had ever encountered in her life helping her to widen her views and learn about different cultures. Yeukai says, ‘Makomborero came to my rescue and I am forever grateful for such an amazing opportunity to achieve my dreams.’

Nicolle not only came from a family where income was inadequate, as a family, they were also battling illness and facing huge medical bills. Without a scholarship, A-Level education was out of reach for her and she would have had to find some sort of employment after O-Level. In a country where the unemployment rate is incredibly high, finding work was far from guaranteed. Nicolle was awarded the Makomborero A-Level scholarship and completed her A-Level in 2021. She describes her two years at Makomborero Zimbabwe as similar to being adopted into a brand new, devoted family. She feels the family bonds were strengthened by games evenings, impromptu chats over meals, and annual camps. She appreciates the sympathy shown by staff and students and never having to experience tough emotions on her own. It was a perfect opportunity for her to identify her interests and passions and broaden her horizons, particularly the understanding of and support around mental health issues. Her new high school prepared her to embrace cultural diversity. Nicolle says, ‘The Makomborero A-level Scholarship allowed me to pursue a world-recognisable high school education, which enabled me to be awarded a MasterCard scholarship for my tertiary education.’

 Nyasha was in her final year of O-Level when Covid-19 hit Zimbabwe. Being a day scholar meant she was heavily affected by lockdowns and had to outsource for learning resources and teach herself from home to supplement for the classes she barely had. Nyasha was awarded the Makomborero A-Level scholarship and completed her A-Level in 2022. During her two years at Makomborero, she feels she was able to find a perfect balance between school and home life. With access to a large supply of textbooks and teachers always at her disposal, she was able to stay up to date with all her classes which she appreciates. This gave her an opportunity to explore extracurricular activities out of interest rather than for transcripts. She tells us she loved spending time taking in the views of the massive yard at the boarding house where she lived during her A-Levels and she enjoyed getting to know her Makomborero siblings. Nyasha says, ‘Long and unpredictable commutes to school and inadequate lessons would have been my fate again amidst the pressures of being an A-Level student had I not been granted the Makomborero A-Level Scholarship.’

 

Becoming a Makomborero Gap Year Intern

All three ladies had found a new family by joining Makomborero and they say after completing their A-Level, they were not quite ready to leave this family yet. In addition to that, they had one more thing in common – they wanted to give back to Makomborero somehow and the gap year internship provided the perfect opportunity. Were there any lessons learnt?

Yeukai feels that through interacting with other students as well as being part of the Girl Mentorship programme, she learnt the power and importance of communication. She also learnt to appreciate the differences in people and how to accommodate others in this.

Nicolle says the most crucial lessons she took away from the internship were developing respectful relationships with coworkers, having fun at work, maintaining confidentiality, good communication skills and good time management. ‘It has been a big help in college to remember that if it’s not my story, it’s not mine to tell.’

Nyasha wanted to become a gap year intern at Makomborero from the moment she knew the position existed! She wanted to know what went on behind the scenes to ‘make everything flow’. She learnt to appreciate the contribution of every small effort to the bigger picture as she noticed how handling even the most minor of tasks affected the work output of the entire team. ‘For someone with a poor memory, I learnt how to stay on top of my plans by making use of my diary to plan my days.’

What life is like now

Yeukai: After completing her internship, Yeukai went to the University of Zimbabwe where she is currently studying Biomedical Science. She was awarded a Makomborero University Grant which means her fees are covered for the duration of her degree and she will only pay back once she is employed. Those funds will then be used to offer local university grants to other Makomborero students creating a cycle of students helping students. Yeukai lives at the Makomborero University Residence free of charge meaning she is a walk away from campus and does not need to worry about transport costs. As and when donations allow, all students on the University Grant Scheme receive stipends which help towards food costs and other personal costs. She says, ‘I start the day with a little bit of exercise early in the morning at around 6 a.m. The environment I stay in needs to be clean so I make sure I do my daily cleaning duty before I head out to school. It’s quite a distance to walk to school but I have learnt to make it a time to reflect and think about my day as I listen to some music. I start lectures at 8 a.m. and normally finish around 5p.m. We have an hour lunch break from 1p.m. to 2p.m. where we get to boost energy with some snacks, you know, and interact with friends. In rare cases where we finish earlier than 5p.m., we engage in some group discussions, maybe academic or social.’

Nicolle: Nicolle is currently studying a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering at the African Leadership University in Kigali, Rwanda on a Mastercard Schholarship. A typical day for Nicolle starts with an early online Software Engineering class. She says, ‘We have a late brunch with housemates while we whine about how difficult school is. After that, it’s a 10 minute walk to the campus, during which I pass many motorcycles vying for my custom. When I arrive on campus, I acknowledge the security guards in my limited Kinyarwanda before looking for my peers in a learning pod or at the outdoor study tables for peer study sessions. The rush for the bus by my classmates ends these study sessions, and I walk home in the safety of the Rwandan night.’

Nyasha is in her first year at Harvard University. She is currently an Undeclared STEM Major as she hasn’t decided exactly what she is studying. She says, ‘I wake up at 8a.m. and prepare for my first class of the day. My dorm is less than a 5 minute from all of my class venues (I love this!!) so I head out to my 9a.m. classes at around 8.45a.m. I take advantage of an hour or so break in between classes to grab brunch from the dining hall and prepare for my afternoon class. At 3p.m. I am done with classes and I head out to my room to take a power nap. At 6p.m. I have dinner with my friends. This is the best part of my day! After dinner, I head out to choir practice which goes on for about 2hrs. At 9p.m. I meet up with my friends to work on assignments and just hang out with them. My day usually ends at 1a.m. when I retire to my room.’

Experiencing the world as a young woman

Makomborero is passionate about empowering and supporting young women. With this in mind, we wondered how our three young ladies are navigating their new environments.

While Yeukai is still figuring out her place as a woman in her new environment, her advice to girls and young women would be, ‘Disappointment and failure are part of life. You can’t always control the outcome of things. You may not like the results, but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you tried.’

Nicolle feels that due to the seriousness with which her university treats women’s empowerment, she is experiencing the world in a manner comparable to that of a young man. She has observed that at her campus, women are given preference if they are more qualified or equally qualified for an opportunity and this deviates from the norm. With this, she feels confident in her feminism and is motivated to be her best self rather than constantly trying to prove a point. Outside of the university, Nicolle feels things are different – young women in tech are not seen as credible candidates because it is assumed that a young man with similar qualifications would perform better. To girls and young women, she says, ‘Respect yourself no matter where you come from, and whatever bad thing your heart tells you not to do, don’t convince the mind to do it.’

Nyasha says she has had the privilege to be in spaces that have made her feel that she is not any different (Makomborero and currently Harvard). But on a personal level, there are still moments she finds herself at war with her cultural norms and background as she feels like she is living outside the definition of a young Zimbabwean woman. She would encourage girls and young women by saying, ‘Whatever you do, give it your best shot! None of your efforts will go unrecognised in the long race that is your life. In the midst of it all, embrace every moment. No one moment will feel the same as another.’

Looking into the future

We have absolutely loved catching up with Yeukai, Nicolle and Nyasha. To conclude, we would like to dream with them about the future.

Yeukai would like to become a surgeon one day. She says, ‘I hope that in future I will always look for opportunities to give back to my community and be the amazing doctor that I have always wanted to be.’

Nicolle would like to become a mental health nurse and use the skills she is currently gaining in Software Engineering when she has her own practice. She says, ‘I desire and dream to improve the quality of other people’s lives in the future. I hope to be in a better position to provide for my family and give back to the community. I want to assist others in pursuing their aspirations by introducing them to opportunities they might not have otherwise known about.’

Nyasha who wants to become a neurosurgeon says, ‘My hope is to continue to grow into someone with an open minded view of the world that will enable me to embrace all the diversity and great life stories I am yet to encounter and to make meaningful relationships with people.’