Music from Tariro students… now on FB!

The cover shot for Tariro’s album, “Maungira EZimbabwe”

Did you know Tariro offers an album featuring music performed by our students, alongside their music teachers and friends?  The album, “Maungira EZimbabwe,” or “Echoes from Zimbabwe,” offers a selection of various musical instruments and genres, extending from up-tempo marimba performances by our students to meditative acoustic guitar pieces performed by renowned musician Tute Chigamba.  In addition, the album offers recordings of many musical styles that are difficult to find, and under-represented on most collections of Zimbabwean music, including the chipendani mouthbow, as well as drumming, singing, and dance genres such as mbakumba.

Tute Chigamba plays the chipendani mouthbow for an audience of Tariro students

Speaking as Tariro’s director, my favorite track on the album is an extended solo performance of on the mbira dzavadzimu by Paradzai Gore, the first mbira player to join legendary Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo.

Our album is available on CDBaby, and now, it is also linked directly to our Facebook page!  Visit either page to hear samples from the album’s tracks, and help us share the news with friends.  Buying “Maungira EZimbabwe” is a great way to experience new sounds from Zimbabwe, as well as supporting our students’ efforts to contribute to their own educations by performing with our music and dance ensemble.  Thanks again for your support!

Tariro program coordinator receives multiple fellowships!

Brilliant, kind, and dedicated, Tariro's program coordinator Tafadzwa Muzhandu (right, shown with student Tatenda C.) has been honored with two fellowships!

I’m writing to share some wonderful news from Tariro!  Our program director, Tafadzwa Muzhandu, has been selected to participate in the Community Solutions Program, administered by the United States Department of State.  This unique program offers participants the opportunity to complete a four-month fellowship in the United States, working with a non-profit or governmental organization.  By offering this type of professional development, the program intends to work toward positive change in areas such as women’s issues, conflict resolution, and accountability.

Worldwide, only 66 fellows are accepted into the Community Solutions Program each year.  By accepting Fadzie as a fellow, the US Department of State has made a strong statement that she is among “the best and brightest global community leaders!”  When I recently wrote to Fadzie to ask her what she was most excited about doing as a Community Solutions Program fellow, she replied:

The Community Solutions program is exciting because of the mentorship aspect. I think when you spend too much time in Zimbabwe, you get used to how difficult it to do anything and that sometimes limits your ability to think outside the box.  I know this program will give me a new perspective, and will be refreshing to do something different. I am looking forward to meeting practitioners from all over the world and learn new ways of thinking and running projects like Tariro.

Fadzie will arrive in the United States on July 30^th, and stay until December 7^th.  While she has not yet received the name of her hosting organization, I will post to the blog again as soon as we know where she will be.

In addition, Fadzie has received yet another invitation to visit the United States from Mount Holyoke College, which plans to bring her for a two-week residency organized by Professor Holly Hanson, with funding from the Mellon Foundation.  During her time at Mount Holyoke, she will speak to students about her work with Tariro, as well as exploring the possibility of hosting student internships and research on the ground in Zimbabwe.  She is currently working to schedule this visit in conjunction with her fellowship from the State Department.

Please help me in congratulating Fadzie on being awarded these two honors!  You can pass your greetings and congratulations on to her by posting a comment on this post, or by posting a note on Tariro’s Facebook page.

A profile of Morline W.

Morline W.

In today’s post, I’m writing to share another student profile. Fourteen years old, Morline W. lives with her widowed mother in the township of Epworth.   Located on the outskirts of Harare, Epworth is one of the poorest communities in urban Zimbabwe.

Morline was enrolled in Tariro in mid-2011, after the headmaster at Domboramwari Secondary School introduced her to us.  Throughout primary school, Morline’s mother struggled to pay her school fees, and Morline spent a significant amount of time out of school.  Once she was enrolled at Domboramwari, Morline’s mother would plead with the headmaster at the beginning of each term to allow Morline to come to class, despite the fact that she could not afford to pay her fees.  Because Morline is one of the most academically talented students in her year, the headmaster allowed her to come to school, but continued to keep track of the amount of money Morline’s mother owed in fees.

When the headmaster approached Tariro to assist Morline, our program coordinator Tafadzwa asked what the school is doing to assist students like Morline.  In their conversation, the headmaster pointed out that more than 50% of his students are orphans and vulnerable children, and that the school requires the money generated by tuition revenues to pay for teacher salaries, upkeep of the grounds, and administration.  His options were thus limited to allowing parents and guardians to come up with payment plans.  Morline’s mother was one of the parents who was trying to cover the costs of tuition through incremental payments, but she struggled to pay even the small sum of $5 US per month.

Morline dreams of becoming a doctor when she finishes school, but as her mother struggled so hard to pay her fees, she did not have confidence that she would be able to complete the Ordinary and Advanced level studies necessary for enrollment in university.  Now that she receives sponsorship from Tariro, however, she has increasing confidence that her dreams may become reality!

As Morline’s mother has observed, Tariro’s educational sponsorships not only enable orphaned and vulnerable girls to work toward their futures, but also some level of normalcy in the present for young women who have gone through extremely difficult times.  Thank you for joining us in support of our mission to educate and empower orphaned and vulnerable girls like Morline!

Tariro students achieve extraordinary success in O level results!

Yeukai K. is one of Tariro's many students to pass her O level exams this year!

Exciting news about Tariro’s 2011 pass rates!

I’m writing today with exceptionally encouraging news from our program coordinator, Tafadzwa Muzhandu.  As some of you already know, students enrolled in secondary school in Zimbabwe write Ordinary, or “O” level exams after finishing Form 4.  Their results on these exams determine whether or not they are able to proceed to Advanced, or “A” level study.  In the past, Tariro’s pass rates have significantly beaten the national average.  In 2010, for example, roughly 30% of our students passed their O-level exams, compared with only 16.5% of students nationally.  However, we still haven’t been satisfied with a pass rate of 30%, and have sought to implement a number of strategies to raise our pass rate.  These strategies have included extra-curricular tutoring and academic guidance counseling, as well as revisiting the schools we sent out students to, in order to ensure they are receiving quality instruction.

This year, we’ve seen our efforts result in huge gains for our students!  In 2011, sixteen Tariro students wrote O-level exams, and ten of them passed, giving us a much higher, 62% pass rate!  This is well above Zimbabwe’s 2011 national average of 19.5%.

What does this mean for our students, and for Tariro?

As Tafadzwa reports, our exceptionally high pass rate in 2011 means that we have a record number of six students proceeding to A-level study.  This potentially means that in three or four years, we will have five or more students enrolled at the University of Zimbabwe.  We’re so pleased to see our efforts paying off, and bringing tangible, positive results for our students!

This development also means that we have some additional fundraising to do!  A-level study is considerably more expensive than O-level study, especially as Tariro must be able to cover the costs of taking A-level exams once students finish the two years of Advanced level courses.  In addition, most A-level students required new uniforms, and more expensive textbooks.  Finally, career guidance counseling efforts must be intensified for A-level students, in order to ensure that they make a successful transition into University study.

We are committed to taking our students as far as they can go in school, extending to the level of a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Zimbabwe.  But we can’t do it without your help!  Please consider making a donation to assist Tariro in covering the additional costs of sponsoring such a high number of A-level students in 2012.  If you’d like to contact us to discuss making a donation, or propose a fundraising event on our behalf in your community, we’d also love to hear from you!

Letter of thanks from a Tariro family

As we move into the weekend, I’d like to offer you a short letter of thanks that Tariro recently received from Patience Chaitezvi, the aunt of one of our sponsored students, Gillian M.  Patience is a high school teacher in the town of Chinhoyi, several hours away from Harare.  She is also an excellent musician, and has toured the United States twice playing the mbira dzavadzimu, one of the best-known Zimbabwean instruments.

While the poverty line for an urban family Zimbabwe is pegged at $540 per month, school teachers such as Patience make an average of $253 per month, making the income from her tours abroad essential in supplementing her earnings as Patience raises her son Lionel.  In addition, Patience’s family has experienced several significant losses, leaving many orphaned children who Patience struggles to support.  Among them are the four children of her brother Endiby, who passed away in 2010.

While Endiby’s eldest daughters have secured scholarships to pursue university-level study, his younger son and daughter were at risk for dropping out of school.  As his daughter Gillian already attended Highfield High 1, one of the schools within Tariro’s sponsorship program, she applied for enrollment within our organization and was accepted shortly after her father’s death.  As you will read in Patience’s letter, Tariro’s executive director Jennifer Kyker also worked closely with Patience to recommend fundraising strategies through which Patience was able to raise funds for Gillian’s brother, who was not eligible for enrollment in our program due to our focus on working with teenaged girls.  Finally, Patience thanks us for sponsoring the daughter of yet another mbira player who passed away within the Highfield community, Silas Madziva.  Here is her letter, in full:

“Dear Tariro Organisation

“I have written this email to show my gratitude towards your organisation for helping me pay fees for Rutendo Gillian M. who is my niece.  Since the passing away of my brother last year I faced so many difficulties and one of them is paying fees for his kids.  But you made my life easier when you accepted Rutendo in your organisation.  You are as good as her guardians because you are helping build her future.  A child with no education does not have future.

“I thank you so much.  My brother was a breadwinner in my family and passing away meant a huge responsibility to me and yet my earnings can not sustain the family even for 2 weeks.

“When I came this year i did not even mention Rutendo because she is well taken care of.  I talked about Tapiwa who is her brother who needed fees since he is a brilliant young guy. I’m so happy I got ideas from Jennifer which made me have money for 3 terms.  I’m so grateful.

“Last but not least I thank you so much for paying fees for Silas Madziva’s daughter.  To me Silas Madziva is a brother because of his totem, the eland (Museyamwa).  Just before he died he told his relatives that when he passes on they should contact me, because I will be able to inform his American friends and they will help out send her daughter to school.  I did and Chris from Seattle did help a bit by and Tariro Organisation accepted her.  To me Silas, even though he has gone, his spirit is resting because he wanted his child to complete school though he did not leave any funds to help the daughter.  I thank you so much and hope you will continue with this loving spirit.

“NDATENDA CHAIZVO (I thank you so much)
Patience”

I’ll leave you with a short clip on YouTube, which pairs some experimental images with a track of Patience playing with her late brother, and Gillian’s father, Endiby.

Reintegrating students in school: A profile of Tinotenda B

Tariro student Tinotenda B

In my last post, I discussed Tariro’s strength in reintegrating students who have been out of school for extended periods due to the financial hardships facing their families, many of whom are caring for multiple orphans.  Today, I’d like to profile one student whose story illustrates the many challenges that face orphaned girls seeking to attend secondary school in Zimbabwe.

Tinotenda’s story

This student is Tinotenda B.,who had been forced to drop out of school almost two years ago, after losing her parents.  She currently lives with an uncle in Glen Norah, who is unemployed and unable to pay for her education.  Tinotenda had heard about Tariro from a friend, and she came to our offices to get more information, passionately exclaiming that school was the only important thing in her life.  Despite the fact that we were not in recruiting mode at the time, Tinotenda showed incredible determination and persistence, convincing our program coordinator Tafadzwa to enroll her in Tariro before our normal, end-of-year recruitment season.

Hope and determination

Every time Tinotenda appeared in our office, she wore the same dress, which she admitted was the only one she owned.  Upon conducting a home visit to assess her living situation, however, Tafadzwa discovered that despite owning only a single dress, Tinotenda had managed to amass a collection of old school uniforms from friends who attended different schools.  As she explained, she knew that once she found a sponsor, she would want to immediately begin attending school, without having to worry about buying uniforms.  As our program coordinator Tafadzwa relates, “I was surprised at her determination and hopefulness when she had been out of school for two years.”

Obstacles to enrollment and the need for advocacy

After accepting Tinotenda within Tariro’s educational sponsorship program, however, we had to conduct intensive community advocacy in order to find her a place in school.  Given the long period of time she had spent without attending school, she was unable to secure the transfer letter normally required for new enrollments at the government public schools in her neighborhood.  Our program coordinator visited several area schools, yet was unable to find one willing to give Tinotenda a place, because there was no evidence that she had ever attended school previously.

To overcome this obstacle to her enrollment, Tinotenda said she was willing to be placed in an entry level class, known as Form 1.  Finally, after several extended discussions with local headmasters, our program coordinator managed to convince the headmaster at Glen Norah High 1 to accept Tinotenda.  Because Glen Norah High 1 was the only school willing to accept Tinotenda, she must walk an hour to get to school everyday, yet she has not missed a day since she was admitted last term.  Tinotenda wore one of her borrowed uniforms for a term, until Tariro  purchased a new uniform for her to use.

A child is a cloth…

Tinotenda’s success in re-enrolling in secondary school after such a long absence was made possible through a combination of her own perseverance and dedication, as well as the intensive advocacy efforts exerted by our program coordinator, Tafadzwa.  In turn, Tariro’s ability to sustain this type of grassroots advocacy is made possible by all of the many donors who contribute to our programs, enabling us to pay school fees and related expenses for Tinotenda and almost 60 other girls.

As a Shona proverb says, “A child is a cloth, which is held by everyone.”  On behalf of Tinotenda and all of us at Tariro, thank you for being part of the community of support holding up our girls!

Happy New Year from Tariro!

A student's family relaxing at home in Epworth, from our Kids with Cameras workshop

As we move into 2012, I’d like to thank all of the many people who donated to our fall fundraising campaign.  I’m pleased to report that Tariro raised $20,484 in the final months of 2011!  This amount is enough to cover the costs of our educational sponsorship programs in Zimbabwe for one school term, enabling us to sponsor 60 students from January through the end of April.  As always, we’ll be working hard to continue to raise funds throughout the year, in order to finance our sponsorship programs during the second and third terms of 2012.

Even given all of the work Tariro does, however, it is even more important to remember that the largest share of responsibility for our students, both social and economic, is born by the extending families supporting Zimbabwe’s orphaned children.  As our program coordinator, Tafadzwa Muzhandu reports,

The frontline service providers for Tariro girls are families, households and communities. Tariro provides a complementary service, and for the organization to remain relevant and effective we have to listen to guardians and students as well as appreciate the various challenges the households we work with face. Schools also play an important role in each of our student’s lives, hence cooperation with the different school heads is very important, as well as identifying teachers and staff who may be able to assist in our outreach programs.

Our grassroots approach is essential in enabling us to maintain the kind of community relations that enable us to work effectively with our students and their families, and continues to produce wonderful results.  In our forthcoming 2011 Annual Report, for example, our program coordinator has highlighted our strength in re-integrating students who have found themselves compelled to withdraw from school due to a lack of ability to pay school fees.

In a few days, I’ll be posting a profile of one of our exceptional students, Tinotenda B., whose story illustrates our success in using community connections to reintegrate students who have dropped out of school.  Stay tuned for this moving portrait, and thank you again for your support!