Tariro gives thanks!

Tariro student Ashley B.

On Thanksgiving Day, I wanted to write a short post giving thanks for yet another Tariro success story!  After meeting with our program coordinator Fadzie Muzhandu last month, I have updates about several students who are making good progress and achieving impressive things. I’ll begin by sharing the story of our student Ashley B.

Ashley’s background

From the rural area of Mhondoro, Ashley attended Rwizi Secondary School. Already enrolled in Form 4 when she joined Tariro in 2008, Ashley was looking forward to completing her Ordinary Level exams, and hoped to join another Rwizi student, Tatenda C., for Advanced Level study. Like many of our students at the time, however, Ashley’s chances of success were crippled by the economic and political crisis facing the country in 2008, and her exam results were not high enough for her to be admitted for her A-Levels.

Overcoming initial failure

Undaunted, Ashley joined Tariro’s embroidery club, and began to sew panels, saving the proceeds from her work  in order to pay the required fee to retake her O-Level exams. No longer enrolled in school, she continued to study on her own, using whatever time she could spare from doing household chores.

On her third attempt, Ashley’s dedication finally paid off, and she passed her O-Level exam. Given how hard she had struggled to pass, Ashley made the decision not to pursue A-Level study. Instead, she decided to concentrate on finding a paying position in the formal sector right away- not an easy task in a country with unemployment levels that range between 80-90%.

Finding a job

As you might imagine, Ashley approached finding a job with the same motivation she had put into her studies, researching her options, and ultimately deciding to join the Zimbabwe Republic Police. After successfully completing her training, she is now working as a policewoman in the city of Bindura, located 65km north of Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare.

Giving thanks for successful outcomes!

Nine years ago, Tariro began sponsoring our first, small group of students in the Mhondoro rural areas, where Ashley grew up. Today, we’re thankful that we’ve been able to expand and maintain our program over the years, empowering girls like Ashley to complete a high school education.

As we approach our tenth year, we’re incredibly grateful for the ongoing support of so many of the donors and friends who have enabled our work. Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Tariro welcomes program coordinator Tafadzwa Muzhandu to the United States!

Celebrating new beginnings

Tariro board president Easther Chigumira and husband Munyaradzi Chiura

Today, I’d like to share a short post celebrating the marriage of Tariro’s board president, Easther Chigumira, to Munyaradzi Chiura.  On September 22^nd, the couple was joined in marriage during a beautiful ceremony held in Harare, which was attended by family and friends from around the world. Reflecting Easther’s commitment to Tariro’s work, guests at the ceremony included two women who have also served on Tariro’s board, Janis Weeks and Marilyn Mohr, and who flew all the way from Eugene, Oregon to attend the wedding.  Joined by Cosmas Magaya, a traditional musician deeply involved with our work in Zimbabwe, Janis performed on the mbira dzavadzimu at the reception following the service, and Marilyn made the beautiful flower arrangements for the wedding and reception.

Former Tariro board member Janis Weeks performs mbira at the reception, with Musekiwa Chingodza, left, and Cosmas Magaya, right.

In an especially lovely gesture, Easther also asked Tariro students to make small, embroidered bags as wedding favors. Each of the embroidered bags was accompanied by a printed tag featuring Tariro’s logo, letting guests know about our work. Joined by our librarian, Senzeni, two of the more advanced members of our embroidery club participated in this project, and their work brightened the table arrangements greeting guests at the reception.

Wedding favors embroidered by Tariro students

Although Easther’s request was “in-house,” it represents the first time that our embroidery students have put their skills to work for a specially commissioned project, outside of the panels we have been selling in the United States to fundraise for their school fees. With the payment they received for their work, the two students who did the wedding favors are considering investing in a small income-generating project, such as buying a machine to press peanut butter.

A happy couple!

Easther and Munya, congratulations on your wedding!  We wish you many happy years together, and we’re glad that Tariro could contribute to your beautiful, special day!

Why is Tariro’s work so important? A view from the ground

Nomatter C. is one of the many teenaged girls attending school thanks to Tariro!

Did you know?

• Zimbabwe is home to over a million children who have lost one or both parents, most frequently to causes related to HIV/AIDS.
• All Zimbabwean children must pay to attend public schools.
• The average cost for a high school student to attend school is now about $500/year, including school fees, uniforms, and exam fees.
• International organizations widely recognize school attendance to be the single most effective  intervention in preventing new HIV infections.
• School attendance is particularly important for teenaged girls, who have an especially high risk of contracting HIV.

Together, these facts shape Tariro’s mission!  By educating girls in Zimbabwean communities affected by HIV/AIDS, Tariro seeks to reduce our students’ risk of contracting HIV, as well as empowering them to work toward a better future for themselves and their families. 

The effects for individual girls: Nomatter C’s story

The facts above have powerful consequences for individual girls in Zimbabwe, as illustrated by the story of Tariro student Nomatter C.

A vibrant 14 year-old, Nomatter lost her father in 2003.  During primary school, she was a beneficiary of Zimbabwe’s government-funded education program, known as BEAM.  However, once she reached secondary school, Nomatter was told that BEAM funding was no longer available.  Nomatter’s situation at home had also deteriorated dramatically, as her unemployed mother, utterly destitute, could not afford even to provide food or lodging for the family.

Nomatter’s situation improved slightly when she moved in with a sympathetic teacher from her former primary school, who agreed to act as an informal foster mother.  However, her new foster mother likewise struggled to cover the costs of sending Nomatter to school.  As a result, Nomatter missed an entire term of school before being accepted into Tariro’s sponsorship program. 

With assistance from Tariro, Nomatter returned to school late during the first term of 2012. Her teachers report that she has caught up with her peers despite missing the first two months of the school year.  Combined with Nomatter’s excellent scores in Grade Seven, Tariro’s program director Fadzie is optimistic that Nomatter will continue to do well. 

Nomatter’s dedication to her studies is reflected in the 2-hour walk that she makes to and from school almost every day, with a few exceptions when her foster mother is able to provide her with money for public transport. 

Join us in our work!

Once again, it is time for Tariro to begin our annual fall fundraising campaign.  Your donations to our campaign are critical in enabling Tariro to provide the funding necessary for Nomatter to attend school, as well as more than 50 or her peers. Please consider making a donation in support of our work, and check back regularly on the blog for updates on work, as well as our fundraising progress. You can also visit our website for more information about our organization, which is registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.   

Hope for a second chance

Teenaged mother Rachel M. has returned to school with Tariro’s support

Working with girls: the challenge of teenaged pregnancy

Today, I’d like to share with you a story that is unusual in Tariro’s history.  In previous posts, I’ve talked about the importance of acknowledging the challenges and limitations of development work, as well as celebrating our successes.  In Zimbabwe, Tariro has faced one ongoing challenge in particular- that of preventing teenaged pregnancies in a conservative social environment where unmarried women are generally prohibited from discussing or learning about birth control.

While the majority of our students finish their O and A levels without falling pregnant, we estimate the one out of every twenty-five girls either drops of our program upon falling pregnant, or writes their O level exams pregnant, significantly affecting their exam scores.  Girls who fall pregnant rarely return to school, in contrast to their male counterparts, who are more frequently permitted to complete their education even after fathering a child.

While roughly only 4% of Tariro students will become teenaged mothers, we still feel that this is too high!  In response, Tariro’s program coordinator Fadzie worked with undergraduate student researcher Laura Tolosa-Leiva from Mount Holyoke College this past December, in order to figure out why girls seems to be at particular risk of becoming pregnant during the last year of high school, as well as what we can do to reduce their risk.  In my next post, I will share an excerpt from her work.

Hope for a second chance: Rachel’s story

Today, though, I’d like to share with you the remarkable story of Rachel M., who is the first Tariro student to successfully return to school after falling pregnant during the year of her O level exams.  When I first met Rachel, in 2008, she was one of our most promising students, with exceptionally high grades.  Quiet, respectful, and studious, she was also a particularly talented dancer and musician, participating actively in our music and dance ensemble.  In fact, Rachel often seemed to be the best and most dedicated at whatever she did, from embroidery lessons to attending church.

Rachel is one of Tariro’s most talented traditional dancers

Given her outstanding performance both in and out of school, we were all shocked and disappointed when Rachel became pregnant shortly before she was scheduled to write her O level exams in 2010.  Now married, Rachel has been a stay-at-home mom for the past two years.  This year, however, she approached Fadzie to see whether there was any possibility that she could re-enroll in school.  Rachel is the first Tariro student to express an interest in finishing her education after having a child, and given her academic potential, we were pleased to offer her a second chance.  Now attending Success Academy, Rachel is re-enrolled in Form 3, and is preparing to write her O level exams next year.

We are proud of Rachel’s determination to finish her education despite becoming a teenaged mother, and we’ll keep you updated on her progress over the next few years.  Development work offers no firm promises, and we can’t guarantee that Rachel will overcome the many obstacles to passing her O levels and proceeding on to A level study.  However, her story offers an important ray of hope, and the unusual opportunity for one Zimbabwean girl to have a second chance at a better life.

I’ll leave you with an autobiography, written by Rachel in May 2008, when she first joined Tariro.

Myself

In this world everybody has a self.  Even animals have selves too.  Some people are tall, some are born crippled and some are beautiful on their faces but inside their hearts you don’t know what they are like.  Here is what I’m going to tell you about myself.

My name is Rachel M. and I am a girl aged 14. I was born on the 24th of August in 1993 at Edith Opperman Maternity Unit in Harare.  I live in Western Triangle in Highfields in Harare with my family.

I live with my mother and we are four children. My father died on the 3rd of October in 2007 after a short illness.  I am the second born and I come from Murehwa in Chikwaka village.  My totem is heart and I come from a tribe called Mutizhe. I am brown in complexion, black hair, I am not very tall and not slim or fat I am at a medium size. I go to Highfield High 1 school and I enjoy school very much.  My best friend is Faith K., we like reading and watching t.v. I don’t like friends who have bad manners, cruel to other people, who do all the bad things, who don’t know God and friend who don’t like school.  My favourite subjects are Accounts, Maths, English, Geography and History. My hobbies are reading stories and novels, writing, watching the television and hanging out with Faith.

At school I play tennis, basketball and I also like hockey and swimming although we don’t have such sports at school.  I also like playing marimba and dancing traditional dances. I like these dances because they remind me of my father. He liked traditional music and he also liked rural things. My favourite musicians are Shingisai Solumo and Celine Dion.

I like eating rice, chicken, fresh chips, ice cream, sadza, okra, vegetables and sweet potatoes. When I am at the rural areas I like eating sadza, beef, vegetables and okra. I like to wear clothes and shoes which match and fit me. My favourite colours are pink, baby blue, red, luminous green, yellow, white, peach, apple green and all the colours which are light colours and not dark.  My dream countries are Canada, USA, UK, Korea and Japan.

When I grow up I want to be an Accountant, to be a fashion designer, to help people who are in need and to do many good things if God helps me in my life. I love myself very much.

Reflecting on Rachel’s story…

Rachel’s story paints the picture of an average teenaged girl, whose father’s sudden death threw a stable family into significant financial as well as social distress. I’m so pleased that she has made the courageous choice to return to school.  Rachel, we love you too!

Introducing Tariro’s 2012 Enrollments!

Brenda M. is one of 8 new students enrolled in Tariro in 2012

In this post, I’m please to begin introducing you to some of Tariro’s newly enrolled students for the 2012 school year.  Given our students’ exceptionally high pass rate for O-level exams in 2011, we now have an unprecedented number of nine students enrolled in Advanced, or A-level study!  This means we’ve accepted a slightly smaller number of incoming students, with eight new enrollments this year. This brings the total of students enrolled in our sponsorship program to 56.  Additionally, six of our past students, who have finished various levels of education ranging from O-levels to university level study, continue to participate regularly in our extra-curricular activities, including our traditional music and dance group.

While the majority of our students have lost one or both parents, Tariro’s sponsorship program accepts both orphaned and vulnerable children, a category widely recognized by the best practices of many international organizations.  In today’s post, I introduce you to our student Brenda M., who is one of our few students to experience the stability of having two living parents.  Despite this intact nuclear family, however, Brenda’s need for educational sponsorship is overwhelming.

Brenda M.

14 years old, Brenda M. is enrolled in Form 1 at Domboramwari High School, in Epworth.  Her father is blind, and has never benefited from any type of special services such as vocational training, leaving him unable to perform even basic household chores. As a result, Brenda’s mother is responsible for running the household and caring full-time for Brenda’s father, as well as her younger sister, who is currently enrolled in primary school.  Unable to pay rent, Brenda’s parents live with extended family members, in a pattern typical of Zimbabwe’s informal social networks.  Her father’s maternal uncle, who works in a shop in Harare, offered them a room in his house, and has generously taken on the entire responsibility for paying bills and covering food for this extended household of relatives .

After finishing grade seven, the last year of primary school in the Zimbabwean school system, Brenda applied for financial assistance with her school fees from the government’s Basic Education Assistance Module, or BEAM, a program designed to provide support for the education and health care of orphaned and vulnerable children in Zimbabwe.  However, as the United Nations has observed, this program has been “threatened as economic conditions worsen, and as donors become more reluctant to fund President Robert Mugabe’s regime,” leaving many of Zimbabwe’s needy children without adequate support.

When Brenda learned that she had not been accepted into the BEAM sponsorship program, she was desperate to find another source of assistance to enable her to continue attending school.  Given her good grades, her primary school teachers came together in an extraordinary gesture, contributing money from their own small salaries to pay her school fees for the first term of Form 1, allowing her to begin secondary school at Domboramwari.  Aware of Brenda’s unsustainable financial situation, the headmaster at Domboramwari immediately contacted Tariro’s program coordinator, Tafadzwa Muzhandu, to recommend her as a candidate for our sponsorship program.

We’re pleased to have such a great new group of incoming students, and we’re even more pleased that so many of our old students are continuing on in the program, during their A-level studies!  In the coming weeks, I’ll be posting more profiles of new students, as well as updates on some familiar faces.  Thanks again for your ongoing support of Tariro’s programs!  We couldn’t do it without your donations and encouragement!

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!