Zimbabwean
Written by Mxolisi Ncube
Sunday, 25 July 2010
LONDON – A group of United Kingdom-based Zimbabwean organisations met in London last week to chart ways in which they can assist the education sector in the country, especially the Matabeleland and Midlands regions.
The groups, led by the Zimbabwe Community Association (ZCA) and Matebeleland.com, a forum for development, education, health, investment and tourism promotion in the two regions, agreed on a programme that will help rehabilitate the education system in Zimbabwe.
The programme was agreed to at a meeting the organisations held with Minister of Education Senator David Coltart when was visiting the UK to discuss the Diaspora’s assistance for Zimbabwe.
The ZCA has already launched a fundraising campaign meant to raise school fees for some identified under-resourced schools and under-privileged children in the regions, while a position paper was submitted to Senator Coltart during his visit.
“Education in Zimbabwe has suffered because of the current multi-faceted crisis and we are losing the future of a whole generation of young people to this calamity,†Freeman Ncube, the global chairman of Matebeleland.com, who also chaired the meeting, told The Zimbabwean.
“Children in Zimbabwe, especially Matabeleland and the Midlands regions, cannot afford school and examination fees because most of their parents are unemployed and it is our duty to help them as Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.
“We therefore, appeal to all Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe to join this noble cause by making contributions and coming up with suggestions on how Zimbabweans in the Diaspora can assist in the development of our country.â€
The meting was attended by various individuals and charity organisation serving the two regions.
“This is not about Matabeleland and the Midlands alone and we encourage Zimbabweans from other regions to do the same for the communities that nurtured them, so that the whole country can move forward,” added Ncube.
Matebeleland.com is currently working with Compassionate Justice International (CJI), an American-based non-profit organisation under the directorship of Zimbabwean author, Bob Scott, in trying to source funds that will facilitate the shipment of text books worth thousands of dollars to Zimbabwe.
The books were sourced from American schools and libraries through Project Aspire: Textbooks for Zimbabwe – launched by Scott’s Kansas City-based organisation and are meant to benefit under-resourced Zimbabweans schools
The two organisations will be working together in making sure that the books get distributed to the schools they are intended for and their goal is to get all the books shipped to Zimbabwe by the end of the first quarter of 2011.