Air Marshal Shiri comes to the rescue

06 Nov, 2016 - 00:11 0 Views
Air Marshal Shiri comes to the rescue

The Sunday Mail

Harmony Agere recently in Muzarabani —
Beyond Mountain Darwin, near the edges of the Mavuradonha plateau in the Zambezi escarpment valley lies a little known and otherwise sleepy village called Murongwe.

Here the sun unleashes its wrath as early as six in the morning with hot air brutally blowing the slack earth into eyes, mouths and ears. By midday, drinking water will be warm while the stunted trees hardly provide any shade as they do not have enough leaves. There is not much one can do to escape the punishing heat.

Yet on Thursday last week this community braved all these hellish conditions to congregate, many in direct sunbeams, at the newly built Murongwe Primary School awaiting its official opening by President Mugabe.

“Have you heard,” school children muttered to each other in hushed but excited voices.

“The President is coming today with plenty of helicopters to bring us books and computers.”

The excitement was even more remarkable amongst the adults who would occasionally burst in front of the stage and gyrate their waists as if in competition to get marks from the seated dignitaries.

They were not only celebrating the official opening of the school but also of a new clinic just a kilometre away, which would bring invaluable convenience to this very remote community.

However, had it not been for Air Force of Zimbabwe, under the leadership of Air Marshal Perrance Shiri, there probably would not have been much to celebrate.

The Air Marshal personally mobilised support and resources to build proper structures for the school which had been using makeshift facilities built by pole and mud since its establishment in 2005.

Now with seven classroom blocks, 10 teachers’ houses, electricity, running water and a computer laboratory, Murongwe Primary’s transformation is an extraordinary rags-to-riches story.

President Mugabe inspects one of the computers donated to Murongwe Primary School during its official opening in Dande last week

President Mugabe inspects one of the computers donated to Murongwe Primary School during its official opening in Dande last week

But what inspired Air Marshal Shiri to do these great deeds in such a far away and remote area like Murongwe?  He says the support he received from this community during the liberation war inspired him to come back.

“During the war, before we had liberated the country, I was one of the freedom fighters who were deployed to work as a commander in this area,” recalled Air Marshal Shiri. “In fact, I was the last commander to operate in Dande before lndependence. There are many comrades such as the likes of General Mujuru, General Zvinavashe and others like James Bond and Kid Mawrong Wrong who also operated here before I came in 1977.

“This particular area (Murongwe) was called Nehanda Sector and it was in what was known as Tete or North East province then. So it is in this province, and this district in particular, that war started around 1972 and 1973.

“The support I received from the villagers in terms of food, clothing and information on the movements of the enemy is invaluable, the torture inflicted on them by the colonial regime for supporting us always touches my heart.”

Air Marshal Shiri added: “We would not have succeeded if the masses here in Dande were not supportive.”Despite their enormous roles in the struggle, communities like Murongwe remained poor and undeveloped after lndependence.

After three decades of lndependence, the area did not have a primary school, something which the President bemoaned bitterly during his address.And if it wasn’t for one of the Air Marshal’s “look back” trips to Dande, Murongwe’s troubles would have remained undiscovered to date.

“Sometime in 2011 I decided to come back and meet with the people who helped us in the war,” he narrated. “While I was passing by the road, I saw thatched shacks built by poles and mud. When I looked closely I realised that school children were coming out. This caught my eye and pained my heart immensely. What pained me the most is the fact that the people of this area supported war with their hearts and got tortured for it but were still living in such poverty.”

It was on this day that the idea to build a proper school for Murongwe first came to the Air Marshal’s mind.

“After I went back to Harare I asked myself, ‘Who can help me build this school?’ At that moment it popped in my mind that there is someone who I always hear singing Ndafunga Dande, Dr Oliver Mtukudzi. So I called him and said, ‘Dr Mtukudzi, there is something that I saw in Dande that I would want you to see also’.

“He agreed and we came here and showed him the makeshift classrooms. I asked him, ‘When you sing Ndafunga Dande is this what you will be missing?’.”

From then on, Air Marshal Shiri and Dr Mtukudzi joined hands to mobilise funds from companies and artistes.It was also at that moment that the AFZ Commander’s Charity Fund came to life under the leadership of Professor Hope Sadza.

“The fund was administered by a board of trustees led by Professor Hope Sadza and has so far assisted in education, health and homes,” said Air Marshal Shiri.

He said the building of Murongwe Primary took united effort from the AFZ charity fund, the business community, the Murongwe community and well-wishers from Zanu PF.

While companies provided money and building materials, AFZ provided various skills and the community provided labour.

“All this, the building of the school, teachers’ houses and the clinic shows the unity that is there between the defence forces and the people of Zimbabwe. This is what can happen when people put their minds and efforts together, they can uplift their country.”

He said the clinic will make the learning environment more conducive.Air Marshal Shiri said his team was not stopping with the primary school, as the construction of a secondary school is already underway while there are plans to build a vocational centre.

Murongwe Primary headmaster, Mr Edwin Muzondo, said the transformation of the school between 2011 and this year was swift and enormous.

“The school was established in 2005 with eight teachers and an enrolment of about 320 children,” he said.

“The shelter was built using pole and mud, so up until 2011 when the Air Force of Zimbabwe intervened we were using makeshift facilities. There were two huts to cater for eight teachers.

“From 2005 the number of pupils was growing but not very fast, probably because of the infrastructure and the fact that we were only a satellite school and we did not have an examination centre. In 2011 when construction started enrolment was 430 but after the erection of the buildings many were attracted and the enrolment shot.“I must say now we are the school with the best infrastructure in the whole of the Zambezi escarpment.”Mr Muzondo said Murongwe was now a complete school offering quality education just like those in the city.“The current enrolment is now 650 with 15 teachers, five more than the 10 in 2011. Now we have seven classroom blocks and 10 teachers’ houses. All the credit goes to the AFZ Commander and his team who influenced the corporate world to build the beautiful school for us. The building of a clinic just near the school has also brought double joy for us because children are vulnerable and need medical attention all the time.”Chief Chiswiti, who presides over Murongwe, said the relationship between the army and his people is historical and strong. He said the relationship started during the war and was made even stronger by the building of the school and the clinic.

“I would like to thank Air Marshal Perrance Shiri who was the first person to discover the school and realised that it needs help. We, as the villagers, played our part by mobilising people to come and provide labour. This has made our relationship even stronger.”

President Mugabe capped the day by praising the sterling effort from Air Marshal Shiri, encouraging him to continue with his good works in other areas of need.

He, however, lamented that in this day it is worrying that there are some areas with no schools.

“Hongu, tingati taita rufaro nekuona chikoro ichi asi chokwadi chokwadi pamoyo pangu ndatsamwa. Ndatsamwa zvikuru-kuru,” he said.
“Where was the leadership yeMashonaland Central? Kumahombe-kombe takatenderedza. Kuno kwakasara sei? I hope we don’t have more spots such as this one.”

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