The Sunday Mail
Fatima Bulla Musakwa
BEHIND the towering mountains in Mazowe District, is the sprouting suburb of Mazowe Township, where a new primary school is being conveniently located to offer educational opportunities to children in the gold panning-ridden community.
The establishment of Top Quality Junior School, catering for children from poor backgrounds, is aimed at bringing change to an environment that has largely been influenced by gold rush tendencies.
Teenage pregnancies and drug abuse, both fanned by the rampant illegal gold panners, commonly known as ‘makorokozas’, child delinquencies and poverty, are the many ills that haunt surrounding farmlands and gold rich mines close to the new suburb.
For 69-year-old Gogo Imelda Chanyowedza – the lady behind Top Quality Junior School – her passion lies in keeping children from the community in school.
A retired teacher since 2007, Gogo Chanyowedza, started the school after she was inspired by her first preschool pupil – a child that had been raped by a gardener in the Criston Bank area when her parents had gone to work.
“Prior to my retirement I just enjoyed helping children doing remedial work. Any child whose performance was backward I would help them read or write. I loved working with children whether at home or at school. Just helping for free.
“But I was still at work when I started coaching children, then I retired and returned to teaching but voluntarily.
“It just happened that a child was raped in our area of Criston Bank by a gardener, while the parents were at work. I heard it through the grapevine. This made me think that the child was raped because the area was not conducive for the parents to leave the child during the day.
“That really made me make this move, a school offering a place where they can spend a day for the sake of their protection,” Gogo Chanyowedza said.
By the end of the first month, she had 10 students. And they had increased to 20 by the end of the first term.
With demand for education rising, she then moved to rent a building in Mazowe Township, which resulted in her enrolment jumping to 124.
Her classes ranged from ECD A to Grade 7.
The school currently employs eight teachers, a driver and a cook.
Although she was concerned about security in the area, which is dominated by often-violent gold panners, the school has been operating smoothly.
The school’s first group of students completed their ordinary level last year.
She speaks of the challenges of raising and teaching children in a mining community:
“I remember one time we had an experience of a child who brought mercury to school because they use it at home. It was a cause for concern. I know that around the area, there are a lot of children who are not going to school, a lot of drop outs, early pregnancies and suchlike.
“It’s not the lifestyle we want for these children. You see young girls moving around with ‘makorokoza’, getting involved with them.
“We thank God that within this area, there are also people who value education. We have very cooperative parents who know what they are doing.”
While regulations require children to attend a minimum of two years of preschool, Gogo Chanyowedza has extended her services to even younger children whose parents are not constantly available.
With the demand for education continuing to rise, Gogo Chanyowedza says she is in the process of building a bigger educational facility about two kilometres from the rented premises.
However, because she is using personal funds to build, it has proven to be a huge challenge.
“We are constructing a building in the low density area of Mazowe Township, on the northern side.
“We have finished putting trusses, and now aiming to roof the school. Also outstanding are window frames and pans, flooring, plumbing and installing solar energy, as well as a borehole. Those are the priorities currently,” she said.
When completed, the school will cater for 25 students in each of the nine classrooms.
There are also plans to build another classroom and residential blocks for teachers.
Children from Mazowe, surrounding farms, Jumbo and Stories Mines, as well as Criston Bank, will be catered for by the school.
“We really need assistance,” she said.
Gogo Chanyowedza’s long-term vision is to build a secondary school facility, and a soup kitchen to feed kids she sees loitering in the community.
“And if all allows, we would even introduce tailoring courses because I have a lot of sewing machines at home so that we can equip some of the locals around. That’s the way I can help the community.
She said she is looking for partners who can assist in paying fees for some of these children.
Before retiring, Gogo Chanyowedza taught pupils from ECD level to ‘O’ Level students.
Her career took her to schools in Harare, Masvingo, Mashonaland West and Central provinces.
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