The process of setting up our first preschool - a LONG one!!!!

Once we had decided on the idea to set up a preschool, originally for the children of Faith and Hope and those in the surrounding communities, I recruited my trusty friend Mary* and we began what promises to be a long and frustrating but exciting journey towards our first, hopefully of many, pre-schools under the FP banner. 

Visits were made to various pre-schools in other high density areas around Harare, as well as in the areas surrounding the Faith and Hope Centre.  The pre-school model is all fairly similar, and although most of them are very well run, the cost of the schools varies from US$18 to US$90 a month - a bit ridiculous to even consider for a household of whose monthly income is more or less US$50 and in whom at least 2 or 3 pre-school aged children live. 

 The excitement of having their photo taken by a murungu!

 Nap time in the green zone - vital for any child's early development.  The children are well versed in the day's activities and the government curriculum provides for a holistic programme....

These schools, however, were an encouragement to the idea of our project as the children were HIGHLY entertaining and provided us with much amusement as they sang to us and showed us their artwork on the walls.  To have all these little faces shining up at us, asking us ‘How do you do?’ and telling us ‘It is very nice to meet you’ in perfect English was almost too much for us to handle.  We left each school feeling extremely excited at the prospect that our children could be taught their alphabet and numbers and how to draw and colour in between the lines, as well as relating to others their own age.  We also left feeling slightly despondent that those children at the schools we visited included only those that could afford to pay the fees and who would thus benefit from the advantage of attending a pre-school. 

 

How wonderful it will be when our kiddies can sit in a line and sing to their visitors! 

However, we decided to proceed and see how far we could get.  With the five pre-school aged children that we have at Faith and Hope, we already have a small and very bright class but we wanted to see what the need was outside our gates.  So we took the chance of a bright winter afternoon in Harare to visit one of the surrounding communities.  I already stuck out like a sore thumb and without Mary* by my side, the project would have ended there and then!  We were swamped by ladies who had been drawing water from the well. As they each picked up a chubby, grubby toddler by the one arm, wiped its snotty nose with the bottom of their t-shirt, they walked towards us with their unsupported bossoms swinging freely under their shirts.  And there and then we realised that there IS in fact a great need for some sort of childcare for these children. As well as the chance for them to be stimulated, fed and loved while their parents attempt to earn the measly income that they do.

Once the group had got used to our presence, we began to ask a few questions to ascertain the number of children in the community - how many go to school, why they don’t, what the average income of the community was, etc.  The results of our questioning pointed towards a perfect market for our pre-school as well as a large group of people offering to be the headmistress, the grounds-man and any other employment we might like to offer them!  We suddenly realised that there was room for a pre-school in this community alone as well as at Faith and Hope and probably in every suburb we might enter in these areas around the city – and so we have started to make this realisation into a reality!



Building foundations

Building foundations...with your own two hands

Welcome to the Foundations Project (FP) blog.  This is a story written by me, a Zimbabwean girl coming ‘home’ after 15 years exploring the world and all it has to offer (well, perhaps not ALL but a small sample!)  The story starts with the idea to set up pre-schools for orphans and vulnerable children; children who do not have the opportunity that I had to grow up in a country that was the bread basket of Africa; the freedom to learn and play in the knowledge that my parents would provide me with an education which would set me up with a future. 

The central theme of the FP blog is a serious one but the main aim of it is to report back on the amazing adventures of setting up such a project in Zimbabwe the way it is today. A country where things do not work as they might in other places and thus, where every day is filled with surprises and experiences unlike any that you might encounter in any first world country or even ANY other country around the world!   

Background to the project (slightly dull and sobering but important nonetheless)

Many of us are given the opportunity for a future through the foundations that we are provided with; the upbringing we receive, as well as the education that we so take for granted.  There are many who do not have the chance of a future due to the fact that they are not provided with the basic human rights that we might be fortunate enough to enjoy: health, education, physical attention and love from our families and those around us.

                                       

Having volunteered at The Just Children Foundation (justchildrenfoundation.org) I have become aware of the importance of all of these human rights in the upbringing and holistic development of children.  Watching the older children head off to school each day, one recognises a sense of purpose to their lives in which they leave the residential care of the Faith and Hope Centre to go out into the world to learn and to interact with other children who may or may not be more fortunate than themselves.   The younger children, below the age of six, do not have this luxury as the pre-schools in the area are too expensive and the government does not provide subsidies for them to go to school.  They spend 24 hours a day at the home and interact only with those who live or work in the home on a daily basis.  Any other interaction comes in the form of visitors who are there for a flying visit and who inevitably bring ‘treats’.  Their view of the world is limited to the Faith and Hope Centre and to the ‘foreigners’ who ply them with goodies. 

Once they reach the age of six, the children leave the safety of the centre and embark on the five kilometre walk across the busy Bulawayo Road to primary schools in the adjoining suburb of Kuwadzana.  They are overwhelmed with a world completely foreign to them and are THEN asked to take part in the institution of school, being expected to behave in a certain way, understand certain commands and learn from scratch those skills that their counterparts will have learnt at pre-school.  It was hard enough wearing a uniform for the first time, let along being introduced to the outside world for the first time when I entered grade one a few years ago!

So came about the idea to start a preschool for these children – a place in which they could learn, play and get used to being taught. As well as where they could meet their peers from the local community who are in similar situations regarding the affordability of pre-schools in the area. 

This blog hopes to provide you with an insight into the development and progress of the project and invites you to give your opinions or ideas if you would be so inclined!