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!
