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Antony Matandaudye from Bumba Primary School in Manicaland was inspired by teams of humanitarian workers assisting communities affected by Cyclone Idai.
Cyclone Idai claimed the lives of more than 1 300 people and affected more than 270 000 people when it struck Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi in March last year.
In Zimbabwe, the worst hit districts were Chimanimani and Chipinge.
So when 12-year-old Antony saw humanitarian workers in the district, he was fascinated by what engineers constructing bridges were doing.
After seeing engineers assisting in the construction and repair of bridges and other infrastructure destroyed by Cyclone Idai, Antony there and then set his mind on becoming an engineer.
“I asked one of the engineers constructing the bridges (about becoming an engineer). He said that I need to pass Science first. I want to be like them, helping people,” Antony told the team from ZIRP Newsletter.
Antony’s dream received a boost when his school, Bumba Primary, was supplied with Science kits, which are equipped with items such as compasses, levers, hanging weights, pulleys, experiment trolleys, heat kits, magnetic kits, sun height gauges and seed germinating units.
“A periscope, a sound kit, and here an electricity kit and an optical kit! We now know electricity, the flow of electricity and how electricity is generated,” continues an excited Antony, whose only source of energy at home is firewood.
For pupils such as those at Bumba Primary School, the Science kits provided by UNICEF and administered by the Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project, have helped bridge the gap between rural and the more affluent urban schools.
Scores of thousands of children in the Cyclone Idai-affected districts of Manicaland are benefiting from educational materials from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The implementing agency for the educational support is the Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project (ZIRP), being administered by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
As part of Zimbabwe Idai Recovery Project (ZIRP), the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is rehabilitating damaged primary and secondary schools in Chimanimani and Chipinge districts of Manicaland Province.
Online Reporter