Online Reporter
Sunday News Correspondent
After being moved by seeing photographs of children learning while seated on the floor, MultiChoice Zimbabwe has donated 50 desks with chairs to Nketa Primary School in Bulawayo.
The new schoolroom furniture was handed over to the school at a recent ceremony, where MultiChoice Zimbabwe urged other businesses to help Nketa and other schools with donations of equipment to facilitate easier learning by students.
The presentation was part of the ongoing MultiChoice Sustainability Project, which identifies needs in communities and brings about improvement through assistance in various ways. Present at the handover were Nketa deputy head Nokuthula Ndhlovu, principal education officer Bulawayo Mehluleli Mpofu, Nketa SDC chair Mrs Ncube and ward 22 councillor Mmeli Moyo, all of whom were thrilled with the donation and spoke of the transformative nature of the gift.
We hope the donation will help students in their daily endeavours to be taught, to study and to learn,” said Gerald Ngonyamo, head of corporate affairs and public relations, who was representing Siyabulela Jemsana .
“This donation is undertaken as part of our ongoing Sustainability Project that seeks to make a difference within communities across Zimbabwe and in which we as a company remind ourselves that, over and above the provision of entertainment, there is a constant need to sustain communities through other forms of support and care.”
He said community support was a massive task and an essential part of the overall relationship between organisations, people and communities.
“There is no limit to how much can be done or to what can be done or to how many people and communities can be helped, except that in every business there is a measure based on performance and ability, so the support given is measured within the overall context of that picture.
“Over the almost 30 years that MultiChoice Zimbabwe has been in existence, a great many support activities and initiatives have been undertaken right across the country and in coming months and years this will continue, especially under the umbrella of this Sustainability Project to which I have referred.
Each activity results from a great many factors, and it is always the hope that each activity will fulfil its tactical purposes and do one thing: make a positive difference. ‘
Mr Ngonyamo said the decision to donate the desks and chairs to Nketa Primary School was a deliberate one.
“We have chosen to come to the City of Kings and Queens, which is an important centre in our business strategy and which we have chosen as the focus of our Sustainability Project following our successful launch of Shaka Ilembe season three in June and our ZIMnandi anti-piracy campaign in September, both undertaken here in Bulawayo.”
He said Nketa Primary School symbolised the hope adults placed in their children and in educational institutions.
“One of the children using these desks and chairs will be a leader, an inventor, a health champion, a sporting hero or someone who does something first, or best. We firmly believe it. What we also know, however, is that every learner who uses these desks and chairs is worthy of consideration.”
He said every single child was worthy of support, as was every school and every community.
“It is our good fortune and that of the people here today that we are here. Our Sustainability Project may be a relatively humble one, but this donation is given with pleasure, with pride and with every good wish to you all here in this school, this community, and this city.”
Mr Ngonyamo said it was also hoped that by sharing information about “this humble donation of 50 desks and chairs in today’s Sustainability Project initiative we can then encourage other businesses and individuals to do the same.”
He said: “This donation, like all others, is one brick in a wall of friendship and compassion and this wall can be built by many bricks and by many people.
“We were touched to see students here learning while seated on the ground and we know that, despite this, many remarkable things are being done by teachers and students while they learn in this environment. How much more can be done if we add desks and chairs to this equation? And even more so, if others bring more desks and chairs in weeks and months to come.”
He hoped Nketa Primary School and its young learners would continue to thrive, develop and grow.
“Make a difference, all of you, here, across the city and all over Zimbabwe.”
