Where there’s a will

the village path, she is surely running late.
Anyone who meets her would think she is running to an ordinary school but she is going to a new study group that has been opened in the area.
The study group was opened to cater for disadvantaged children and those infected by HIV in Mhondoro under the Simbarashe Network Centre for people living with HIV and Aids.
Nyasha says: “I had almost given up going to school after my mother died two years ago, but thanks to the study group I have been given a                 new lifeline to achieve my dream of becoming a nurse.”
Nyasha is one of the more than 150 students that have benefited from the opening of the study centre which has come as an achievement for a group that has always sought to help the community of Mhondoro.
Indeed, Simbarashe Network has moved a gear up towards comprehensively providing support to the community and is now offering free tuition to poor and vulnerable children.
The children are drawn from five areas under chiefs Murambwa, Mashayamombe, Benhura, Nherera and Mashava.
The group has since renovated the farmhouse at Willadale Farm to meet the standards of a study centre as required by the Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture.
The school is funded by the World Education Programme and has 11 trained teachers who are volunteers to provide tuition for the underprivileged children. WEP provides books and teaching material.
The study group has 156 pupils grouped into three study levels.
Founder and director of the school Richman Rangwani, — who is also an HIV and Aids activist — says the school was started after realising that HIV orphans and underprivileged children in the area needed help.
The school enjoyed the support of the Education Ministry and funding by World Education Programme.
“We saw that while the centre made considerably strides in raising HIV awareness among the Mhondoro community, its efforts were leaving out a critical segment of the community — the underprivileged children,” he said.
“We felt these children needed to access services that would make them respectable members of community. It was also agreed that while their parents were getting treatment and assistance, vulnerable children in the community were relying on Government assistance programmes that were unfortunately overwhelmed,” he said.
Mr Rengwani said the study group did not take children from formal schools, but catered for those who had dropped out because of their poor background.
“A through investigation had to be done to ensure that children are not moved out of schools to the study group. The children are selected with assistance of the entire community and the opinion of the village leadership and health workers taking centre stage.
“We discovered that the majority of the children were above 10 years and making it difficult to enrol them in formal schools hence the decision to start a non-formal school study group.”
The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Rangwani said, governs the study group to ensure that the quality of education at the school does not flout laid down principles.
“Demand for education among the disadvantaged has seen us opening two sites, at Jompane and Willdale farms. WEF is helping us with stipends for the teachers who are all from the local community.
“We always do our things on our own hence the deliberate intention to increase community participation in our programmes,” he said.
The school is now constructing a library to cater for the school and other students from the area.
“After erecting the requisite infrastructure, we will then  apply for private school status from Government,” he added.
In recognition of the work that the centre is doing in the Mhondoro community, Chief Murambwa gave the centre a farmhouse and an eight-hectare plot that is now under maize. The maize will be used as food for chickens being reared at the centre as part of its self-help projects.
The farming venture has been a success and last week a field day was held at the school.
The centre is now appealing for funds from well- wishers to sink a borehole and install irrigation pipes to make sure crop production is all year round.
In an interview on the sidelines of the green show commemorations, MP for the Mhondoro-Ngezi Cde Bright Matonga hailed the centre for coming up with the idea saying it dovetailed with Government policy on increased community participation in HIV and Aids mitigation programmes.
“This is a noble project that came into being through hard work and perseverance especially by the founder, Mr Rangwani. In recognition of the great work by the centre, I will make sure that this centre will benefit from the US$10 million fund availed by Zimplats under the Community Share Ownership Trust.
“I will continue to seek assistance for these children to have sufficient food and clothes and be able to attend school,” he said.
Chief Murambwa hailed Cde Matonga’s efforts in helping the centre.
“The study centre has brought relief to these children most of whom are orphans and had dropped out of school. This will surely improve the lives of these children,” he said.
A 14-year-old female pupil at the centre said: “I had almost given up on ever going to school because my parents could not afford sending me to school.
“I dropped out of school in 2007 as I had to fend for my other siblings. Given my age I could not be re-admitted toGrade 4, so this study group has come as a relief to me,” she said.