On 12 June 2021, SCOPE Zimbabwe held its 3rd Annual General Meeting. The meeting was attended by SCOPE staff, board members, SCOPE community of practice representatives, partners from sister Organizations, School project representatives, and Ministry of Education representatives.
During the 4 hour-long meeting, some of the key highlights included the testimonies that were shared by school project representatives from 3 schools namely, Glen View 6 Primary School, Tumba Primary School, and Chirumba High School.
Glen View 6 Primary School
Mrs. Mungani, the teacher at Glen View 6 Primary school, highlighted that despite COVID19, they continued with project implementation and rolling out landscape designs. They managed to prepare mandala beds and herbal gardens with a wide variety of herbs such as mint which they have harvested and awaiting packaging.
Besides herbs, the school also has managed to harvest a lot of sweet potatoes and vegetables. She also reported that their current free-range chickens and rabbit projects have been doing extremely well and are projecting to start earning revenue soon.
Another positive development stated by Mrs. Mungani was the introduction of an inclusive community garden that incorporated people living with disabilities who stay in the nearby community. To ensure that their projects are as socially inclusive as possible, Glen View 6 Primary School decided to allocate a small piece of land to people living with disabilities.
Building on the knowledge gained at the Food Processing and Preservation workshop organized by SCOPE Zimbabwe from 10 to 16 May 2021, the school managed to organize two training workshops on making Maheu and jambalaya.
Mrs. Mungani concluded by affirming that Glen View 6 is likely to continue doing more for their learners and the community in light of their current project implementation trajectory.
Chirumba High School
Mr. Mudhara, the school head for Chirumba High School, stressed that notwithstanding the effects of COVID19, they continued to function with projects being manned by a very small group of staff members that remained at school.
Mr. Mudhara informed everyone that they had about 127 stations of banana plants, with each station having 3 plants of bananas. All the 127 banana plants fall into 5 different types of banana trees including, but not limited to sweet william and ladyfinger. Besides banana trees, Mr. Mudhara stated that they have also planted orange trees, lemon trees, naartjies, avocadoes, and Mauritian guava trees.
He reported that they had harvested close to 1000 heads of vegetables and had purchased huge quantities of organic manure to prepare for a bigger project for 500 cabbages. Besides cabbages, the school has been producing a wide range of vegetables and sweet cassava. Beekeeping and piggery projects are some of the projects that Mr. Mudhara stated sustained the school through the COVID19 pandemic.
In terms of revenue, just this year, Chirumba High School has realized almost ZWL5000 from selling banana transplants in the nearby community and are currently looking for a special banana variety that produces close to 600 fingers, as a means to increase output. He informed everyone that their clientele base is diverse with some clients coming as far as Gokwe.
Mr. Mudhara concluding by stating some of the challenges they faced including theft and vandalism from the community and wildlife. He proposed the construction of a barricade. He also stated that limited land was another hindrance to project growth and suggested that if these issues are addressed, the school can be able to do much more.
Tumba Primary School
The school head of Tumba Primary School Mr. Matsheza indicated that the availability of water in rural areas is a priced achievement and because of SCOPE funding, they had managed to have water and this has boosted the school’s reputation in the community.
Due to the availability of water, the school has made significant progress in becoming self-sufficient with improved productivity in the nutrition and kitchen garden. He highlighted that the school has also witnessed significant progress on the staff personal plots they allocated to their teachers which has enhanced staff retention.
Besides the teachers, the learners have also been eager to work in their gardens because of the benefits they witness through the effective school feeding program. Mr. Matsheza stated that the school has also started a rabbit project after getting seed rabbit from one of the teachers and is hoping to receive banana transplants from Mr. Mudhara from Chirumba High School since the school has done so well in rolling out their banana projects.
He concluded by citing the challenges which they faced in the last 12 months. Mr. Matsheza emphasized that they had received about 5 beehives and some were stolen and fortunately, the thieves were caught and arrested.
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