Board members visiting…

Saturday was another special day for the Tariro Girls. Usually the girls meet for traditional dance practice and general meetings. However this one was a bit different as they mixed and interacted with two of Tariro’s board members who were in the country visiting. The two, Dr Stephanie Bengtsson and Dr Jo Ailwood are faculty members at the School of Education at the University of Newcastle Australia.

Words of advice: The girls listen attentively as Jo illustrates a point.

The day started with Jo and Stephanie giving the girls some career guidance. After that the girls showcased some of their marimba music and traditional dances. As if to reciprocate the girls were treated to some Zumba and Salsa dancing lessons from Stephanie ( she is a licensed Zumba instructor). It was indeed, a jovial atmosphere for everyone – releasing stress and strengthening the body!

On the dance floor: Stephanie leading the girls through some Zumba moves.

Gifts Gifts Gifts!

To put the icing on the cake, the girls received gift bags from Stephanie and Jo. In those bags was an assortment of stationery as well as sanitary ware. The girls were quite thankful for the gifts and couldn’t hide their joy.

Stephanie and Jo’s visit was a much needed morale booster for our girls. Not only did they have fun but they also benefited from the career guidance from professionals as well as invaluable gifts that will go a long way in empowering them.

The girls listening to Jo and Steph while holding their gift bags

The third and final term of the Zimbabwean academic calendar has started, considered by some as the shortest; it comes as the defining term for most students who will be sitting for their national examinations. We have students in Tariro who will be writing their final examinations this term. Three of them will be writing their grade seven examinations, this examination is a terminal examination for the primary school students, and they will be going to secondary level.

Grade seven candidates

This year it will be Rufaro M, Fadzai M and Noleen C; These girls will be seating for their Grade Seven examinations in October. Fadzai and Rufaro  have, behind them, a satisfactory academic performance and we even featured them in previous blogs for having won academic prizes of excellence. Most of you may now be familiar with Noleen C, a special needs student whom we sponsor. She is is quite excited about writing her final examinations.

Four subjects, Maths, English, an indigenous language , General paper (a combination of natural and social sciences) will be examined at the Grade Seven examinations.

Noleen C at her home in Norton

We would like to wish our girls all the best as they seek to crossover from primary to secondary education. This is also an opportunity for us to thank those of you who have been assisting us to realize our mission of educating and empowering young women and girls in communities affected by HIV/AIDS.

Fadzai displaying a certificate of academic excellence that she was awarded when at the end of her grade 6 year.

Jane in 2010, when she was doing her Ordinary Level

 A promising start and a future full of hope

On July 26 2010, we shared with you a post on Jane J. Well, we come back again with the good news that Jane is now at university. Back then, she was doing form four. When she joined Tariro she showed great academic potential such that Fadzi, our former program coordinator said “with proper guidance and support,  Jane will achieve her intended career goals.” We are glad that she has kept her focus and has managed to climb the ladder of academic success, We are thankful for your continued support of Tariro’s work and we can rejoice in another success story in the making.

Jane couldn’t hide her joy the day she left for the Midlands State University to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Human Resources Management. In her words, she was thankful for the work that Tariro and you, our supporters are doing for her and other children in our program, “..firstly when i lost my parents i thought that life was going to end but i thank God that he provided me with you guys…thank you for paying my fees, may God bless you...” said Jane with tears of gratitude flowing down her cheeks.  

Jane, just before she left for university

A call for more support

As we rejoice in this and other girls’ stories we would like to extend to you an offer to partner with us on our mission of educating and empowering girls in Zimbabwean communities affected by HIV/AIDS. Your donations are a critical in enabling us to meet this end especially now that we have more students in university than before. 

You can also make a one-time donation to Tariro through JustGive, or by sending us a check at:

Tariro: Hope and Health for Zimbabwe’s Orphans
PO Box 50273
Eugene, OR, 97405
USA

Once again, it’s a big thank you to to those of you who have been supporting us throughout the years!

The girls go through their dances at the expo

It was indeed a great day for our Traditional Dance ensemble, as Tariro girls were invited to perform at the Youth empowerment Trust Expo that was held recently in Harare, Zimbabwe. Their energetic traditional dances and mellow marimba tunes lit up the atmosphere and wowed guests who included legislators in the Parliamentary portfolio committee on youth as well as fellow exhibitors and members of the public.
Apart from the dances, we got a chance to reach out to other people and organizations through the Expo. The expo was running under the theme “Creating space for young people.”

We rejoice in the fact that our light continues to shine as well in the never ending hope of total girl-child and women empowerment.

Well, after a long break, we return with some good news.

Two of our girls, Edwinner S. and Jestina T. have been accepted into university. Both will be studying at Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE).

Edwinner will be studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Social work while Jestina will be taking a Bachelor of Science degree in peace and governance. this brings the total number of Tariro beneficiaries to  6. ( Just to refresh your memory, we already have Politness N. and Melody M. at the University of Zimbabwe, Tariro K. at BUSE and Pamela K. at Harare Polytechnic college)

To Jestina and Edwinner, we wish you a fruitful academic journey ahead and we promise to be faithful companions just like in the times past.

Edwinner (L) and Jestina (R) are bound for Bindura University of Science Education

‘To be educated means… I will not only be able to help myself, but also my family,
my country, my people. The benefits will be many.’

These touching words were said by Meda Wagtole, a schoolgirl from Ethiopia and they are full of promise and hope for improved individuals, families, communities and the world at large.

In today’s post, I am quite happy to note that most of our beneficiaries carry the same sentiment. Let me introduce to you one of our promising star, Rufaro M. Rufaro stays with her father who is also struggling to make ends meet as a vendor in Zimbabwe’s constricting economy.

Rufaro is doing her grade 7 at Chembira primary school. While in Shona language  “rufaro” means happiness Rufaro’s story has been a capricious one with her missing out school due to non-payment of fees, lacking food and adequate clothing.

Fortunately, Rufaro is bright in school and last term she got an award for academic excellence. Rufaro is also active in Traditional dance and last year her team at Chembira reached the traditional dance provincial finals where they emerged on position 3. She is also an integral member of the Tariro dance ensemble.

Rufaro wishes to be a doctor and help other less privileged children in her situation. She is thankful to Tariro for the help she is getting and has never missed school due to non payment of fees or uniforms ever since.

At Tariro, we are glad to be assisting her as we know that odds against her are being lessened with each year of basic education that she gets.

Rufaro M in her traditional dance regalia, after a performance.

We are happy that the first term is coming close to an end and once again we find joy in the work we are doing. As many of you know, this is the term that our beneficiaries who would have written their O and A levels in the previous year receive their results. Well, just like in the years past our girls have defeated unimaginable odds to emerge victorious and empowered.

The A level results came first and we had an enviable pass rate of 80%. Our girls are waiting to get into university and other tertiary institutions and we are hoping for the best.

Next were the O level results in which we had our students doing exceptionally well, here we had a pass rate of 63% against the national pass rate of 20.72%. Currently 7 out of the 9 beneficiaries who sat for their O levels last year have been accepted into A level.

Yet as happy as we are we never forget to thank all our donors and all our friends who support us. We thank you for helping our girls outmaneuver the throes of poverty, disease, and abuse and establish themselves as empowered individuals.

Below are some of the girls who did us proud.

Pride R.

Gillian M

Women forced to eating grass at the behest of their pastor. (picture courtesy of Christian Post)

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits…” This verse from the Bible shouts out aloud as I behold the nefarious deeds that are being done to women by pastors under the guise of Christianity. Media reports are awash with these so called men of God who are abusing their posts to abuse women.

Recently in Zimbabwe we have had a pastor being jailed for 40 years for raping a number of his female congregants. The pastor is also on record for owning every woman in his church.

Another “shepherd” has been doing horrendous deeds to his flock by making them eat grass as well as physically assaulting them. The major sufferers here are women again.

Others have flagrantly molested young girls, thus betraying the trust they have been given. On record again are some pastors who use their influential positions to satisfy their perverted whims.

One is left wondering why all these regressive things are happening to women, especially in this day and age of women enlightenment and empowerment. Surely there is still a long way to go and the struggle is far from being over till women are totally emancipated. Indeed the battle fronts are ever-increasing, we have to fight against HIV/AIDS on another fronts while poverty and economic hardship on another and  it is saddening that crooked ideologies are still rearing their ugly heads on another front.

Please share your thoughts as to why these things are happening and how best they can be tackled.

This week we share a post by Tariro’s founder Jennifer Kyker on the ethnomusicology website. We get to see why sound matters in the fight to empower women in the face of HIV/AIDS and other challenges.

http://www.ethnomusicology.org/blogpost/1002374/Sound-Matters-The-SEM-Blog

A must read for those of you interested in Tariro, traditional music and the upliftment of the girl child.

We are glad to have seen interest shown by journalists on our Organization and the dance ensemble in particular. On Friday an article appeared in The Zimbabwe mail. Please read the full article on http://www.thezimmail.co.zw/2014/01/31/underprivileged-dancers-get-a-lifeline/. We aim to reach even greater heights this year!

file photo of Tariro Dance Ensemble