Lesedi School and Clinic (Ngoko Trust)
Intabayengwe Village, Zimbabwe
Lesedi School & Clinic provides
quality education and health services to communities in a rural area in
Zimbabwe just 15-minutes' drive from Victoria Falls.
Background
In 2013, one of the co-founders of Ngoko Safaris, Benson Siyawareva, got
involved with the Ntabayengwe community and realized that many children
were not attending school. Along with his business partner, Fiona Thompson,
Benson began working with the community on an ambitious plan to build
a primary school in the local area, aiming to break the cycle of poverty
through the power of education.
The reasons for the high levels of poverty
in this area are complex. The communities around Lesedi were relocated
in colonial times and now survive by cattle raising and limited subsistence
farming on the infertile Kalahari Sand soils. Human-wildlife conflict
is rife as the area is adjacent to the Zambezi National Park and Jafuta
Forest, so cattle are often taken by lions.
Lesedi School
Lesedi Primary School now teaches two Early Childhood Development (ECD)
classes, plus Grades 1-7, to around 300 pupils. Our Grade 7s will graduate
from primary education this year and we need Lesedi Secondary School to
be ready to welcome our first intake by January 2022.
We have already built four classrooms and
a couple of teachers cottages but need to equip the school. In addition
to the core subjects we intend to offer practical subjects such as computing,
textiles, food technology, woodwork and metalwork. These subjects require
significant investment in equipment, something that is not normally possible
at rural schools. Virtually all our children are sponsored and they receive
two hot meals each school day along with medical and other welfare support.
The communities are poorly educated, partly due to the lack of a local school. When they did attend school, children were regularly excluded due to non-payment of school fees but also parents often preferred children to remain at home to help with household chores. There were few positive role models and aspiration levels were low. Alcohol dependence was an issue, with some households engaged in the illegal moonshine business. Many families are dealing with ill health, including HIV and AIDS.
Lesedi Clinic
Soon after starting this project, it became apparent
that healthcare was also a huge issue for the communities in this area.
With the nearest clinic 28km from Lesedi, medical treatment was not
an option for many families. The vast majority of the Lesedi pupils
had never seen a doctor, despite some having serious medical conditions.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our supporters, we were able
to build Lesedi Clinic in 2019. The clinic includes male and female
wards, maternity/delivery rooms, pharmacy and consultation rooms. We
also built an expectant mothers' cottage, providing accommodation for
women during the final stages of pregnancy and ensuring they give birth
at the clinic rather than in their rural homes.
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Read reports from Ngoko Safaris contact details: |
Meet Fiona and Graeme with some of the Lesedi School teachers.
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