School visit

We had an opportunity to visit the Chinotimba Primary School for an hour or so. This is the web site for the school but I found this link associated with a local tour company. These K-7 students go year round with periodic brakes between sessions. We heard from a teacher describing the mission of the school and we observed the school dance troupe which took time out of their vacation to entertain us.

Like so many things in Zimbabwe, the school operates on a budget. The teachers are compensated with a meager salary by the parents who are able. No student is turned away. When asked about her salary, the teacher doing the presentation said she received enough to get by, but if her car needed a new tire should would have to save up for several months.

The budget mostly goes for salaries and visitors with means are asked to contribute school supplies - pencils, colors, paper, small books. Someone had contributed a computer lab which we did not have the time to inspect, but Cindy then discussed how the students were using technology (one hour per week if I heard right). Cindy asked for teachers email and now is working on a developing an epals project with the teachers in her network.

Africa is such a beautiful place and I have lots of great pictures. However, the images I uploaded yesterday took 45 minutes and I probably used most of the bandwidth for the lodge. Perhaps I will be able to add some photos at a later time when the bandwidth is better.