“When I look at Mary McLeod Bethune, a Black Woman, who built a college at a time when even white men weren’t building colleges, I am inspired and reinforced. She actually came to buy a piece of land for the college with $1. 50 in her pocket and nothing but a dream, and an indomitable spirit and said upon that land she would raise an image and structure for Black people and contribute to the forward flow of human history.
“ When we see models like that, people who are outnumbered, surrounded, who have no idea of when this will end, but nevertheless taking a stand and standing for the future; when we see those things in history then we understand and are compelled to dare emulate and honour them”
~Dr. Maulana Karenga~
“The Meaning and Challenge of African History,” Inaugural Keynote Address for the Establishment of Black History Month in England, 1 October 1987
Our recent discussions on the state and fate of our education system and our institutions in general stirred a memory of the quotation above. I rummaged through my library until I found it spurred by Brian Gondo’s call for practical solutions to the problems we are constantly whining about.
Then Dominic Muntanga’s post came. The Council for Zimbabwe is exactly the kind of remedy we need. My last visit to my Alma matter, the University of Zimbabwe was disheartening. The campus bookshop is akin to the country’s supermarkets- painfully bare.
I sat in a couple of African- American and Caribbean Literature classes. The lecturer, the eminent Zimbabwean poet, academic and critic, Musaemura Zimunya plight was symptomatic of the woes the entire institution is going through. The students do not have recourse to the prescribed texts: they are either not available or when they are, the students can’t afford them.
The UZ, infrastructure- wise is in a woeful state of decay. No water. Electricity comes and goes like will o’ the wisp. The once vibrant Students Union building is barred and sealed, having been shut down by the city council as a health hazard years ago, now. It is quietly and forlornly falling apart. Like everything else at the oldest institution of higher learning in this country.
As I write, the UZ, like all other State universities, is struggling to open. Lecturers are not on strike per se, they simply do not have enough money to travel to and from campus, let alone meet their daily needs. Many are leaving for the proverbial greener pastures; some are soldiering on against all odds.
The problems that face us are mammoth, but initiatives like the Council for Zimbabwe are a beacon of hope, reminding us that whatever the challenges, they are not insurmountable.
“Current efforts: We have established links with book publishers in Zimbabwe to print copies of the books used in the local examinations. On average a book costs no more than US$20 if we buy in bulk for many schools. We are raising money to pay for student tuition fees, but it is not enough to only support students. Our partner foundation in the US already sends books to Zimbabwe about twice a year to a group of 75 schools,” writes Dominic.
Bravo. The task ahead is for like- minded Zimbabwean, from Joe the Plumber to the professor of robotics to play their part, so that we save our schools from primary to tertiary level. Our institutions have not been ravaged by war. By and large, the infrastructure is still intact- simply ravaged by years of neglect and poor funding. So we are not starting from scratch. A face- lift here and there is much easier than laying the first cornerstone.
We need to retain dedicated, knowledgeable and talented teaching staff throughout the various levels of our education system. Again the Council for Zimbabwe has a an example of a practical solution in place: “We intend to pay the tuition of students who qualify for university in Zimbabwe, but cannot afford university tuitions to earn a degree by taking “distance learning courses” DLC.”
Spot on. These initiatives need our support and to be complemented at tertiary level. “WHAT YOU CAN DO- Help us raise money, resources, and contribute your time to our efforts. We are all volunteers, without much resources, spending nights, weekends to do what we must for Zimbabwe. And an hour of your time, a phone call to a friend, a colleague, could help our nation.”
Amen. This needs reinforcement and to be complemented. In me, they have a convert. After all, “ When we see models like that, people who are outnumbered, surrounded, who have no idea of when this will end, but nevertheless taking a stand and standing for the future; when we see those things in history then we understand and are compelled to dare emulate and honour them”