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Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The Watchmen Trust, which is made up of Beitbridge youths, has adopted 60 pupils, mostly orphans and disadvantaged students, at Makakavule Primary School in Beitbridge East Constituency.

The trust is paying school fees and supplying the beneficiaries with stationery. The trust was established to assist in meeting the needs of youths in the district, mainly those from disadvantaged communities.

Speaking during the handover of the stationery and the presentation of a $600 cheque to the beneficiaries on Monday, Watchmen Trust director Ms Teclar Gqoka said they were looking at expanding the programme to five other schools in the area.

“We have realised that there are many intelligent, but vulnerable children in the district and these at times drop out of school due to resource shortages,” she said.

“We then mobilised resources from well-wishers and managed to pay school fees for 60 pupils against a total of 110 faced with the same predicament.

“So far we have managed to pay school fees and donate stationery to those in Grades 5 to 7. Our organisation is made up of youths with a Christian background,” she said.

Ms Gqoka said they were looking at expanding the help to uniforms, textbooks and improving water and sanitation issues at some of the schools.

She said they were assisting children in both secondary and primary schools.

“We are looking at funding their education from primary school level until they finish their tertiary education.

“Besides seeking donors, we have also lined up a number of fundraising activities to come up with more resources to assist those in need,” she said.

Makakavule Primary School’s School Development Committee (SDC) chair person Mr Johanne Nyathi called on corporates and organisations to emulate the Watchmen Trust.

“It is so touching to see the youths coming together for such a good cause.

“We are very grateful and believe more people will help in addressing the plight of most orphans and vulnerable children who are finding it difficult to raise money for their education.

“In addition, we are appealing to well-wishers to help with the construction of three more classroom blocks to ease issues of hot sitting,” said Mr Nyathi.

The school’s headmistress, Mrs Margret Tshuma, said the school had challenges with accessing portable water considering they had one borehole and were also sharing another with the community.