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Bernard Muchemwa in SYDNEY, Australia
PETER Muradzikwa, a young philanthropist based in Canberra, Australia, has undertaken a noble adventure to help folks and children of Kahungwe Village in Muzarabani with educational infrastructure; both hard and soft.

Muradzikwa is the founder and chairman of The Friends of Kahungwe Association, a charity organisation he formed to champion the educational cause of this remote village through sourcing and providing educational material.
The Friends of Kahungwe is a charity organisation with offices in Canberra and Adelaide, Australia.
It carries out fundraising activities solely for Kahungwe.

Asked what his organisation has done, Muradzikwa, who hails from Gutu, had this to say: “We completed the building of a library on August 30, 2019. Since then, the library has been operating, jointly managed by the teachers of the Kahungwe Primary School (the library is located on the school compound) and by a team of community volunteers.

“It delivers on one of our original objectives of ‘providing the children of Kahungwe with a safe place to study’. But it has also become a catalyst for community cooperation and education in Kahungwe, with some adults having decided to go back to school to complete their education.

“During the construction of the library, the community contributed by moulding bricks and by digging the foundations and we, by appointing a builder, brought some technical expertise and skills to the project.”

Muradzikwa and a team member travelled to Zimbabwe in August to assist in the construction,– mainly by procuring and paying for construction materials and specialist services.

“We then all had a few hectic weeks. The men and women of Kahungwe, volunteered their labour for the construction and for preparing cooked meals for all the workers. By the end of August, construction was completed, critically needed textbooks were bought and the library was opened with a big celebration on August 30. It (the library) is open to both the young and old,” Muradzikwa said.

He said more was needed for the library and he went on to list tasks and materials which will modernise the library.
The next phase is to install a solar system to allow the library to be open when it is dark outside, but also to power several laptops (donated to FOKA), furniture for the library, desks, benches and more shelves.

Soon the charity will embark on providing school fees subsidies as secondary school fees are beyond the means of most families, forcing about a quarter of secondary school children to drop out of school. It will also provide more learning materials, textbooks, general books, learning toys, simple sports gear (such as balls for kids to play/kick around).

“We will endeavour to raise some of these funds through events scheduled throughout 2020, and we will take the liberty to invite you to these events,” Muradzikwa quipped to which I agreed.

All in all, this project is intended to raise money to assist Kahungwe, a remote Zimbabwean village to provide its children with a safe place to study and to increase the chances for its children to complete secondary schooling.

“Having now completed the first phase of this project, we are concentrating on the second part of this mission – to increase the chances for the children to complete secondary education.

“It will provide secondary school attendance support by monitoring assisted ‘drop-outs’ so that they remain in school and further assist if the need arises; subsidising secondary school fees as an incentive to study scholarships at boarding schools, awarded based on academic results.

“We are also providing learning materials like textbooks from early childhood through to adult, fiction, novels, non-fiction, and we envisage provision of laptops and Wi-fi access.

“FOKA is in the process of developing funding models based on regular donations to assist pupils,“ Muradzikwa said.
Students will be on a scholarship to St Albert’s and other local high schools.

“FOKA will work with Kahungwe Community and school administrators to set up system (including tracking of academic results).

“Furthermore, we are working with NGOs in Australia to collect books, refurbish laptops, collect second-hand learning and sports materials and collect funds for freight.

“Currently the Friends of Kahungwe are repairing, refurbishing and furnishing six blocks of classrooms.”
Asked what motivated him to direct such a massive effort to this area, Muradzikwa said besides his heart to uplift the disadvantaged in remote communities, his mother was born there, and she used to support this community.
This charity was started in her honour.