Patience: Secure in education, my vision for the future became clear

6 minute read

Going to school has given me the courage to speak up and make choices on my own

My name is Patience and I come from Hurungwe district in Zimbabwe. I’m in Form 5 at high school. I live with my mother, my father, my older brother and two younger siblings. Our living conditions are challenging due to limited formal employment opportunities, so my father works odd-jobs in exchange for food. We don’t always have more than one meal per day.

My parents struggled to send me to school, but they tried their best and supported me through my primary education, including spiritually and emotionally. My mother always counsels me with a prayer. When the school staff learned of my difficult situation at home, they offered my parents some work there during the holidays — including grass cutting, maintaining hedges and generally cleaning up the school yard — to support my fee payments.

When the primary school exam results came out, I passed with flying colors but was stressed about the issue of being enrolled at high school. I secured my place but had nowhere to get the money to pay for fees and other essentials like school uniforms. During the first term of Form 1, I did not report to school for two weeks because I knew I would get sent home for non-payment of fees. However, I did not lose hope because I knew one day I would go back to school.

During this time, I received support from my parents through their encouragement and prayers — but we did not have even half the payment for Form 1. This is when I first heard about CAMFED. A member of the CAMFED Association of young women educated with CAMFED support (CAMA) visited me after hearing that I was not going to school. She then referred me to the CAMFED Teacher Mentor (a government teacher with additional training in supporting vulnerable children) at my high school. I visited her accompanied by my mother, and she was so positive and encouraging!

Soon, the good news reached my ears that the school considered me eligible to attend because CAMFED had stepped in to support me. Patience pays indeed! I was happy. My mother bought me a second hand uniform and a few books, and my brother gave me his old school shoes, even though they were too big for me. Some fellow students teased me for my way of dressing but l could not mind that because I was behind with my studies. I knew I should focus on writing and reading notes to catch up with my classmates.

Before the start of the new term, the CAMFED monitoring team visited my school and brought me school uniforms, shoes, books and menstrual products. They promised me that I would receive this support up to university. That’s when my vision for my future became clear.

CAMFED paid my examination fees for the 11 subjects I took at ordinary level. This support helped me to pass with flying colors — 6 As and 5 Bs. Right now, I am preparing to sit my advanced level examinations in Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry. Since CAMFED came into my life, things have really changed for the better. I did not think I could make it this far.

There is also a Learner Guide (peer mentor) called Tendai who comes to my school. She is like a sister to me — I feel safe around her and able to share my problems with her. Tendai is friendly, interesting and makes her sessions funny. She is a role model to me, both in her personality and the way she treats us.

I attend My Better World sessions at school. These are life skill sessions run weekly by Tendai to build our self-confidence, self-esteem and help us brainstorm ideas and solutions to our daily challenges. My favorite topic is the “Powers” section, which helped me to recognize that I have powers within me, and I can face the world and conquer it.

We play, dance, and sing songs during My Better World sessions. I have my own copy of the workbook we use, and during my spare time I love to read it and rate where I am now as compared to where I started.

I also enjoy studying Chemistry because I am inspired by discovering facts about the chemicals of life, how they function, how they were made and how they help us in our daily lives. When I finish school, I want to be a doctor and work at a local hospital. I will be examining patients from my community and providing them with specialist treatment.

I was inspired by a cousin who is in his fifth year doing medicine at the University of Zimbabwe. His background is similar to mine — so if he could do it then why not me? What comes into my mind is that being a girl, I can challenge norms and achieve the same as him.