April Madness!
Welcome all followers of our Zim blog 🙂 We are very sorry it has been a while since our last update, but plenty has been happening!
The reason for our delay, is that the school year here is set up differently to that of England, we teach for 12-13 weeks at a time (with no half terms) and then have a one month holiday. So effectively, April, August and December are holiday months. Hence why this April, our blogging has lacked, as we have been fortunate enough to go and be touristy with visitors from the UK who came to visit!
Let me go back a few weeks. Last term was absolutely phenomenal at One Way Pre School, we had around 45 regular children coming each and every day, and the progress we are seeing in them is exceptional. They are beautiful, christian, hyper-active and affectionate children who cannot help but bring joy to us every day. They are an absolute blessing to teach, even through their tantrums! One Way also had its official launch (pictures of which are on the school website One Way Pre School) and this was such a success and a delight to meet and greet the families and friends of the children at our school. It is always a blessing to reach out into the community and show them we are here and what we are doing.
The term itself was very long, no half terms makes for one long term and many teachers will know its nice to have a break! So, when term ended and April arrived, we were super looking forward to our upcoming visitors and the opportunity to become tourists for a few weeks! It is important and exciting for us to not only be able to open and run our pre school, but to also venture further into the country of Zimbabwe and see what it has to offer, especially out of the main city!
We have been blessed to have Gregs best friend Andy, and his mum Ali visit for 2 and 3 weeks respectively. (My mother in law is still here…) In that time we have travelled to a place named Gweru, where we stayed in Antelope Park (it has other stuff besides Antelope) the most exciting aspect of which, it is a lion rehabilitation project, so we spent time walking with Lions! Literally.
We also visited a lodge with Elephants as its main attraction, and had some fun interaction with them, including a spot of football! African animals are all so majestic. After a couple of early (6am!!) bush walks – which I did not suggest for obvious getting up ridiculously early reasons! – we were fortunate to stumble upon a few giraffes making an early morning stroll, so well worth it! To also watch an African sunrise is a beautiful moment.
We have also spent a lot of time with Lorraine and her family, getting to know them more and being able to support them in many ways through kind donations from the UK. We are humbled every time we visit them, and Ali has been able to support them with medical advice which they have been unable to receive due to lack of funds to visit the doctor.
Our school administrator is now an Auntie! Her sister gave birth a couple of days ago to a baby boy named Ethan, so we all send our congratulations to her. Makorokoto!
Term has now started again, and we have 53 officially registered children, which is insane! Our maximum capactiy is 60, and in the beginning we asked God for 35…so we have now learnt to have higher expectations, as our God is an awesome God, who provides! We have been blessed with a few donations over the holiday and have managed to buy a few new resources for the school, which the children are relishing having. Including an outdoor basketball hoop!
We want to send a HUGE thank you and well done to Santi, who ran the London Marathon to raise money for our charity Hope for Harare and his total is nearly at 1000 pounds!! If you would like to support him still – he ran it in under 4 hours!! – you can do so at Hope For Harare
We have had a meeting as a staff team yesterday to discuss achievements of the school so far and future plans. We have a sports day coming in around 7 weeks and our first school trip at the end of this term, so please pray they are well received! We also have many opportunities for development in the future, so please pray we would have wisdom and guidance on which of these opportunities to take forward.
God Bless and thank you for sticking with us! We value your support hugely and cannot thank you enough for all your encouragement.
Sophiexx