My time with the Michael Project, Harare, Zimbabwe
by Katrina Morris

The first day I visited the play-centre and the community of Wingate I was amazed to see so many truly happy children who appeared to have little in the way of material possessions. They were playing with toys made out of scrap metal and old plastic bottles, all were bare footed and wore tatty clothes.

During my first week in January we had a registration day for the children to come and register for the year. 25 children registered between the ages of 3 and 5. The play-centre re-opened in my second week of being there. The children were so excited to come, they would be waiting by the gate for the teachers to arrive. The first day was a real eye opener, I had to teach children how to use soap when they washed their hands and how to dry them on a towel, and there were also children who had never held a pencil before. The children learnt very quickly and it was amazing by the end of term to see how much they had progressed in their academic skills. It was a great experience to see and be a part of the children’s joy, seeing them play with balls, using dressing up clothes for the first time and eating a sweet when it was someone’s birthday, eating it so slowly and enjoying every lick!

The children took great pride in coming to school, they wore their only pair of shoes but if it rained they would take their shoes off and walk barefooted so as to keep their shoes dry and clean. Through the rainy season we had times when only a few children would turn up, I asked why they weren’t coming and the Shona Teachers told me that they only have one set of clothes so if they get wet they haven’t got anything else to wear! So they stay at home.

It amazed me how much respect children have for each other and for adults, and how well disciplined they were. In the playground you only had to ask one child to start a line, the others would see and quickly follow, no need for bells and whistles!

As well as teaching the children I also started to train the teachers. There were 3 teachers when I arrived who had been on a 10 week training course the year before, so I picked up on the things they found difficult to teach or were unsure of and we devised a training program. In February a new teacher was employed. She had never taught before, so I trained her alongside the other teachers but also gave her extra sessions, she was keen to learn and picked things up quickly.

The teachers were finding it hard to survive in Zimbabwe with lack of food and the rate of inflation increasing so rapidly they often ran out of money and they found it difficult to be enthusiastic about teaching. With no other experience of schools or teaching, sharing ideas etc. they found it valuable to look at the resources and ideas I had taken out with me. I don’t think they realised though how much I also learnt from them!

I had many humbling experiences during my time at the play-centre, one 4 year old girl came and told me (in shona but the teacher then translated) that she had been praying for me, and she would continue to pray for me. Another girl also 4 put her hand up after a bible story and said, “I’m already a servant of God” she led the singing most days! One day we were talking about what makes us grow; food, water etc a boy put his hand up and said, “we need to read our bible, and pray everyday and we’ll grow.” It amazed me daily to see and hear the children’s responses and to know that they were learning so much about God. I really witnessed the power of prayer when I was in Zimbabwe. I kept in contact with family and friends by email and asked them to pray for specific things each week. So many of those prayers for the children and the community were answered almost instantly, it was so encouraging to see.

Having now returned to the UK and my Reception class, I have been sharing all the different experiences and stories about Africa. The children in my class have shown a real interest and I hope to be able to set up some link with the play-centre. It has impacted the children in my class as they have become more aware that there are other people in our world, leading very different lives, but who are just boys and girls like themselves.

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