Water for
Wildlife
Water for
Wildlife
"Gordon's House"
in the Zimbabwean bush
The Gordon's School community in Surrey, England, is generously fundraising to support the setting-up of a boarding block for young girls attending Ngamo Secondary School.
Ngamo Secondary School is located in Zimbabwe and in Ngamo village, a village just 5 kilometres from a world famous national park called Hwange. Hwange is known for its massive populations of elephants, its lions, its wild dogs, its cheetah…and a host of other animals!
As one of the few secondary schools in the area, Ngamo welcomes students from close and far. There are 147 students from Form 1 (13 years old) to Form 4 (16 years old, O level). There are currently 4 teachers but they are waiting for the Ministry of Education to appoint another 3 to support their school.
The villages outside of Hwange are very poor and are isolated from social services. There are few primary schools and even fewer secondary schools. Children must often walk long distances to attend school. Some children at Ngamo Secondary must walk over 20 kilometres to reach the school from the village of Mpindo. Others walk about 10 or 15 km from the villages of Zandile or Ziga to the South.
These long distances, along with school fees, teenage pregnancies and household chores (including fetching water)are some of the reasons attendance is low and decreases with age.
The long distances are a problem as it’s dangerous for children to walk in the dark, the area has wildlife that overspills from the national park and the long walks causes problems with concentration.
Where the schools, villages and Hwange National Park are
Meet some of the girls
Proposed solution - start with providing accommodation for the girls
A site, near the teachers’ cottages has been selected. Its proximity to the teachers’ cottages means there is no need for a chaperone and that there is also access to some water.
We propose building a concrete slab and putting a carguard pre-fabricated building down. The benefits are that this is logistically easier and also the same approvals are not required as the building can be moved. This would cost about £12-15,000.
Depending on funding available we could also look at getting some bunk beds and/or mattresses as well as building another block for the boys.
The impact will be the improved attendance for girls living in isolated villages and improved opportunities for children. Ngamo Secondary has had its first 3 female alumni attend univeristy in the last couple of years and this is a massive achievement for the area.
The boarding block is just the start of a longer term project between the Camelthorn Foundation and Gordon’s School.
Find out more about Gordon's School here
DONATE TO OUR GORDON'S HOUSE PROJECT:
If you’d like to donate financially:
-
complete the donation form to donate via stripe (note: stripe takes a commission)
-
email us to make a direct bank transfer (no commission for UK bank transfers): camelthorn.foundation@gmail.com
If you’d like to try to get involved and help in other ways, we’d
love to hear from you: camelthorn.foundation@gmail.com
The proposed site
THANK YOU TO GORDON'S SCHOOL FOR THEIR SUPPORT!
The proposed site