Valerie Chatindo
The loss of a child’s life can only be described, at best, as traumatising.
What could they have achieved as an adult?
Who could they have become?
Could they have been the world’s next leader or innovator?
In Mutoko’s Rural District, a grandmother is asking these very questions after the tragic death of her granddaughter, due to drowning.
Viola Flo-Jo Mutambidzi is an educational advocate and rural educator. She has pioneered many initiatives for female learners in rural communities. Through Teach For Zimbabwe’s Let Girls Thrive Initiative, she has conducted baking and sewing classes for girls and women. As an Education Out Loud advocate, she is working tirelessly to teach her learners about climate change, a message close to her heart, as the deceased learner was her pupil and mentee.
There is no denying the reality of climate change, and its effects are most acutely felt by those already vulnerable.
Here is her story:
“I am Viola Flo-jo Mutambudzi, a Teach For Zimbabwe fellow at Tsiga Primary School in Gohwa village, Mutoko District. My personal experience with the devastating impacts of climate change has been both profound and heartbreaking. Floods tragically claimed the life of Shalom Chibanda, a bright and spirited student in my first-grade class.
On the fateful day of the tragic event, she had attended school as usual. Bursting with energy and radiating with smiles, having spent the morning learning ICT with me. But as the day progressed, torrential rains caused the dams and streams to swell.
Tragically, the dam breached, diverting a new stream that sent the water level soaring and the current surging with alarming force. As the waters rose, the villagers did their best to ensure the children were safe, providing them with shelter for the night. Shalom, eager to reunite with her mother who had just returned from Harare, rushed out of the house to cross the river. In an utterly tragic turn of events, she drowned.
Her body was discovered the next morning.
The pain of losing someone so full of promise is made even more unbearable by the knowledge that something as simple as a long-awaited rainfall—something that should have been a blessing—took away a life that was so precious to us.
My request is that our government do something about the poor infrastructure in these rural districts. Such an avoidable event has resulted in the loss of a budding leader. My heart goes out to her grandmother who lived with her every day as well as to her mother who was working hard in the capital to pave the way for Shalom’s education.”
As Kuyenda Collective, we appeal to the leadership in our respective countries. We are not here to sow any seeds of discord but hope to work together with our leaders to pave the way for quality and equal educational opportunities for all learners.
It is our job to protect them.