(delivered at the launch event for the Financial Times 2007 seasonal appeal)

At the age of 13, when I had just completed my first year of secondary school education, my father lost his job as a general hand at a meat processing plant in the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare. Every year from that point on, my family and I struggled to scrape together enough money to ensure that I could stay in school. My parents were barely able to raise the $42 in annual school fees for my second year of secondary school, so I had to work to pay for notebooks, pens and other school materials. On weekends, I woke up at 4:30 am to travel from village to village selling vegetables. I would get back home around 9:00 am, and then go to the local market to continue selling vegetables for up to eight hours a day. Despite all this effort, I only earned the equivalent of 30 cents a day. (more…)

Orphaned at the age of ten, Talent is now one of the top students in her class at medical school

When Talent was ten years old, her mother left the rural village where she and her three children lived in Zimbabwe to look for a job. She never returned. Two years prior to that, at the age of eight, Talent had lost her father to kidney failure. Now parentless, Talent and her two younger siblings were taken in by their aunt, a shopkeeper. She struggled to support the children, barely managing to scrape together the money to send them all to primary school. (more…)

The following is an extract from a Cama Zimbabwe report on members’ activities during 2007. Cama, the Camfed alumni, is a pan-African membership organisation made up of young women supported through their education by Camfed and joined by other young rural women dedicated to working for change. In her own words, Tinyiko describes how she supported her neighbour’s child and the impact this had on her own self-esteem. (more…)

My dad was a cook for a commercial farmer. My mother used to work in his fields. Our house was just within the fence of the farmer. With my brothers and sisters, I used to play with his children – Richard and Adam. I am sure they are now big men. It was really a beautiful time for us because the farmer would ask my dad to cook extra food for us. We used to go fishing. We used to ride horseback. (more…)

I was born in Sadza – a rural district in Zimbabwe. My parents were subsistence farmers with little or no surplus to sell for basics, let alone school fees. During my first years at primary school, no school fees were required – just any dress, some food and a little encouragement. Life took a bitter turn, though, when the government introduced fees. I remember my parents getting so frustrated when in the same year the rains did not come. Rains were our source of livelihood. (more…)

In the journey of my life I’ve encountered many hurdles that have left me stronger. They were actually steps up the ladder. I have managed to be where I am now mainly because of my education. To me education is a weapon against poverty. I grew up in a society where it is said that the only course a woman would pass is marriage. I come from a family where there is no one qualified for any professional job, where there is no one who has been to university. I am actually their pioneer. And in a community where there is no lawyer, I have introduced diversity. Parents, not only mine, have come to appreciate that it is important to educate a girl-child. (more…)