Learners at Semonkong High School celebrate with traditional dancing
11 March 2022 was a busy day for Lesotho in general and for Semonkong High School in particular. Known as Moshoeshoe’s Day, it is an annual celebration in remembrance of the founder of the Basotho nation, the late King Moshoeshoe I, who died on the 11 March, 1870. A public holiday in Lesotho, this day is often celebrated by schools through sports activities such as athletics and soccer.
These festivities were interrupted by COVID-19, and did not take place during 2020 or 2021. However, this year, FutureLife-Now! project youth facilitator, Thabiso Samuel Sello, together with the school’s sports and cultural committees, made the decision to celebrate this year’s event. The day’s programme included many traditional dances and songs such as Ndlamo, Mokhibo, Selialia, Motebuko, Liphotha, and other cultural activities – all part of the Sesotho Arts and Culture curriculum.
It was an eye-catching event that started with a fun walk from the school to the small town of Semonkong. Students and teachers marched proudly in their African traditional attire while ululating residents from the nearby villages provided encouragement.
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Grade 12 learners Moonga Bristol and Hakabwa Charloty preparing to water the school garden
Without clean water teachers and learners suffer, and schools cannot reach their educational potential, even if they have skilled teachers and knowledge-hungry learners. It is difficult for even the most motivated learners to learn when they are thirsty, or sick from drinking dirty water, or have to use bathrooms without water. These were some of the challenges Lusitu Secondary School in Zambia faced prior to receiving water.
According to Mweene Andrew Mulimba, one of the senior villagers, “The Lusitu area can be best described as a living hell. It is a hot and drought prone desert, with scorching heat, high temperatures and bare lands, and fresh water is unavailable.” At the secondary school the situation was even more dire for girls reaching puberty. Said one of the teachers, “The bathroom situation was very discouraging. Most female learners dropped out of school when they hit puberty, out of embarrassment due to the lack of privacy and a conducive sanitation environment.”
Since 2019, however, the situation has improved considerably. Through FutureLife-Now!, a 5 000 litre water tank was erected and three garden taps installed; one inside the schoolyard, one near the girls’ dormitories and a third outside the school near the teachers’ houses. This tap also catered for community members.
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Learners celebrate through singing songs about climate change
Climate change has had an alarming effect on the weather in many parts of the world, and Fort Rixon in south-central Zimbabwe is no exception. Initially founded as a British military post during the Ndebele uprisings, it is now an agricultural and ranching hub. However, over time the weather has changed and the area is currently receiving far less rainfall than in years gone past, with negative consequences for agricultural activities and cattle ranching.
But this has not gone unnoticed. Thanks to the Climate Change Club at Fort Rixon High School, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel. Led by the FutureLife-Now! peer educators, school initiatives have been introduced that address the effects of climate change. Much of this has begun with small changes in behaviour and the planting of trees.
Early this year, the club decided to host a tree planting ceremony in order to raise awareness. The idea was to reach out to strategic stakeholders and bring other neighbouring schools into their campaign.
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Executive members of Madisi Youth Club planning how to protect Monjeza forest
Monjeza forest sits alongside the community of Madisi, and is part of the Dowa highland in central Malawi. It was once home to an abundance of wildlife. Nowadays, although the 30-kilometre reserve is still home to over 300 hyenas, many bushbucks and a range of endangered species, it is sadly not the place it once was.
Overpopulation, overdependence on natural resources and overgrazing by domesticated animals have led to deforestation and contributed to the loss of Monjeza’s magnificent reserve.
But all is not lost. The youth of Madisi are taking matters in hand. Over the past two years, the Madisi Youth Club, assisted by FutureLife-Now! youth facilitator, Isaac Dyson, embarked on a project to protect the Monjeza Forest Reserve.
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Register your participation to this webinar which will introduce the CSTL community to the SADC Child and Youth Agency Framework. This useful webinar will also share information on available resources and support to encourage all Member States to use the Framework to enrich their education systems.
Click here for the invitation with the link to register, and here for the Information Note.
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Moomba Boarding Secondary School in the Chibombo District of Zambia held a series of workshops under the CSTL Community, which focused on Human Agency, Educational Community, and Evaluating our Journey.
The workshops, which included the School's Community Partners, addressed issues surrounding the importance of children becoming Change Agents for the present and the future.
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The Education Plus Initiative (EPI) is a high-profile, high-level political advocacy drive to accelerate actions and investments to prevent HIV. This initiative provides an opportunity for the government to reaffirm its commitment to creating an environment in which young girls can reach their full potential using the education system as an entry point to provide a holistic “plus” package of essential elements that adolescent girls and young women need as they become adults.
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The year 2022 starts off on an exciting note for MIET AFRICA. A regional research study on youth agency is being conducted across five countries in Southern Africa, including Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The FutureLife-Now! programme recognizes that a key reason for the lack of progress towards achieving the UN’s global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is that youth lack the agency required to engage in responsible behaviours. The “Youth Agency Research Study” is part of a FutureLife-Now! activity that seeks to establish evidence on how to better support young people to exercise their rights and their responsibilities.
The study aims to analyse barriers that prevent youth from exercising agency at the personal, household, community, national and regional levels. The findings of the study will be published in a report, and a video will highlight implications for the implementation of the SADC Child and Youth Agency Framework, youth programming and recommend ways of accelerating youth agency in education ecosystems and broader governance processes in the SADC region.
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Last year, as schools in Zimbabwe prepared to close and everyone looked forward to the festive season, a group of learners at Fort Rixon were in for a surprise that would change their lives. Thirty large boxes were delivered to the school and inside each box were all the pieces necessary to assemble a brand new bicycle.
The bicycles were an incentive from the FutureLife-Now! programme. The local FutureLife-Now! team helped assemble the bicycles which were handed over to the learners in the presence of their parents and School Development Committee members on 22 December 2021, three days before Christmas!
Fort Rixon is a secondary school located in the Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe. The school is surrounded by farming areas and a mine. One of the biggest challenges the school faces is absenteeism, mainly caused by the long distances that learners must travel. Some learners walk as many as 15 kilometres to school in the morning and the same distance back home in the afternoon.
Yet another problem is that of the young men who have become illegal gold miners. They recruit young male learners to their way of life, and prey on innocent female learners while they walk those long distances to and from school.
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