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Hunger force pupils to drop in school

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BINGA — Tulabona Munsaka virtually has to live with hunger stalking her like a shadow. The 18-year-old Form 4 pupil, who begins her day at the crack of dawn, is sometimes forced to skip breakfast so that she can get to school in time.

BINGA — Tulabona Munsaka virtually has to live with hunger stalking her like a shadow. The 18-year-old Form 4 pupil, who begins her day at the crack of dawn, is sometimes forced to skip breakfast so that she can get to school in time.

BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA

The new House of Assembly speaker Jacob Mudenda smiles as he takes his seat yesterday

She walks 9km to school and on an empty stomach, NewsDay established during a visit to Binga district in Matabeleland North two weeks ago for the launch of The Zambezi Valley Refrain, a book written by Mary Ndlovu.

The book documents the work of Basilwizi Trust, which is helping bring to the limelight issues affecting the neglected Tonga people in Binga, Nyaminyami, Gokwe North and Hwange.

Basilwizi is a non-government organisation bankrolled by Action Aid.

Munsaka and other students at Simatelele Secondary School, a communal school located in Simatelele, Ward 8, sit huddled around a plate of sadza and meat.

Many of the children have ambitions to become nurses, doctors, meteorologists, scientists, police officers, lawyers and teachers. However, according to statistics in the area, chances are that maybe only 10% of the 363 students will achieve them.

Hunger appears to be the major impediment in the realisation of their dreams. Kazibezibe Muleya (18), another Form four pupil, said hunger affected entire families.

“Sometimes at home you can be sent out into the woods to fetch firewood or to the river to look for fish. Students here do not get a lot of encouragement from parents as they probably do not know the significance of school for their children,” Muleya said.

He said pupils often study on empty stomachs, leading to a loss of concentration in class.

Simatelele Secondary School chairperson, Jonas Simonzyo, said most students arrive late at school because of the long distances they travel to get there, while there is also a high rate of teen pregnancies.

“Other problems, like any other school in the region, include pupils getting impregnanted by another pupil or someone from outside,” he said.

The plight of Simatelele is not restricted to that school alone, but is widespread in Binga district and other parts of Matebeleland North like Hwange.

According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstats), out of the country’s 10 provinces, Matabeleland North was found to have the most prevalent poverty rate with an estimated 85, 7% in 2015.

In Binga district, which has poverty prevalence of 88,3%, Ward 21 had the highest prevalence at 93%. In comparison, Ward 24 had the lowest poverty prevalence of 68,8% due to its location in the growth point, which is a hive of economic activity.

The high prevalence of poverty in Binga has mainly been attributed to poor supportive infrastructure, which fails to link it to the city centre.

The El Nino-induced drought, which has hit most of southern Africa, has also ravaged Matabeleland North, negatively impacting the land so that crops could not flourish, while livestock is dying.

In Binga, many places where streams used to flow now run dry due to the effects of El Nino, which has become problematic for communities’ that are into aqua farming. The drought has meant a poor performance in crop and livestock farming that has also contributed to food insecurity in the district.

An estimated four million people are currently in need of food security across the country.

One teacher, who refused to be named, said the challenges pupils face needed to be dealt with expeditiously.

“Sometimes pupils sleep during lessons as they cannot concentrate after travelling long distances on an empty stomach. We sometimes give food, but not all the time as we have challenges ourselves,” the teacher said.

The teacher said most schools in Binga, Gokwe North, Hwange and in the Nyaminyami area also face challenges of poor school infrastructure.

In some instances, girls in these parts of the Matabeleland region have resorted to early marriages or pregnancies in order to share the burden of poverty.

Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda, said government was working on getting the girl-child to go to school.

“We are working with the chiefs and there are committees that talk to the empowerment of women especially the girl-child. Also what we are doing is to make sure the girl child also gets a chance to go to school,” Mudenda said. However, government is only feeding a selected handful of households with food.

In a snap survey done by NewsDay, on average, most families have resorted to rationing meals to two times a day, usually one at 12 noon and the other around 7pm or 8pm at night.

When getting a bucket of maize, the food is pushed for up to five days in order to spread the food across a number of days.

Themba Munkombwe, the councillor for Kabuba Ward 17, said underage sex is also a huge problem in the area.

“Hunger has prevailed in the district, which has led to some of the students not going to school due to scourge. For some of the other students poverty that has restricted pupils from concentrating in schools. Some have actually dropped out of school in search of greener pastures,” he said.

Munkombwe said the district also has a high number of orphans who are taken advantage of by relatives whom they stay with.

He said these relatives who look after these orphans put pressure on these pupils to become bread winners, leading boys becoming herd boys.

Muleya agreed that even in his school some students go through that.

“Government needs to do more. We are having challenges with social welfare to assist these students,” he said. With organisations such as Baswilizi Trust and others, Munsaka walks away with the other students after the interview with NewsDay, skipping along with her friends holding onto the belief that she will become a nurse and helps others.

Hope for Musaka, her fellow students and other students of Matabeleland North are the only things they hold onto till their plight is met or heard.