CHINOTIMBA

Chinotimba is a town in Zimbabwe that we were driving through. There is a school there that was built to serve about 900 students, and now they have over 2000! Of course being in Zimbabwe, they do not get much help. A bunch of us went shopping in the US before we got here and brought some school supplies to help out. We arrived at the school and some of the kids had prepared a short program for us. It included some dancing and introducing themselves and telling us their favorite subjects. The teachers are overloaded with students, at least 50 plus students for each teacher. They teach the basics and English, and HIV AIDS education starting as early as 1st grade, with age appropriate programs. Everything you've heard about AIDS in Africa is true, and especially in this area. It has devastated the population and lowered the life expectancy quite a bit. Everywhere one goes there are free condoms! Every hotel room, every rest room, and even in the immigration areas and passport and visa controls. everywhere!
We really enjoyed these children. They all had huge hopes and ambitions to achieve, but in a country where everyone has to pay to go to school, and the drop out rate is so high because these kids end up being the caretakers for relatives with HIV AIDs...the reality is slim that they will even finish regular school. They LOVED having their picture taken!