St Rupert Mayer Newsletter #1

JESUITS ZIM-MOZ PROVINCE ST. RUPERT MAYER MISSION, MAKONDE, Chinhoyi Diocese

Our Expression, issue 1

St Rupert mission a land of opportunities and challenges

St Rupert Primary School

What can a young bush mission priest dream of? With the schools opening, St. Rupert Mayer Mission is back in full swing again. The once silent mission is back to life with the coming in of school pupils. The mission church is full once again. St. Rupert Mayer Mission runs two schools, a hospital and a parish. The mission is located in Makonde (Chigaro area). Makonde is a very poor place, physically unfriendly and remote (about 95km from Chinhoyi town and 208km from Harare—the capital city in extremely bad roads) inhabited by people who look forward to the mission to be their light bearer. The two schools serve a community that exhibits a general negative High School attitude towards education so the rate of children dropping out of school and getting married are very high. While our primary school charges $10 per term only 111 of the 387 pupils paid last term. Since the opening of the school on Tuesday 5th of May 2015, by the time of writing this article only 12 primary school pupils have paid their $10 school fees and 13 in the high school. The high school charges $25 per term and it has a population of 250. With this situation, it becomes impossible to effectively run a life changing educational system.

The parish runs 20 outstations with the furthest in the excess of 100km in extremely bad damaged roads and bridges with some parts completely cut off from any road network because the bridges were washed away by floods. After driving for more than 100kms to reach the furthest outstation, the mass offering often falls between $2 to $5. This situation raises the problem of the sustainability of the mission and its outreach programs. The mission hospital falls under the same boundaries as the parish and serves the same people who struggle to pay $5 for medication. The hospital is running three ambulances. Of the three ambulances only one is working. The other two need urgent servicing since they are broken.

However, the running cost is outstripping the hospital’s ability to run an effective health care facility for this heavily economically disadvantaged people of Makonde. Our current electricity debt is huge. This debt gives the mission superior sleepless nights though he has engaged some politicians and ministry of health seeking for its cancellation or the government to pay.

Due to the harshness of the place, it has become almost impossible to retain the skilled manpower in our two schools and the hospital, a situation I could describe as worrying. The victims of this non-retention of skilled manpower are more-often-than-not, the pupils and the patients from the local community that we serve. Given the above described obtaining situation St. Rupert Mayer Mission finds itself in, the mission has initiated a number of project from irrigation farming, piggery and bee keeping so as to mitigate the obtaining situation of the mission.

Fr. Gregor Richert, SJ Garden

1

NEWS FROM ST RUPERT MAYER

MISSION

A BIRD’S EYE INTO ST RUPERT MAYER MISSION PROJECTS The mission has initiated a number of projects to help it manage its running costs. One of the projects that the mission is running at the moment is the irrigable Fr. Gregor Richert, SJ Garden project. This garden is almost a hectare (approximately 9000 square metres) in size.

With the help of our hardworking man, Itai Kuruneri, we have planted tomatoes, beans, potatoes and cabbages. We hope to expand this project to more than a hectare. Most of the tomatoes and cabbages are still in the nursery bed hoping to transplant them in few weeks to come. What we are doing is to revive the garden which was initiated and used by our two martyrs, Br. Lisson and Fr. Richert. With their death, the garden was abandoned and then revived by Fr. Abeler, SJ in the 80s, continued by his successor Fr. Masina. After Fr. Masina only a small part was being used.

This time we have decided to revive it completely and expand it.

2015 is a serious drought year for Makonde. Lots of rains came in the early part of the season and completely vanished in February and March. This caused a serious drought to ensue since the rains went away at the time they were needed most by plants. The time heavy rains came in April, there was no more hope and most of those crops that survived began again to rot. With this situation, the mission found it imperative to do something in this regard. The mission has plenty of water from just a 100m Mupfure river and wonderful arable land. We are working tirelessly to prepare too a hectare of land in the hospital for winter farming. Depicted in the pictures is what we are doing at the moment. As a mission we have made a piggery project proposal. It is our hope that with this expanded garden we will be able to plant enough maize and soya beans to be used in the preparations of pig feeds within a year of commencing the piggery project.

My first Easter in St. Rupert Parish

Itai Kuruneri & Fr. C. Matsilele, SJ

St Rupert Mayer Parish is literally divided into two parishes, the East (Mission side) and the West (Kenzamba side). Easter remains one of the biggest events in our parish calendar as it is within the entire Christian world. This time, the provincial, Fr. Chiedza Chinhanda, SJ came to help in the parish. He took care of the Eastern part and I was on the Western part of the parish from Thursday to Sunday. What I found moving is the simple faith of simple people. Even though deep in the bush, many people braved themselves and walked (some more than 40km) from their outstations to St. Monica where we celebrated Easter together. I arrived very late in the mission from Harare and did not manage to get the red vestments but being a bush priest, I just told myself the Lord will supply what is missing. The significance of the occasion and the people waiting to participate fully alive in this event was overwhelming. Indeed, I have met people with great faith. It was one of a new experiences celebrating Easter in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, I returned to the mission on Sunday blessed with a bout of Malaria. On my way back, I had to wait for 2 hours for one of the rivers to subside before crossing. The entire episode was so exciting though tiring….but I was up to the task.

From that time, I nicknamed myself…. “The Bush Priest.” I would like to thank Fr. Karl Hermann and our benefactors/benefactresses for building St. Monica Centre. It has indeed become the center for the entire parish in the West. Job well done.

2

ST RUPERT PRIMARY SCHOOL AND BEYOND FROM THE PRIMARY ADMINISTRATION DESK: An overview St. Rupert Mayer Primary School have about 360 pupils this year. Some pupils dropped out because of the current ravaging drought in Makonde and also due to financial constrains. We have over a third of our children crossing rivers when coming to school. Last term was a difficult one because most of these rivers were flooded and hence we experienced high rate of absenteeism. This situation had greatly affected the exam preparations by the exam classes. For some time, the school used to offer holiday lessons using the money raised by our friends from our companionship school in the UK to bridge for the time lost due to the flooding of the bridges and rivers. This was a good initiative which we, as a school, if funding permitting should be resuscitated.

As I write, the school is in serious financial crisis. Last term, out of 387 pupils only 111 pupils paid their school fees. Our school fees are US$10 per term. By the time of writing this article, this term since its opening on the 5th only 12 pupils have paid their school fees. This scenario makes it almost impossible to run and plan ahead for the school.

Ms Mhuka (Deputy Head)

We are in a good companionship program with St. John Beaumont of UK. They have been very supportive in the construction of our library and the special classroom. We just hope that the funds will be raised to help us complete this very important project for the primary school. Currently, the special class uses a very narrow side room. In addition, our books are still piled up. Makonde being a termite country-side, if this condition continues for long, we are afraid we might end up losing a great deal of vital books to the termites and rats. In addition, our staff accommodation remains unresolved. Last term we took our school Land Cruiser for servicing and we were charged $750. Up to now the car is held by the garage because we failed to raise enough money to pay for their service. With only 12 pupils paying their fees, we might completely fail again this term to pay for our car. Yet this car is highly needed in the school.

Grade 6

We have also begun to accept those pupils who had dropped from school and staying at home due to financial constraints back into the school. There is no hope that we will get anything from these pupils given that most of them are staying with their grandmothers.

Most of the parents of these pupils we have accepted are both dead due to HIV AIDS. We realized that if we do not call back some of these pupils that means the end of formal education for them.

by Ms. Mhuka

However, despite all these challenges, we are hopeful, ever smiling hoping that this term will change for the better for us as a mission school. Children are back to school and they are in good and jovial mood and this keeps us going.

Flooded Rivers Spoiled our precious time for learning writes a grade 7 Maidei Chimatira

My name is Maidei Chimatira. I live in Goredema village some 7km from my school.

Last term, most of the time our rivers were flooded. During rain season, I rarely came to school because the bridges and rivers were flooded. It is bad to miss school many days. When you don’t come to school other children will learn. The day I came to school I failed because I didn’t know what other children learnt. I often got many things wrong. I hoped that the holiday lessons were going to help me recover what I missed during the rainy season. There were no holiday lessons in April.

By Maidei Chimatira

Washanje River in flood 3

ST RUPERT PRIMARY SCHOOL Water often overflowed over the bridges

I am Lynn Murati. I live in Goredema village. During the rain season I do not go to school sometimes because the bridges will over flowing. This means I won’t be able to catch up with others. As a result I will fail. Please help us do catch up lessons.

Lynn Murati: Head Girl

Holiday catch up lessons: A Pupil Perspective I am Mufaro Madzvamuse a grade 7 pupil at St. Rupert Mayer Primary.

For years, the school has been running holiday lessons to help the examination classes to catch up and prepare for their final examinations.

This year, this did not happen because of lack of funding for the program.

The program used to be funded through the responsible authority by our friends outside the country who used to fundraise for us.

I think this year our grade sevens won’t do well because we did not have holiday lessons. The responsible authority did not have the funds to pay the teachers for the lessons. These holiday lessons help us to cover the syllabus and to revise everything we have done during school days. Last year, St. Rupert Mayer Primary school pass rate rose and we hoped that this practice was going to continue. I pray that the friends of St. Rupert Mayer Primary School will fundraise for us so that we may begin these important lessons.... otherwise, this year the mission primary school will produce very poor results.

Mufaro Madzvamuse Grade 7-- Head boy

4

AND BEYOND My life story

5

ST RUPERT PRIMARY SCHOOL ST RUPERT MAYER PRIMARY SPECIAL CLASS: Reflections from Miss Bumira I am a special class teacher at St. Rupert Mayer Primary since 2013. As a young teacher deployed straight from college direct to a special class it has proved really a challenge. However, I started looking for ideas on how to equip a child who is very slow to become literate. I patiently took each child according to its ability. Most of them were non-readers and couldn’t utter a word. I had to go back to grade one syllable concepts up until I produced a number of fluent readers. Now I have very few non-readers left.

Special class needs patience and with time I have managed to produce the basic literacy abilities from my class of 17 pupils. However, I experienced lots of challenges in teaching one of my pupils named Kudakwashe. Kudakwashe is a boy who couldn’t even talk or hear. Today I am happy to say the boy can now produce sounds of some picture words. Teaching this class has posed some challenges that come out from shortages of resources. There is only one piece of chalkboard which makes it difficult for me to prepare properly in advance. It is so low that I have to squat to write on it and this make me feel uncomfortable and even hate to go to work.

Apart from all the challenges, creating a special class is a noble idea. It helps provide conducive platform for slow learners to catch up with others at their on pace and with special attention they need. Apart from teaching them how to read and write, the special class also offers life practical skills such as the ability to appreciate beauty. Currently, the St. Rupert Mayer Special Class planted and is taking care of a single flowerbed at the school. The main challenge I face and which this class faces is of lack of resources. This obtaining situation sometimes acts as a strong demotivating factor to both the teacher and her pupils. Some of them become so worried about their age because often they remain long in the special class while their peers progress to the next classes.

I am Ester Pindahama. I am in a special class at St. Rupert Mayer Primary. I did not know how to write my name or read. Now I can write my name and read.

In 2014 as a special class we conducted a project as a class with the help of our teacher Miss Bumhira. We planted the flower seed and prepared a single flowerbed. I happy, happy our flowers are growing.

Blesing kadingwindi of special class writes: Our teacher taught us different ways of how to make our flowerbed grow. She made us bring manure from home and together as a class we worked on the land, removed weeds and watered it to make it grow. Our flowers are green, green and green.

6

AND BEYOND Primary School Essay and Poetry Corner A Poem by Eddie Hungwe: Grade 6 Pupil A leaf I am along leaf I live a long life On my tall mother I like it in summer I take long sips Of water from the ground I am green in summer In autumn I turn brown

Swallows by Blessmore Tawasika, Grade 6.

In September month each year in my home village of chief Chigaro, Makonde, the swallows come to our house. They dive and chase each other in the air. I think they fly faster than any other bird of the same size. These swallows build nests made of soft mud. They build them in corners against walls. A small entrance lets the mother into nest to lay her eggs and sit on them. The eggs hatch and the babies grow quickly. Soon they learn to fly like their parents. At the end of summer in April, they fly away. I wonder where they go!

St Rupert Mayer Primary Pupils in Pictures

special class 7

NEWS FROM ST RUPERT HIGH SCHOOL

From the High School Head’s Desk St. Rupert Mayer High is one of the constituent institutions of our mission. It was founded following a request by the local community for a mission boarding school.

Seeing the need to start a high school, Frs. Chazunguza and Mabiri in collaboration with Fr. Wolfgang Tamm, SJ (the then Bishop of Chinhoyi secretary) set the ball rolling. The foundation of the mission high school was approved by the ministry of education on the basis that it was to be a proper boarding school. I became the school head of the high school in 2008 and since then we have never looked back.

Initially, the school attracted pupils from our local community of Makonde, but it has ever since begun to attract pupils as far as Harare.

When I arrived at St Rupert High, the school was offering five basic ordinary level (‘O’ Level) subjects (i.e., English, Shona, Mathematics, Geography and Science). The school expanded in terms of curriculum in 2008. The following “O’ Level subjects Sr. F. Mandinyenya were introduced in the curriculum: Commerce, Literature in English, Agriculture, School Head Computers and Accounts.

In 2011, we introduced our first advanced Level (‘A’ level) class thereby turning an ordinary secondary school into a high school. The commencement of ‘A’ level had difficulties in taking root because we only managed to enroll 4 students. These four students were considered not enough for us to be granted an advanced level exam center status. With this challenge, we arranged with Sacred Heart High School in Banket (one of the Jesuit schools) for our four students to sit for their ‘A’ level exams. The first group to sit for their ‘A’ level exam at our high school was that of 2014. This group recorded a 90% pass rate. With this achievement, we have seen a growth in the high school student enrolment. By the time of writing this article, we have 30 registered ‘A’ level students. The ‘A’ level curriculum consists of art and commercial subjects. We look forward to introducing science ‘A’ Level Girls subjects once we are able to establish a science lab.

In addition, the high school is involved in co-curricular and extra-curricular Activities. We have sporting games like soccer, netball, volleyball, basketball and athletics. Our students also choose and participate in clubs ranging from handcraft, chess, HIV and AIDS among others. They generally do well in these games and pass competitions though we are not able to support them to higher levels due to financial constraints.

THE ST RUPERT MAYER HIGH SCHOOL WE WOULD WANT We look forward to having a well-established school with good teacher accommodation and enough classrooms. There is need for enough capital to run and maintain it on a regular basis. Currently, we are running a makeshift boarding facility. This facility is not worth any association with the Jesuits because it is far below any meaningful standards. It is a time bomb waiting to explode in our faces. It is our hope and prayer that upgrading and building of a proper boarding facility is a high priority if we are to provide any meaningful life-giving education to the locals and have an impact as a Jesuit run school.

Considering that St Rupert High is a Jesuit run school, it is disheartening, to say the least, that there is very little to show in terms of characteristics of a Jesuit School or education that strives for excellence…MAGIS. Despite the challenges mentioned above, St Rupert Mayer High continues to strive for Excellency.

Thus, we hope to stand up and be counted amongst other Jesuit run schools. Our motto, education through Christ is indicative of our strivings. We continue to aim to be a beacon of hope in an area that is characterized by hopelessness and disheartening lack of support by both parents and students.

One of the biggest challenge that I face as an administrator is that of lack of school truck. There is an urgent need for a school truck to enable the school do its administration errands and ferry students to and from seminars. Our school is situated deep in the bush, 95km from our district office and nearest town. I wake up at 0200am to catch transport to our district educational offices for school business and this is very draining and making work very unpleasant.

8

The girl boarders washing

AND BEYOND A Makeshift boarding facility at St. Rupert Mayer High: A cause of great concern If there is something the Jesuits are known for is their ability to provide quality education that empowers and boost pupils’ dignity. However, when a mention of our boarding facility at St. Rupert Mayer High is mentioned, what comes to mind is a strong sense of ‘uncomfortability.’ We have a boarding that is never a boarding but rather makeshift ‘hostels.’ These makeshift hostels houses 39 pupils of which the majority are from the capital Harare.

The concept of the hostel boarding facilities was initiated when the school was founded.

The main aim was to provide temporary self-catering shelter to local pupils during the rain season only. Then, it was noted that during the rain season most of the pupils did not make it to school due to river flooding. But this facility has since changed and now it accommodates pupils from far off. Starting from this term, the pupils have people employed as volunteers who are cooking for them. One of the Jesuit community garage has been turned into a reading room since the pupils used to read while in their blankets.

We consider this an improvement but still the conditions are not encouraging.

Mrs. Chabvutagondo Senior Lady Teacher

Of our great concern is the girl child’s security. The hostels are not safe places since they are not fenced and often thieves reward themselves from the pupils’ goods. In addition wild animals such elephants, monkeys and snakes roam there freely. It is my feeling and everyone else here that there is a great need for a proper boarding place.

Boarding boys enjoying their lunch

by Auksilia R. Chabvutagondo (Boarding Helper)

A Makeshift boarding facility at St. Rupert Mayer High in pictures Boarding cooks/ masters/mistress Boys Bathroom

Inside the boys dormitory Boys resting in their dormintory Boys Reading room

9

NEWS FROM ST RUPERT HIGH SCHOOL A boarding girl student on St. Rupert boarding facility St. Rupert Mayer High School boarding facility started in the early 2000s.

It was meant to be a boarding facility for local students coming from long distances. In addition, it was mainly used during the rain season so as to cut down on absenteeism due to flooded rivers. This situation has since changed.

Currently, St. Rupert Mayer boarding facility provides accommodation to students as far as Harare (208km away from the mission). When I joined the boarding facility at St. Rupert’s, it was self-catering. The security of the boarding facility was second to none and thieves used to steal from us a great deal. The issue of self-catering created a number of problems. Among them health was a big issue and lateness in terms of going to school.

The boarding lacked serious supervision so we were on our own.

Nevertheless the issue of self-catering was resolved. The school authorities and the responsible authority in agreement with our parents put in place a catering facility beginning this term. Now they are now caters who now cook food for pupils. The improvements are good but we are hoping that our tables for the reading rooms will come early enough to enable us to study away from our blankets. In addition, we hope that they will be some renovations of bathrooms and introduction of bunk beds. We consider these to be of great importance for us as boarders. The boys’ hostels are in bad state and we hope that they will be worked on so that they can be fit for human habitation.

by Catherine Brando.

Daniel Mizu

Catherine Brando

A boarding boy student on St. Rupert boarding facility From my findings, it is claimed that St. Rupert begun offering boarding facilities as early as 2000.

From its foundations, the boarding facility was a self-catering one. This came with its own challenges such as students sleeping on an empty belly and going to school late. Cooking was also done in very dirty and unhygienic places resulting in a number of students visiting the hospital for medical attention. If one could have visited the boarding place at the time, he or she could have been met with dirty plates and pots scattered in the forests of the mission particularly along the path that leads to the school. This situation was traumatizing to the students but there was nothing that we could do to uplift our living standards. We looked forward to the school authorities and the responsible authority to improve our lot. But when we opened for our second term, things have greatly changed and improved in terms of our catering.

The stress of cooking for ourselves have been taken off and now we are back to our primary business…study. I could say, I am experiencing a lot of peace of mind and my fellow students look very relaxed and happier. I could describe this as a super improvement though we are still waiting patiently for our reading tables to arrive. In addition, I feel lots of renovations are needed particularly in the boys’ hostels, their bathrooms and toilets. It will be great once we get the bunk beds to sleep on. However, I think that as time goes on, the abovementioned challenges will be dealt with given our current administration’s desire to see the students’ welfare improve. What is happening in our boarding facility reminds me of one of the American writers who said: “Progress has nothing to do with much speed but much to do with direction.” We feel our responsible authority and school authorities’ vision is directing us toward something that we will one day all smile about.

By Daniel Mizu 10

St. Rupert High Boarding cooking place

AND BEYOND A senior lady teacher’s reflections: Sanitary key to education For most adolescent girls in the rural areas of Zimbabwe menstruation is a nightmare. It is the worst thing ever. Sanitary wear is generally unavailable in the rural areas. If they are available they are just beyond the rural girl’s reach given their very poor background.

The school feels grateful to our partners, the Rotary Club. The Rotary Club Harare Dawn in partnership with Johnson and Johnson act as our dawn of hope because they have been providing the sanitary pads to our girls. This initiative has given an opportunity to our girls to be free and comfortable to participate in extra-curriculum activities. In addition, this has built in confidences in our village girls. Thus, I can safely say, our girls have their dignity back.

Before these donations, our girls used to miss classes. Thus, our girls used to opt for home in lieu of school afraid of being teased or laughed at by boys if they soiled their school skirts. This for them was the most embarrassing situation.

Absenteeism was heavily affecting the girl child’s performance at school. Often the girl child at that age used to miss four days per month which translates to 12 learning days per term. Prior to this timely donation, our girls used to use rags which they could hide once their menstrual is over only to be retrieved and used again and again.

In addition, most of our girl child used to come to school bare-footed. Upon visiting our school and realizing this problem, the Rotary Club Harare Dawn donated over 100 shoes. These shoes were given to the pupils. As a school we feel so grateful to our partners in this struggle of helping the girl child reclaim her dignity.

By Auksilia R. Chabvutagondo (Senior Lady)

Rotary Club Harare Dawn donating Sanitary pads at St. Rupert’s

The Importance of incentivized holiday lessons

I have been at St. Rupert Mayer High School for the past 4 years. I have experienced and participated in the incentivized holiday lessons. The holiday lessons have been introduced to cater for those students with barriers to learning.

Our students need ample time with the teacher if they are to produce something meaningful. The incentivized holiday lessons improved the school pass-rate and performances per subject. At St. Rupert Mayer the teacher is not only there to teach, but to lead and motivate both students and parents.

The incentives reduced staff turnover thus increased staff retention. They acted as a motivating factor for a poor bush and rural teacher who earns a meager salary. Teachers at St. Rupert High are geographically and physically alienated from the civilized centers. This place is physically unfriendly and often teachers at the mission wake up at 0200hrs to get transport to town. For a teacher at St. Rupert certainly the incentivized holiday lessons was something that we all looked forward to. It is our hope that if funds permitting, this aspect of incentivized holiday lessons at St. Rupert should be continued if we are to keep the teachers as well as improve the pass rate of our students.

By Marcus Garvey Waraza (History and Computer Teacher).

11

NEWS FROM ST RUPERT HIGH SCHOOL Personal Experience: A head girl’s reflections Indeed time flies when you are having fun. The years went so fast but they were worthwhile and brought about changes to my life and how I view life. The world has much to offer but to enjoy life one has to make right choices and sacrifices.

2015 being the head girl of St. Rupert Mayer is going to be an electrifying year though I will face challenges, hopes, joys as well as sorrows during the course. With the help of prefects board, members of staff, responsible authority not forgetting the society, I shall manage to overcome the challenges and succeed in flying the school flag high in all aspects of the curriculum.

Since St. Rupert Mayer is still a developing school I hope there will be more classroom blocks in the near future. As Catholic students we fall under the value of prayer and wish to boost if through activities such as retreat, rosary, the way of the cross so as to assist us in the spiritual realm.

Lucia Mudzingwa (Head Girl).

From the desk of the high school Clerk

The School Clerk, Mr. Taruba

PAYMENT STATISTICS TOTAL ENROLMENT—236 STUDENTS PAID IN FULL—112 STUDENTS PART PAYMENT –30 STUDENTS NOT YET PAID—94 STUDENTS Average total payment for each term 3000-00 shortfalls COMMENTS The above is the average figures of students who pay each term and the usual average shortfall is 50% .This affects the smooth running of the school and causes misappropriation of funds .This is because for example , when worker’s salaries need to be paid ,and a few students have paid up we are forced to take money from other budgets to solve this problem. This goes on and on because the mode of payment has not changed over the years.

by Mr. Taruba

Regency at St Rupert’s Mission: A bold undertaking and blessed experience

Trust Dekwende, SJ Jesuit Scholastic

Over the past months of teaching at St Rupert Mayer High School as the main ministry of my regency, the opportunity to contribute to the apostolic work by educating the young people of Makonde and some from other parts of the country has been a bold undertaking and also a blessed experience. Regency at St Rupert Mayer is more than merely teaching. It is to pay attention to all the needs of the pupils, to be aware of the challenges they face from their homes, to have a sense of solidarity with the local community and to give service without expecting anything in return. This has helped me to concretely experience the meaning and importance of the society’s preferential option for the poor.

I remember the occasion when we were travelling to St Rupert Mayer Mission with the socius to the provincial – Fr Lawrence Daka, SJ. We encountered a flooded river at Muche – a distance of at least 35 km from the mission station. We waited for five hours at the bank of the river before we could cross over to the other side, because the river was in full flood and it was unsafe to do so. At some point we thought of abandoning the journey, however, we accepted the test and waited for the river to subside. This was the first experience of my next assignment. I accepted the challenge and it became a source of inspiration for me to examine my own faith, determination and openness for a missionary audacity. Although the encountering of a flooded river was a challenge on this first day of my regency, it later became a perennial phenomenon throughout the rainy season in Makonde.

To look at this regency with the eyes of faith has strengthened my attitude of appreciating the subtle meaning of our Jesuit vocation. Determination has also helped me to see through all frustrations and obstacles , while openness a spirit to surrender and allow God to take control. It is in this experience at St Rupert Mayer Mission that I can join our father St Ignatius to ‘see God in all things’ – to experience the evidence of the beautiful living in every circumstance.

by Trust Dekwende, SJ 12

NEWS FROM ST RUPERT MISSION HOSPITAL AND

BEYOND

Dr. O. Mupfiga shares his reflections on St. Rupert Mission Hospital

St Rupert-Mayer mission hospital, the brainchild of a true visionary remains a beacon of Dr. O. Mupfiga St Rupert’s Medical Doctor. hope particularly to the underprivileged members of the Makonde community . This is despite the shortcomings often encountered which threaten to undermine our primary mandate of providing quality care to all our patients. Most of these stem from poor financial backing and extremely poor road networks. It is often frustrating to the healthcare provider to be unable to offer the best to your patient especially when faced with a myriad of problems ranging from unavailability of essential drugs ,grounded ambulances ,erratic electricity and water supplies. Above all ,it is character-testing to then have to explain to a mother who has braved herself to cross crocodile infested rivers on her way to hospital ,that her only son could not be saved because the hospital ran out of some lifesaving medications several months back .

Our efforts to capacitate and improve the hospital are many-a-time marred by massive staff exodus seeking greener pastures. The establishment then fails to lure new members due to lack of programs to incentivise even the few who remain and make a sacrifice to work in our otherwise unfriendly environment to say the least. To these few members who remain ,working becomes a tall order based on the workload alone thus further making an incentive more of a necessity rather than a privilege.

As if this was not enough , because the nearby mission schools are not exactly top-class, some of our staff members are forced to send their children to far away private boarding schools which are more expensive thus essentially depleting their already meagre incomes. In conclusion the St Rupert-Mayer hospital team is very much willing to be torchbearers in the quest to make our hospital one of the best in the country but despite this unwavering enthusiasm and without the necessary financial lubrication, most of our resuscitative projects remain merely hypothetical and not enough to rekindle the fire within our mission as it were. Any assistance to aid our hospital to this effect will not go unappreciated by our whole community at the very least.

By Dr. O. Mupfiga

An expecting mother from St Rupert Mayer writes:

I joined my fellow expecting mothers on the 3th of May 2015. What I found of great interest is the cleaniness of the mother shelter facility. The mother shelter facility is a facility meant for the expecting mothers. We are staying pretty well and thanks to the friends of St. Rupert Mayer hospital for setting this top of the art facility for pregnant expecting mothers.

However, often we experience hunger because of food shortages, vegetables, cooking oil, washing and bathing soap. We also hope that we will get some ball games and other sports that we can be engaged in as we expect to bring new life into the world. She writes: “we stay well because everything toilets is very correct, beds is very nice. Water is very correct.” By Mrs M. M. 13

NEWS FROM ST RUPERT MISSION HOSPITAL AND

BEYOND

From the acting administrator's desk St. Rupert Mayer Mission Hospital services mainly the community of Makonde district in Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe. Like any other health institutions in Zimbabwe, our hospital is operating under very difficult circumstances. The hospital revenue collection is very low. Most of our patients pay their hospital bills in kind such as using goats, chickens or even offering to work in the hospital for a day or so to settle their bills. Even though the hospital uses some of the things like goat to improve the quality of food for patients in the wards, this does not replace its financial needs.

The hospital has since embarked on some income-generating project to help it manage its running costs. We have started piggery project, preparing land for winter farming, gardening among others to mitigate our current running costs crisis. The hospital has a ready market for pigs in Chinhoyi but the transport is killing our profit margins. We hope if Mr. Chaparadza we get finances to built a cold room and open our local butchery this will help us serve our Acting Hospital Admin local community and cut down on our transport costs to Chinhoyi.

It is our conviction that once we have a cold room and run our local butchery, then we will be able to provide meat to our mission staff at a far reasonable price.

This somehow has a capacity to act as a way in which the mission is incentivizing its employees. At the end of the day, we hope we can reduce the current staff turnover.

We are also running a tuck-shop. It is the hospital’s conviction that if these projects are properly run we might end up managing at least to manage our running costs such as paying for our monthly electricity bills. The obtaining situation at the hospital is that its running costs are outweighing its ability to generate income for its needs. This situation is very discouraging but with the current administration we are positive we will navigate through rough turns well.

By Mr. Chaparadza, acting Administrator

The Hospital Garden Project

From the Matron’s Pen

Sr. Mutopo, LCBL: Matron

I joined the staff of St. Rupert Mayer Mission Hospital early February 2015 as the sister in-charge replacing Sr. Florence Chipango, LCBL. What I found disturbing is the high level of staff shortage. One nurse for instance is responsible for two to three departments.

My first experience coming to the mission was hectic. I found the journey painful and long in a very bad dirty road. The 95km from Chinhoyi appeared as if it was 500km. It took us more than 4 hours to cover the 95km from Chinhoyi. When I arrived I was dusty all over my cloths, face, head and my whole body.

Within a few days, I was asked to go to Chinhoyi provincial hospital. Another nightmare I experienced was waking up at 0100hrs to get transport to Chinhoyi and only to reach there at 0600hrs. As I write our two ambulances of the three are off-road because they have serious mechanical problems that require urgent attention. The hospital has suspended all the life-giving outreach program or picking up of the patients from the nine clinics we serve as their referral hospital because our ambulances are down. To make matters worse, we have terrible power cut that if I am called from the convent to the hospital its so dark to travel and unsafe because Makonde is a snake infested place. Again, if we have no electricity the hospital has no water. We are grateful however to the solar pump that was installed by people from Munich Technical University. That solar pump is handy during electrical power outages though it cannot fully manage to supply for the whole mission.

Sr. Mutopo, LCBL

Reflections from a nurse at St. Rupert’s Hospital

St. Rupert’s hospital has been functioning with a critical shortage of staff. There are many reasons that have attributed to this shortage such as poor road network. Although we are situated less than 100km from Chinhoyi, the road is so bad that most qualified personnel do not love working here. The hospital has electricity and a back-up solar system. However, the solar system is not strong enough for the running of the whole hospital. In my opinion there is need to upgrade the hospital solar system. The other challenge we encounter is the transportation of patients. Bad roads are constantly destroying our ambulances and in the process incapacitating the hospital’s ability to do critical outreach programs. Our hospital is situated in a very poor area.

The people here are peasant farmers but the area is a drought prone area so the locals are unable to pay their hospital bills. This leaves the hospital in bad shape financially resulting in low morale among the nursing staff who feel over stretched.

Sr. Bwanali, senior SRN 14