WEST NORFOLK METHODIST CIRCUIT Climate and Justice Group Matjinge Fund
The 15 churches in West Norfolk Methodist Circuit are twinned with Matjinge Methodist Circuit, Zimbabwe, in a mutually supportive partnership. One of our Ministers, Rev. Dr Richman Ncube, grew up in Matjinge and was educated at Matjinge High School, which is run by the Methodist Circuit. We aim to support the Matjinge Circuit as it addresses the many challenges it faces.
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Total raised so far £1,759
+ est. £394.75
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0Matjinge is a rural community in the beautiful province of Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe.
The Superintendent of the Methodist Circuit is Rev Julius Tonderai Muteve. He covers a large rural area with 19 Methodist Societies and two church buildings, at Gwambe and Ngwana. There is no car, so Rev Muteve has to walk up to 25 km a day to visit his congregations.
Matjinge Methodist Mission runs a Primary School and boarding High School. About 195 children attend the High School. Simple dormitories accommodate 120 boarders, 75 girls and 45 boys. Many are orphans.
There are also day scholars at the High School and at the Primary School; some walk over 20 kilometres every day between home and school. Up to 600 children attend the Primary School.Most of the children’s guardians or parents live and work abroad in South Africa, Namibia, or Botswana, where they can earn more money than in Zimbabwe.
Most good schools in Zimbabwe are unaffordable. Matjinge provides hope to many children whose families cannot afford expensive boarding schools. The Methodist Church in Zimbabwe provides uniforms and subsidises the $20 per term school fees. Despite this, some parents still cannot afford them.
The Matjinge Circuit faces many challenges and hardships. With climate change, drought has worsened. The school’s borehole ran dry and children were having to walk about 5 kilometres to fetch water. The headteacher, James Ndlovu, explained how this affected the pupils in this short video.
With funding from your donations, a borehole was restored and solar pump installed on the school grounds, about 300 m from the girls' dormitory and 200 m from the main school buildings.
The water is pumped to two storage tanks to provide a regular supply to three taps - one for the school, one for the manse and one for the community.
The School community gathered to celebrate the new system in July 2024.
Rev Dr Richman Ncube visited the school to see the water system for himself and taste the water. Everything continues to work well.
A 160m fence was installed around the Manse and garden to keep out goats so the minister and his team can grow vegetables, irrigated by the water supply.
We received these letters of thanks from the school.
Next, thanks to your donations, the school and manse installed a satellite internet connection and bought six additional laptop computers. The children and teachers access educational resources and we can communicate with the Superintendent, but only when the electricity supply is working.
Our next goal is to provide solar lamps for the children and a solar battery to power the internet connection reliably. Could you help the children and families in Matjinge with a one-off or regular donation?