A GENEROUS portion of roasted chicken and a beautiful Christmas dress was how Nyasha Razawo’s mother spoiled her 13-year-old daughter this festive season after defying the odds in junior school public examinations.
“Ndine mufaro wakapetwa katatu nezvakaitwa na Nyasha. Zvaisava nyore asi rubastiro rwaakawana kubva kukambani yeZCDC rwakatibatsira zvikuru. Ndinobonga ZCDC nemabasa akadai. (I am overjoyed because my daughter passed her examinations and few people would have imagined that my daughter would excel in her studies. It wasn’t easy, but ZCDC’s assistance assistance helped a lot. I thank ZCDC for doing such a wonderful job),” she said in her local Ndau dialect.
“Ndinongonamata kuti arambe achigona chikoro uye awane laptop yeskuru. (I pray that she continues being intelligent and that she gets a laptop so that she can get more reading material on the internet as she starts a new chapter in secondary education.”
Nyasha is a girl from rural Chibuwe Village in Chipinge living with disability.
Her leg was amputated when she was six months old, but she remains positive about life.
Walking back and forth to a pre-school for 10km was a daily nightmare she endured and occasionally, she would skip lessons due to mobility challenges.
A makeshift artificial leg made walking difficult for her and replacing it with a prosthetic leg was something her family never imagined.
Due to financial challenges, her family could not afford to buy her an artificial leg.
- We’re not concerned by now-habitual State media propaganda
- A false unity
- Ekusileni Hospital faces closure
- The Fiddler: A strange endingA strange ending
Keep Reading
It was her plight that moved the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC) to extend an educational bursary and financial assistance for her treatment.
The State-owned diamond miner, which has just extended its mining operations to Chimanimani, an agricultural town close to Chipinge, made a commitment to pay for Nyasha’s treatment, prosthetic leg bills and school fees up to tertiary education.
ZCDC is assisting Nyasha with the medical bills that includes physiotherapy.
The company enrolled her at Chipinge Primary School, which offers boarding facilities and would lessen her burden of having to walk long distances.
Inspired by a conducive learning environment and hard work, she got eight units out of a possible six in her Grade 7 examinations and continues to dream big despite her challenges.
One day, she hopes to become a specialist in the branch of medicine dealing with correction of deformities of bones or muscles.
“Ndakamarova ma exams (I nailed it),” an elated Nyasha said.
“Ndinoshuvira kuita basa rekubatsira vanhu vanonetsakana nehutera hwekufamba nechikonzero chemabhonzo emuviri anenge asina kumira zvakanaka. Ndikawana rubatsiro rwakakwana zvinofamba chete. (I believe that I am now on course to realising my dream of becoming an orthopaedic surgeon. With the necessary support from family and well-wishers, I can reach this milestone).”
As she grows older, her prosthetic leg needs to be replaced.
ZCDC corporate affairs executive Sugar Chagonda said investing in education is one of the company’s key result areas.
“We are delighted to learn that Nyasha excelled in her public examinations. Her story is that of perseverance, hard work and resilience,” Chagonda said.
“One of our leit motifs is we care for our education and, as such, we have a sound corporate social investment programme which ensures that underprivileged in communities where we operate from and beyond get basic education right through to high school.”
He added: “We also offer scholarships to students at tertiary education institutions. As ZCDC, we have a deliberate policy of empowering the girl child right up to tertiary education.
“Currently, we are paying tuition and providing funds for the upkeep of two students currently studying at two local universities and we will continue to extend support to those in need in tandem with the available resources.”
ZCDC has over the past years grown its corporate social responsibility envelope, extending its support to regions outside its mining concessions.
Despite the softening prices of precious stones on the global market, the company this year paid a dividend of US$1,2 million to Chiadzwa Community Share Ownership Trust to finance several community projects such as the provision of safe drinking water and the procurement of food hampers to vulnerable groups affected by the current El Niño-induced drought.
