Our Impact
Founded in 2011, the Mudeka Foundation has worked to sponsor the education of orphans in Zimbabwe and to enhance the facilities in our targeted schools. Here are a few of our achievements, all of which were made possible through the generosity of our donors.
Borehole Project 2017-2019
In 2017 as part of our project towards sustainable food production at Muda school, Muda school requested funding for a borehole at the school.
A dependable water supply would allow the school to produce vegetables, eggs, and chickens to feed the pupils who were receiving food aid from the charity and would improve the lives of pupils, teachers and local villagers.
We needed approx. £10,000 to drill a borehole, provide a solar-powered pump pump and 2 x 5,000 litre storage tanks before helping with the poultry project.
In April 2019, thanks to all our donors, especially the Mason Trust, and project managers in the UK and Zimbabwe, water ran from the tap near Muda school, and the responses from Muda school are very positive. Villagers have access to a convenient clean water supply, and the school vegetable garden has expanded. Minor repairs were required in 2020. A member of the community will attend a permaculture course in 2021 to encourage sustainable production.
Unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic halted fundraising in 2020 and the poultry project is not yet funded.
Assembly Point at Rugare School 2017
In Memory of Harold Bodmer
Anna Mudeka remembers how, when she attended Rugare Primary School, she assembled each day on muddy or dusty ground outside the school. The school had long wished to build a concrete assembly area which could also be used for sport, so in 2017, the Foundation started to fundraise to lay a concrete pad which would be dedicated to the memory of our much-loved and admired trustee, Harold Bodmer, who was born in Zimbabwe.
We received donations from the collection at Harold’s memorial service at Norwich Cathedral, from his former colleagues and also held a specific fundraising event at Thickthorn Hall, Norwich. Together, these raised £7,000, and with a donation of £1,400 from a private sponsor, the project could be started in October 2017. The assembly point was opened officially by the headmaster, Christopher Mutandi, assisted by his deputy, Patrick Muwadi, on December 5th 2017, when a plaque to Harold’s memory was unveiled. From the beginning of the new school year in January 2018 the 1560 school pupils were able to take part in sports such as volleyball and basketball.
We, and Harold’s family, are grateful for all the generous donations, and pleased that Harold’s memory will live on in the hearts of the people, in the country that he loved.
A Toilet Block for Muda School 2016-2017
In order to make it possible for older girls to attend school, the Foundation raised sufficient funds to sponsor the building of a toilet block. This project was started late in 2015 and completed in 2016.
Muda Feeding Programme 2016-2019
Since 2014 areas of Zimbabwe have suffered drought-induced food shortages. This was particularly severe around the Muda area where many of the children walk long distances to the schools without having eaten, resulting in tiredness and poor concentration. The Foundation set up a Feeding Programme early in 2016, providing a daily “porridge” (sadza) meal just for the younger children. After hearing that the children were sharing this meal with their hungry siblings, we extended the programme to all primary school pupils. This initiative resulted in a large increase in the number of children attending Muda school. Community members prepared and distributed the meal.
Funding was obtained through several events, including sponsored walks followed by sadza tastings, in partnership with schools in Norfolk, and by sponsorship from supporters. By April 2019 we had provided the school with a borehole to allow them to grow their own vegetables to support themselves more sustainably. The feeding programme was suspended at the end of 2019.
In 2020 we started to fundraise to complete the final stages of the project to allow the school to set up a small poultry and egg production facility.
Local Schools completed “Sadza Walks” to help fundraise
At 1.30 on Friday 26th June 2015, children from five Norfolk schools set off on a walk around their local environment to raise money to kick-start the ‘Feeding Programme’. There was African music and the children were given the opportunity to dress in the colours of the Zimbabwean flag. A representative from the Mudeka Foundation was at each school to start the walk. At the end of the walk the children were given the opportunity to taste Sadza (a traditional Zimbabwean “porridge” made of maize meal). An amazing £5000 was raised from the walks.
I have been really well received in the schools as I have visited to tell them about the walk. One little boy came to me at the end and said “I’ve got a tenna in me money box – I could bring that Miss”.
Elisabeth Louis, Education Officer.
Our thanks to the participating schools – Barnham Broom Primary School, Trowse Primary School, Mattishall Primary School, North Elmham Primary School, Barford Primary School, Woodside Infant and Primary School and Hopton Primary School.
The Muda School Building Project 2012-2016
During a visit to Zimbabwe in 2012 the trustees were shown around the high school building in Muda. The sight of school children being educated in a condemned building provided a new challenge – to raise sufficient funds to build two new classrooms.
In December 2013, following intensive fundraising activities by the charity, the foundations for two new classrooms were laid. The local village community made the bricks and local builders were employed for the construction work.
The walls were completed by the time the UK project co-ordinator, Steve Louis, along with Anna Mudeka and some trustees, visited the site in 2014. The classrooms were completed in 2015.
After the completion of the Muda Building Project, pupil enrolment at Muda increased four-fold, representing a major success story for the Foundation.
