The Children of Matsopane Primary School and their Angels

Through the power of the blogosphere, the world is changed, one child at a time.

Matsopane Primary School in Morape, Mozambique

Each time I hear about the cuts in library or school related funding in the UK, I shake my head. When I read the Guardian piece that said, “The coalition's "savage" cuts risk robbing a generation of the chance to improve their lives and risk crushing social mobility”, I nodded. None of it makes any sense, and I am at a loss to understand how anyone could think it is wise to take away the educational elements that enrich a child’s – and ultimately a nation’s – wellbeing and prosperity. I don’t need to preach to the converted and tell you that education and books stimulate the mind and the imagination, that they help to make the world a better place. So I simply don’t get why anyone who has them, would throw riches like this throw away. But perhaps the people who think they know have forgotten history and reality. Probably they’ve never really known what it’s like to have no books, to have no schools - to have little or no access to learning at all.

Limited access to education is a common problem in Africa, and to see it, is to want to do something about it. Because when you see children – eager children full of potential - with nothing to do, no books to read, no school buildings to learn in, it breaks your heart. And if you can, it makes you want to help redress the imbalance between those who you know have and those who do not. And this is exactly what a remarkable group of people are doing for a small community in Mozambique.

Back in 2002 two friends (whom I’ve been fortunate enough to meet through the blogosphere) corresponded about a wildlife and tourism initiative taking place in Mozambique. One friend, Val, lives in South Africa, near the Mozambique border, the other friend, Angela, lives in Germany. Val told Angela about a community which was to be relocated to make way for the project and mentioned that the project’s investors would build schools and a hospital. But, she said, no schooling materials were available for the children whose parents were too poor to buy them and the government refused to supply materials. Angela, who has a lifelong passion for learning, wrote back.

“Let me help! What exactly is needed? Or shall I send money?”
“No money!” Val replied. “But if you could send the items which are needed most, like pencils and exercise-books and chalk and paper and crayons, I would put the package in my car and drive to the schools and drop the parcel right there!”

And so the seeds of the Matsopane Primary School Project were sown.

The children of Matsopane Primary School

As Angela later wrote on her blog, “I hurried off to our shops to buy the materials – one never thinks about how easy life is here, do we? Schools well-equipped, shops full of goods, streets without potholes…quite a difference to African everyday problems.”

In the beginning Angela gave English lessons to the neighbouring children – and from that income she bought pencils, exercise books, chalk and stationery. She would send 20kg parcels to Val, who would take then on the long and dusty road trip to Morape.

Angela's parcels arrive at Matsopane amid much interest and excitement

This little girl wore her best dress for the arrival and opening of Angela's parcels

At first the school teacher was hesitant to accept the parcels, afraid that he would have to pay for them. But when Angela enlisted the help of her neighbour’s Portuguese cleaning lady, she was able to explain that the parcels were gifts from the heart.

As the relationship between the Morape community, Angela and Val grew, Angela managed to find someone, via the wonder that is the internet, who could speak Xitswa, the local language, who helped her to send letters to the children. And the children, in turn, wrote back in Portuguese and sent Angela pictures they had drawn.

The children celebrate and sing at the gifts Angela has sent them and which Val has delivered

“This has become such a heart matter for me,” said Angela in a recent email to me, “with a lot of unexpected turns. For example, the fact that the Portuguese cleaning lady’s daughter was studying medicine and could write me a note for the children, warning them of AIDS infections…or how women of my neighbourhood heard about our project via my little pupils, and they came and gave me the 82 € for the postage, just like that.”

About four years ago the Matsopane school building was destroyed in a cyclone. But this didn't deter anyone.

A classroom at Matsopane Primary School

As Val wrote on her blog in December 2009: “The school is currently a loosely fenced area of sand with a series of classrooms in various states of disrepair. These kids have very little in terms of learning aids, but have no shortage of energy and enthusiasm – especially when it came to the two footballs that tumbled out of one of the boxes! Thanks to the wonderful efforts of our friends in the blogosphere, we will be able to rebuild one of these school rooms in the new year – with a tin roof, cement floor, and real solid walls.
The gesture sounds simple, but it is no small feat organizing logistics, transport of materials by dhow across the bay; getting the approval and co-operation of the Chief, and village elders, and and…but we persevere and at last it looks do-able especially as the fathers of the children now seem willing to participate and assist where they can with labour, moving materials, gathering local materials and so on. It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm and interest.”

The head teacher of Matsopane Primary School

With Val’s encouragement, the local fathers ultimately built the new class room with a solid roof by themselves.

As Angela says, the project is about helping people help themselves – it’s as the old proverb says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Over the years, the Matsopane Primary School project has grown – not hugely, but quietly – through the blogosphere. Inspired by Angela and Val’s infectious enthusiasm, blog buddies from all over the world have come together to help and to make a difference.

“This whole thing has turned out for me as a FUN thing,” says Angela, “with heart-warming experiences and many lovely encounters.”

And, as she recently wrote on her blog, “…why I cannot say, but with the beginning of this new year, suddenly ideas and input of our blog pals seem to be exploding. It is the COMBINED good will that makes things happen. Can you see why I am so thrilled? It is the EMPOWERMENT I can sense, and that almost makes me shout with glee.”

She goes on to say, “It looks that we can help the children finally get benches and desks for their school (so far they are sitting on the ground). What is fantastic is that it is the local fathers who will build them, all they needed was the wood and perhaps some tools.”

One of the more poignant stories to come from the Matsopane Project was through the involvement of the remarkable and incredibly talented artist, Tessa Edwards. Tessa, who recently passed away, was an angel in human guise and her idea to get the children to paint picture cards which will be sold in Etsy shops, will leave a lasting – and very special - legacy.

Starting with very little and with no major donor aid, Val and Angela and their friends have helped to give the Morape community a future through its children. And this future is just getting started, it seems, as fellow bloggers, inspired by Val and Geli’s efforts, go on to assist and support other schools and villages in the area. And so we see the gift of giving and the power of education at work – instilling hope where there is none and changing and improving lives.

Thank you!

You can read the latest news about Matsopane on the Matsopane Primary School Project blog.

If you would like to assist or be involved in any way with the project, please leave a comment on the Matsopane Primary School blog or leave a comment on in the comments box of this post and I will put you in touch with Val or Angela (please be sure that there is some way in which you can be contacted).

All images copyright Val