Abused girl

We are very sad to realise that a kid aged 13 has been absent from school for two weeks because someone (name withheld) aged 33 years was keeping her hostage at his Cabana. He was sexually abusing the kid.

A girl (name withheld) age 13 who frequented NELA disappeared from school for about two weeks. When the teachers tried to find out about her whereabouts that was was exactly when the mother realised that she was not attending school. The mother leaves in another village far from town. The father works in a min, also far from town. The lives in town to be near the school.

A search was held and eventually she was discovered to be living with a 33 year old man in one of the shacks in the town. 

We have as futeco referred her to the local hospital where she is going to go through medical procedures. The counseling is also going on. She seems ok mentally.

MEAL for the day

While things seem relatively well. we have a workshop coming soon. It will take us 2 weeks to complete. FUTECO is going to help schools in the district to create ToC's. We will start with New Life Academy on the 14th of March and then other schools. we are very interested in seeing this happening.

Welcome Opportunity

FUTECO is delightedly announcing that we have received a once our participant girl named Opportunity Gondo. She participated with FUTECO from 2017 and in 2019 with the help of the Association, she went to Zimbabwe and sat for her examinations at A level. She passed very well and now in 2020, she has volunteered at the Association. The interesting thing is that she is one of the 12 girls the association has helped so far to do building studies. She passed well both theory and practical exames. In her own words she said " I am going to be instrumental in changing mind sets especially for the girls who thing we cannot do what the men do".

The start of the Year at FUTECO

Very tough but we push forward. We have started the Education programme which has produced so many good results over the years. The team has started moving around the schools in Manica district. The idea is to introduce computer lessons to new pupils. The programme has been received happily by the pupils. We have even started bringing pupils to the Computer center in town. 

NEW LIFE ACADEMY

It has been very difficult for FUTECO to contribute positively to good education in the community of Manica. On the 12th of December 2019, the director of the association came up with an idea to put up a school called NELA (New life Academy) This started functioning on the 7th of January 2020. It now has over 150 children from ECD to Secondary Form 4. We are still struggling with documentation because that needs capital but sooner or later we are determined. 

Documentation

While it sounds very easy and obvious for many, it has been relatively difficult for Suite Lucas Bobo to have an ID. This was also a threat to his schooling. He came to participate in the programmes run by FUTECO in 2018. He also played as a football junior player in 2018 and now in 2019 he is playing as a senior team player which is competing in provincial league.

One day after a game against a team from Chimoio all junior players who had participated were rejoicing and Suite was the only one isolated. The coach approached him and on this day he disclosed his ID problem and he was scared that he was not going to sit for his grade 10 examination. 

The matter was reported to the Board of Futeco and an immediate action was taken the following day. He was helped to get his ID. He is a happy participant as can be seen on his testimony.

How to link football and ecology!

It has been a dream for me to find out how we can get young people of Manica to contribute positively to their health – living style. last year in December we started with a group of 23 youths. A mixed gender group. We targeted Bairro 25 de Setembro’s playing ground. The pitch was having two gullies running in through the middle to the end of the the pitch. They were caused by erosion. We closed the gullies and planted grass afterwards. Today it is the pitch which even the community church groups want to use for their functions. It has grass all over and we can say it is now relatively flat. FUTECO’s under 10 and 14 are using this space for football training and tournaments every day of the week.