News / Education
Oprah donates $1.5 million for the reconstruction of a school in Zimbabwe
14 Jul 2011 at 23:33hrs | Views
Oprah Winfrey donated $1,5 million for thew reconstruction of Matu Primary School in the Hurungwe district. The donation was made in May this year in fulfilment of the lifetime dream of the rural school's former pupil, Dr Tererai Trent (nee Mafukidze), who is now based in the United States.
Dr Trend was honoured as Oprah Winfrey show's all time favourite guest and the personality decided to fulfil her lifetime dream of improving the standards of the rural school and giving it a new look.
The reconstruction of the school commences in the next two weeks. Eight other neighbouring schools are also expected to benefit from the remainder of the money after the refurbishment and development of Matau Primary School.
Twelve new classrooms, 20 latrines, two staff houses and an administration block will be built at the school, while eight old staff houses and two classrooms will be renovated.
The project would run for three years with ongoing maintenance work and literacy boosting programmes.
Save Children Zimbabwe was tasked with managing the reconstruction work and literacy boosting among other programmes.
Dr Trent grew up in Matau Village where she dropped out of school after getting married at the age of 11. She bore five children in the early marriage. With the help of people from the village, she made her way to the US in 1998.
While in US, Ms Trent obtained a bachelor's degree in Agriculture. She studied further and graduated with both a Masters and Doctorate degrees.
During her stay in the US, she had her village at heart and always dreamt affording her folks quality education through development of Matau Primary School.
Dr Trend was honoured as Oprah Winfrey show's all time favourite guest and the personality decided to fulfil her lifetime dream of improving the standards of the rural school and giving it a new look.
The reconstruction of the school commences in the next two weeks. Eight other neighbouring schools are also expected to benefit from the remainder of the money after the refurbishment and development of Matau Primary School.
Twelve new classrooms, 20 latrines, two staff houses and an administration block will be built at the school, while eight old staff houses and two classrooms will be renovated.
The project would run for three years with ongoing maintenance work and literacy boosting programmes.
Save Children Zimbabwe was tasked with managing the reconstruction work and literacy boosting among other programmes.
Dr Trent grew up in Matau Village where she dropped out of school after getting married at the age of 11. She bore five children in the early marriage. With the help of people from the village, she made her way to the US in 1998.
While in US, Ms Trent obtained a bachelor's degree in Agriculture. She studied further and graduated with both a Masters and Doctorate degrees.
During her stay in the US, she had her village at heart and always dreamt affording her folks quality education through development of Matau Primary School.
Source - Save the child
