St Peter’s Kubatana. Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe: Exploited by Colonialism, pillaged by bad government, devastated by hunger and raped by AIDS. Once the breadbasket of the African Continent, now she lies listless and defeated by the pestilence of poverty that is sweeping the continent. Most of those who can, escape the country with as much as they are able. Most of those who stay fall into bewilderment due to the tragedy, hopelessness and innocence of their predicament.
However, as with many tragedies there lies a few inspirational centres of hope. One of these is St Peter’s in Kubatana, Harare. Established back in 1963 by Fr Ted Rogers SJ with just eight pupils, the school’s History has followed in the roving footsteps of many of the great Jesuit institutions.
From the school’s birthplace in St. Peter’s Parish Primary School in Mbare, it moved to the Old Morgan school in downtown Harare, then, after receiving Government recognition in 1966, the school grew to some 200 pupils and moved to a newly built Government school in Kambuzuma. Here, with more teachers, expanded curriculum and a rapidly growing local population, the school quadrupled in size until the building became over run.
In 1973 the school moved on to its present location. Surrounded by the heavily populated suburbs of Highfield and Glen Norah and encircled by six Catholic parishes and near a major Crossroads, the school is able to reach out, unite and give hope to a vast population of disadvantaged and desperate people. A new life for the school began in 1974 which was accompanied by the handover of the school’s management by Fr Ted Rogers to a board of trustees including several Jesuits and the new Principal Fr “Jeep” Davis SJ.
The school grew to some 1200 pupils and in 1975 a technical branch was established to teach school leavers a variety of practical and relevant trades and the Government finally incorporated the school into its aided system. This paid the staff‘s wages and freed up funds for the development of the schools facilities. Thanks to donations from friends in both the UK and Germany, the school’s present buildings replaced the old farmyard barns previously used. Eventually, with the country’s official Independence in 1980, the Government gave the secondary section the status of High School and the Technical Branch the status of Vocational School.
Fr Davis retired in 1989 and handed the baton over to Brother Dominic leaving the school under the direction of the Jesuits and retaining the wonderfully high standards that the school has enjoyed since its birth. Sadly, with the handover of the school to local notables around 1995, the buildings gradually became shabby, furniture fell into disrepair and morale (as in much of the country) began to find new lows. With chaos raging outside the classroom walls, the order and standards soon began to crumble within. Today many classrooms now have no doors, just over half of the students have chairs to sit on and in the English Department there is only one book for every five pupils.
In a country where the annual inflation rate is over 620 percent and climbing, the unemployment rate exceeds 70 percent, and The World Health Organization reports that one in four Zimbabweans is HIV positive (4,000 of them die every week) asking parents to foot the bill of their school books is both indecent and impossible - The National Education Department says it has suspended 70 state school heads for raising fees without government approval. The fees that the parents pay at the school scarcely cover electricity, water and the fees of a few necessary workers. Children are being pulled away from many schools due to the devastation at home and the International Monetary Fund that has said that school enrolment has dropped by 35 percent. The situation couldn’t be more different to the one the Jesuit Schools enjoy in the UK.
St. Peter’s Kubatana has been returned to the steady hands of the Jesuits who have nurtured it from its first tentative steps in 1963 ensuring that it still stays true to its original policy that no child who applies is ever rejected. Supported by their phenomenal teaching staff, Brother Dominic (the new Principal), Fr Ray Armstrong (the new Chaplain) as well as the new board of governors under Jesuit Leadership, St Peter’s Kubatana is once again committed to ensuring that the school’s 1,300 pupils are given the tools to pick up the charred pieces of Zimbabwe they have inherited from previous generations – both white and black – and are able to build the bright and colourful future that Zimbabwe and her children rightfully deserve!
Play a part in this resurrection by supporting this essential work which will give strength, hope and a future to a desperate people.