THIS 69-year-old Chiredzi grandmother has taken a crack at literacy.
“We were told about a school for adults and I felt I had to go for it. All I wanted was to be able to read, but I am enjoying it,” she said.
SHE clutches to a pencil as though her life depends on it. Semi-circles and linear drawings dominate her characters. As expected of a Grade One pupil, there are pauses in her writing, as if she is summoning vowels from a distant place. Words on the pages are not yet pronounced, but the determination on the writer’s face cannot be doubted.
Against all odds, 69-year-old Mbuya Tatsawani Nyati of Mashulani Village, 40 kilometres east of Chiredzi Town intends to continue learning until she can text her South Africa-based daughter without assistance.
“I was tired of asking my grandchildren to read messages for me and decided to enrol in school so that I would stop being a burden,” Mbuya Tsatsawani told The Herald.
Shamed for using her thumb to sign documents, she jumped at the first opportunity to make her classroom debut at an advanced age.
“We were told about a school for adults and I felt I had to go for it. All I wanted was to be able to read, but I am enjoying it,” she said.
She is part of the level one non-formal education class at Machoka Primary School offered by Plan International’s Women and Youth Economic Empowerment Programme in conjunction with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
Currently, she is in the second term of her non-formal education level one which is equivalent to Grade One, second terms in conventional academic terms.
For a hardworking farmer and family woman like Mbuya Tsatsawani, the flexible schedule works perfectly well for her.
“School starts at 2pm so I can work at home before I go to school. At least I manage to get into the field before I attend lessons.”
She wants project coordinators to increase the learning days so that they cover ground.
“Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are not enough, sometimes I feel I could sleep here so that I could learn more things,” Mbuya Tsatsawani said.
She already has a favourite subject and it is one of the reasons why she walks eight kilometres daily to and from school
“I really love Sitshangani because I understand the things as I read them, unlike in English where I have to ask others about the meaning of the words.” Learning with young people has not deterred her. “All of my classmates are younger but that is an advantage if you look at it. They help me to read things on the board,” Mbuya Tsatsawani enthused.
Her eyes are starting to fail her and she sits on a bench very close to the board in other lessons to be able to make out what the teacher would have written.
“I do not know if I will still be able to continue since reading is becoming a mission. I think I may stop when I finish first level. We will see if I can decide to continue.”
Mbuya Tsatsawani is a victim of a society that did not value educating female children.
She did not go to school, yet she clearly understood the importance of education.
“Although resources were difficult to mobilise, I made sure that all my five children reached Form Four. That is the best we could do for them,” she said.
After two generations, she finds herself studying with her grandchildren. Her third son Talent Chimomole says his mother has improved very much even at home since enrolling for school.
“Mum’s phone usage has improved immensely. She can now identify people who call her on her Nokia phone.
“In the past she would switch off the phone while trying to answer it, but her appreciation of colours has helped very much,” he said.
Mbuya Tsatsawani completed her first unassisted Ecocash transaction in Chiredzi this week, a sign that the classes have been helping her. But her community has held mixed views since her decision to revive a lifelong dream became public.
“Some came to me mocking and asking why I had decided to embarrass my husband by enrolling into school at my age,” she said.
Despite the jibes from some people, she soldiered on.
“When they said I will get blind from the chalkboards and books I said I don’t understand what I read already, what difference will it make? Let me try becoming self-reliant even at my age,” she said.
Sceptics have been eclipsed by those with words of encouragement.
“A friend said to me, going to school is good at least you will be able to read your Bible,” she said.
Mbuya Tsatsawani pays no attention to those who find humour in her effort.
“This is the same mentality that denied me a chance to go to school when I was young. I can’t lose my last chance to what people think,” Mbuya Tsatsawani said amid laughter.
With her spouse content with her choice, her defiance is justified. Her husband Sekuru Chityangoma Chimomole was overjoyed that his wife has decided to take a crack at literacy.
“The effects have been visible. My wife is now able to write her name as well as a few numbers. She is serious about her homework and always reads with our grandson,” he said.
Sekuru Chimomole says he believes his grandson, Talent Chimomole, who is in Grade One at Machoka Primary School with Mbuya Tsatsawani will improve his performance in school as well.
“Since they started doing homework together, Talent has improved and I feel his grandmother is pushing him to be better,” he said.
Talent is unhappy that he can’t join his grandmother since he is in formal classes and she is in the non-formal cluster.
“I don’t care that my grandmother is coming to school, I love having her close to me. We do our homework together and I help her with reading,” he said.
Mrs Patricia Maimba, her teacher, says Mbuya Tsatsawani needs reading glasses to aid her as she is facing challenges with reading some of the work from a distance.
“She sometimes struggles to read and that is stunting her progress. However, her determination is commendable, she has never missed a day in class and always encourages others in her class,” Mrs Maimba said.
Despite their 25-year age difference, with the teacher being younger, Mbuya Tsatsawani does not have any disciplinary issues.
According to their teacher she is one of the most active class participants.
In a class of 29, Mbuya Tsatsawani is among villagers in rural Chiredzi District who are trying to reset a date with education.
Her class consists of people of different demographics, dominated by women between the age of 35 and 59. The only person who is distinctly aged is not even Mbuya Tswatswani but 13-year-old Munyaradzi Rashai who is the only boy in the class and the youngest.
Mbuya Tsatsawani has blended in well into an assortment of members of a different generations brought together by education, all of them driven by varying but binding goals.
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