Zimbabwean children are #UpForSchool thanks to Humble Charity Club

These schoolboys in Zimbabwe aren’t sitting on the fence when it comes to showing how much they love going to school.

They attend one of eight rural schools visited recently by the Humble Charity Club to stress the importance of education and to spread the #UpForSchool message. Its volunteers also visited out-of-school children and members of the community in Masvingo.

The foundation was formed in 2013 by Joseph Mushanyuki, an undergraduate student at Chinhoyi University of Technology, along with 15 other students at various universities in Zimbabwe.

Its mission is to co-ordinate collective efforts to stand up for children’s right to education, empowering girls, ending child marriages and advocating an AIDS-free generation.

Joseph said: “When we visited the schools, we stressed to the children that accessing education is their basic right, not a privilege, and that education is the only career-building tool which can transform our lives and societies to be better places.

“We also organised a small drama about the consequences of child marriages.”

The Humble Charity Club also promoted the #UpForSchool Petition – which calls on world leaders to keep their promise to get all children into school and learning.

It visited the Gozho, Shumbayaonda, Muchenurwa, Mapanzure, Mazorodze, Musingarabwi, Murabwi and Makasi schools and collected signatures.

Joseph said: “We also visited young people out of school in our area, ward councillors and farm workers.

“We conducted door-to-door visits, explained to them all about #UpForSchool and why it was good to sign the petition. They were very eager to co-operate with us in the collection of signatures.”

Two-thirds of the children in the area are not in school – due to a number of factors including families’ inability to pay school fees or even believing it is a waste of precious resources to send children to school.

Joseph added: “Distance is also a problem, with some children having to walk about six miles to school.

“AIDS has left many children as orphans and with no one to support them to get an an education.

“And the early marriage of young girls is forcing them to leave school.”

The #UpForSchool Petition has gathered more than eight million signatures from more than 185 countries. Individuals, schools, faith groups and communities have been collecting around the world and we are collecting the signatures, ready to hand them in to world leaders at the United Nations General Asssembly in late September.

If you haven’t already signed the #UpForSchool Petition, you can add your name online here.