One of the many Plan USA programs helping girls realize their power and use their voices to create the futures they want for themselves is The Graduation Project in Zimbabwe. In a rural community there, girls were walking incredibly long and unsafe distances to school, facing abuse and harassment from men along the way. Then, to be closer to school, they started sleeping in an abandoned shed behind a liquor store — and the abuse continued.
The Graduation Project from Plan made it possible for the girls to bring their dream dormitory to life. The girls worked directly with Plan staff to design the boarding house from start to finish, requesting things like female dorm matrons, highly secured fences and a school garden. Living peacefully in the beautiful safe space they need, the girls are now able to stay in school and graduate.
Here, a program participant named Nokuthula who is living in the dorm shares how Plan’s support changed her life for the better, in her own words.
My name is Nokuthula. In my local Ndebele language, it simply means “mother of peace.” I am an intelligent young girl, in form one of high school. I am aged 16 and, in my family, we are six: three boys and three girls. I am the eldest of them all. I come from a polygamous family, where my father had two wives before my mother passed away in 2020. She passed away when I was still in grade six, at a time when COVID-19 was at its peak. Unfortunately, we stay about [23 miles] from the nearby hospital, which made access to a medical facility difficult for my mom.
We are now under the care of my father’s second wife, as my father went to search for greener pastures in South Africa. He comes back once in a year as he says coming back to Zimbabwe is very expensive. Although he maintains a living as a bricklayer at a construction company, he gets overwhelmed, as we are a big family and all of us are still attending school and have many obligations such as stationery, school fees, uniforms and our food also.
When my mother passed away, it really broke my heart, I had to assume the role of a mother to my younger siblings. My home is [8 miles] away from school. Before the project, we resorted to staying in a makeshift boarding house near the shopping center to avoid walking long distance[s] to school from home. I have been staying there since primary education with my two younger sisters who were also doing primary education.
My father had to look for a maid who would take care of us as we were staying in the bush boarding. She would cook for us and do our laundry also. Life there was very difficult. We couldn’t possibly study or do our homework because it would be very dark. Electricity was really a challenge then. Most of my time, I would support the maid with the daily chores at the bush boarding, as I was the big sister and my siblings were all looking up to us for support. I could not concentrate in class due to fatigue. My life was unbearable, but l had no choice.
Against all odds, I passed grade seven, attained eight [credits], and enrolled in the high school where I was selected to participate in [The Graduation Project]. My life has since changed and everyone sees in me as a healthy girl who is at peace. I enjoy comfortable nights now, as it is my first time ever to leave the mat and sleep in a bed. At home, my parents are the only ones who own a bed.
I am also happy to say that as a result of this project, I now have adequate water to bathe, which is at our doorstep. I no longer spend long hours fetching water for washing and cooking. The project drilled solar powered boreholes for us [to use as a water source].
Before I came to this school, my confidence levels were very low. However, due to various [Plan] sessions, such as Champions of Child Protection, life skills and engineering classes — which we are going through with support from Purdue University — these classes have taught me a lot on leadership, participation and decision-making, and I have since gained all the confidence.
My dream is to be a medical doctor when I complete university studies; I wish to come back and uplift my community as well as build a hospital and a pharmacy because people travel long distances to our local clinic. I know my mother will be proud of me even if she is in her grave, as before her death I promised her that I would do my best in school.
If I were to meet one of the donors today, I would tell them of how the project has restored hope not only to me, but also for many girls in my community. Education was undervalued and regarded as less important in this community. Most parents preferred sending the boy child to school to girls. Most parents presumed that the role of girls was to get married and bring wealth into the family. However, now their perceptions are transforming as the enrollment of girls at my school is increasing.
