According to a 2019 USAID report, male literacy in Mozambique stands around 40%, whilst female educations lags behind at 33% for adults over the age of 15. In an effort to try and understand the educational and socio-economic situation there, the Amrut Foundation for the first time travelled outside of South Africa to understand whether the Foundation could be of service in the rural hinterlands of Mozambique. A coastal country with a warm climate and fertile lands, but with a chequered history of ruthless colonialism, a long and bloody civil war and periods of intense natural calamity, Mozambique is home to hardworking, friendly people with a desire for a better future for the coming generations.
Members of Amrut travelled to Chokwe district of the Gaza province and there met with the grassroots leaders of the Mozambique School Lunch Initiative (MSLI). With a team consisting of national and international volunteers, MSLI has provided up to 1 million meals to school going children in schools in the Chokwe district. MSLI has since expanded into building classroom blocks to assist students who are beginning lower secondary school. This expansion aims to address the issue of student drop-out rates due to a lack of transportation from villages hidden away in the thickets of the hinterland, to the schools in the larger towns which can only be reached after much difficulty. The daily journey proves particularly arduous after the rains. Amrut learnt from MSLI that it is due to concerns around safety during travel ,and certain pervasive norms around the movement of females, that it is most often female students that do not make the long daily treks to high schools.
After visiting many villages that are only accessible through the use of 4×4 vehicles, and missing out on visiting many more due to the complete break down of road facilities after seasonal rains, Amrut finally made it to Chate. Chate is a village of friendly faces, a few houses, some agriculture and a school of children fed daily by MSLI that abound with curiosity and the desire to do more.
After meeting with the director and teachers at the government run school in Chate, Amrut pledged to get involved and has since facilitated the building of a new classroom block for high school within the existing school premises. With due approvals from the local government and the supervision of the able MSLI team, construction is well under way.
Both members of MSLI and local educational authorities expressed their eagerness to complete the project in earnest. For their part, the Amrut team pledged to see the project through to completion. Amrut has further pledged to extend the partnership in the areas of female sanitary needs and agricultural development, under the helm of MSLI’s existing projects.
For more on MSLI please visit : https://mozambiqueschoollunchinitiative.org/
