About the Campaign

274 CHILDREN. ONE SCHOOL. A FUTURE AT RISK.

Help Us Move Seboza Primary School to Safety

In a rural corner of Zimbabwe, 274 children go to school in a place where the very ground beneath their education is becoming unsafe.

Their school is called Seboza Primary School.It stands in Gwanda District, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe. Established in 1913, Seboza has served generations of families, educating children who have gone on to build lives, raise families and contribute to their communities.

For more than a century, this school has represented something powerful: the belief that every child, regardless of where they are born, deserves an education.

Today, that belief is being tested.

Seboza Primary School sits between two active river channels, in an area increasingly threatened by flooding and environmental degradation. Years of upstream siltation have altered the surrounding river system, creating a dangerous situation in which the riverbed has risen above the level of the school grounds.

THE INJUSTICE OF WHERE YOU ARE BORN

Imagine being a child whose greatest ambition is simply to finish school. Imagine your parents working hard to give you an education, only to know that the place you are sending your child to learn is exposed to serious environmental danger. Imagine a community where the question is no longer only whether children have books, teachers or classrooms, but whether their school is in a safe place at all.

For many children in better-resourced communities, a safe school building is something they may never have to think about. For the children of Seboza, it is something their entire community must fight to secure.

This is the inequality we are asking you to help us confront.

Rural children are too often disadvantaged by circumstances entirely beyond their control. They do not choose where they are born.They do not choose the environmental conditions surrounding their schools.They do not choose the economic circumstances of their families or the resources available to their communities. Yet these circumstances can determine the quality, safety and continuity of their education. At Seboza, this disadvantage has become impossible to ignore.

The children deserve the same protection, dignity and opportunity afforded to children attending schools in safer, better-resourced environments.Their geographical location should never determine how much their lives and futures are valued.

A SCHOOL THAT HAS SERVED ITS COMMUNITY SINCE 1913

Seboza Primary School is more than a collection of classrooms. It is part of the community’s history.

For over 110 years, families have entrusted the school with their children. Generations have passed through its classrooms, carrying with them the hopes of parents who believed education could create a better future.The school represents continuity, identity and opportunity The surrounding landscape has changed.

Flooding and sediment accumulation have created serious concerns about the school’s continued occupation of its present location. The need is no longer simply to repair ageing infrastructure.

The school needs to be relocated and rebuilt on safer ground.

Without the resources to make that possible, the community remains confronted with an unacceptable choice: continuing to use a vulnerable school site or facing disruption to children’s education.

Neither is a fair choice for a child.

WHY THIS IS SO URGENT

Education should be a source of security, not uncertainty. For Seboza’s 274 learners, the risks associated with the school’s location make the need for relocation critical. The longer the rebuilding project remains unfunded, the longer the community must manage the challenges of maintaining education in an environmentally vulnerable location.

Flooding threatens more than buildings.It can threaten safe access to school, disrupt learning and place additional pressure on families who may already have limited alternatives. And when education is interrupted, the consequences can extend well beyond a single school term. Children lose valuable learning time. Families face uncertainty. Communities struggle to protect the opportunities they have worked so hard to create.

Seboza does not need another temporary solution. It needs a safe and permanent home.

THE COMMUNITY HAS NOT GIVEN UP

What makes Seboza’s story particularly important is that this is not a community waiting passively for someone else to solve its problems. The people of Seboza recognise the danger. They have supported the proposed relocation and are willing to contribute what they can towards rebuilding their school. Community members have committed to assisting with unskilled labour, locally available materials and construction logistics.

Their commitment is clear, but determination alone cannot finance classrooms, water infrastructure, sanitation facilities, furniture and the construction of an entirely new school.

WE HAVE THE PLAN TO REBUILD. A COMMUNITY READY TO ACT.

The Seboza Primary School Rebuild Campaign is a coordinated initiative involving community representatives, education stakeholders and project development partners.

J R Goddard Contracting has committed initial sponsorship and technical support, while GGF Africa is supporting project coordination, fundraising and delivery planning.

GGF Africa, Blue Pepper Inc and Masiwela are supporting campaign communications and stakeholder engagement.

The proposed redevelopment will provide a safer school environment with the infrastructure needed to support teaching and learning for years to come.

The project has an estimated total cost of US$1.4 million.

An initial US$200,000 in sponsorship and in-kind contributions has been identified.

This leaves approximately US$1.2 million still to be mobilised.

The funding requirement is substantial, but the need is real, and the project has a defined development objective.

The rebuilding budget includes:

• US$1,000,000 towards core construction, including classrooms and essential school buildings.

• US$200,000 towards systems and technology.

• US$150,000 towards furniture and educational equipment.

• US$50,000 towards site works and supporting infrastructure.

The project team is working through the necessary technical and regulatory processes, including the approvals required for a public school development.

Funds raised through this campaign are intended to contribute towards the approved relocation and rebuilding programme.

WHY WE ARE ASKING THE WORLD FOR HELP

We recognise that there are many important causes deserving of support around the world but we also believe that a child’s right to learn in safety should never depend on the wealth of their community.

The children of Seboza are not asking for luxury… they are asking for what every child should have:

A classroom that is safe.

A school they can reach without the added danger of flooding.

A place where teachers can teach and children can learn without the uncertainty created by their environment.

A school their parents can trust.

And the opportunity to build a future that is not limited by the circumstances into which they were born.

OUR COMMITMENT TO TRANSPARENCY

We understand that asking for financial support comes with a responsibility to account for every contribution. This is a community development project with an identified scope, technical partners and a formal fundraising objective. The project includes provisions for financial oversight, milestone-based reporting and donor accountability.

We intend to provide campaign supporters with updates on fundraising progress, relevant approvals, project milestones and the use of funds. The project will proceed through the necessary regulatory and technical processes, and we will communicate material developments as they arise. We are not asking you to fund an idea without purpose. We are asking you to help turn an identified and urgent community need into a permanent solution.

TOGETHER, WE CAN HELP CHANGE WHAT THEIR FUTURE LOOKS LIKE.

Help us move Seboza to safety. Help us build for the next century.