By McGeorge Mbare
BUBYE Valley Conservancy has said one of its main investments in communities are education,, water, sanitation and health matters meant to improve people’s lives.
At the moment the organisation pats fees for more than 200 children across the district while it has been engaged in the drilling of boreholes and assisting in building schools in the district.
The conservancy, a massive, privately owned wildlife sanctuary spanning about 3 240 to 3 743 square kilometers (over 850,000 acres) lies in the southern Lowveld of Matabeleland South, , the Midlands and Masvingo provinces covering a huge chunk of Zimbabwe
It deliberately invests in education and has been visible in Beitbridge.
Bubye Valley Conservancy Community Education Engagement Manager Collete Sayi said investing in surrounding communities was central to the organisation’s mission.
“We invest massively in communities to improve people’s livelihoods, particularly through initiatives in education, water and sanitation, and health,” Sayi said.
He was speaking at the Tongwe Government High School 50 kilometres north-west if Beitbridge during the institution’s Speech And Prize Giving Day.
Sayi described Tongwe High School as one of the institutions that had benefited significantly from the conservancy’s support.
He said the school’s strong academic performance had encouraged the organisation to continue investing in its development.
“We are particularly interested in the results of our investments. Tongwe has been doing well academically, and we are happy to continue supporting the school. We are grateful to the school, and our 20 learners there are also doing well,” Sayi said.
Sayi said Bubye Valley Conservancy currently supports 20 learners at Tongwe High School.
The organisation also pays school fees for more than 200 orphans across Beitbridge District and provides them with stationery and other essential learning materials.
Sayi said the school’s transformation following the drilling of the borehole had been a source of encouragement for the conservancy.
“Before we drilled the borehole, this place was like a desert. However, we are now very happy to see how the school has used the water to transform its environment into a greener space. It now has flowers, plants and a lawn, which is beautiful to see,” Sayi said.
Bubye Valley Conservancy continues to play a role in community development by supporting educational initiatives and helping young people pursue their studies, while also contributing to improvements in water access and the general well-being of communities in Beitbridge district.
On the occasion at Tongwe Bubye Valley Conservancy donated 480kg of meat as part of its ongoing efforts to support education and community development.
The donation was announced during the school’s Speech and Prize-Giving Day last Saturday.
In addition to the meat, Bubye Valley Conservancy donated football kits for boys, netball kits, building materials and textbooks to support the school’s educational and sporting activities.
In an interview with Ziyah News Network, Tongwe High School headmistress Sithokozile Sibanda expressed gratitude to the conservancy for its continued support.
“I would like to appreciate Bubye Valley Conservancy for its donation. It has donated more than 400kg of meat, as well as many other items that contributed to the success of the prize-giving day,” Sibanda said.
Sibanda also said that this was not the first time the conservancy had supported the school.
She acknowledged Bubye Valley Conservative ‘s contribution towards improving water access by drilling a borehole, which has enabled the school to irrigate its garden and improve water and sanitation services.