Harare parents navigate last-minute hustle as scho...

Harare parents navigate last-minute hustle as schools reopen with cholera figures ballooning

Philemon Jambaya

Harare’s sun still carries the lingering warmth of December festivities, but beneath the glow, a familiar tune hums – the back-to-school symphony.

It’s a melody of last-minute dashes, overflowing backpacks, and excitement tinged with anxiety.

This year, the air carries an additional beat – the uneasy drumbeat of a cholera outbreak casting its shadow over the city.

In Mbare Market, amidst the vibrant chaos of hagglers and hawkers, Mai Chiedza wrestles with the tune.

“School fees in USD, now cholera worries? My husband, a shopkeeper, barely scrapes by in RTGS. How can we fill lunchboxes?” Her plea echoes the concerns of many, the joy of their children’s education competing with the harsh realities of economic constraints and health threats.

Across the market, Trymore Muchenga acknowledges the discord, yet his eyes hold a flicker of determination.

“With schools opening Tuesday, it’s a tightrope walk, but we’ll manage,” he says, carefully selecting exercise books. “We’ll teach our children to wash hands like clockwork, boil water religiously, and pack water bottles like precious jewels. Education starts in the home, and right now, that includes health lessons.”

The back-to-school scramble gains a new urgency with the impending school opening. Parents juggle last-minute shopping with frantic errands, filling backpacks while searching for soap and sanitation supplies. Communities band together, sharing information and resources, ensuring every child has a fighting chance to learn safely.

In classrooms across the city, the familiar hum of lesson plans and chatter now intertwines with handwashing drills and hygiene lectures. Blackboards display not just formulas and conjugations, but also diagrams of proper handwashing technique and reminders about sanitation protocols. Ms. Cecelia Moyo, a primary school teacher, observes the scene with a mix of pride and concern.

“This year, our syllabus includes cholera awareness alongside multiplication tables,” she says. “We can’t separate education from health when lives are at stake. We turn classrooms into mini-clinics, make hygiene songs catchy tunes, and ensure every child walks out equipped with knowledge and clean hands.”

As the Harare sun dips below the Kopje, casting long shadows across the schoolyards, a quiet determination settles over the city. The back-to-school season may be a chaotic symphony of anxieties and excitement, but it’s also a testament to the enduring spirit of Harare’s families. They face the challenges of fees, the threat of cholera, and the uncertainties of the future with a shared melody of resilience, resourcefulness, and an unwavering commitment to their children’s well-being. For in the classrooms of Harare, amidst laughter and lessons, hope blooms like jacaranda flowers, promising a brighter future, one sanitised hand, one shared textbook, one healthy child at a time.