TAWANDA HOMBA
BIKITA-Arguably the biggest and oldest lithium miner in the country, Bikita Minerals is not only extracting the precious stone for their benefit, but is also giving back to the community in which they are operating from by providing education facilities for the locals.
Bikita Minerals which changed hands in 2022 at a cost of over US$180m and pumped in US$200m in capitalization has embarked on a major drive under its community social responsibility where they intend to help in raising the literacy level in Bikita District.
The program which is christened, Happy Readers Literacy Projects is aimed to significantly improve the levels of literacy of children at early and middle primary school level. The projects provide the Happy Readers to learn to read and resource teachers at primary school level.
“The program has been started in seven local primary schools, and we are currently in phase 2. We now have grades 1, 2 and 3 enrolled. This has been highly successful and ongoing reviews show a marked improvement in literacy levels in all groups”, David Mwanza, Bikita Minerals mine manager.
Bikita is a rural district in Masvingo Province that is suseptable to the periodic ravages of drought. In addition to this many families are run by a single parent, and in both cases the mine felt that there was a need to ensure that primary school children were supported.
Schools which are being supported by the mine have seen a marked increase in enrolment and attendance.
Bikita Minerals has, for the past 4 years fed over 3 200 primary school children in 7 schools every school day.
The food provided is mainly maheu, and is a vitamin-enriched millet –based drink approved by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
Each child receives 500ml per day, and with scales provided by the mine, the schools record both attendance and weight statistics. Attendance is well over 95% and the children on this scheme fall into the normal weight category.
Bikita Minerals assisted the local community to build the Uyerera and Shumbaimwe Clinic under Chief Marozva and was officially opened by Vice President, Rtd Gen Constantino Chiwenga in March 2022. They also built three houses for teaching staff at one of the schools.
An innovative water reticulation system was also designed and installed for the new clinic as well as for Domboshawa Primary, a school that for 107 years has had been getting water for drinking and use by pupils and teachers from a stream nearby.
There are 3 classrooms for ECD and School buildings, child appropriate toilet facilities, as well as a new playground. In addition, the mine built a Cultural Village in which the children can be taught about their culture.
The mine has also helped the women in Bikita community to start income generating projects by buying knitting equipment and material.
It is hoped that once the ladies have mastered the various techniques and patterns that they will be able to start producing wares for the European market.
While the main’s focus has been on education, the mine is empowering women in Masarasara Village. A knitting JV was started with Wight Knitwear of Scotland and 2 trainers were roped in to train 20 ladies. The goal is ultimately to expand this project to the rest of the district.
The mine also donated 4 trucks of cement, the necessary stone/fines and the Zion Christian Church contributed by making 180 000 bricks for construction.
When Cyclone Idai hit the district Bikita Minerals donated 400 litres of diesel, 20 000 bricks, 100 tonnes of quarry stone and 58 bags of cement to help affected families, schools, clinics and the community at large.
