Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust Offers Lessons to Hospitalised Pupils and Pregnant Women

Trust's lessons to school pupils at Gwanda Provincial Hospital ensures that hospitalised children do not miss out on their learning. Image by Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust

With the understanding that sickness in children should not mean the end of their academic career, Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust is conducting hospital visits offering lessons to students admitted at Gwanda Provincial Hospital.

BY LYNNIA NGWENYA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | AUG 4, 2023

GWANDA (The Citizen Bulletin) — Doris Moyo*, a fourteen year old who was admitted at a local hospital recalls how she was forced to repeat her classes after missing out on lessons.

“I was admitted for a long time for stomach problems. When I went back to school,  I had to repeat two grades to compensate for the lost time,” Moyo says.

“The unfortunate incident dragged my academic journey behind as I still haven't completed primary level and have become a 'big sister ' of the school.”
Doris Moyo*, 14-year-old pupil

According to BMJ, children hospitalised with a chronic condition were more likely to underperform in various literacy/numeracy domains at primary and secondary grades.

“Additionally, the more hospital admissions or bed-days, the poorer the academic performance.”

“Health and educational support are needed to improve these children’s academic outcomes,” the report reads.

Children admitted at hospital over extended periods of time often lose out on their school work as they recover from illness and disease.

The time spent in hospital varies from a few days to months.

In this period, children face challenges in catching up with their peers. Extended hospitalisation at times leads to repeating classes for those affected as a means of addressing lost time.

However, nine year old Moses Ncube* is lucky not to have missed lessons when he was hospitalised at Gwanda Provincial Hospital in 2022, thanks to an intervention by the Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust.

The Trust is conducting reading and learning sessions every Thursday to admitted children at Gwanda Provincial Hospital.

They have also set up a micro library at the hospital and named it the ‘Healing cabinet’.

“I was admitted for a broken leg in 2022. I stayed in the hospital for six months. The Trust would visit us at the wards, read stories to us and revise exercises and tests with us.”
Moses Ncube*, a school pupil

“We were motivated to read more, write exercises like we were in class. No one wanted to be found with no reading record on the Trust's visits.”

Trust Librarian, Given Mwale, says they have reached as many as 200 children in visits conducted this year alone.

“Our hospital program targets three groups which are the admitted children, expecting mothers and infants that come for vaccinations at the children's clinic. We believe in the 'catch them young' policy and want every child to be introduced to reading at a very tender age,” Mwale says.

“To our admitted targets, we bridge the academic gap created by unfortunate times. In our Healing cabinet, children find many reading and academic books.”

“Also, we read stories to pregnant women. Our aim is to impart reading interests to the mother and motivate her to pass it to the unborn baby.”

The Trust also reads to pregnant mothers - which is scientifically proven to promote a child's brain activity and early literacy skills. Image by Edward Ndlovu Memorial Trust

Science has shown that reading to a baby in the womb promotes brain activity and can promote early literacy skills and language development as reported by Terracentre.

“Literacy skills continue to develop while reading to your baby after they are born. Even though a baby is not able to talk, they are learning about the world around them.”

“When you read to them, you are helping them understand concepts such as numbers, letters, colours and shapes; they are learning how to communicate and building their vocabulary,” reads the report.

The Trust's activities are sometimes crippled by funding shortfalls, Mwale reveals.

“We wish to reach out to all clinics in both rural and urban facilities, but we are highly limited by funds.”

However, even in the midst of limited resources,  the Trust still conducts reading activities and gets positive responses from the children and mothers.

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“Some of the children become our long term members at the Library, they share a lot of stories and testimonies,” Mwale.

A mother who identified herself as NaMbuso could not hide her joy when she learnt that her son would not miss lessons when he was admitted at the hospital.

“My son benefited a lot when he was admitted to the hospital. He could do his school work there assisted by the Trust's members. Due to the services he received during his hospitalisation, he wanted to be a permanent member at the Library,” she says.

“We wish such services could be accessible at every clinic and hospital, so that no child is left behind.”

Susan Tshili, an expecting mother, is one of the beneficiaries of the programme.

“At first I was sceptical about the initiative,  but as time went by, I understood the importance of reading to my unborn baby. I now enjoy it and I think the baby enjoys it too because I hear him move wherever I read to him,” says Tshili.

Editor’s Note: Some names marked with * have been changed to protect the identity of sources.

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