Priscilla

Hi, I'm Priscilla Gurankama. I live in Dangunvura, Zimbabwe.  I came to live with my grandparents when I was two years old. I haven't seen my parents for three years now. Sometimes I spend the weekend with my Uncle and his family in a neighbouring community so I can be with my cousins. When I visit with my Uncle and his family, I would go to church with them. I wanted to be part of the church and so I was recently baptised. My grandparents go to a different church, but they now let me attend The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints on the weekends I stay at home with them.

I am a happy girl!

Ten people live with me in our three room house. Some of my cousins, an aunt, my grandparents and my little brother. He is 4 years old and came to live with us when he was one.  My parents separated and both have new companions.

 As you can see I have lots of live in playmates. We are standing in the front yard of our home.

 This is our back yard were we cook our meals, do our dishes, wash and dry our clothes and raise chickens and vegetables.

 Here I am with my grandparents and little brother in our living room, which also is the bedroom of some of the members of our family.

This is where Tessa and  I sleep. We just move the stools away and drop the mattress. Tessa is my 5 year old cousin, in fact it's Tessa's family, that we visit most weekends, where I leaned about the church.  

 I often do the dishes here in our sink behind our house.  I am very grateful that we have water most days of the week.

We probably have already eaten the chickens you see in this picture. 

One of my jobs is to sweep the dirt around our house. See what a good job I do.

You might have noticed the clothes line we have in the backyard, but it isn't enough for all the clothes we wash, so we also dry them on the hedge between us and the neighbours.

I really love my grandma (Go-go), she's the only mother I remember. My mother has visited a couple of times but it feels strange.

This is me in my school uniform. I love going to school ! I am in the 7th grade and want to be a teacher at a primary school myself, when I am grown. Science is my most favourite subject. I love to read.

 

This is a picture of the first section of our school.

This is our deputy headmaster, Mrs. Mutamangera, standing in her office. She was very kind to the Jefferies when they visited our school.

This is another view of our school. Notice I'm not the only one who sweeps the dirt to make things look nice.

 When Elder and Sister Jefferies came to my school, we ran into each other when I was on my way to the rest room.

Can you find me? I'm sitting in front of the snoozer. She's going to have a hard time with her exams cause she sleeps a lot in class.

We have to pay fees in order to go to school, plus buy all our notebooks and school books. If there aren't enough books to go around we can take them to a copy machine and make a copy of them.

This is my teacher. We are learning about growing plants, it's science, my favourite subject.

  In the 7th grade we learn about religions of the world. We always pray in our school and any public gathering. Every year of our schooling we have religious instruction. Most Africans know the bible stories pretty well.

Sister Jefferies thought you would be interested in the barbed wire separating the working side from the non working side of our restroom. 

We got new tanks a couple years ago for our toilets. Notice no seats or toilet paper! Sister Jefferies thinks it's a lot better than only having a hole in the floor, which is what most people is used to.

When we have water, this trough is where we can wash our hands. Maybe one year they will remove the old tanks.

Again, this is part of my happy family. If you are ever in Danunvura, stop by for a visit or I'll just see you Sunday at church.