This visit we held career workshops for secondary students and for students who finished secondary school during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when next-step options were unavailable. We have identified eighteen students who did or are doing well enough now at the secondary level to advance into a post-secondary degree– and they are eager to do so! This year we are looking to raise the funds we need to support all of these students through a post-secondary degree. These advanced degrees and professional certificates are so important: each degree gives a young person the ability to support themself, and this independence has huge consequences for their safety and that of their family.

Our workshops also supported students who will not proceed to a post-secondary degree, by identifying for them the kinds of opportunities open to them with their secondary degree. We emphasized the importance of having more than just a plan A or B, and how that helps people more readily adapt to the unpredictability that is a fact of life in Zimbabwe (and elsewhere). We spoke with students about the risks involved in two choices that often feel like the only options: marrying young and seeking work in South Africa. We talked about the risks, but also we discussed ways to be safe-ER if that ends up being the choice they make.