All system go for Zim Spelling Bee Midlands regional competition

Gweru- THE Zimbabwe Spelling Bee Gweru regional competition will be held Friday at Midlands Christian College (MCC), Express Mail Zim can report.

Both the junior and seniors had to go through a preliminary stage of written portion and an oral portion.

Spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty.

To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries, and recite them accordingly.

The local version of the competition is the brainchild of United States based lawyer James Bayanai whose unwavering contribution to improve literacy in the country is beyond measure.

Bayanai has gone through several hurdles to achieve his dream of assisting Zimbabwean communities.

” I have set myself on a track to make contribution to change the world through spearheading projects to promote literacy in rural Zimbabwean communities,” Bayanai told Express Mail Zim.

Since 2010 the rural bred legal mind has been involved in International Youth Advocacy and plenty humanitarian initiatives.

In May of 2010 while working in Cape Town SA for an Internet Service Provider, he received a challenge of his life after reading in the Cape ARGUS ( a local Capetown paper) about young South Africans who were making a difference in upholding the lives of less privileged in their communities.

“At that juncture I decided to be part of the young global change makers.

“I came back home and initiated a project to promote literacy in Zimbabwean rural communities through provision of basic educational materials and establishment of community libraries in communities where the student book ratio was 1 book per 36 students and most of the schools do not have computers.

” I named the initiative Project Zuva Rabuda/Sunrise and and founded the Zimbabwe Youth Development Foundation Trust( ZYDFT)

The defiant philanthropist has met a lot of challenges in the process.

He embarked on the dream with no financial support.

He struggled to find local partners to support his outreach programs financially.

” It’s quite unfortunate that despite repeated efforts to approach the relevant government ministries in Zimbabwe (Education and Youth) no Ministry has ever offered me the financial assistance needed in my initiatives.

“At some point a container of 60 000 children’s books was almost confiscated at Nyamapanda Boarder Post because there was duty to be paid and I could not raise the amount,” retraced his turbulent journey.

Having approached relevant Ministries months before the arrival of the consignment, it only took the good heart of an individual in the United States to save the consignment.