Starring in a story with all the plot twists and pathos a Hollywood director could wish for, Beauty Makombe is well named: she stands tall and spare in her own space and her face has an angular peculiarity that sometimes shades into conventional beauty. She is young, strong and full of hope for a better future in a less turbulent Zimbabwe.

Not long after their marriage, her husband Ernest is falsely accused of cattle rustling and gets a long prison term. Shortly after his detention, she gives birth to a son. Before Paidamoyo is a year old, the rented room they call home is destroyed in Zimbabwe’s wave of politically motivated violence, the Murambatsvina.

Beauty manages to lease a tiny plot of land and builds a grass hut for herself and Paida.  A year later, the hut and everything she owns is burned to the ground.  Carrying the baby on her back, she balances firewood on her head, to sell in the market. She borrows $60 and starts rearing poultry. Returning from a visit to her family, she discovers all her chickens have been stolen. She borrows another $60 and starts buying and selling shopping bags downtown. From time to time, her ‘merchandise’ is confiscated in police raids, but with the help of colleagues and her own determination, she keeps going.

In Hollywood, they’d give Beauty a break and a happy ending. In real life, our heroine continues to get up every time she is knocked down, because she visualizes a better life for her son Paidamoyo.  And that means fighting for his education.

When Paidamoyo was four years old, thanks to her own hard work and the help of a sponsor, Beauty was able to enrol him in the Shingirirai Trust’s Early Child Development (ECD) program. For two years, Paida was learning through fun, from basic reading and arithmetic to science, arts and crafts. Just as important, he was learning to socialize with other kids and adults, and getting two square meals a day, all in a warm and caring environment.

When Paidamoyo was six, it was time to leave the ECD program and enter the state primary system. Another challenge for Beauty: no school fees, no education.  The same Shingirirai Trust sponsor stepped in, and Paidamoyo has just taken another step on the path to learning, growing and having the choices his mother dreams he can have.

What next?  Would you like to help write the script for Beauty and Paidamoyo’s life and shape the lives of others in our community?  If so, please go to our Appeals Page on this site, read about our work, and donate what you can. A few words from you will help Beauty and Paidamoyo as they travel the long road to happiness.