#SaveTheBookWorm Cyclone Idai Book Therapy Project

On March 15 2019, one of the worst tropical cyclones to affect Southern Africa made landfall in Beira. Intense Tropical Cyclone Idai is ranked as the 2nd or 3rd deadliest tropical cyclone on record. Idai brought intense destructive winds and flooding which affected Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The cyclone left more than 700 people dead unfolding into a major humanitarian crisis with hundreds of thousands of people needing assistance today.

My name is Tafadzwa Dutoit Nyamande. I am a 33-year-old RITx Project Management MicroMasters student living in Harare, Zimbabwe. I have been active on Steemit as @tafgongthe1st before I lost my private key so I'm re-introducing myself here.

I decided to team up with my 18-year-old nephew, Rodreck Nyamande, who came up with the idea of collecting donations of books and stationery as he travels from Cape Town, South Africa to Chimanimani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. Chimanimani accumulated the heaviest rains and widespread flash flooding ensued affecting 250 000 people, killing at least 259 people and more than 500 people from the Rusitu Valley in Chimanimani are missing as of 20 March.

I was alerted to this cause through Rodreck's Facebook post/campaign #SaveTheBookWorm, in which he was calling for book donations and describing the ways he wants to help. The idea is to use books and educational materials as a form of post-trauma therapy for affected children. We want to introduce Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM) educational toys. These include, but not limited to, Lego, Snap Circuits, Magna Tiles, Turing Tumble and Makeblock. We are thinking of remedies which go beyond temporary relief towards foundations for life skills and personal growth. We consider this as an important step towards rebuilding and even future development of this beautiful land and its people.

All donations for books and educational materials can be sent directly to our Harare address 7/357 Montgomery Road, Prospect, Waterfalls, Harare, and drop-off points as detailed on the Facebook page. Individuals and organisations can give monetary donations on Fundition.io which will be used to finance the logistics involved which include transportation, camping for at least a month, food and water. We will need a tent with a sizable capacity to make a makeshift classroom which we can move from one area to another. We call upon Collaborators to help with ideas suggestions and to join our team which is so far comprised of 2 individuals.

Books collected in Cape Town so far

Rodreck Nyamande

Rodreck is an 18-year-old top of the class achiever high school class of 2018 maintaining the first position in the grade for 3 consecutive years in almost all subjects with an average of 87%. He won the Provincial Eskom School Nuclear Debate Programme for 2 years old. He was admitted to the prestigious University of Cape Town computer engineering programme. He has since forfeited this opportunity because his father could not afford the tuition. His mother died when he was barely two years. As his uncle, I was more than grateful to support his cause to help with Cyclone Idai aftermath in a way that relates so much to who he is, a bookworm.

We will document the whole experience with stories, videos and pictures which will be shared on Facebook and on Steemit @vambirevapepuka. We would have opened a GoFundMe for this idea since more people are familiar with it but the service is not available in Zimbabwe. We are proud to be backed by blockchain technology and confident that the power of decentralised crowdfunding will prove itself in this time of need. We look forward to working with different people from around the world for the idea to evolve into something monumentally bigger.

Thank you

Rewards for backers on Fundition.io

A fractal art carving I made as part of a five-piece collection featured here. This is the first time I have carved and that was all done in February 2019.

Chamupupuri, a whirlwind torus-like carving.

Fractal stones. The cyclone left huge piles of stones in places where entire communities were washed away.

Eye of Idai carving

Amandlovu, the first of the series which has its own story behind.

I'm also calling on a few friends who used to follow me on the now lost @tafgongthe1st blog. @rebeccaryan @ganjafarmer @greenunion @hijosdelhombre @marillaanne