Coca-Cola Women’s LINC Commissions Cheuchi Classroom Block

From pole-dagga grass-thatched to brick & mortar classrooms

Harare, 19 May 2021… Coca-Cola’s Women's LINC Zimbabwe Chapter has today officially handed over a fully furnished block of four classrooms and a modern office to Cheuchi Primary School, a satellite-rural school in Makonde district in Mashonaland West.

“The commissioning of the classroom block is a fulfilment of a pledge that we made in 2016 when we came to assist the school with foodstuffs at a time when the country was facing food shortages caused by the El Nino induced drought. We realised the school needed more than food, as pupils were learning under mud and grass thatched classrooms,” said Patricia Murambinda, Coca-Cola Women’s LINC Zimbabwe Chapter President and General Manager, Corporate Affairs at Delta Beverages.

The Women’s LINC is a network of women employed in the Coca-Cola system that is focused on engaging, inspiring and developing them to drive total business performance, and establish a strong reputation as a great place to work for women. The initiative is designed to empower women so that they can also empower others and influence their environments. The Zimbabwe LINC chapter draws its membership from The Coca-Cola Company, Delta Beverages and Schweppes Zimbabwe Limited.

“The Coca-Cola Women’s LINC's commitment goes beyond pledges and promises to tangible results. We pledged to build classrooms and provide furniture for pupils at Cheuchi and we have delivered that with funds raised and sourced by women,” added Murambinda.

The Women’s Linc received substantial support from Delta Corporation to complete the project.

The Cheuchi project started in 2016 during a visit by Coca-Cola Women’s LINC to donate foodstuffs to the school to complement the government’s schools feeding scheme at a time when communities were facing hunger and starvation. In 2018, LINC donated $10 000 cash and 10 000 bricks towards the construction of the classroom block for the pupils. At the time the satellite school had an enrolment of 100 pupils which has now grown to 325.

During the food donation, the Coca-Cola Women’s LINC observed that children were learning under pole-dagga and grass-thatched makeshift classrooms, a situation that affected their learning. Touched by the plight of the Cheuchi pupils, the Women’s LINC adopted the school, pledged to buy textbooks and build a proper classroom block as part of the group’s community social responsibility programme.

The Coca-Cola Women’s LINC was established to enhance the attraction, engagement and development of female colleagues through opportunities such as industry panels, networking events, mentoring, and community engagement which forms the heart and soul of our operations.

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