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THE BZS DAYSCHOOL 2002
Held on Saturday 14 September 2002, 11am-4.30pm
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1

EVALUATION

Feedback sheets were distributed to all Dayschool participants. Total of completed sheets returned (to 24.9.2002): 28 Did you enjoy the Dayschool?          YES 25 (89%)           NO 0 (0%)           SOME OF IT 3 (11%) Do you feel that you learned something?          YES, A LOT 19 (68%)          YES, A LITTLE 8 (29%)           NO 0 (0%)           No response 1 (3%) Did you make new/useful contacts?           YES, LOTS OF THEM 5 (18%)           YES, A FEW 16 (57%)           NO 6 (22%)           No response 1 (3%) What did you like best about the Dayschool? - The children's presentation and Grassroots - Variety of stalls, activities etc. Expert resource people (Workshop 1) - Hearing reality of life in UK for Zim refugees - That it was held & included more than political/constitutional issues - The Grassroots workshop - but sorry that so few took part - Debates - Dialogue, constructive debate with Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe - Organising of workshops, their themes and interesting guests - Excellent workshops, good networking - Sticking to time during sessions - The chance to hear Zimbabweans talking about Zimbabwe - The buzz, the discussion, the friends - Meeting up with a wide range of people, old friends etc, with similar interests at heart - Very powerful, informed speakers, children really enjoyed themselves, great food - The workshop on sustainability - Good food, good range of topics - Workshops, bookstall, food - Good, politically neutral networking for me, good people - Morning session on sustainability - The morning on Land, Environment and Food Security - The food (fabulous sadza!) and the workshops, some stalls were great. ACTSA failed to explain their campaign. Tut tut! - Friendliness. Grassroots. The very clear description of the problems in the morning in the Land workshop. - Diversity of workshops - The food was excellent. The peformance was also good. The social aspects were well especially the participation. - The meal was excellently cooked and organised - The food, the organisation was splendid and the people were very sociable - Meeting other Zimbabweans - The workshops, the entertainment, the food, the atmosphere What did you dislike about the Dayschool? - Lunch hour felt a bit long - maybe show a video? - Needed more re British media & politician ignorance re Africa adding to problem - Some of the anti-Zimbabwe government remarks. Indeed that seemed to be an implied given in one of the workshops - to be against the present regime - Late running after second workshops - Fragmented, I would have liked to participate in all discussions, rather too specialised - Difficult selecting which workshop - Food distribution too slow & not enough of it - but mainly too slow (nevertheless delicious) - Biased discussions, one-sidedness of the discussions - No PA system, I think we missed a lot of the profound things said at the opening - Having to leave early - Having to choose between the workshops on offer; people who still thought there was nothing wrong in Zimbabwe - Could have ended in a party - Nothing - honest! - No drinks (including non-alcoholic), in fact a bar to go to afterwards would be good - Nothing - The afternoon session on Land, Environment and Food Security wasn't as forward-looking as it promised to be - Conway Hall - too dark - [One person] was a hopeless speaker. Spoke so fast I could not catch half he said. Like a machine gun. Anyway 2 speakers were enough in a workshop, debate never got going in the afternoon - The running of workshops concurrently which deprived others of the chance to attend other important sessions - I was not able to know what others were doing. A summary of the day would have been good. - A noisy unnecessary CD player playing awful music and it kept getting stuck. It was an assault on the ear and an intrusion. Do you have any general comments that you would like to make? - Some of it was disturbing rather than enjoyable, but that's how it is - Well done! - It seemed like an MDC rally at times. What is happening to the majority still living in Zimbabwe? - I would like a more informed viewpoint from the presiding person so that subsequent critical remarks can be placed in an objective context. BZS must not become a negative and hostile association. - Rooms were small, could not accommodate number of participants - The selection of the speakers and panelists should attract more informed people - Carry on, please - Keep it up - Keep it going as it is - A succesful formula, variety of programme - Food was good - I hope that some strong focus is consolidated out of discussions. New campaigns, argument, lobbying etc - I wished I could go to more of the Workshops - Addition of days and improving on scheduling - I'd love to attend it again. The issues highlighted were very true and I hope we find solutions. - Wish to attend the next one - A need to encourage an even greater involvement by the youth OTHER FEEDBACK RECEIVED It was a great and interesting day for most zimbabweans and non-zimbabweans to meet, socialize, eat, drink and learn more about our country, well done for a good job, keep it up…. Thank you. Well done and thank you - I thought the dayschool was a very interesting day, well-attended and lots of good networking and catching up seemed to be going on. Congrats on Saturday's event. I learned a lot. Good speakers, good handouts, and a very varied programme. Four points: the chairpeople should have been given stricter guidelines. … Questions were still going on at 3.45 and I was exhausted. The Tower Room 2 should if possible not be used as it is so awkward to get to. We should have done better with one speaker only. Two: the lunch took too long to serve- a serious problem. Thanks so much to Tony for providing some liquid refreshment in an accessible place- BUT we needed water and water and water. I think there was no access to water all day. Tea in the mid afternoon was needed. We could have cut the children's event in my view. Congratulations on an excellent Zimb School Day yesterday. It was a great success and the children and people involved with our section all had a day of fun and learning. I met some great people too. Thank you for all your hard work and commitment to Zimbabwe in making the day possible. I enjoyed myself. I made a lot of contacts. It was a fantastic day. Well done, really wonderful. Such a good atmosphere and both the workshops I went to were excellent. In the morning the one on displaced people with Thoko and Willard, and then in the afternoon to the human rights one. Tony Reeler's presentation was devastating and again Thoko. She conveys the pain of it all so well for me. And, besides seeing many old friends, some people I didn't know were in London, I also met lots of new people. What you are doing for Zim is great. And, please count me in when you need help of that sort. I thought the dayschool was very good. I have no negatives at all. If anything then that there was much noise from the main hall, which almost disturbed the discussions in our group. Also that the room turned out a bit small, but that is clearly a proof that it is well organised when more people come than was expected.

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