CRANBERRY TWP — Students in Roxanne Walker's second-grade class at Rowan Elementary School had a special visitor recently — Violet Mutasa, an elementary school teacher from Zimbabwe.

Mutasa is in the United States until November working for a group called Nyadire United Methodist Mission, part of The Nyadire Connection (TNC) based in Pittsburgh.

According to its website, TNC is a faith-based, not-for-profit organization that supports the Nyadire United Methodist Mission in northeastern rural Zimbabwe.

“They have discovered that we are so disadvantaged, and they are helping us in any way possible,” Mutasa said.

She said the mission includes an orphanage, a primary school, a high school and a teachers college.

A normal class size is 40 students, but Mutasa has 46 in her first-grade class. The children wear blue uniforms with white socks and flat black shoes.

Because there are no buses in the rural areas, she said, “Our children walk for three to four miles. You see everybody walking. I have been asking the people who have been driving me around, 'Why is it you don't see people walking?' They say no one walks in America.”

The students also pay to learn per term, which is three months, Mutasa said.

“It is not for free,” she said. “They buy their own books.”

During lessons, Mutasa said she speaks English for some lessons and Shona, which is the language of Zimbabwe.

Children, beginning at age 3, learn to speak English.

The reason the lessons are taught in English is because the parents want their children to be able to talk to everyone in the world, Mutasa said.

She said most of the schools in the rural areas are built with bricks made of clay, much like the houses.

“What happens is that the parents come and mold the bricks,” she said.

The parents build the schools, Mutasa said.

“You can go home and that would be something interesting to tell your parents that if they lived in Zimbabwe, they would maybe be building the school that you go to,” Walker said.

Mutasa showed the students items from her country such as bowls, bags, beads and fabrics.

During a question-and-answer session, one of Walker's students asked Mutasa if Zimbabwe has a national anthem.

Mutasa said yes, and the anthem is sung in school each time the students assemble. It also is sung before the news, on the radio and at special events.

Another question was about the symbolism of the flag of Zimbabwe.

On the flag there is a bird, a red star and the colors green, yellow, black and white. Mutasa said the star stands for hope, the bird is one commonly found in the country, green stands for vegetation, yellow for minerals mined there, black is for the people who live there, white stands for peace and red is in honor of the people who died in the wars of independence while Zimbabwe was still a British colony.

Another question asked by the students was whether there are zoos in Africa.

Mutasa said there are not zoos in Africa. Instead there are parks with wild animals such as lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes and zebras. There is a big park by Victoria Falls.

Mosi-oa-Tunya is the traditional name for Victoria Falls, which means the “Smoke that Thunders,” Mutasa said.

“It is a beautiful place to be and you should be there in the rainy season,” Mutasa said. “It is quite a good place to be. Everybody who has been to Zimbabwe wants to be at Victoria Falls.”

Mutasa said the students were wonderful during her time in class.

“Stay smart, and you go to a beautiful school,” she told them.