This narration was given to Kundai Shumba –Marozva (Class of 1982) by the first black bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Zimbabwe (ELCZ), Jonasi C Shiri and his wife Rugare Shiri ( see picture insert) on 22 March 2018 at their Gweru residence. The association cherishes this memorable story time!

Musume High School is a mixed gender, boarding and day school in Mberengwa, Midlands Province Zimbabwe. The school is situated about 120 km south of the mining town, Zvishavane.

This mission school was first established by the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a Lower Primary School catering for sub A to standard 3, in the early 1940s. The school was extended to an Upper Primary School (standard 4 -6) later in the mid 1940s.

In 1958 the Primary Teacher Lower Certificate (PTL) teacher training school was moved from Mnene Mission to Musume Mission because the Lower Primary school at Mnene Mission, which served for teaching practice, had become too small.

The first Evangelical Lutheran Church Secondary School Form one class (consisting of 18 boys and 4 girls) was enrolled at Musume in 1954. (See classic picture insert).Thanks to their Swedish teacher K T Bergman who captured such moments! The school was sharing temporary facilities with the teacher training college. The secondary school was moved to Mnene a year later in 1955.

The first group to train for the Primary Teacher Higher Certificate (PTH) was admitted at Musume Teacher Training School in 1958. Musume continued as a teacher training school until 1967 when it was merged with six other church teacher training schools to form the United College of Education in Bulawayo.

This move paved the way for the relaunching of Musume Secondary School (Form 1-4) starting with Form one in 1969.  This group of students wrote the first Cambridge Ordinary Level examinations at Musume in 1972.

The government of Zimbabwe granted Musume Secondary School the Advanced level (High School) status in 1994. Unfortunately, the infrastructure of the school did not meet the basic requirements of a High School. Between 1994 and 2000 the school underwent renovations, especially the Science laboratories and hostels. Mr. M. Hove was the pioneer Headmaster of Musume High School. Advanced level classes started in 2000 and the first Advanced level examinations at Musume were written in 2001.

The school also caters for visually impaired learners.

Written by Kundai Shumba-Marozva (Class of 1982)