Give 200 orphans in Zimbabwe access to education

We had a boost this quarter in the form of some local coverage in the paper Umthunywa. This is great for letting the community know about our girls and kids clubs and the great work we are proud to do.

This quarter we ran 18 girls club session – 12 in Bulawayo and 6 in Bubi districts. The sessions covered sexual and reproductive health, gender based violence and HIV. We also covered reproductive hygiene!

We were delighted to hand out 300 female sanitation items to our members many of whom are orphans and do not have the means to buy them for themselves. We conducted further reproductive sessions covering subjects including; puberty, dating, early pregnancies and drug abuse.

In addition this quarter we held four Sensitisation Meetings for local communities to attend. Among them were; traditional leadership representatives, community health volunteers and church leaders. These tackled the same issues as part of our on-going agenda and we were delighted that a total of 237 people attended.

At a time when things are a little unstable in Zimbabwe we have been doing as much as we can to conduct our business as usual.

Links:

• ZET Faceboook
• ZET Website
• ZET Twitter

Trinity project continues its diverse portfolio of work supporting vulnerable children in the community. We are ambitious to continue expanding their work and maximising impact.  

This quarter saw an inception meeting held in Ward 15 of Bubi district, attended by 25 community leaders and other government agencies. The Ministry of Health used the forum to raise awareness on Cholera alert and hygiene. The meeting also gave an opportunity for women to address empowerment issues with the Ministry of Women Affairs.

We held two days of workshop training for Child Protection Committee members and other community leaders on the theme of access to documentation.  This aims at tracing child protection issues affecting the district and the push and pull factors leading to lack of access to documentation locally. It covered legal issues, local capacity building and child protection.

Like other meetings held this quarter they are key in getting buy in from the local community who often are unaware of the difficulties young people face in accessing education. 

 A quarterly review meeting for the Bubi district followed with the below outcomes;

1. Child protection committees are better equipped to handle cases of access to documentation, raise the voices of the marginalized groups of children and influence policy at district level.
2. Children with disabilities are gaining specific support to obtain their documentation.
3. Community-level change in attitudes and behaviors surrounding birth registration issues.
4. Positive changes in behavior amongst birth registration related service providers, such as health clinics or registrars, not obstructing the process.

Office Drop-In sessions saw 70 new clients come in, representing 102 new cases. A range of successes in cases being registered, people claiming documentation and moving their cases forward have already been achieved and local community stakeholder have praised the work of the department.

We commemorated the Day of the African child on 17 July 2018 with the Kids Club at Vulindlela Orphan Care where children presented dramas and held a talent show. In attendance were parents, Social Welfare Officers for Tredgold district and other stakeholders. Our thanks go to Arenel Company who provided refreshments. The children were also informed on their rights and the importance of knowing their rights as children.   

As our work in the community continues our profile is growing which is having more positive impact for the people we serve. Crucially the communities we are working in are getting better at handling these difficult issues through knowledge and experience. One additional outcome seen this quarter is that Child Protection Committees are now better equipped to handle abuse cases and are make the appropriate referrals.

The economic crisis in Zimbabwe has disrupted our cash-flow and time fuel shortages have limited our ability to attend community sites. A more finically robust future will allow us to manage these inconveniences with less disruption.

Furthermore due to funding limitations our work in Insiza and Umzingwane districts has come to an end. We hope to be able to restart this but this discontinuation does not help our reputation or the people we serve.

We thank our partners and donors for every bit for support the can give us.

Links:

• Zimbabwe Educational Trust website