Gender Equality Zimbabwe Project #18294

Give education to 80 survivors of rape in Zimbabwe

by Zimbabwe Educational Trust (ZET)

Give education to 80 survivors of rape in Zimbabwe

Project Report | Dec 17, 2015
Merry Christmas from Sandra Jones

By Memory Maramba | ZET volunteer

Vocational Centre 2015

Sandra Jones Centre (SJC) news and updates ...

Children and Education

We have a total of 64 children and teenagers in our care at the moment. All the children of school going age attend pre-school, elementary or high school. 13 teenage girls attend our vocational training programme, which includes learning animal raising and agricultural skills. They help to run our rabbit, chicken, sheep, orchard and vegetable garden projects, which also provides both a source of food and income for our centre. We are proud to announce that four of our girls have successfully completed the vocational programme and are now doing their apprenticeship with us to gain life skills and business skills that will equip them to lead more independent lives.

New projects

We have acquired funding from a Canadian charity to purchase one new sewing machine and repair our existing sewing machines. Using donated African-print fabrics our students are sewing 'harem trousers', covers for diaries and patchwork bags, which will be sold by volunteers in the UK, USA and Australia.

A trial mushroom cultivation project is being run to see if mushrooms grow well in our environment. The input costs for this project are low but the retail price of mushrooms is high hence this could be a very profitable venture.

As progress is made in establishing a beekeeping project and a sewing project, more work space and storage areas are needed, and more independent living quarters will be needed to house the vocational students.

Transport Update

The need for reliable transport is ongoing and SJC is reviewing its strategy to buy two 7-seater buses to drop children to and from school and help children attend hospital appointments. SJC is currently in the process of buying their first bus, which is fantastic news! Please consider helping toward the cost of buying a second bus, estimated at US$ 4,000 to 6,000.

THANK YOU for your support this year - Merry Christmas and a happy 2016 from all of us at Sandra Jones Centre!!

Vegetable Project

Sewing Project

Play time at SJC

Links:

Click here to find out more about Sandra Jones Centre

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Sep 8, 2015
Sandra Jones Centre update

By Steve Besford | Operations Manager

Sandra Jones Centre - Summer 2015

a) Children & Education

At this present time we have six small babies at the Centre. That’s not counting the babies at our baby’s home. Our latest baby was born last week. Unfortunately she was born with jaundice so had to go back into hospital. Melinda, her mother, was obviously very worried but now they are both home and recovering well. The other children at the Centre are all doing well.

Our Girls have all just come back from a Camp which has been run by a group of regular volunteers from Australia who come out every year. This camp is the “She is” Camp and this year it was the “She is BRAVE”. They all absolutely loved the camp and it seems to have been a great success in every form.

b) Vocational Training Program

Four of our girls who have already completed the Vocational Training Program are now doing an attachment with us. This is a whole new experience for them and we hope we are going to see some interesting days ahead! We are trying to teach them to become more independent and to learn how to attain and keep a job once they leave us. The skills we will be encouraging them to learn during this period is the importance of getting to work on time, working hard, and working the full eight hours a job requires. It’s not going to be an easy journey for them but we have confidence that they will succeed.

We at the Centre have come to realise that despite the sad circumstances surrounding their pregnancies, each one of them wants just the same thing for their children as every parent wants for their own…. that they will grow up to be happy, healthy and independent.

Potential New Projects

The vocational training program girls visited a local woman who grows flowers commercially. They received information on how to cultivate different plants, and what the market for flowers looks like in Bulawayo. Indications are that the market for commonly grown local flowers may be limited even during the off-season for outdoor growing, but that there may be opportunities in growing less commonly available varieties.

A course in leather tanning at the Ministry of Youth Sizinda training centre has been identified as a possible source of information for learning how to utilise the leather skins that are a by-product of our rabbit project. Currently, the skins are still stored for future use until we can develop new products to sell. We will also look to local industry contacts for more information on tanning.

Transport Update

Up to date, we are still in the same situation with our transport. Our red truck we have been using for a few years now has been in the work shop several times over the past few months and is close to being on its way out. However, with the money that was earnestly raised from ZET in November/December period last year, we are able to bring our total amount to $10,000 towards buying a 15 seater mini bus. We have been advised that to get a good quality bus, we will need between $13,000 and $15,000.

Thank you for your support!

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Mar 6, 2015
A thank you from the Sandra Jones Centre!

By Flo Henry | Communications Intern

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