Reports on Giving Orphan Children a Home and Hope in Zimbabwe

Project Report | Apr 2, 2024
A Safe Space And Power...

By Syba | Children's Home Coordinator

Hello Supporters,

What a great start to 2024 for us! As you might know our children's home really wants to give children the most realistic childhood and family life as possible. The way we do this is through our family village approach accommodation rather than a large building traditional orphange.

While we understand many people around the world with degrees believe their research shows that orphanges are a negative type of accommodation, we believe there is atill a need for homes for children, and everything under one catergory doesn't mean it is bad!

Our village has 15 brick houses within the gated village, it is a safe gated community for everyone that stays with us, each house has 2 house mom's (the parents and leaders of the house), these people have been with us for many years undergo full background checks just like a teacher. They then have up to 8 chlldren in the home sharing 4 bedrooms and 2 rooms for the parents, each home has it's own living space and kitchen along with a small garden so the children get a real home family life, however the plus is they live next to another 14 similar families and can play in the community and we have our own computer lab, studio and homework club centre in the heart of the village along with our project team to provide extra support.

We really believe our project is unique and the best opportunity for these children without able parents of family members to look after them. Anyway with yor donations to this project we are able to run all 15 homes but it doesn't come without challenges and one is power, we cook using gas but the ligihts go off for up to 12 hours at a time daily in Zimbabwe and the children have to do homework under touch light.

Action Change has amazingly connected us with another project to bring 15 solar panels, 3 lights per panel and a battery pack to power each house and it has really changed the living conditions of everyone on our site. We are so thankful to people that donate to make projects like this possible!

Thank You,

Syba

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Nov 22, 2023
Giving Orphan Children a Home and Hope in Zimbabwe

By Vuyo Mngomezulu | Personal Assistant to the CEO

Greetings, Wonderful Supporters!

Life in Zimbabwe has been bustling, with the challenges of corruption and government politics adding to our struggles. We currently have 105 children under our care. With steady funding for only 20 of them, we’re stretched to our limits, but we continue to face each day with a smile!

Our approach to childcare is unique. We believe in the value of family, which is why we’ve built a village-like environment with 15 houses on our site. Each house is home to up to 7 children and is cared for by two dedicated house moms. This small ratio and familial living arrangement help the children feel part of a small family within the larger village.

Each house also has its own chicken farm, teaching the children how to care for the chickens and build a sustainable food source. This is a crucial life skill in Zimbabwe, where shopping at local supermarkets is prohibitively expensive for most local communities.

Ten months ago, thanks to your donations, Action Change installed an Aquaponics veggie system in one of the houses. This system now provides enough veggies for an entire house, offering a sustainable approach to food security. Our goal is to install 14 more systems, but at a cost of around $3,000 each, it’s a long-term fundraising project. Once complete, each house will have a sustainable food source, reducing our need for active fundraising for food.

We’d like to highlight a significant day - Giving Tuesday, falling on November 28th. It’s the most substantial day of the year for donations. Excitingly, GlobalGiving will match every new donation made on Giving Tuesday, amplifying the impact of your contribution on our cause and enabling us to continue our work for another year.

We’re incredibly grateful for your support and hope you’ll join us for Giving Tuesday. Please share our work and project with your friends and family, so we can continue making a difference together. Thank You!

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Jul 25, 2023
Every Child Needs A Loving Family Home

By Clive | Aquaponics Team

Children Learn to Read

Hello Lovely Followers,

It's been busy over here in Zimbabwe as we are struggling more and more with corruption and government politics as we prepare for an election. Still we don't have time to worry about that as our children are growing up fast and keeping us really busy!

Currently we have 105 children in our care, we are at capacity and we only have a steady funding income through sponsorship for 20 of them so things are tough but we smile and carry on everyday! Unlike many childrens' homes we really value family and that is why at our site we have 15 houses, it's like a village and each house has two house mom's that are responsible for their house and up to 7 children, we think this small ratio and style of living really makes our children feel apart of a small family within our village.

On site we also have a computer suite, community rooms and other resources to help the children improve their education. Each house is equipped with 3-4 bedrooms for the children, a kitchen, a lounge area so they feel apart of a real home. Each house is responsible for their own chores including washing and the children learn to play their part within the family.

Each house also has it's very own chicken farm where the children learn to care and grow the chickens and learn how to build a sustainable food source, it's an important way of life in ZImbabwe as shopping at the local supermarket is simply too expensive for anyone in the local communities.

6 months ago Action Change with your donations installed an Aquaponics veggie system into the garden of 1 out of the 15 houses, this system now provides enough veggies for one whole house to survive - it's an amazingly sustainable approach for us and so we would love to build 14 more but the cost of one system is around $3,000 so it's going to be a long project to fundraise for but once we have them each house has a sustainable food source so we no longer need to actively fundraise to put food on the table.

We thank you for your support of our newest project and we are so excited to see what we can build together, don't forget to simply reply to this email to get in touch with us if you want to know more or get involved as we love hearing from you!

Clive

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