"Safe Park" for Children

Need for "Safe Park": Your generosity helps provide a safe and learning environment for orphans and vulnerable children in Zambia. These children are growing up in the community of Matero, which is characterized with a high incidence of HIV, AIDS and malaria and unemployment rates over 60%. Most residents are poor and live on less than $2 per day. Most children are growing up in acute poverty, need counseling and do not have a safe place to play and learn.     

Impact of Safe Park: Direct beneficiaries are 70-80 children (a total of 650 children are enrolled) who participate each week and their family members. Family members are provided with counseling if the child shows signs of anxiety/stress/trauma/grief/abuse. For example, last year we observed that a few children were undernourished. The caregivers of these children were encouraged to enroll in our micro loans program so they could take pay for food and medicines with earnings from a business started with loan funds. The women joined our loans program and six months later, the diet of children improved and they were happier playing and learning with peers. In addition, a child was observed to be in very poor health by our community health workers. This child was enrolled in our pediatric HIV care program and his health is slowly improving. 

Activities: A few activities that are organized for the children include:

• Coloring and drawing for children under five. This prepares them for grade one in school once they turn six years old,
• Homework help for school age children,
• Children who are grieving due to a recent loss of a parent/sibling are counseled so they can cope with the loss. These children are identified by the child counsellor and asked to draw/talk about their fears to understand their anxiety. Family members are included in designing a plan for counseling and next steps.
• Older children are educated on STI's, safe sex, HIV prevention, and the dangers of drug and alcohol use.
• Children from the community who are 18 or older are invited to mentor younger children, as in a Big sister/Big brother program in the US.  

As a result, all children interact and play freely with their peers and feel a sense of belonging in the community.  

Conclusion: Community residents are happy and grateful for this program as it keeps children safe and off the street on weekends. In addition, education on STI’s, safe sex, drugs, alcohol and prevention of HIV, enables children to make the right choices regarding their health, school, and make them more self-reliant. Family members are counselled and provided with information regarding other agencies that can guide the family. Over the past few months, we are seeing more children participate and enjoy Safe Park games and educational activities.

Your gift of fun and learning, continues to benefit more than 650 children from the community of Matero in Lusaka, Zambia. Thanks!

Links:

• Impact on children's health and well-being
• About "Safe Park"
• Some Zambian games we play