Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children tells the story of three children trying to survive in Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, a country which was once the jewel of Africa but where the infrastructure is now in terminal collapse. Grace, Esther and Obert show us how they not only struggle to put food in their mouths but also desperately seek the money they need to pay next term’s school fees.
Since making the film we have been able to help the children and families featured - updates on all three are below. But Esther, Obert and Grace are just three among many hundreds of thousands of children in desperate need of help. To reach out to these children, we are working to make education a reality for as many of Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children as possible.
One year from the first broadcast of the film on BBC FOUR, a team went back into Zimbabwe to catch up with the children, and record how your generosity has changed their lives.
April update
We are very pleased to report that we've been able to locate Esther's older sister Yvette, who also featured in the film, and have been working with other organisations to help her get off the streets for good. After the film aired Yvette found out she was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy called Blessed. A charity that works with street kids in Zimbabwe helped Yvette with medical expenses and tried to get her off the streets, but unfortunately Yvette found the thought of being a single mother very
daunting and chose to stay with her boyfriend and remain homeless. However, she has since realised that the best thing for her baby and herself is to leave the streets, and she contacted us in an attempt to get her life back together. With the help of that charity and social services we were able to help Yvette find a place in a half way house and register her into a school to finish her education. Yvette decided she was unable to cope with looking after Blessed, so we have been very fortunate to find him a place at the same SOS Children's Village where his family - Esther and Tino - are also living. Last week Sekuru took Yvette and Blessed to SOS for a meeting with the Director and to visit Esther and Tino. It was an emotional reunion and Yvette was overjoyed at finding a lovely home for her baby. Yvette has now started back at school and is able to visit her baby and sisters any time she likes. We hope Yvette will stick to her goal of completing her education (safe in the knowledge that we are all here to assist) and we wish her all the best.
February 2011 update from Zimbabwe
Sharon Thompson has just been out to Zimbabwe again to visit the children.
Esther & Tino
When we arrived at SOS I was totally astonished at how different Esther and Tino looked, but particularly Tino! In fact she ran past me and I didn’t recognise her at first. It wasn’t how much she’s grown but the difference in her face. The last time I saw her she was confused and very angry which showed in the hard frown and look of suspicion she constantly had on her face. Then, she would not talk to anyone except Esther and it was a rare moment to see her smile. This time – her face had totally opened up to show an inquisitive and excited child who laughed with her brothers and sisters and showed affection to her new mother all the time.
Esther’s heavy burden of acting as mother and carer to Tino has finally been taken off her tiny shoulders by their new SOS mother and family. When she arrived at SOS it was the middle of the year so there were no vacancies at their school, which meant she had to attend kindergarten for a term. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as
it boosted her confidence, gave her a gradual transition into her new life and coincided with a vacancy arising at a separate school outside SOS which is known as the best school in that area.
SOS took a chance and sent her for the interview with various other children and were delighted that Esther was accepted, showing what potential she has. Esther is doing extremely well at her new school and is thriving within her family environment. Her new mother, brothers and sisters are there to support each other, and like one big family they work together to make home life happy. Tino is going to toddler stimulation classes and will be attending kindergarten full time as of next term. I couldn’t be happier with the way things have worked out for these little angels!
Grace & Michelle
We phoned ahead and asked permission from the Headmistress of Grace’s new boarding school to take her out for a weekend, which was granted. I almost fell over when Grace walked up to me, shook my hand and said in perfect English “Hello Sharon, it’s so nice to see you again...”. The last time I saw her she was shy and couldn’t speak or understand any English at all – what a difference 6 months of extra lessons and hard work have made. She was lovely and always tried to speak English well to me, and even though she struggled with words, she gave it a go and has developed a good sense of humour.
I was very worried about putting
Grace into boarding school – both for her and Michelle, but it’s turned out to be the best decision. Even though Grace did well at the local school we registered her in around the corner from her home, it holds some traumatic memories of her father’s death, and getting away from that area seems to have turned a new page for Grace. From what I can see she seems to be looking forward at a whole new start, with new friends who know nothing of her past and if she wants to share that with them she can do or not. If you remember from the original film she was aware of other children laughing at her for digging in the rubbish dumps – maybe that stigma stayed with her for a while, but has now been totally lost in her new life and she is blooming.
Michelle has been forced to become a bit more independent without Grace, which can only lead to good things. Their maid and guardian is a young and loveable girl who gets on well with Michelle and teaches her everything she can. We have kept her school teacher from last year on for extra tuition as they bonded well and she is making good improvements at her own pace, which is important. Once she is confident enough, we will see about sending her to the same boarding school as Grace, but for now, staying where she is works better for Michelle.
Obert
Unfortunately I did not meet Obert on my last trip but worked tirelessly to get him into a good boarding school to develop his intellectual gifts, which has paid off. Obert has got stuck right into his new life and when talking to him, he was not only excited about being in full time education, but having luxuries such as a bed, a shower and three meals a day have made the experience so surreal for him. It’s obvious that he misses his Gogo and his friends back in the village but he has opened himself up to making new friends and working hard for everyone he left behind. We will continue to support Obert wherever possible as he holds a unique goal – wanting to become someone that goes back and helps all those he left behind. Be it a lawyer, doctor or whatever we believe he will use his experiences and intelligence for the greater good.
When we travelled out to his old school and stopped off to see Gogo, we were delighted at what she has managed to achieve with all the seeds and starter packs we supplied her with. Gogo’s knowledge of agriculture and farming is evident in the beautiful, large gardens full of maize, pumpkins, ground nuts, cabbages etc she has. Everywhere in Zim seemed better with green farming land spouting up, but this little old lady’s garden took every other farm we saw to task. Unfortunately she is still in the process of being able to benefit from her hard work, but this should be a good year for her, and even though she misses her Obert desperately she knows he is doing better at his new school. We will update on our plans for Gogo once we are able to agree the best solution with her. She does not want to stay alone, but does not want to move, so we’ll be looking at someone to help her asap.
The School
It was great to see the new roof up at the school but there is still so much to do there! We had several meetings with the school to assess their needs and have agreed with them that no children be sent home if we provide the school fees they owe with the equivalent value in the form of stationery, text books, building materials, crop growing packages and hopefully in time - a borehole and water pump.
This is our next big project and what we desperately need more funding for – to keep these 1000 children in school and supply meals will take time and money, but it is extremely do-able and will create a whole new future for them and their families. The teachers, parents and children are very focussed on education and know what a difference it will make to their lives, so if we can eradicate everything that blocks them from this, we could create new hope and life.
The school has the necessary books and stationery (for now) thanks to donations and we’re in the process of getting clean water supplied to drink and as an irrigation source for the fields of crops they have started, but that is only the beginning. Our objective is to give the school enough crops for them to become self sufficient and sustain a no-fee policy so they can provide schooling to an extremely poor community.
While looking for a relative who had Obert’s birth certificate, Sekuru and Obert inadvertently found his mother and father alive and well! It seems Obert and Gogo lost contact with his parents when they were evicted from the farm and moved to another village. Gogo thought they had died since no one heard from them again. Obert’s mother and father have since divorced and are with different partners but they live in the same area and were both extremely happy to see Obert again. It was all very emotional and Obert is just over the moon! It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like for him to see them again after all this time, especially since he believed they had died. We will make arrangements for Obert to visit them during the school holidays and for the family to keep in touch from now on.
In terms of schooling, Obert passed his entrance exam and was officially offered a place at boarding school for Form 1 (first year of high school) starting in January 2011. The school’s Headmaster has said that although Obert passed the exam, he requires extra lessons, particularly in maths and general knowledge. Sharon reminded him that Obert had a long period being out of school and that if he had been in education consistently, he would surely have got a much higher mark. The fact that Obert passed the exam is fantastic, considering the hardships he's endured.
Sekuru has spent a lot of time with Obert recently, and says the difference in him now is
amazing. Discovering his parents again, passing his exam, being offered a place at a good school, having new books and smart clothes bought for him, and then meeting all his fellow students has made him realise what a wonderful future he has ahead of him. Sharon spoke to Obert briefly recently and he said he thoroughly enjoyed the parent/student meeting he attended as he was able to make new friends and cannot wait to start at the school.
When Sekuru dropped him back off with Gogo after the school visit, she was extremely happy and appreciative of the fertilizer and maize/vegetable seeds Sekuru gave her to start her own vegetable garden. We are currently talking to Gogo about what she wants for the future for herself and where she might want to live. At present she is saying she would like to stay where she is, but doesn’t want to stay there alone, so we will work with her to find a solution she is happy with.
Sekuru recently spoke to Obert's teacher his current school and gave him the feedback from the headmaster at the boarding school. The teacher was very pleased to hear that Obert had done well and promised to focus on everything the headmaster had said. Sekuru speaks very highly of the teachers at Obert’s (which featured in our film) and said they are doing very good work. Sharon has asked Sekuru to buy Obert some books on general knowledge and some storybooks for him to read. This will hopefully improve his vocabulary and reading too, as the headmaster suggested.
We are thrilled that Sharon and the team have managed to do so much to improve Obert’s life, and that he now has a great future ahead of him!
Sekuru went to see both boys and delivered their new school uniforms and paid their school fees. Both families were dancing around with happiness,
which is just brilliant. Jonah is not well at the moment so Sekuru arranged for him to be taken to the nearest clinic, and we hope he has only a minor illness. Again, we are so pleased to have helped Evans and Jonah find something to motivate them and hopefully do well at their studies.
Sekuru picked up Esther, Tino and their new amai (mother) from their SOS Children’s Village home and took them back to see their Uncle and old friends. Sharon spoke to their amai and she said they're both very happy and doing extremely well – little Tino has apparently grown a lot! Sekuru said Esther was chatting non stop about her new home and friends, and as soon as she arrived back at the Uncle's place she told them and the neighbours all about it, whilst carrying one of the twins from next door around on her back!
We managed to find Esther and Tino’s sister Yvette through a local charity working with street kids. Yvette has since had a baby and is with her boyfriend. Sekuru took Esther and Tino to see Yvette and her baby, and we will make sure they stay in touch with each other.
As we reported, Grace and Michelle’s father Joseph sadly died in July. After his death, we arranged for a maid to live in with the girls and help take care of them, with Sekuru, Solly and Sarah making regular visits too. The girls have obviously found their father’s death very difficult, and we have provided as much support for them as possible. Sekuru recently attended Joseph’s memorial service on our behalf and he said it was a good afternoon.
The good news is that Grace has been accepted into a good boarding school and will start in January 2011, and we are hoping to get a place there for Michelle too.
Grace is still progressing well at her current school and her report shows an improvement in a very short amount of time. However she still needs extra lessons to catch up and get to the standard she should be at. The teachers are really making her work hard, but she doesn't seem to mind and is rising to the challenge. Michelle is further behind and needs a lot of extra help with reading, which we have arranged. Once this has improved we feel most other subjects will starting slotting into place for her more.
We need ongoing donations to be able to continue supporting the children. If you would like to make a one-off donation or set up a regular standing order, please follow the ‘donate’ link on this page. Your continued support is greatly appreciated.
Great News! Obert did well in his entrance exam and the Headmaster confirmed his place at the school.
Unfortunately we have some very sad news. Grace & Michelle's father, Elliot, died this week after a short AIDS-related illness. We had been helping him with hospital appointments but unfortunately his illness, which came on suddenly, was at an advanced stage. Grace and Michelle are obviously devastated, but we have a lovely local couple working with us who are visiting the girls regularly and trying to help them in every way possible. As they have only just settled into their new schools (and their teachers and Principal have given them support and much needed counselling) we feel it is best the girls carry on going to school and living with their extended family for the time being. We are in the process of enrolling them into boarding school near the couple who are assisting with their care. They should be able to start at the beginning of the next school year, and will always have the option of visiting family members at weekends. We will keep assessing their situation to make sure they are well provided for and living in the best possible conditions.
There is great news from Zimbabwe (for once!)
When the film went out, Sharon Thompson, who was born and brought up in Zimbabwe and now lives in the UK, got in touch with us to say she wanted to help in any way she could – including the possibility of going out to Zimbabwe herself. After meeting her and discussing all the work that needed to be done - visiting all the children who were featured in the film, setting up a watertight distribution network so that the money donated by viewers could be securely spent and distributed, taking food and supplies to the children, sorting out their schooling and living conditions, having their health checked, etc - Sharon agreed to fly to Zimbabwe and spend five weeks of her own time (taking her small son with her!) and using minimal expenses to act on behalf of the True Vision Foundation. She has just returned from the trip, and her update below shows what an enormous amount she’s achieved.
My first stop when I arrived was to visit Esther and her sister Tino and deliver the food, clean water and supplies our local partner (and fantastic interpreter) Sekuru and I had bought in Harare for them. I'd also brought a bag of warm clothing kindly donated from friends in the UK, which they were extremely happy to receive. Both girls seemed to be in reasonable health, though had bad coughs and obviously needed a medical check-up.
Someone that the film-makers had left money with had already made arrangements for Esther to attend a school a bus ride away. However, this meant giving Esther’s uncle the money for her daily bus fare, and there were concerns about whether or not he would actually pass this onto her – if not, she would have no way of getting to school. On reflection, myself and Sekuru agreed that finding a home for the girls where they would be cared for properly would be the best thing for them; this was something we clearly needed to discuss with their uncle to see how he felt.
A few days later we went to visit the girls again, and this time brought them some blankets as they’d been sleeping on towels on the floor. Alarm bells rang when we found the two girls locked out of their tent, and not wearing any of their new clothes. When I asked them why, they said their uncle had locked the clothes away. They had also clearly not been given much of the food we’d brought previously. There was no sign of their uncle, who had apparently left them behind while he went to church. Thankfully some very kind neighbours told us they kept an eye on the girls whenever they were left alone and would give them food and water.
Fortunately, when we visited the girls again a few days later, the uncle was there and agreed that Esther and Tino needed to be taken into a good home. He was struggling to support his own family and could not take on the burden of another two children. We immediately contacted SOS Children’s Villages, and after a long process of trying to find space at one of the SOS homes, going through the proper procedures with social services, trying to arrange birth certificates to fulfill the pre-requisites of being accepted (we’re madly working on getting this sorted out for all the children!), places were finally found for both Esther and Tino in a fantastic SOS home about two hours out of Harare. They have now been settled there for nearly three weeks! The home is a wonderful place. There are different houses, each run by a “mother” and is considered a ‘family’. The premises are large, beautifully kept and include a kindergarten, school that all the children attend, sports fields, playground, gardens, vegetable patches, etc. Thanks to the generous donations of viewers, we were able to say the True Vision Foundation would sponsor them.
The Director of SOS is obviously genuine in his determination to create a home environment for each child. He asked for as much information as possible about Esther and Tino’s background and explained that they really encourage the children to keep in touch with any relatives they have, so that even though SOS is their ‘new family’, the children will always know where they came from. The Director asked that Sekuru bring the girls’ uncle to the home as soon as possible so that he knows where it is and can visit and spend time with the girls. In fact, Sekuru took the uncle to visit last week, and the home will invite him to regular ‘relative days’ so he can be involved with Esther and Tino’s development; the home will also take the girls to see their uncle and his family during school holidays. The Director is trying to arrange visits for Esther and Tino’s older sister Yvette and her baby too, which means they will maintain contact with all their remaining family. During our tour the SOS Youth Worker explained that once the girls reach 18 they will be put forward to complete diplomas of their choice and set-up to become self sufficient in their own homes.
Esther particularly has taken immediately to the home. She couldn’t stop smiling when we took her there, and I was amazed at how naturally she slipped into her own role within minutes of being at SOS. She is a very special girl, and there has been a real transformation in her. See the pictures of her smiling happily!
The very sad news, however, is that we took both girls to have full medical checks, and this revealed that Esther is HIV+, but Tino, fortunately, is not. You will remember that their mother died of AIDS, so it was a great fear that both girls would be HIV+ too. We are currently looking into the cost of paying for Esther’s medical treatment over the long term. At the moment she is in very good health and showing no signs of illness and we hope that with the right medication she will stay healthy for many, many years to come.
Grace & Michelle
Next we went to see Grace and Michelle, who are still living with their father Elliot. Grace was attending a non-fee church school for a few lessons each morning as Elliot could not afford to send her to the local high school. Michelle is attending the local government primary school, and was desperately in need of a new school uniform. The girls and their father are living in cramped conditions in a house with extended family. Elliot was having trouble paying his share of the rent, and so was in arrears and struggling for money.
Over the next week we sorted out things for Grace and Michelle. I enrolled Grace in Form 1 (the first year of high school) at a good local high school. After speaking to the school Principal I managed to negotiate with each teacher to give her extra lessons so she can catch up on all she’s missed, something that will be funded by the donations. Next stop was taking Grace and Michelle to buy new school uniforms, including shoes and sports wear, plus all the books and stationery they need for school. Both girls were so excited about getting their new uniforms, and Grace was really looking forward to getting started in her new school. They finally felt like normal girls again and told me “no one will laugh at us anymore…”
A week or so later I went back to visit the girls, and found that Grace had been doing exceptionally well, considering she’d only been in her new school for a week. She had borrowed books from her classmates and was catching up on notes for the classes she missed in first and second terms. I was so impressed by what she’d managed to do, and the Headmaster was full of praise, saying she’s is a very hard worker. In fact, the Headmaster has taken it upon himself to do some of the extra lessons for her, and is following her progress closely.
I also went to the primary school where Michelle is enrolled to pay her outstanding school fees so she could continue without being afraid they would tell her to go home. The school is very big, with around 2,500 students. The buildings are well maintained, the students behave well and the Deputy Head, who I spoke to, seems determined to keep standards high. Later we met with Michelle’s teacher who advised that she is a year behind and her performance was below average. This is mainly due to the hard circumstances she has at home and her mother leaving them. Again, I negotiated extra support and lessons for Michelle each day so she can catch up and achieve the results we know she is capable of. When I explain all this to her she had tears in her eyes and told Sekuru how thankful she was for this new opportunity.
After dropping Grace off home one day after school, I noticed she seemed quite depressed and she started crying. She opened up and explained that her father, Elliot, was very ill and not eating and that she was terrified he was going to die and leave them orphans. We went to see him and found him in bed. He said he thought he had TB, and had lost weight. We sent him for medical tests, and sadly it has been confirmed that he is HIV+. We are now in the process of getting him registered so he can receive treatment, something we will help fund, as it is obviously in Grace & Michelle’s best interests to do everything we can to help their father.
Everything is now up-to-date with both the girls’ schools in terms of payments – fees, extra lessons, uniforms, etc, and we have set up a system for paying their fees in the future. We also paid for Grace to be included on a long weekend school camping trip recently, with all sorts of lessons on survival outdoors, plus fun treasure hunts, etc. We thought this would be a great way for her to make new friends and get to know some of the older girls in her school too.
When we arrived, Obert was out at school but his grandmother Gogo was home, and she was so happy to see us. We gave her food, clean water, other supplies such as blankets and warm clothes. She was so happy and thankful that she cried.
Our plan had been to then go to see Obert at school, but when we went back through the village we were stopped by some officials and told that we had to get permission from them to be there. Sekuru and I thought it best we did not put Gogo, Obert or the community at any risk of trouble so we ended the visit early and headed back to Harare. Fortunately, Sekuru’s wonderful character meant he could easily talk to the men (it was obvious that my presence provoked them) so we decided Sekuru would return the following week to sort things out for Obert and Gogo.
After considering the possible ways we could help Obert, Gogo and their loyal community, the best solution seemed to be to improve his school (which he loves) as much as possible. We thought that supplying the school with much needed stationery would be a big help, but also giving the school fertilizer and seeds meant they could have their own food growing program – so each child would then be getting at least one good meal a day while at school.
So, Sekuru and I spent a day collecting all sorts of books and stationary supplies for the school (including chalk and blackboard dusters, which were in very short supply), plus lots of fertilizer and seeds. We also bought new uniforms for Obert and his friend Jonah. Sekuru went to the school last week and had a very successful trip. They were thrilled with everything we brought for them, and the headmaster has written us a lovely thank you letter. He has also flagged up other things the schools need, such as new buildings, a borehole and urgent assistance with school fees, so these are things we may be able to fund in future if we are able to keep donations coming in.
Obert was very excited to get his new school uniform and, like everyone else, was extremely grateful for all the books and stationery we provided.
We are also looking into the possibility of sending Obert to a good boarding school to develop his unique intellectual gift – which is something he has said he would love to do. We have yet to establish whether this is something Gogo would be happy with, and if so, we could look into the possibility of moving her to a home near the school. We will update on this situation as soon as possible.
Before Sharon left for Zimbabwe we had been in contact with accountants in Harare. We needed to set up an absolutely secure network via which we could send donations from the UK to Zimbabwe, which would then be distributed directly to pay school fees and medical expenses, and to buy supplies like food and clothes and other necessities for the children and their families.
Sharon met with representatives from the accountancy firm while she was there and managed to work out a good deal so that they will manage a bank account for us, and (under instruction from the Trustees of the True Vision Foundation) will make these payments for us and keep detailed accounts. Sekuru will check on all the children for us regularly.
Thank you so much to everyone who has donated money to our Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children account. We have had such a big response and the money raised has paid for everything that Sharon and Sekuru have achieved so far, and there is still enough to enable us to carry on supporting the children for a little while longer.
However, we really want to be able to support these wonderful kids until they reach adulthood, and for that we really need your long term commitment… So, if you have not already done so, please sign up to donate to the fund regularly. Any money that is raised over and above what we need to help Esther, Tino, Grace Michelle and Obert will be used to help other children in their area (for example by supporting Obert’s school). Our aims are:
· To support all the children until they finish school (pay school fees, medical expenses, buy food, clothing and other necessities, and to keep sponsoring Esther and Tino in their home
· Continue to pay for the development of Obert’s school, which may including building new classrooms, paying for a borehole, more fertilizer, seeds etc
· Pay medical expenses where necessary for other members of the children’s families
To give you an idea of what your donation could achieve:-
o £2 A month pays for Computer lessons for Grace
o £3 A month pays for extra lessons for Obert
o £4 A month puts a 10 children child through School at Obert’s primary School
o £5 A month over a year pays for a pit latrine
o £5 A month pays for a term for Michelle at her Primary School
o £8 A month pays for extra lessons for Michelle
o £10 A month over a year will roof a classroom
o £15 A month pays the fees for Grace at her secondary school
o £15 a month pays for a year pays for a borehole for the school
o £20 A month covers Esther at SOS childen’s village
o £30 A month pays for stationery supplies needed by Oberts School
o £30 A month pays for anti retrovirals for Esther
If you would like to make a donation, or set up a standing order, please go the Donation page
