How are we supporting Zimbabwe’s children during hunger and COVID-19?

Schools closed earlier than they should have and Zimbabwe went into lockdown for 21 days – this has now been extended for 2 more weeks. However, most people have much bigger worries – HUNGER! One teacher explained… “We know about Coronavirus, but parents have to find food for their families, otherwise we will surely die of hunger first.”

How do our programmes help?

We are in our fifth year of feeding thousands of children. The mahewu porridge drink is a satisfying, slow energy release food PACKED with nutrients. The nutrients are specific to growing, developing children who require an extra boost to build their immune systems and protect them from disease. When schools closed early mahewu was given to each family to take home… BUT they’re unable to access more food!

In the meantime all those families who have been trained in Conservation Agriculture, using only natural farming methods, are harvesting their crops now – fresh vegetables, lentils, sorghum, soya and maize to feed their families along with substantially extra produce to sell. BUT they cannot take their harvest to sell during lockdown!! They risk losing a large part of the crop they have worked so hard to produce.

IT IS THIS PRODUCE THAT IS GOING TO SAVE LIVES!

The answer is simple…
Together we have negotiated a very fair and reasonable exchange with our farmers – they will be (safely) delivering all of their surplus crops to our poverty stricken and starving families throughout their area. We have trained 120 farmers in 9 different areas and they are now able to pay it forward.

It is rare that we stop thinking about the children and families in Zimbabwe and how we can support them – especially through the diverse challenges they face. With your help and the hard work of many Zimbabweans – we always find a way! Children who are sponsored continue to receive their monthly food hampers in a safe manner.

We send our thoughts to the people of Zimbabwe, most especially the head of households, like Gogos (grandmothers) and older children who have to fend for many young orphaned children. We very much hope our support, with your donations, will put them in a stronger position to overcome this crisis.

We are hugely grateful to Foundations for Farming (our partners in the Conservation Agriculture program) for hosting parents and teachers from the community and schools in which we are working. The training they are receiving here is an indepth extension to the Conservation Agriculture foundation course, and is known as “I was Hungry”. This 2 week residential course goes beyond farming small family plots and includes how to grow and use natural herbs for medicinal purposes as well as larger scale farming – again using only natural methods!! It is through this training that we are able to achieve 3 main objectives:
1. Even the poorest families are able to farm, harvest and eat very well.
2. The program provides a sustainable cycle meaning all nutrition and health needs are taken care of year after year – as well as income generation.
3. The participants learn how to protect and nuture their natural environment even in the harshest conditions.

With the many crises the country and people are enduring, there are very few options available to survive. One parent said “finding a job is impossible, there is no money, no electricity, no food, no medicines available – people are dying from very bad health and malnutrition. I’m so happy to be given this opportunity so my family can do more than just survive, we can actually live well.”

For more information on how you can help us please see this link:
https://zimbabweschildren.org/index.php/donate/

IT’S NOT GOOD NEWS…

We’re going to get to the point – we need your help!  There have been predictions of mass starvation in Zimbabwe during 2020 due to the broken economy, high inflation and longest drought on record.  So we did an assessment, both at our schools and in those where we do not work – the results do not make good reading!

There is a very clear difference in the HEALTH, well being and appearance of children in the schools where we have our feeding programme.  It is a proven and accepted fact that our children, who are receiving a nutritious mahewu meal, fortified with vitmains, minerals and nutrients to tackle malnutrition, have a high attendance record due to less illness, are performing well in school, their anti-retroviral drugs are working  and are generally HAPPIER.   

What about those at their neighbouring schools?  Should we just ignore very young children and watch them suffer, struggling to survive and often not able to make it to school?   We receive heartbreaking appeals all the time from teachers and parents there who watch helplessly as children faint in class, on the side of the road or in their own homes due to hunger. 

For only £10 per month we can reach those children! 
TOGETHER we can feed 2 children every day for one month for only £10.

Set up your standing order here*

We have had many steep learning curves since we began with 1 primary school but those lessons enabled us to develop onto 9 primary schools and 7 ECD centres. The root issue identified was severe malnutrition in school and at home leading to illness, lack of concentration and absenteeism from school. We introduced a feeding program, which gave immediate relief to children, bringing large numbers back to school and a conservation agriculture program to both families and schools – as a more sustainable and long term solution.
With children’s health improving and much larger classes, the teachers desperately needed ways to deliver a quality education with no resources! Enter… the Redearth Education Developing Good Practise in teaching program.

We couldn’t be more pleased with the results and hope you find the video attached as heart warming as we do!!
Previously these children had no idea of sounds that are needed to learn to read and their classroom was completely bare. You can see now how engaged both teachers and learners are with many colourful resources made from just cardboard, plastic bottles and maize sacks! ❤️
#betterteachingbetterlearning

SCHOOLS CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE 2018

It is the farming season again in Zimbabwe and we continue on our mission to convert struggling rural farmers to use natural, low cost, conservation agriculture methods that have proven to work year after year.  However, this year we have decided to do something different – a challenge for 5 schools to bring their dry, failing agriculture plots back to green, organic vegetation using an eco-friendly approach with just a hoe!

The school that uses the conservation agriculture training (provided by our partners Foundations for Farming) to the letter, will undoubtedly triumph and produce an exhibition plot that can be used every season to show hundreds of schools and families in the area that you only need a small area of land, mother nature and a hoe to produce a year’s food for a large family AND surplus to sell.

During this farming season we will continue to train, monitor and support our rural schools and include some friendly competition to see who will achieve the best exhibition plot.  We invited participants from years before, who live within the community, who were only too happy to confirm that the conservation agriculture programme has been life changing for them.

Teachers and parents have been included in the training which will be passed to children and other families.  The harvest will be used to fund much needed school development and our feeding programme so children can receive a nutritious meal every day at school and at home.

And to you – our faithful supporters – we wish you a wonderful festive season and new year ahead.

Bridget lives with her mum and little brother (nicknamed Biggie) in a tin shack in a township just outside Harare.

Bridget and Biggie have excellent school reports!  Their mother is very passionate about education and takes them to school herself every day.  They were skinny, severely malnourished and Bridget has been extremely ill many times due to dehydration and starvation. However, she still insists on going to school and on many occasions her mother has carried her to school on her back.

Since we have managed to support Bridget and her family with donations received which include healthcare, consistent payment of school fees at a better school and nutritious meals twice per day, their health has improved dramatically – they are now hopeful, feeling more energised, happier and healthier.  Look how much Bridget and her brother have grown!

Every rainy season Bridget’s mother has to rebuild their shack several times which brings much distress to them all.  We are delighted to report that we have received funding from 3 very generous donors to build a small two room brick house for Bridget and her family which cost US$3,000 (excluding the stand/land).  Through her hard work and her mother’s dedication they will be a part of changing a destructive cycle for themselves and future generations.

Thank you to everyone who supports Bridget and the many children like her!

Two years ago, we were able to finally buy 7 year old orphan Emmanuel a wheelchair with the generous donations sent by our supporters. Emmanuel suffers from cerebral palsy and was left in the care of his elderly aunt, Mrs Muzondo, who has struggled to look after him.

Emmanuel’s original wheelchair which is now far too small for him

We spoke to Emmanuel’s aunt, who shared with us the impact that the wheelchair has had on both of their lives:

“We are so very grateful for the help which we have been given. My cousin, Emmanuel was unable to either wake up for himself or do anything. It was difficult for us to move him from one place to the other and he was isolated from other kids. Thanks to you and your friends who helped us with a wheelchair. Now Emmanuel can sit in the wheelchair and it is much easier for us to move him from one place to the other which was not possible before. I used to carry him on my back every time we had to go somewhere and he is now growing up and getting heavier which made life very difficult for us. Other kids can now play with him too, moving him around in the wheelchair as they play. I thank you and company for the job well done and may they extend their help to other people who have the same problem as us. Thank you very much.”

Since then, we have continued to support the family with food, nappies and other essential items.  However, Emmanuel will soon be turning 10 and he no longer fits in his wheelchair. Sadly, Emmanuel is slowly losing the small glimpse of independence that the wheelchair gifted him with. He can no longer move about or play with other children. Instead, he is becoming more and more isolated.

We desperately need to raise funds so that we can buy a new and bigger wheelchair, and help Emmanuel live a better and happier life in spite of his illness. A wheelchair costs £200 – an impossibly huge amount for his family to raise alone. However together, we can easily raise this amount!

Please help Emmanuel and his family by donating ….

10 year old Emmanuel, who suffers from cerebral palsy, receiving porridge and nappies thanks to your donations!