Campaign Story

Alpha Cottages Scheme Children’s Home is a Masvingo Community run institution which offers shelter, food, and education etc to orphans and vulnerable children. It was established in 1957 by a lady teacher Helen MacGhie and initially catered for the coloured, Indian and Asian communities in line with the discrimination practiced back then. It was registered as a Private Voluntary Organisation (P.V.O) in 1967. It is situated in Masvingo city along Mutare Road opposite Helen MacGhie Primary School about 2 km from the city centre.

Alpha Cottages Children’s Home accommodates 28 children. The Home caters for children between the ages of 3-18 years. Cases referred to the home by the Department of Social Development range from abandonment, abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and neglected. It caters for orphans and vulnerable children across Zimbabwe irrespective of gender, creed, colour or social background.

The family has 3 house units (House A, B,C). The home runs a family unit model of a children’s home whereby children (ideal a maximum of 10) are accommodated in one house under the care of a care giver. The children are selected and placed in each house according to age differences to represent a proper family set up. The family does its own chores. This provides them with exposure to normal life training that will make them adapt to the outside environment and to prevent them from becoming social misfits when they get discharged from the home.

The Home provides psycho-social support programs aimed at restoring the psychosocial functioning of the children at the institution. The social workers together with caregivers and other stakeholders assist each other in making sure that children’s wellbeing is enhanced. The home makes sure that children at the institution socialise with other children from outside the institution. socialisation is one of the mechanisms used by the institution to help integrate the children with the wider society and it helps them cope with psycho-social problems.

It also provides children with life skills training programs to help equip them with knowledge of the outside world and the skills needed for one to survive after been discharged from the home. These life skills training programs emanates from the projects being done at the institution and the projects includes market gardening, grinding mill and chicken projects. Although these projects are done on a scale, children can learn and get equipped on the necessary skills that will help them in the near future. Henceforth, there is need to conduct these projects on a large scale and have a wide variety of projects to broaden the horizon the knowledge of children.

counselling sessions are also available to children facing different challenges. Most of the children who resides at the home are brought to the attention of the institution due to different challenges, some that may have disturbed their mental wellbeing, dignity and self-esteem or manipulated their behaviors negatively. Therefore, there is need to conduct these counselling sessions in order to restore their mental wellbeing as well as modifying their behavior.

Prize giving functions are also conducted to help motivate children to do well in their academics and to carry their responsible duties as per tasked effectively. This reward system program equips children to work hard and perform well in their daily activities. It is also a way to help modify children’s behaviors as they live at the institution.