Campaign Story

Fairfield Children’s Home was founded in 1903 by some United Methodist Women Missionaries who were based at Old Mutare Mission, when they came across some cases of abandoned and orphaned children who had no one else to care for them. Fairfield is probably the oldest orphanage in Zimbabwe. The children used to be kept at what used to be called the Baby Fold or (BH) baby house, a wing of the Old Mutare Hospital wards up to their ages of 4 or 5 years and then used to either be transferred to other Institutions around the country or got adopted or got foster parents, because the facilities then at the Orphanage were not meant for older children.

In 2002 the orphanage changed its name to Fairfield Children’s Home and discarded the word “Orphanage” to avoid stigmatization. It also transformed its facilities to stand on its own from the hospital and to be able to care for up to 80 children in family units up to their ages of majority (18 yrs)

Fairfield Children’s Home at Old Mutare Mission is a duly and legally registered Children’s Home under section 31 of the Children’s Protection and Adoption Act Chapter 5:06. The home has a current enrolment of 29 children of the ages 0 – 18 years living in 4 family units and 22 above 18 years who are in college.

Each family unit is headed by a trained mother who serves just like a typical mother in a home. Race, tribe, religion, or HIV/AIDS status are not a consideration for enrolment. Extreme need of care, a vacancy, and a recommendation by a Government District Child Welfare Officer from the child’s
area of origin are the only considerations for acceptance. children enter the Home through legal instruments of “Place of safety permits” issued by a Welfare Officer or a relevant Police Officer or through a “Court Committal Order” by a Magistrate. Currently 80 children at the home represent some 17 Administrative Districts of Zimbabwe across the country and 5 provinces.

After attaining the age of 18 years, Fairfield does not just let the children go. They continue taking care of them while they are with foster families, or rent rooms for them to stay while they are attending colleges and universities.

Fairfield Children’s Home also has an outreach arm that contributes to mitigation against the serious effects of HIV/AIDS scourge and general poverty among children living in the surrounding Penhalonga farming and resettlements areas. Fairfield seeks to ensure that orphans and other vulnerable children living in those areas can access education, food, health services and are protected from all forms of child abuse. Working hand in hand with village health workers, village heads and school heads there are indications that a little more than 400 children in those areas need assistance.