Campaign Story

Mrs Ezelle Schimper founded Lirhanzo (Love in Shangani) Children’s Village in 1998 on what was then their farm, Edenvale, in Mwenezi, after working with children’s programs in the Chikombedzi community and seeing the need for orphan and vulnerable children’s care. Answering the call from God, she walked a long difficult journey together with her work partner, Margreth Chinhambu Mutero, to raise funds to construct the village of “love”. Eleven years later, in 2009, the orphanage was finally registered, and the children could officially occupy their new home. Due to the lack of good education at the time, the children were being home schooled at Lirhanzo through a good Christian education system. Neighbouring villagers asked to join the school and in 2010 Lirhanzo Mission School was founded. Lots of prayers later and the basic infrastructure finally reached a point where the school was fully registered in 2021. The organization work with children from the whole surrounding community and through the vegetable garden try to improve not only the health of our own Lirhanzo children, but also those of the community. The organization tries to access as many resources as possible to bring up and care for the children in a holistic way. We do this through engaging our children in as many different activities as possible to teach them skills for life. The organization also tries to support those children who wish to continue with further vocational training or University studies. Our wish is for every child to reach their dreams being brought up in a loving family environment.