Campaign Story

Tanyaradzwa Children’s Home is the brainchild of Mr. and Mrs. Chitekwe who founded the home in their house in rural Murehwa. They started by paying school fees for 10 children at Darangwa Primary School in Kadenge village in Murehwa. Some of the children were not performing well at school and upon inquiry it was discovered that the children would come to school hungry and would not concentrate well. Mrs. Chitekwe then sought and got permission from the Ministry of Health and Child Care to establish a soup kitchen at Kadenge Rural Health Centre where the children and others from the community would come to have meals at lunch. Mr. Chitekwe would buy the needed food stuffs in Harare and send to the facility. Still, some of the children’s performance at school wouldn’t improve. Further inquiry revealed that the children were walking long distances of up to 9km to school such that by the time they arrived at school they would be exhausted. Also, some of the children were heading their families at a tender age of 9 while some were staying with very old grandmothers who also seemed to depend on the children for food provision. This prompted Mr. and Mrs. Chitekwe to take
the children into their home while also providing food for the elderly grandmas back home.

As the number of children coming to the couple’s house for care increased, the couple decided to inform the Dept of Social Welfare about the work they were doing at their house. Officers from the dept visited the house and recommended that the couple involve the community and register a PVO as well as build a proper institution. The PVO was finally registered and the institution with six housing units was also registered on 2 Jan 2018. Currently 39 children are resident at the home while 72 are being catered for through our community-based care program. Several children have since graduated from the home with some finding employment in the security sector as policemen, prison officers and army officers. Some have crossed into South Africa to work there while others are maids in different houses in the country. Some of the children have gone on to excel and one of the children who recently attained 9As and 1B at for Ordinary Level Examinations is under Higherlife Foundation sponsorship at Star Life Academy.

Objectives

• To cater for the immediate needs of OVCs through

• Provision of residential childcare facilities (shelter).

• To facilitate access to basic education and health care, provide nutritional support and avail psycho- social support services to OVCs.

• To promote child participation through awareness campaigns on the rights of children and in all matters of their interest.

• To support and promote community center initiatives for the care and protection of OVCs.

• To produce self-reliant adults with sound Christian values and norms.