Child sponsorship update from Harare (Waterfalls), ZImbabwe

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Harare, Zimbabwe from November 2007.

Dear sponsor,

The Waterfalls Village is beautifully displayed by jovial children in excitement playing on green grass that has recouped after the winter season. It is exciting to know the beautiful greenery will express a wonderful background for Nyadzisai Tapembera’s wedding on the 27th of October.

The Village has maintained its full capacity of 180 children in the family houses. 16 children at primary school have been sitting for entrance examinations for entry into high school next year. Hopefully a number of them will succeed to enroll for boarding school as this will afford them a chance to be away from the village - a necessary step in their personal development.

In education, we engaged a psychologist to assist children who have problems in adjusting to the SOS environment and the normal school programmes. There has also been a welcome development where 30 children have become members of the Local Authority run Waterfalls Community Library. They go to the library in the afternoon after the morning holiday tuition programme that has been put in place in the village to assist them with their school work.

The Village is finding intermittent power cuts an increasing problem. Strategies to alleviate the electrical supply shortages are being sought as alternative means of lighting and cooking which are environmentally friendly are being arranged. By year end, each family will have rechargeable lanterns and gel stoves.

Coming to youths, it is pleasing to note the unending stream of vision and purpose in some of our youths. The Village has been rattling with whispering sound of determined young people who talk of their dreams as though they are already a reality. Our very own Nomore Kwaramba was chosen for the Beijing Special Olympics this year. He managed to go to China and compete in swimming- breast stroke and we are delighted to share with you that he brought a gold medal home. This has encouraged the SOS community even around the world to optimize on the gifts and talents of children because they are all unique.

The economic hardships in the country have not spared our semi-independent youths as they struggle to get formal employment. Most youths especially those who attended vocational training have resorted to their own small projects. We hope to equip them with additional skills such as drivers’ licenc0es and passports as they explore cross boarder trading which has proved to be a source of livelihood for many Zimbabweans.

Community support in Harare, Zimbabwe

The Social Centre
Strengthening vulnerable families within immediate communities through outreach programmes has become a very strong arm for SOS work in the country. Currently the programme enrolment stands at 1604 children from 1000 families.

The programme is now targeting eight main areas of intervention which are; health, psychosocial and legal support, sport and cultural development, accommodation, education, livelihood, youth and community development.

Children continue to receive treatment at the clinics, access prescribe drugs from local pharmacies and are referred to hospital for major treatment. As part of the psychosocial support programmes, teachers, school children and community leaders were trained in Basic Counselling to enable them to support other children in difficult circumstances, at home and at school.

With regards to legal support, some of the children on the programme got an opportunity to visit the Parliament and the Courts as a way of enhancing their knowledge regarding these legal institutions.

As part of the youth development and community training, ten school leavers were trained in community development by the Zimbabwe Council of churches and they are going to be multipliers, training their peers in this development. 25 youths were trained in tie and dye as preparation for training in Business Management.

Children's education for the future in Harare, Zimbabwe

The SOS Nursery School
The total number of children at the preschool is 45, 9 are on the SOS Scholarship whilst the rest are from the community. The quality of service in the nursery school has caused a high demand for vacancies.

The nursery school has managed to maintain exciting programmes which include gymnastics, traditional dances, swimming and computers with Future Kids.

The SOS Primary School
The school enrolment is currently at 777 with 91 children coming from the village.

Grade seven results for all the previous years were quite good, recording over 94% pass rate. Our expectations are that the 2006 results should be equally good considering the high standard of performance that has been maintained by the school staff in this challenging economic environment. The corner stones of our success are; courage, commitment, trust and accountability. A strong bond of team spirit prevailed among the children, staff and parents in the school.

Since the beginning of the year, each term has been filled with sports and other extra curricula activities, thus helping children develop physically and socially in the process of identifying their talents, around which their futures may build.

We do not forget your continued generous support that has cushioned us in this hyper-inflationary environment.

Wishing you a merry Christmas and the best for the coming year!

J. Chiviru
Village Director