Children’s home appeals for help

The head of the home, Alexander Nyamutswa, said the institution, which cares for and educates 60 children, was facing financial problems because of lack of funding.

Twenty children board at the home and 40 are day students.

“We get the same funding we used to get when we had 30 children, yet we now have almost double the number,” he said. “The situation has gott worse, but we are trying to get local funding and are running some projects to get funds.”

The home is run by Mutare city council.

The acting director of health services at the council, Simon Mashababe, said the council had assisted the children for some years now but, due to the increase in number, it had encountered some challenges which needed the help of other corporate bodies.

“I believe that investing in educational infrastructure for children is one of the ways to break the cycle of poverty in our communities. We hope to create a better tomorrow for these children,” said Mashababe.

“We have built a fowl run, and we hope to begin the poultry project in January,” he said, adding that sewing and gardening projects had already begun.

“The garden project is in full swing and we are using the vegetables for consumption here and for sale to the surrounding community. We hope that the poultry project will also double as an income generating project and at the same time boost the nutrition and diet, as we can also eat the chickens,” said Nyamutswa.

On the sewing project, he said the home had four sewing machines and was making school uniforms to sell to various schools.

The school, though, lacks chairs, desks and beds and rarely has enough food for the boarders. It’s become difficult to pay support staff or for utility bills.