Don’t give up on Zimbabwe, not now

Camfed’s work in Zimbabwe is more vital now than ever before. As the economic situation continues to deteriorate, we are seeing more and more girls and boys dropping out of school. Families are finding it increasingly difficult to support their children’s education as they struggle to put food on the table.

In spite of the current challenges, Camfed’s work in Zimbabwe continues to grow, providing a lifeline to children and communities in some of the hardest hit and most remote parts of the country. Our work stretches across 18 rural districts and benefits more than 247,500 children, making Camfed one of the widest-reaching NGOs in Zimbabwe today. The grassroots networks we have built over the past 14 years, including more than 3,500 young women in Camfed’s alumni network, make this unparalleled reach possible.

We are working hand in hand with communities to provide a safety net of support to many thousands of Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable children. With Camfed’s support every step of the way, more than 300 groups of mothers have come together as Mother Support Groups to help orphans and other vulnerable children in their own communities and beyond.

I bow my head to these extra special mothers, who transform their own poverty, illiteracy, passion and anger at how things stand at the moment into tangible actions to keep their communities afloat. They make all of us here at Camfed Zimbabwe proud and they have taught us WE CAN DO IT NO MATTER WHAT!

I cried with pride the day I saw mothers in Chikomba collect maize and dry vegetables to pass on to a group of mothers in dire circumstances in another district.

As one of the first young women to be supported through school by Camfed in the early 1990s, I want to deliver a message of hope from Zimbabwe. A message to let you know that we are here and we are surviving. We are neither mourners nor grumblers. We believe in action, hope and positive thinking. Fate does not determine our destiny – we shape it.

That is why we say we are the real ambassadors of hope and that, by supporting girls and vulnerable boys in Zimbabwe, you are strengthening the hope that there is. There is simply no reason to give up on Zimbabwe. Not now!!