Jesuit Missions UK

For the flocks of children that roam the deadly streets, their home is on the street or in prison cells, their bed is the pavement and their food is the often-rancid waste from bins. Either orphaned or thrown there by abusive families, the future holds very little prospect for these children. It is the aim of the Zambuko Project to do what they can to offer a future and Christian values to some of these children. Clearly it would be impossible the team of 6 staff to care for the need s of this massive number of people. So they are focussing on providing high quality care to low volumes of children. Emphasis is placed on giving around 20 children “a place that they are able to call home”. Here each child is able to learn the values inherent in living in a community, learning how to look after and trust each other and carry out duties such as cooking and cleaning in a friendly and loving environment.

The Church regards the family as the foundation of human society and so the Zambuko Project is trying to offer those robbed of this, an environment where they are able to feel cherished as individuals. The staff members are able to ded icate time to building personal relationships and restoring the children's dignity that their life on the street destroyed . On average, children live in the house for one year until more secure, long term homes are found for them. This will then provide them with a family that they will hopefully be able to depend on for many years. To help those that there is simply no space or budget to shelter, the house also has an open door policy where street children can come in and talk, get advice, eat and have a wash.

So, how can we help? It is extremely difficult to detail exactly what the Zambuko project need s, as in this family, it is not computer games and fashionable clothes that the children want but a future that will enable them and their own children to grow up free from disease and with the ability to create a decent and honest life for themselves. In cases like this, what is required will vary on a day-to-day basis – whether it is pens and pencils or money to feed and house a mother and father figure to be there for them. More often than not, it is this human cost that need s the most support rather than the cost of tangible goods.

Today, with the terrible situation that prevails in Zimbabwe, the very future of the Zambuko Project is in Jeopardy. To avoid closure, the House is further limiting the number of boys, has been forced to change their diet as well as most sporting activities. If the house closes then the boys will be forced back to the pavements, the crime, the filth and the despair of the streets.

Now is a time that all those associated with the Zambuko project: the children and their families, the helpers, really need our help. All of the money pled ged will go to helping to secure the future of this amazing project and consequently shine a small yet resilient spot of light onto an otherwise bleak and gloomy landscape.

December 2007 Update by Emilia James, Director of Zamuko House:

Zimbabwe is a developing southern African country with a total population of about 13 million people. It was a British Colony which gained its independence in 1980 after a long independence struggle. It is currently politically and economically unstable. Inflation is wrecking havoc in our country with figures well above 1000% and the prices of basic commodities have been rising on a daily basis. The majority of the people are now living below the poverty datum line. This has also affected the social support systems, which are unable to function as social safety-nets for the vulnerable people.

Within the Zimbabwean context,children are taking to the streets for a variety of reasons: parental neglect, unfavorable relationships with relatives and the death of one or both parents, often due to HIV and AIDS, poverty, at times combined with drought and the improper farming methods used by the people who have occupied the farms without any farming expertise and the disintegration of families during the “Murambatsvina” or “Operation Clean-Up” era, when the government destroyed illegal urban settlements resulting in many families becoming homeless.

Zambuko House is a respite center for an average of 16 to 20 teenage boys and young adults. It is located in the low density suburb of Hatfield, which is 12km south east of the center of the capital, Harare . Our focus is on providing services to youths within urban area of Harare . Most of these youths are orphans who have been staying in the streets where they had ended up for a number of reasons: the disintegration of the family system, the death of parents due to HIV and AIDS, and ill-treatment, abuse or neglect by their responsible care-givers. There is now a shift in the trend where some of the youths are now coming via other child welfare institutions and orphanages which discharge them after they become teenagers, an age limit which these institutions cannot accommodate anymore. Poverty is forcing many Zimbabweans to forget their social obligations, which is leading to an increase in the number of children being forced onto the streets.

The home was started in 1994 as a result of the sterling work of Brother Chishiri, a Jesuit Brother, who was assigned to work with street children by the then Provincial of The Jesuit Province of Zimbabwe. He had the habit of returning to his residence with boys needing shelter and support, so the Society of Jesus decided to assist him by acquiring a home to further his work. It has grown in stages as and when funds, volunteers and staff appeared.

At present inflation is running at an estimated 1483%, in November 2006 and 1593% in January 2007 (Herald 21 February 2007 ) so it is difficult to estimate the annual needed increase. The usual 10% contingent for inflation does not seem applicable appeals or applications usually are presented on an estimated 100% annual increase and also in foreign currency, hoping that this will keep pace with inflation.