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Chiedza Child Care Centre Zimbabwe, Harare: Getting Children Back Into School

Update on the seven children funded through the ICT Relief Fund and the Rotary Club of Coventry. We continue to feature profiles of children on the project.

Chenai is now 18 years of age and is one of the bright students who has benefitted from the Chiedza out-of-school project. Before she came to Chiedza, she had dropped out of school after completing primary school because her mother was not able to afford the fees for secondary school. Chenai was then helped by Chiedza to access secondary education and in 2021 sat her final Form 4 examinations with the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council and passed in five GCSE level subjects, including Combined Science and Geography. She is currently studying ‘A’ levels in Family and Religious Studies (FRS), Sociology and History at George Stark High School and says “I am working hard to pass my exams with ‘A’ grades because I want to study social work at a university in the United States.”

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Marbel is now 18 years old and says “My father is the breadwinner in our family and when he lost his job in 2022 and could not pay my school fees, I was on the verge of dropping out. I was about to sit my final GCSE examinations too, but fortunately, Chiedza contacted me and everything changed for the better. I started going to school again, sat my GCSEs and passed in eight subjects including Mathematics and Combined Science.” Marbel is now studying Family and Religious Studies, History and Sociology at Advanced Level. In the future, Marbel wants to pursue Law at university and become a lawyer. She is quoted as saying, “l want to put all my efforts into school work and be successful so that I can  help other vulnerable children.”

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Keoogo: Progress of Young Mothers Since Leaving the Beoogo Tienbo Village, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The reintegration of the thirty-six young mothers into their families after their training at the village is going very well. All these young women continue to be monitored by the training manager and an educator from Keoogo and this will continue for two years. The six young mothers who received training in baking are still pursuing their businesses. Two of them have gone back to school in the evenings to take the equivalent of GCSEs (BEPC) and if they pass, they will be able to progress to higher level exams/vocational training if they wish to. Both these young mothers have paid their own fees using the profits from the sale of their cakes. The other four young mothers continue to do well with their cake sales and now manage to support their children and pay for their school fees.

Out of the thirty-six young mothers who have left the village, twelve are baking and selling cakes, one is involved in catering, two are working in nurseries as monitors, one is doing an internship in a local nursery, one is working  in a pharmaceutical depot in Ouagadougou and another is working in a provincial pharmacy. Three have become community health workers in health and social care centres, three are involved with sewing work, with support from Keoogo, seven are continuing their schooling and five have got married and live with their husbands outside Ouagadougou. In addition, one young mother has become an agroecology facilitator and is employed by Keoogo in the village. She is currently in charge of training fourteen new girls in market gardening. The poultry farming activity was temporarily suspended after the girls left the village because maintenance became difficult. We are in contact with Vétérinaire sans Frontières to restart the activity and continue training.

There are twenty-two new young mothers in the village at the moment – six are enrolled in high school, including three in the examination class for the preliminary certificate and three in the intermediate class, two more are training outside the village, one in community health and one as a pharmacy auxiliary. They leave in the morning and return to the village in the evening. The other fourteen young mothers are doing market gardening at the moment. The next round of baking training has not yet started.

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Youth Alive: Changing the Narrative In Industrial Trades in Northern Ghana

Youth Alive has already supported close to 2,000 young people in offering Vocational Skills Training (VST). More recently, Youth Alive has been granted a four-year (2021-24) contract with WEE-North of Alinea Foundation to train 500 young women at specific technical training institutes because they are unable to continue to higher education due to poor academic results or financial constraints.

ICT is currently investigating ways to support twelve young women between the ages of 18-24 and living in the rural Upper East Region of Ghana, through a similar technical training programme.

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SARTHI: Education Project for Twenty Children of Migrant Workers Patna, India

India Bihar twenty children of migrant workers

In December 2022, shoes and socks were distributed to the twenty children supported by ICT at the Bhawani Tola village, Maner, Patna. It was a memorable day for the children because they had never worn shoes and socks before. Since it was winter in India, the children and the project leader felt that it was the right time to wear the shoes and they enjoyed the warmth and comfort that they provided. 

In December we celebrated ‘Human Rights Day’ by holding an advocacy meeting on children’s rights. This was attended by some of the children, their parents and siblings. We discussed the rights of every human being and how to better express opinions in order to gain access to local government services.

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With many thanks to the Rotary Club of Coventry

On October 31st, Wahiba Kiared, the CEO of the International Children’s Trust, was invited by Ken Holmes and the International Committee of the Rotary Club of Coventry for a special lunch and presentation following the positive impact of the Rotary Club’s generous gift of £6,000 to ICT. It was used for COVID relief programmes in six countries across three continents. This specific work was carried out during 2022 but due to the pandemic we were unable to meet in person to officially report on the outcome for each project. 

In Africa, programmes included supplying baking kits to six vulnerable young mothers who had also received vocational training in Burkina Faso. In rural Northern Ghana, PPE was issued to three adolescent health centres + funding was allocated to community radio programmes to increase public understanding of Covid-19 and the benefits of good hygiene practice. In Zimbabwe, one year bursaries were allocated to seven children in danger of dropping out of secondary schools in Harare.

In Asia, programmes included providing food assistance and school supplies to children and families most affected by the pandemic in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka + repayable loans were  allocated to six mothers to start their own micro-enterprises. In India, twenty children at risk of becoming involved in child labour are being supported to remain in education in Bihar.

In South America, the programme included distributing food baskets to the families of seventeen children who were at risk of emaciation in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The presentation was followed by Q&A and members of the club were pleased to receive feedback on how their donation has been used and the difference that it has made to children and families. With many thanks to all those who attended.

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Keoogo: Helping Girls Improve Their Living Conditions in Burkina Faso.

The reception and training village for young mothers in Keoogo enrolled thirty six girls for training. Thirty one of these girls have now been reintegrated into their families and five will do so in December. Fourteen new girls were enrolled between September and October and five more will do so in December. 

The introduction of poultry farming and market gardening in the village have made it possible to have more eggs, meat and vegetables to improve the diet of the mothers and their children. In  following up the six girls who were given baking kits to use at home, we have noted that the baking course has served as a reintegration tool for them as most of them are now able to live from their activities and are more fulfilled. It is also gratifying to see that other girls have managed to acquire locally made ovens with the income from their baking activities. Thanks to these new ovens, their earnings have improved and the majority of these young mothers are able to meet their needs and those of their children.

A new baking course will start again very soon. The theoretical part will be taught by the original trainer, but the practical phase will be taught by girls who have already set up their own businesses and are doing well.

In order to continue to train new girls in market gardening and poultry farming, a young mother who has already completed the training was recruited on behalf of the village. She is now in charge of these two activities and is responsible for training all the new girls.

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Chiedza Child Care Centre Harare: Sponsoring a Child’s Education

Zimbabwe - Chiedza textbooks
Zimbabwe - Chiedza textbooks

The seven learners sponsored by ICT are going to two different public (state) day schools but because secondary education is not funded by the government, support is needed to cover their school fees. Three students will be sitting for their final high school national ‘A’ level examinations between October and November of this year. 

In 2021 The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education introduced Continuous Assessment Learning Activities (CALA) for examination classes and this year to pre-examination classes. Four of the learners that are being supported are concentrating on doing the CALAs which have become part of the examination requirement by the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZIMSEC). 

It is encouraging to note the enthusiasm shown by all the supported learners as they feel that they now have hope for a better future through education.

“I am 19 years of age. I am a Form 6 student at Harare High School. Chiedza Child Care Centre has been paying my school fees since 2016. Not only have I had financial support but I have also received social support in the form of guidance and counselling, plus clothes and stationery. I am so grateful to Chiedza as they have helped me to achieve my long term goal of pursuing ‘A’ level courses. I am looking forward to doing a degree in social work at the University of Zimbabwe after sitting my exams.”                                                                                                                  

“My journey from Form 4 to ‘A’ levels. Firstly, I would like to thank Chiedza Child Care Centre for giving me the opportunity to go further with my education. I came here when I was in Form 2 and now I am in Form 5. I don’t know how to express it but I am so glad for the care and support which I have gained from the organisation – I have become ‘someone’ through the centre. I am specialising in arts subjects; including Shona, history and family and religious studies and I am studying at George Stark High School. ‘A’ levels are difficult but the solution is to read widely through this level because if you relax it is easy to fail. When I have finished my education, my dream job is to become a social worker.” 

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SERVE Sri Lanka: Saplings Preschool + Eye-Screening Camps + Loans to Mothers of School-Aged Children

Currently there are twenty eight children (14 boys & 14 girls) studying at Saplings Preschool. The children have returned to attending  school from Monday-Friday from 8am-12pm and spend their time learning letters, numbers, drawing and learning to read and write in Tamil. They are also taught English.

To celebrate ‘World Children’s Day’ in Sri Lanka, the preschoolers were taken to a children’s amusement park in Panadura and enjoyed a fun-filled day going on rides and having  healthy snacks.

Poor nutrition remains a problem amongst these preschool children so a nutritional snack is being given to them  two to three times a week at school. Last week, the children received milk, yoghurt and orange juice on three separate days, which they enjoyed very much.  

SERVE has also co-ordinated and obtained permission to organise mobile eye-screening camps in two public schools educating children from low income households. Opticians working at the community eye care centre, supported by SERVE, conducted the examinations and will provide glasses and medication as appropriate. The initial screening was done for 257 students, of which sixty five students were referred for additional eye care and in need of treatment to correct their eyesight. 

With regards to providing the six interest-free loans to be paid back within ten months (Feb. – Nov. 2022) to mothers of school-age children, repayments have already been used from the fifth month to fund four more loans. 

So far the six businesses are doing well – carpentry (2), sewing (2), packing lunches (1), buying and selling clothes (1). Profits are used for the benefit of each family and their children’s education.

However, two businesses – food production and running a small mobile grocery shop have made low profits, and are thus repaying in smaller instalments. One sewing business had to reduce production while the mother was unwell. Another business – the mobile grocery shop, reported difficulties due to the high cost of items and reduced sales, following the collapse of  the Sri Lankan economy.


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SARTHI Bihar, India: Keeping Twenty Children at Risk of Child Labour, Safe in Education.

India Bihar children at risk of child labour safe in education

On the morning of October 16th, a special annual excursion event for the children took place. We all travelled by bus to the zoo in Patna, which is 35km from their village. The visit took three hours and a parent and a community volunteer also accompanied us. This was the first visit to the zoo for the children and they enjoyed it very much and would have liked the whole trip to have been spread over two days.

The day continued with the children attending an annual advocacy meeting in Patna, to listen to children’s rights activists and child protection social workers. The children were encouraged to ask questions and were particularly keen to ensure that they receive a good standard of education in government schools. They asked for less school closures and increased attendance/participation by teachers, as they felt that their teachers were often called upon to do work for the government instead of teaching them. In November we will feed this information back to the schools.

After some lunch, the children took part in a health check up camp for 1.5 hours, organised by the Rotary Club of Chanakya. In the presence of a doctor and nurse, each child was examined one by one. There were no major issues with the children’s health but a few had dental problems. This was followed by a discussion about the importance of eating seasonal fruit and vegetables. The importance of milk in the diet was also highlighted with free packets of Horlicks, vitamins and mineral supplements distributed to the children to take home. This was monitored by the community volunteer, who also gave further information and advice to the parents and local doctors following the trip.

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Rotary Club of Madras Boys Town Society Gummidipoondi: New Academic Year.

India Madras Boy School

The admission process for the new academic session (2022-23) began in June 2022 and since then forty three new students have joined Boys Town and have been admitted to government schools in various classes from the VIth to XIth Standards. The total number of boys staying at Boys Town at present is seventy five, as thirty two boys are continuing from previous years.

Primarily, our goal post pandemic was to address the mental health issues and loss of learning caused by a number of school closures. To this end, we set up regular mental and physical health assessments – including an exclusive medical camp, improved nutrition, and enhanced the education that the boys receive at school, through coaching with tutors and the aid of SMART Tata Edge classrooms. The objective is to nourish the mind, body and spirit through a well-rounded education with a mixture of yoga and sport, music lessons, gardening, chess and other extracurricular activities, all aimed at improving the boys’ confidence and positively impacting on their future. Our new facilities like the internet and computer room enable the boys to attend online classes from other tutorial centres.

On August 15th, Independence Day was celebrated with great enthusiasm. We had a number of special guests, including around thirty five Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Madras, who also joined the celebrations.

On October 24th, Diwali – the festival of lights – was also celebrated by the students and staff at Boys Town. Some of the children returned home to celebrate Diwali with their family members and those who remained, were given eco-friendly crackers, sweets and a special lunch to celebrate the festival.

On October 6th, a special presentation by the recruitment team of the Indian Army was organised in the auditorium of an engineering college in the city, to inform school and college students about the variety of job opportunities available in the army, navy and air-force at various levels. Eight children from Boys Town presently in the 11th and 12th Stds. also attended this session.