April/May Update

Following the resignation of the Executive Director Philani Nyatsanza the board has appointed Noma Kasimonje as the acting Executive Director. Please pray for the board as they consider applicants for this post (closing on the 14^th July), Nooma Kasimonje as she takes on new responsibilities, and give thanks for the faithful service of Philani Nyatsanza whilst he was in this position and the many ways God blessed this charity under his guidance.

Children’s Issues

For the greater part of the month, our children enjoyed good health, with the exception of a few.

• One child has been suffering recurrent infections, after which an HIV test was recommended. It turned out positive. He has since been put on anti-retroviral therapy.
• One of our older girls also suffered a flu bout and abdominal pains and was attended to.
• Samuel hurt his forefinger whilst playing and has been attended to. The wound is healing well.
• Nine toddlers and three babies were taken to the local clinic for weight check-ups. Only one baby had suffered weight loss due to a bout of flu.

Education

Schools opened on the 3^rd of May 2010 and all pupils went back to their schools. We have started paying school fees for children in schools out of Harare. As we are now in winter, the school going pupils need jerseys and winter uniforms. JCF managed to buy 21 jerseys that were given to the children. School shoes were bought for only those who did not manage to have new pairs in January. All fees were paid during the first week of the school term.

One of the older boys who had been on attachment at Innscor secured a place at Chinhoyi University where is going to study for a degree in hospitality and tourism.

At Come Unto Me Centre (CUMC) all the children went to school as usual and the term started well. The fees were paid and a few pupils managed to have jerseys this winter. The rest of the bigger boys and girls did not manage to have jerseys. One of our children was however denied a place at Larche after doing all the necessary preparations for him. His fees were paid in time but they returned the money back. He will go back to his old school in Karoi.

Chikomba Education Outreach

The outreach team managed to do a visit to Maware primary and secondary schools as well as Chisangano primary and secondary schools to collect results of the 2009 public examinations for children under the education outreach programme. One of our children at Chisangano who is partially deaf did well and we are organizing that he goes to a suitable college.

Partnerships

We have continued to enjoy financial support from our partners such as the Child Protection Society (CPS) which has continued to partner with us in our projects.

Mercy Corps has also come into the picture, extends funds to us so that we can procure food and hygiene baskets for children under our care.

Donations

Donations have also continued to come in from several individuals and this has seen our children having the traditional three meals per day. We would want to thank God for them.
We received donations from:

• Connecting Classrooms
• United Methodist (Kuwadzana Extension)
• Joshua Nkomo Scholarship
• Seventh Day Adventist Church (Whitecliff)
• Interdenominational Church (Kuwadzana Extension)
• Mercy Corps
• Mr. Lee
• Soroptimists

At the Come Unto me Centre 67 chickens were successfully raised. 11 were killed to feed the children while the rest were sold to make over US$180.

February/March Update

Children’s Issues

The year started off with 108 children in residence. Come Unto Me Centre (CUMC) had 66 (16 boys and 40 girls), Faith & Hope Centre (FHC) had the remaining 42 children (30 boys and 12 girls).

Although most of the children enjoyed good health during the months under review, Primrose’s health had continued to deteriorate, necessitating regular medical attention.

Fungai in Karoi reportedly encountered mysterious experiences, with things that looked like small stones issuing out of her eyes. Efforts are underway to trace the child’s maternal relatives in Masvingo.

In February, a number of children at FHC suffered a bout of diarrhea and treatment was quickly sought for them.

Enert has joined Shaping the Health of Adolescents in Zimbabwe (SHAZ), an organisation in Chitungwiza that offers education concerning basic health care and life skills to adolescents.

Education

We thank God for one of our children, Blessing, who did very well in his O-Level public examinations and has proceeded to A-level at Kuwadzana High 1 School.

Another child under the education programme in Chikomba, Evidence, also did exceptionally well and efforts are underway to secure an A-Level place for him.

We also received a generous donation from the Queen Elizabeth School in conjunction with the British Council to cater for our education requirements. The donation followed our children’s participation in a fund-raising sports gala at the Prince Edward School.

Staff Training

Our Projects Manager, Martha Damu and Social Worker, Robert Makura, attended a Child Protection Workshop in Bulawayo between February 22 and 26. The workshop was organised Tearfund. The duo has since drafted a Child Protection Policy for JCF meant to enhance the safety of children under our care.

Reunifications

The reunification team has of late embarked on a massive reunification drive. Since the beginning of this year, we have reunited eleven (11) children with their families.

Partnerships

We have continued to enjoy financial support from our partners such as the Child Protection Society (CPS) which has continued to partner with us in our projects.

• Mercy Corps has also come into the picture, extending funds to us so that we can procure food and hygiene baskets for children under our care.
• Donations have also continued to come in from several individuals and this has seen our children having the traditional three meals per day. We would want to thank God for them.
• Some staff changes might still take place but we remain vigilant to the call in spite of all the challenges we are facing.

Donations

We received donations from:

• Helpage – cooking oil, beans and maize
• Iranian Embassy – mealie meal, matemba and drinks
• Econet Joshua Nkomo Scholarship Fund – assorted clothing, toys, exercise books and foodstuffs
• British Council
• Netview College (Glen Norah) – assorted clothing, shoes and groceries.

The container shipped from the UK in June has arrived safely and intact and was welcomed by the staff of Just Children Foundation in traditional Zimbabwean style with song and prayer. The staff are immensely grateful to all those who contributed and now have the task of sorting and distributing the goods to the appropriate people. A special thank you goes to the UK charity Vimba who also donated a number of boxes.

Container boxes arriving at Luck Street

Offloaded boxes at Luck Street

Agricultural work is being done at Faith & Hope Centre (F&HC), where great progress is being recorded. In our efforts to become a self–sustaining and child–empowering organisation, we have established a viable nutritious garden at F&HC with the help of our friends at Lead Trust. They installed a 5000-litre water tank and a set up a drip–irrigation system for the watering of the garden, covering 1000 square metres.

Part of the staff at the Shelter of Joy and F&HC, together with the children, took part in preparing the gardens and planting a variety of nutritious vegetables as part of their training in organic farming.

Since the purchase of vegetables for consumption has been eating a great chunk of our finances, we hope that soon, we would not be buying vegetables as our garden promises to be so viable that we plan to sell the surplus. The long term plan is to run the centre on a commercial scale and raise JCF to the level of self–sustenance.

Each child at the centre has been allocated a garden which they will work in to gain experience and perfect their knowledge in gardening. This kind of empowerment will come in handy when they leave the organisation to join their families.

We currently have a number of viable partnerships with other organisations that include Child Protection Society (CPS), Family Support Trust and Help Age. In recognition of our experience and expertise in family reunifications, CPS partnered with us so that they could finance the family reunification and community reintegration of children under our care. So far, this joint operation has seen the successful reunification of fivechildren who have been under our care.

We also work with Family Support Trust, which deals with cases of sexually abused children. They are the ones who are authorised by law to do legal examinations and their statements are used as evidence in court. They also hold child abuse awareness workshops for children and provide training for our staff in handling child abuse matters.

Help Age, with whom we have had a long–running relationship, have also been throwing their weight behind us, providing us with foodstuffs on a monthly basis, both at Come Unto Me and at Faith & Hope Centres.

The JCF Trust was recently launched in South Africa. Already, a lot of activities meant to enhance our work have already started. This is the first germination of the seed planted in the vision of the late Moosa Kasimonje whose desire was to see the work spread to other countries. We thank God for our friends who worked round the clock to get the South African Trust started, Ron Wheldon, Ruth Hwindingwi and Anthony Haggie. There are also those who have been working hard to get provisions to the children like Bahati Kasimonje and Farirayi Kadungure. We love them and cherish their goodness.

Rudo centre

Renovations at Rudo Centre, which have been on hold owing to lack of funds and the instability in the economy over the past few years, is expected to resume soon following the recent arrival of more funds for this project. The centre is going to be a critical social service amenity as the demand to house abandoned babies and those orphaned in the area is rising. Currently there are eight babies at a local hospital and the authorities there are appealing that we take in the babies.

We made donations to Shelter Trust, Matthew Rusike Children’s Home, Chinyaradzo Children’s Home, Victim Friendly Police, Mufudzi Wakanaka and Chitungwiza General Hospital. This is as a result of some of the goods we might have received and have little use of. It is also important to be able to give and share the little we might be receiving. This is like the breaking of bread in fellowship with our fellow partners in the work we are doing.

The donations that we received came from Goal Zimbabwe, Help Age Zimbabwe, Mary Nyenya, Mr. & Mrs. Gatawa, Mr. Griffiths, Wedzera Family and Harare Hospital.

Mushrooms, by Paul Esson (http://www.flickr.com/people/paulesson/)

Eight girls under our residential care programme at Come Unto Me Centre in Karoi who underwent a two–week training course in permaculture at Kufunda Village have started reaping the fruits of the training. They went on to plant mushrooms at the centre, some of which were eaten by all the children. It is clear they have been effectively equipped in that area as shown by the fact that they are now engaged in continuing mushroom production at the Come Unto Me Centre.