Zimbabwe community appeal: Matobo orphanage

Monday, 21 September 2009 15:35

Social Institution Profile: Ethandweni White Water Sai Children’s Home and the difficulty of attracting the goodwill of others.
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Ethandweni White Water Sai Children’s Home is a community-based orphan programme in Zimbabwe’s Matobo District, 65 kilometers south of Bulawayo.

It was built in 1997 by a Danish couple Bent and Birth Kristensen who, at the time, were working for the Quaker Foundation.
The home currently caters for thirty four children, between three and eighteen years of age, who have either been abandoned or are orphaned through HIV and other illnesses.   

Four of the nine staff members are ‘mothers’ who care for the smaller children.
The home relies mainly on funding and food donations from organisations and NGO’s all over the world including  World Vision and the German and Danish Governments.  

However, Mr. Lucien Oosthuizen, the current custodian, emphasised that, in his experience, unless potential donors physically visit the home and meet the children, it is difficult to attract the goodwill of others. There has been support from the Bulawayo community such as the Sri Sathya Baba Centre and local businessmen.  Bellevue Spar recently donated groceries, chips and biscuits which proved a delight to the young inhabitants of the home!

In addition, Ethandweni currently feeds several needy families in the local community thanks to the benevolence of some NGOs. An instant pre-cooked food supplement called ‘e’pap ‘smart food’, which is formulated with added vitamins, has proved popular.  

Should more supplies be forthcoming, Lucien confirmed the home would be able to extend their feeding programme further afield. However, Ethandweni believes in “a hand up, not a handout” philosophy and this is emphasized through their various self-help programmes.  

Volunteers, from within the community, assist to maintain the vegetable garden and are given produce in ‘payment’ for their labour.  

The balance is sold to raise money for the home.  Another extension of this principle is the workshop equipment donated by well wishers eight years ago.  

The youth are instructed in various mechanical techniques and procedures, from welding to making garden forks from scrap metal, repairing scotch carts, axles, wheelbarrows and other equipment belonging to the community. The money raised goes to supporting the running costs of the orphanage and, in addition, each pupil earns about US$60 per month for their efforts.  This is a great achievement and a powerful motivator! The ideals of self dependency, discipline and enterprise are instilled in the children and, through them, put into practice in the community.

Ethandweni also offers a pre-school which does provide education for an additional 70 children from the area. “They are raised in a caring, holistic, homely, spiritually based environment”, said Lucien.  “This aims at bringing out their fullest potential”, he went on to say. Outside the classroom, staff members and children take turns on a weekly basis to discuss the five ideals on which the home was built—love, non-violence, proper conduct, peace and truth.

Ethandweni urgently requires stationery such as stencils, jigsaw puzzles, crayons, colouring and writing books and, just as importantly, educational and story books.  Clothes and foot wear are in short supply.

Beyond the immediate human need, there is a great necessity to improve their current water supply for both irrigation and consumption.  
Ethandweni blends in with the beautiful landscape and the architectural layout has won International Awards for design and artistic paint work gives it a distinctly African appearance! A true home environment for those in need!