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| Lusaka,
Zambia
Kwasha Mukwenu
Women's Group
Project No: F23
Project Manager: Elizabeth Ngoma
Kwasha Mukwenu Women's Group is an active volunteer community-based
effort to care for HIV/AIDS orphans. It was formed by a group of
22 women from different churches and denominations that felt moved
by the plight of orphans in their neighborhoods, especially those
orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. Some of the volunteers are widows themselves
and therefore realize the need to support and provide care to the
children, Each of the volunteers has been assigned to zones in the
Matero Township that they are familiar with or live close to in
an effort to provide effective services coupled with the fact that
they know the children as well as being known by the children.
The organization provides parental care for orphans
in lieu of sending them to orphanages. Well over 2,000 children
have received support from Kwasha Mukwenu women; over 1,000 children
have been assisted in receiving academic and vocational training;
others have been assisted in acquiring the houses left them by their
parents. Realizing that the traditional extended family has been
over-burdened, Kwasha Mukwenu provides psychosocial support to the
families in order to strengthen them to not give up on orphaned
children. |
Members of Kwasha Mukwenu women having a workshop on child abuse.
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Orphans with food from the kitchen. |
Orphans receiving exercise books |
To
donate to this Family Care Foundation Project, please note Project NAME
and then click here.
The objectives of the Kwasha Mukwenu Women's Group is to:
- Reduce the suffering of the orphans
- Reduce the number of vulnerable children
- Provide psychosocial support to orphans and their caregivers
To respond to both the psychosocial and material needs of
the children, Kwasha Mukwenu employs the following strategies:
- Providing primary and secondary school education
- Providing medical support, food, clothing
- Promoting income-generating activities for care givers and older
orphans
- Empowering children with leadership skills
- Providing psychosocial support to help children make wise choices
Women at work sewing dresses, shorts, and shirts. |
Women selling freshly-baked scones. |
Kwasha Mukwenu is a volunteer effort by women in the community, who
both raise funds and provide support and connection to families and
children. The women bake, make tie dyed cloth, sew clothes and engage
in other business activities. The money they raise is used to provide
food, school fees, medical care and other needs for orphaned children
and their families.
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Women carrying preparied meal from the kitchen. |
Orphans with food from the kitchen. |
In addition to material and educational support, the women provide
support and assistance to older children, around age 12 and up,
who have become the head of their household on the death of their
mothers. While children themselves, these young people take on
the responsibility of keeping their younger siblings fed, housed,
clothed and educated. This can only be done with a great deal
of assistance from the community and their extended families.
This approach is much better for the family than breaking the
children up and sending them to orphanages, or allowing them to
be displaced on to the streets. In addition the volunteers teach
about HIV/Aids prevention and care. They encourage those at risk
to get tested, and help out if the test is positive.
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Orphans performing at graduation ceremony. |
Orphans receiving exercise books.
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Thus the women of Kwasha Mukwenu daily undertake a combination of income
generating activities as well as counseling, connecting older children
to job training opportunities, and providing support. These are the brave
mothers and grandmothers who in spite of their own losses, continue to
serve their community.
Orphans about to do a traditional dance. |
Women at work baking, sewing, and making door mats. |
Dresses for sale, sewed by women. |
If you’d like to help:
$50 provides school fees for an elementary-aged child for a whole year.
$100 provides school fees for a high school-aged child for a whole year.
$200 provides a month of counseling to orphaned children who are heads
of household.
$250 can buy a new sewing machine for their micro-enterprise tailoring
business.
To
donate to this Family Care Foundation Project, please note Project NAME
and then click here.
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