Give education & training to Zimbabwean girls

Attending school but not plain sailing at home. Tatenda lives with her parents but her father takes drugs and is abusive. He kicks her out of the house at night and last time she reported she didn’t get indoors until 3am. She has no food yet has a baby of 18 months to look after. Rafiki is her best chance at education and earning but her father is unsupportive at times locking her in the house and saying she may not go to school today. He has a cord which he put in the garden and threatens to hang her. Raped by her uncle at the age of eight, when her father gets angry at the things she does he tells her “that is why you were raped”. It is truly appalling.

Contemplating suicide her neighbour found out and instead put her on to Rafiki Girls Centre, and so things have been vastly improved. We sent two of our team down to the house to find out what was going on and speak to her family directly. She has attended counselling sessions is leaning about health and hygiene, she can sew and cook and is coming to appreciate her rights. Overall she is shaping up to prove to her family that supporting her education is something that should not be restricted but promoted.

Thanks to all our supporters. These are the kinds of lives you are helping to change for the better.

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Yonnah’s story

“If I had not been engaged by Rafiki my dream of becoming a hairdresser would have been futile, I would have been consumed by the streets of Mabvuku. From no income at all, my monthly earnings now range from US $120-00 to $130-00. This is significant money to me and my dependants. Thank you Rafiki and your partners,” shared Yonnah. Today she owns a cosmetics stall in Mabvuku which also serves as her hairdressing spot.

Impact and results of the training

The change in our beneficiaries’ lives has been very significant for the majority with benefits reaching into all aspects of their lives with the evidence showing not only increased skills and confidence but also a range of other benefits. The girls were skilled to do many things which include sewing, cooking, child care, girls’ rights, health and hygiene, HIV and AIDS, introduction to computers, management and entrepreneurship, time management, events decorations and management, and other areas. Since training many have developed better relationships at home with parents, partners and friends. They were empowered to be self-reliant and stop being dependant on others for everything. They are now able to contribute to household incomes. Others have recorded increased confidence and skills. They are managing various areas of their lives better after training than before.

Pascal’s story

Subsistence farming, household chores and going to church under advice that someone will eventually marry her, was the order of the day for Pascal, a 19-year old lady from Zaka district in Masvingo Province. Through the Rafiki partnership with Bopoma Children’s Villages, she was engaged for training at Rafiki, and pursued Cutting and Designing.

Emerging as one of the best students in the discipline, with immaculate garments, a work experience placement was not a challenge for her. While she was scheduled to serve as a student on work-related learning for a period of four months, before completing her tenure she had been offered a full time basis placement at the company in Harare, with an initial net salary of US175-00 per month.

Pascal is happy to now be the bread winner of her family- sending her single mother groceries, paying school fees for her siblings back at the village and buying them decent clothes.

Thank you to everyone on GlobalGiving for helping us and our partners do what we do.

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