Livelihoods

Africa Directions supports children and youth in high-density communities of Lusaka City and the rural Luapula province in Zambia, areas characterised by a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Their activities are aimed at building the capacity, skills, and confidence of the young people they serve.

Every day over 500 youths, aged 4-26, pass through Africa Direction’s three community centers, accessing a wide range of services including sports, peer education, drama, sexual reproductive health services and information, voluntary counseling and testing, legal advice, life skills trainings and a host of other clubs and recreation activities.

Alpha Cottages Scheme Children’s Home is a Masvingo Community run institution which offers shelter, food, and education etc to orphans and vulnerable children. It was established in 1957 by a lady teacher Helen MacGhie and initially catered for the coloured, Indian and Asian communities in line with the discrimination practiced back then. It was registered as a Private Voluntary Organisation (P.V.O) in 1967. It is situated in Masvingo city along Mutare Road opposite Helen MacGhie Primary School about 2 km from the city centre.

Alpha Cottages Children’s Home accommodates 28 children. The Home caters for children between the ages of 3-18 years. Cases referred to the home by the Department of Social Development range from abandonment, abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and neglected. It caters for orphans and vulnerable children across Zimbabwe irrespective of gender, creed, colour or social background.

The family has 3 house units (House A, B,C). The home runs a family unit model of a children’s home whereby children (ideal a maximum of 10) are accommodated in one house under the care of a care giver. The children are selected and placed in each house according to age differences to represent a proper family set up. The family does its own chores. This provides them with exposure to normal life training that will make them adapt to the outside environment and to prevent them from becoming social misfits when they get discharged from the home.

The Home provides psycho-social support programs aimed at restoring the psychosocial functioning of the children at the institution. The social workers together with caregivers and other stakeholders assist each other in making sure that children’s wellbeing is enhanced. The home makes sure that children at the institution socialise with other children from outside the institution. socialisation is one of the mechanisms used by the institution to help integrate the children with the wider society and it helps them cope with psycho-social problems.

It also provides children with life skills training programs to help equip them with knowledge of the outside world and the skills needed for one to survive after been discharged from the home. These life skills training programs emanates from the projects being done at the institution and the projects includes market gardening, grinding mill and chicken projects. Although these projects are done on a scale, children can learn and get equipped on the necessary skills that will help them in the near future. Henceforth, there is need to conduct these projects on a large scale and have a wide variety of projects to broaden the horizon the knowledge of children.

counselling sessions are also available to children facing different challenges. Most of the children who resides at the home are brought to the attention of the institution due to different challenges, some that may have disturbed their mental wellbeing, dignity and self-esteem or manipulated their behaviors negatively. Therefore, there is need to conduct these counselling sessions in order to restore their mental wellbeing as well as modifying their behavior.

Prize giving functions are also conducted to help motivate children to do well in their academics and to carry their responsible duties as per tasked effectively. This reward system program equips children to work hard and perform well in their daily activities. It is also a way to help modify children’s behaviors as they live at the institution.

Blue Hills Probation Hostel and Remand Home started operating in 1960 as a reformatory home for young offenders. The home is run by the Government and is directly under the Department of Social Development. With changes in understanding proper childcare, the home policy has also changed from being a Reformatory to a Place of Safety for children who have been abused, orphaned, street children, destitute, lost children as well as halfway home for children in conflict with the law. With a holding capacity of 60 children, currently there are 23 boys at the institution, 10 are in Primary School, 10 in Secondary and 3 in tertiary. The Home runs several sustainability projects which includes poultry projects, rabbit, crop production and gardening. Excess produce is sold to the community around. Children are heavily involved in the management of the projects under the supervision of staff. Knowledge children acquire in implementing these projects helps in starting and running such projects for themselves when they leave the institution.

Chambuta children’s Home is a government founded Home located in Chilonga, Chiredzi North district of Masvingo Province. The Home was a former refugee camp established in 1988 to shelter Mozambican refugees displaced by civil war in that country. When they returned to their country, the Government converted it into a children’s Home. The Home was established as a suitable place to provide shelter to children living and working on the streets of the various towns in the country. As part of imparting skills, the home has a running vocational training scheme which provides skills to children from the Home and from the community. Currently the home is housing 60 children, 40 in Primary and 20 in Secondary School.

Objectives

• To promote child welfare through
• Providing shelter for children who live and work in the streets.
• Ensuring that children receive parental care, love, and guidance.
• Providing necessities such as food and clothes.
• Grooming children into responsible, independent and life skills-equipped adults.
• Imparting life skills through the vocational scheme.
• Facilitating children’s education and ensuring that they remain healthy.