Campaign Story

Scripture Union (SU) is an international, Christian, interdenominational movement, which works with young people and families. It is active in over 130 countries world-wide, beginning in England in 1867 as the Children’s Special Services Mission. In Zimbabwe it was established in 1945 and is a registered welfare organisation (W/O 35/89) with full autonomy from the international body.
The organisation is bound by a constitution and is structured throughout the 10 Provinces of Zimbabwe (Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, Bulawayo, Harare, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West, Masvingo, Manicaland and Midlands Provinces). The National Council with representatives from each province oversees the development of the movement. Under this body is the National Executive which is appointed by the National Council to run affairs of Scripture Union Zimbabwe.

Thuthuka Street Children’s Project is a social responsibility project of Scripture Union Zimbabwe operating in Bulawayo province. Thuthuka, meaning “Rise-UP” in the local Ndebele language was established in 1995 and works with children living and working on the streets through outreach activities. In addition, some of the children are housed at the place of safety which is used to house children undergoing rehabilitation accessing several services that include education, health, psychosocial support, pay and recreation, life skills, computer literacy and child rights education among others in preparation for reunification.

The project’s core business is to get in touch with children living and working on the streets with the idea of building relationship with them, aiming to reuniting them with their families and the community in assisting them to reach their potential.

Thuthuka Street Children Project works closely with the Bulawayo Street Children Task force which is spearheaded by the Bulawayo City Council. The task force is composed of professional people with development experience with their focus of street connected children. The task force works closely with other key stakeholders such as the Department of Child Welfare, Child Service organisations that include Childline Zimbabwe, Plan International among others, businesspeople, and relevant government ministries. The government ministries are very key in this project as they have an obligation to facilitate some necessities for this target group.