Children performing a traditional dance at the social center at the Maizelands Farm, Bindura,…

Children performing a traditional dance at the social center at the Maizelands Farm, Bindura, Zimbabwe.

Justine Lungu is the regional development advisor, explains the need for a new community based child programme based around the SOS Primary School Maizelands Farm. This is an article written by Justine Lungu, about the kind of project she would like.

The SOS Social Centre Bindura undertook a "rapid community vulnerability assessment survey" in March 2007.

The exercise described the realities of living in this community which would subsequently assist in decision making of whether there was much need for SOS Children's Villages Zimbabwe to establish a community based child programme.

According to the findings, Maizelands Farm school community is largely made up of people of foreign origin whose parents came to seek employment on the farms in the pre-federation and federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland period.

With time, the next generation of these migrants lost ties with relatives in their countries of origin.

The land reform programme in Zimbabwe saw land changing hands and the white farm owners leaving for other countries. As a result, three distinct groups of residents in the area became apparent: commercial farm workers, ex-commercial farm workers and settler farmers.

The commercial farm workers group comprise those who have either kept their jobs or are newly employed by the new farm owners after land reforms. Their jobs are low paying and lack security as they are either casual or with very low salaries to live on.

The ex-commercial worker group consist of those who have lost employment after their employers' farms were taken away and they left the farming community. They have no land to settle on (i.e. they are squatters) and they see no hope of getting employed again with the decline in the agricultural development in the area.

The settler farmer group is composed of indigenous Zimbabweans who managed to get land but are unable to utilise it for various reasons. Tools, equipment, know-how and inputs remain a challenge, leaving them unable to boost their production to improve their livelihood. Similarly, insecurity of tenure, lack of government input and market support have remained hindrances to the development of their farms.

HIV/AIDS has not spared these three groups as large numbers are living with the virus while many are already bereaved. With extremely limited access to health services, they continue to spread the virus leading to high HIV prevalence and an increase in the number of orphans.

A significant number of the households are child or grandparent headed. The grandparents either used to work on the farm and the farm owner has left or they are retired. The income is just too small to take care of the number of dependents left by their deceased children. Their foreign origin and lack of close members of the extended family to support them have forced them to rely on the children who have to undertake work bordering on child labour.

The child headed households are on the increase amongst those children who have lost both their parents and grandparents. Their parents died without leaving behind any inheritance for these children. They have lost not only their parents, but their national identity because of the change in citizenship rules and their lack of official documentation such as birth certificates or their parents death certificates. Some of these children end up in child marriages as a way of improving their incomes. The indigenous farm settlers consist of middle aged and young parents who have taken in their relatives' orphaned children. Their income is so low that they cannot afford to feed, clothe and educate the children.

Social amenities such as safe drinking water, sanitary health service facilities are in disrepair or are non existent in most instances. The absence of social and government safety nets have made children in this Maizelands area vulnerable. Adults are unable to give adequate parental care as they are unable to ensure that children go to school, fees are paid and uniforms bought.

The survey highlighted children were missing school for more than two weeks during the rainy season due to flooding of the low level bridge. The foot bridge is aged and is no longer safe for the children to use.

The above findings of the survey echoed those of the observations made by the Zimbabwean National Action Plan For Orphans And Vulnerable Children which stated that "the general socio-economic situation in the country and particularly for children in these communities (farm workers and new farm settlers) has worsened. Vulnerable children are subject to a wide range of socio-economic difficulties including: psychosocial distress, grief, stigma, discrimination, isolation, economic deprivation, loss of educational opportunity, burdensome domestic responsibilities and fear of their own future".

The child poverty situation in the farming communities have led to the establishment of an NGO specifically addressing the problems of farming communities. This NGO is called Farm Community Trust and Farm Orphan Support Trust. Unfortunately, the magnitudes of the child poverty and limited resources have made it difficult for this NGO to expand adequately both in terms of geographical area and programme beneficiary population. The Maizelands farming community has been the victim of the incapacity of this NGO.

As such, the survey concluded that a community child based programme should be started in the area and administered through SOS Children's Villages Zimbabwe.