Dr. Faith Nyamukapa wants a bright future for empowered children

The newly-appointed Deputy Chairperson for SOS Children’s Village Zimbabwe (SOSCVZ), Dr. Faith Nyamukapa has reiterated her commitment to the empowerment of children through her position at the organisation.

She started serving as a member of the  SOSCVZ Board of Governors since May 2020 where she has been offering her service and expertise towards the lives of children being supported by SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe. Through her passion for children’s empowerment since childhood, she runs her own organization since 2011, KinderCare Zimbabwe that supports children’s education and training. As the work expanded,  she began to be involved more in the empowerment of women, men, youth, the Girl Child and community initiatives supporting rural livelihoods under the Imani Foundation.

According to Dr. Nyamukapa, some of the challenges children face include inadequate emotional and psychosocial support. She said this emanates from the background of being abandoned. It affects the children throughout their stay in care and leads to low self-esteem and poor education and health outcomes.

“The other major problem is lack of resilience due to a number of reasons but most likely due to the nature of the social, legislative, and administrative environment in which they are brought up. Some children are placed in care without regard to their mental and physical conditions. While this may help address their physical needs, the care system may not adequately meet all the needs.

“The COVID -19 pandemic is having drastic consequences to children’s health, education, protection, and well-being. Children of all ages are being affected. As you may be aware, SOSCVZ has 3 children’s villages in Zimbabwe (Waterfalls, Bindura and Bulawayo) and over 500 children in care. We cannot do it alone and need the support of corporates, communities, and individuals. Vulnerable children have dreams too and our desire is to help them achieve them!” Dr. Nyamukapa said.

Solutions SOSCVZ is proffering:

Currently, SOS Children’s Villages in Zimbabwe provides family like-care to over 500 children in its three villages. The organization also supports more than 9,000 children in need around Zimbabwe through its Family Strengthening Programs, kindergartens, and schools, all of which provide children and families in need with vital access to education and other essential services in the three program areas of Mashonaland Central (Shamva and Bindura), Harare Metropolitan (Waterfalls and Chitungwiza) and Bulawayo Metropolitan.

Children under their care come from various backgrounds most of which would have traumatized them before the intervention of SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe. Incidences of sexual abuse, others abandoned at birth, and yet others from incest relationships. Some of the backgrounds the children come from are heartbreaking but the organisation is thankful that it manages to provide support for the little ones.

“As long as children are in these situations, we take action. We offer children under our care a family. At SOS Children’s Villages, children are placed in houses, each house with a mother and children in the same family become siblings. We are constantly striving to create an atmosphere that is close to the natural family atmosphere for the child who has been under harsh and vulnerable circumstances. We provide children under our care with lifetime family bonds (a home, mother, sisters, and brothers), life skills such as baking learned from their SOS mother and aunt, chicken rearing, and basic human skills. Under its roof, children enjoy a real sense of security and belonging. Children grow and learn together, sharing responsibilities and all the joys and sorrows of daily life.

“Above all, we offer children a sense of security, belonging, and family atmosphere. We ensure children under our care have access to quality education. SOS families live together, forming a supportive village environment where children enjoy a happy childhood. The families share experiences and help one another. They also live as integrated and contributing members of the local community. Through his or her family, village and community, each child learns to participate actively in society.”

Areas that require support for SOS Children’s Villages Zimbabwe:

1. Access to e-learning for children under SOSCV care
2. Laptops for children in high school and college
3. Access to Wifi
4. Tablets for younger children
5. Volunteers in our computer hubs to provide lessons
6. Basic food provisions
7. Play equipment
8. Fully functional borehole system in Bindura
9. Furniture for all three computer hubs
10. Clothing
11. Voluntary counselling support services
12. Blankets
13. Books
14. Solar installation for all houses
15. Gas
16. Sanitary wear for the girls
17. Voluntary career guidance services
18. Cleaning materials

“My vision as the Deputy Chair in helping the organization achieve its goals is to mainly focus on the identification of strategic partners who will help us to ensure that our children will continue to receive adequate support and care they require. I will offer my support to the Chairman of the Board of Governors and work in close liaison with fellow Board members and the management team. My desire is to see SOSCVZ bringing up more confident, well-mannered, healthy, and well-equipped children who are ready to face the world when they are weaned off and become influential leaders in their different capacities.

“Entrepreneurship, Talent development in the form of confidence-building and sporting initiatives will need to be exposed more to our children and I will work towards these during my leadership. It is a new challenging role, I believe that God will help me during my journey to take SOSCVZ to another level,” Dr. Nyamukapa said

Any organizations, corporates, or individuals willing to support the work of SOSCVZ are free to get hold of them through their National Director for SOSCVZ, Mr. Addmore Makunura on Addmore.Makunura@sos-zimbabwe.org, or contact him on +263776089037.