A Mother of Orphans
Bulawayo - Talking to Betty Marovanyanga, was like an encounter with the Holy Mary, Jesus’s mother. Kids kept interrupting our interview, as they wanted to stay close to their adopted mother. Betty is married and has her own family to care for just like any typical home.
Her accommodative and openhearted husband makes the orphans feel at home, with their God given father.
Betty Marovanyanga established an orphan care centre, The Good Hope Orphan Care, in Nkulumane, Bulawayo. This is in her house in which she stays with her children and husband, along with more than 900 disadvantaged children from the Nketa/Nkulumane catchment.
Most of the children are a consequence of the HIV AIDS epidemic. Of all the children, few have birth certificates, which are necessary to enroll at schools and confirm their personal status in order to play their part in society.
“We are a very large family here, as you can see, my son. You can see how I am living and how the children trickle in and out of my house. They started visiting my house decades ago and I had no choice but to accept them as, I just said to myself, why did the children choose to come to me and not go elsewhere for help. I just accepted them and my husband became the father of all these orphans who they now call ‘Daddy’, as a God given gift that cannot be thrown away,” she said while more children playfully kept interrupting our discussions.
“I started off with 200 orphaned families, with a total of 700 disadvantaged children coming for food and clothing. I started appealing for assistance from well-wishers and the Lions Club of Bulawayo came to my rescue with food donations and clothing. I realised that God has intervened and I said to myself, thank you Lord for coming to our rescue.
"To date, we are receiving donations from a number of well-wishers but, with the number of orphans increasing every day, we are now in need of more donations as our number of disadvantaged children has risen to more than 1300 at the moment.” said Mrs. Marovanyanga.
The Marovanyanga family home has become a haven for the orphans in this southern part of Bulawayo’s townships and will forever be a home to many more, as society grapples with the AIDS epidemic and modern illnesses such as cancer.