Qinisani Home Orphanage: An Oasis in The Desert for Bulawayo's Orphans
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True to their name, Qinisani, “Strengthen” in English, have shown to be a real source of strength for all the orphans and other less privileged families in the Ward.
Formed at the turn of the millennium, its founder members had realised that there was a huge rift between the less privileged and other members of the community. They established the organisation with the intention of bridging this gap by presenting the less privileged children with a better chance in life and assisting them in maximising their opportunities.
The group, composed mostly of caring widows, has managed to acquire a piece of land from the Bulawayo Local Authority (LA) and secure a donor, Mr Laloo Jadavji, to build an orphanage home for the children near Sekusile Shopping Centre in Nkulumane 5. Mr Jadavji is the Managing Director of General Bedding and donated the building as part of his company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Programme and also as a way of giving back to the Bulawayo community, which supports his business on a daily basis.
“We spent a lot of time looking for donors to assist us in this cause as we were faced by financial challenges. We identified Mr Jadavji and I spent a year trying to convince him that we were genuine and really needed the help. Eventually he was convinced and offered to help us. This building is the result. We are very grateful for his benevolence, and we wish that the Lord Almighty blesses him abundantly,” said the Home Orphanage Director, Mrs Yona Mpofu.
The building has a fully furnished kitchen, the fittings for which were donated by yet another city company, All Wood Cabinets. It also has a living room and other rooms that serve different purposes providing for the daily lives of the children. It also houses the administration offices of the orphanage home.
However, due to City by-laws, the centre can only accommodate the children during the day; hence they have to go back to their respective homes in the evenings. They are also still appealing to any other interested people and stakeholders to donate more furnishings for the other rooms and equipment for a recreational play ground in the backyard.
Despite this “minor” hindrance, the dedicated women have refused to throw in the towel and have instead opted to also use the premises as a study centre and feeding scheme for the orphans.
They also managed to secure the support of one of the City’s prominent business people, Mr Raj Modi, who operates a chain of retail outlets under the Spar banner. Mr Modi donated a consignment of at least 6 months food and, as a direct result of his benevolence, the children can have at least on single meal a day to add to that which they have at home.
“At the moment, we are feeding over 50 children on a daily basis. Some are still coming and we are still busy compiling our register so as to enable us to keep an accurate record of the number of children,” she said. Continued -->>