Giving 300 of Bulawayo's children hope: Nguboyenja Children’s Hope Initiative

At the height of hyper-inflation in 2008, these ladies sat down and came up with the Nguboyenja Children’s Hope Initiative Trust (NCHI).

This was to ensure that orphans, and other vulnerable children, can benefit from equal opportunities and pursue their dreams.

Upon establishing NCHI, the women had realised that there is a huge gap that needs to be filled, as there were a lot of orphans and vulnerable children who did not have a refuge.

The initiative has been welcomed by these young people because it has helped them in various ways.

In its profile, the NCHI Trust states that it is driven and guided by a number of values that include empathy, dedication, teamwork, transparency and accountability.

“Empathy and compassion for the needs of the community, especially orphaned vulnerable children

(OVC) and their households in general, are the driving forces behind the NCHI Trust” reads the statement.

In fulfilling this self-imposed mandate, the NCHI Trust currently has 363 children and conducts regular visits to 211 households in which these children live.

In a recent in-depth interview with ZDDT News Correspondent, Ntando Sibanda, NCHI Trust Programmes Coordinator, Mrs Concillia Nyoni, said the initiative targets to have enrolled 500 children by the end of 2013.

“We currently have over 300 children in our scheme but we are aiming at enrolling more, so that we will be having 500 children at the end of this year,” she said.

NCHI pays school levies for 61 children in Lobengula primary, Losikeyi primary, Mzilikazi primary, Mzilikazi high and Sobukazi high; as these schools are located within the initiative’s catchment area.

The organisation also offers Psycho-Social support to these children and their families by conducting workshops Parenting for adults and Life Skills for children. Home visits are carried out to assess the well-being of the beneficiary children.

Furthermore, the NCHI Trust economically empowers its beneficiaries by training them in business skills and injecting capital into their small scale business ventures.

“We help the beneficiaries to start their businesses by providing capital, in form of materials worth $100. We have helped 15 families so far, but 4 of those are a success. We also provide them with business skills training on how to start and improve their businesses. We also closely monitor these projects and encourage child participation in these income generating activities,” said Mrs Nyoni.

The milestones reached by the NCHI Trust come at the backdrop of economic turmoil, which has made it difficult for many organisations to realise meaningful results.

These women have risen above the tide of depression as they work with a very limited budget and as with similar institutions in the country, it is feeling the sting of financial challenges that are hindering it from realising its goals.

“We lack funding to properly carry out our programmes but we try and adapt in order to produce results. For instance, we have a poultry project but we do not have a proper place to do it from.

However this has not deterred us as we have makeshift places for our chickens because we are all about attaining results at the end of the day,” said Nomalanga Phiri, NCHI Trust Book-keeper.