Help a Child-Headed Home

     Every year more children in Zimbabwe live without adult supervision: children who have lost both parents, those who are living with a terminally ill parent for whom they are caring, or those whose elderly grandparent now requires their care. These children are still living in the homes left behind by their parents or grandparents, and they are responsible for maintaining the home, growing the gardens, cooking the meals, and overseeing their younger siblings. These children are often twelve to fifteen years old, and in addition to meeting the needs of their siblings, are struggling to keep themselves in school. An urgent priority for the Zienzele Foundation has emerged as we provide help for these “Child-Headed Households.”

     The Zienzele Foundation has begun a program to facilitate an “adoption” program, in order to assist these children and the households they support. Through this program, an interested family in the U.S. is paired with a Child-Headed Household in Zimbabwe. A commitment of three hundred dollars per year pays the school fees for a Child-Headed Household, supplies the necessary school books, pencils, and pens, guarantees delivery of a quarterly box of food staples (corn meal, sugar, cooking oil, peanut butter, salt, soap, and soy beans), and covers the postage on and delivery of shipments of donated shoes and clothing. The Zienzele Foundation manages and ensures the realization of these commitments and vigorously encourages the exchange of letters between the child-headed households and their sponsoring families.

     This program has already made a big difference in the lives of over fifty households, and while the effects of the material changes are indeed profound, we cannot emphasize enough how much it means to these children to know that they have a “family” that cares about them and wants to help them reach their dreams.

     If this is something you would like to participate in, we ask you to send a three hundred dollar tax-exempt donation to the Zienzele Foundation. We will then send you a letter of introduction with a description and photograph of the children in “your” family, and together we can begin the process of changing their lives!

     Thank you so much for considering this generous support of a struggling population of children who are striving to improve their own as well as their country’s future. To discuss sponsoring a child-headed household, please contact Nancy, npclark@tops-tele.com.

     Please click any of the photos below to see a larger version. All show members of child-headed households who have just received donations of clothing, food, and school supplies.