From May to July 2005, tens of thousands of homes in Harare and elsewhere in Zimbabwe were demolished by order of the government. The order concerned any houses, housing extensions, shanties and lean-to shelters that had been built without the appropriate building permits. Forty of the children cared for by the Dzikwa Trust lost their homes in this clearance operation. Of these, 23 were able to find new accommodation but three of the girls disappeared from Dzivaresekwa altogether. One of these girls was found three months later, but she was in such a state of mental distress that she was unable to tell us where she had been or who had taken care of her. So we rented two rooms from a kindergarten and placed 15 of our children there in the care of the kindergarten minder. From June 2005, we saw to it that the children had food and paid the rent for the rooms. In December 2005, using funds granted by the Finnish Embassy in Maputo, we redecorated a large part of the house. In 2006, the rent was paid by a private individual in Finland. As many as 22 of our children were living in the house at the busiest time. As this first shelter was 6 km away from the childrens' schools, we decided to look for somewhere more conveniently located. Eventually, we found a house on Rujeko Street, in the centre of Dzivarasekwa, only 100 metres from the Dzikwa Trust's Activity Centre plot. We have the whole of this 7-room house at our disposal and can place up to 30 children there if necessary. In May 2007, the house was renovated, and in June the children moved in. It currently accommodates 32 children, who are looked after by a matron employed by Dzikwa. After a long search, Dzikwa finally managed to rent a second house in late 2008. This six-room house is known as Junior House. One of Dzikwa's field workers, Petronella, now lives there with her own two children and two other Dzikwa children. The house is mainly used for cultural activities but also for storage, extra lessons and, if necessary, meetings. The walls have been painted, the toilet facilities repaired, the doors and locks renewed, and burglar bars installed outside the windows. Colourful curtains have been hung at all the windows, and the children have been bought new bunk beds. In 2010 we stopped renting Junior House. It was no longer needed once we had put up a small storage building and opened our own kitchen and dining hall on the Dzikwa Activity Centre site at the end of November. |