How It All Started

It all began in 1992, when Seppo Ainamo, the project's founder and coordinator, promised to pay the school fees of one 8-year-old boy, whose 22 year-old widowed mother couldn't afford to send him to school. In the early years the project grew slowly. By 1994 there were four children and by 1995 eight. Gradually other schools besides the initial Dzivarasekwa No. 4 Primary School became involved, too.

When Oili Wuolle joined the project in 1996, the number of children rose from 18 to 36 in one year. In late 1997 we welcomed our first sponsor who was not a relative or family member. Thanks to the encouraging attitude of our friends and relatives we have been able to increase the number of children annually.

By the end of 2009 we had 285 Dzikwa children enjoying full support with 237 sponsors. Now, in 2011, we have 405. In addition, we provide partial support for 80 children who do not meet all the criteria of the full-support Dzikwa children. The funding for them comes from the project support for civic societies granted by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs out of its Development Cooperation Funds for 2009-2011.