Description
It’s hard to learn if you can’t afford exercise books and pens. How can you practice maths or master spellings? Children in Zimbabwe must supply their own school equipment, and costs can be prohibitive. Yet we know that education is the best route out of poverty for marginalised children worldwide.
Today, you can help fund school equipment for orphaned, abandoned and abused children living at the Houtberg Childcare Centre, a residential shelter for children without safe family.
Why school equipment?
Children in Zimbabwe have a legal right to free basic education, but in reality, school is not fully free. Many public schools charge fees and levies, and parents must provide all their children’s learning materials. Many families struggle to meet these costs. Sadly, over 50% of children in Zimbabwe fail their primary leaving exams and only around 10% complete upper secondary education.
How does the Houtberg Childcare Centre help?
The Houtberg Childcare Centre (HCC) offers extremely vulnerable children a safe, caring environment and a chance to go to school. Currently HCC is home to up to 28 children and young people, eight of whom are sponsored through Global Care. Children are referred to HCC by the courts, community leaders or social workers, and the team work hard to prepare them for independent futures. Education is an essential part of this – children go to local schools, and HCC provides all their school equipment and uniforms. A local business provides extra sponsorship for the higher costs of three children who won places at top boarding schools, after excelling in their primary leaving exams.
In an era of escalating costs, we’d like to further support HCC this Christmas by covering all the costs of school equipment, especially for non-sponsored children, for the next school year, starting in January 2027. We have also recently funded solar lamps, better sanitation, irrigation for agricultural initiatives to improve food security and sustainability, and a new transitional home for boys aging out of the home and into independent adulthood.
What does the pack include?
Your gift includes school essentials for one child for one term, including pens, pencils, a maths set, ruler, exercise books and notebooks. Each child also receives files, sellotape and plastic covers to protect their books.
Exercise books are particularly expensive, as older primary and secondary students must use a heavy-duty hard-back style book known as a counter book.
A piece of the puzzle for a better future
Education is by far the best tool for breaking the poverty cycle. But succeeding in education is complex: the right tools are a part of the puzzle By purchasing a gift of tools for a child to succeed in school, you’re helping them make the most of their education.
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Give Tools for Transformation to bless children in Zimbabwe this year. It’s a great alternative gift with real impact.
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