Zambuko House teaches marginalised children life skills

About 20 Children from Zambuko House are learning new skills by spending time in the garden tending vegetables as they grow their own food. Zambuko house is a refugee and rehabilitation centre for marginalised children. It is located in Hatfield about 12 Kilometers out of Harare’s central business district.

The vegetable project is a new development at the centre since the Jesuit Development Office linked Zambuko House to the Caritas office in Zimbabwe who appreciated the challenges they were facing because of water shortages, drafted a proposal which was sent to Caritas ltaly who raised funds for it.

Director of Zambuko House, Emilia James said before the borehole was drilled, the children at Zambuko used to walk to Epworth to get water for daily use. During those expeditions to search for water, some of the children were ill-treated by some unpleasant members of the community.

James says the project has the potential to be a fully-fledged fundraising initiative for the centre. As of now, the aim is to produce enough vegetables for consumption. Once they have attained that self-sufficiency, they aim to sell the vegetables to the community, just as they do with surplus chicken from the poultry project they run.

As a rehabilitation centre, Zambuko house caters for a relatively small number of select children. The centre works towards the rehabilitation of boys who have been living on the street by giving them an experience of family living and belonging. In so doing, the dignity that the children have lost as a result of the breakdown of family support and living a harsh life on the streets of Harare is restored.

(Jesuit Communications Zimbabwe–Mozambique)

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