Concerned about children in difficult circumstances without a secure home environment, some families in Zibagwe and Umguza districts in western Zimbabwe have taken up foster parenting. They are enjoying every moment of it.

Mrs. Nomathemba Moyo from Ward 4 in Ntabazinduna is a foster mother to three children. She does not live with any of them but sees to their daily needs – food, clothes, school fees and of course the motherly love and moral support. A guardian who is with the children most of the time is the link between Mrs. Moyo and the children.

“Since I joined the Home based care group which started the orphan care programme, I have always seen it as my responsibility to look after these children even though they are not biologically mine. A child is a child regardless of their circumstances,” said Mrs. Moyo, who is also coordinator of the Duduzanani Home Based Care group in Ntabazinduna, 40 km from Bulawayo.

While Mrs. Matilda Ngaya, a member of an orphan care group in Zhombe that looks after 22 orphans, lives with three children. She has a fourth child who lives with his relatives but she provides for his clothing, food and school needs.

Mrs. Ngaya admitted that being a foster parent was not easy but she was committed to raising them like her own. As a result, relatives have accepted the children. Her neighbours are now even keen to follow her example. She warned though, that fostering means dedication, love and support of not only one’s close family but the community in general.

“My first child was three years old when I took her into my home in 1987 and this year I took another child. Two of the children I raised are grown up and have married. What has given me joy is that the children have shown me they are free and do not feel discriminated. I would feel guilty if I did not help to raise them,” said Mrs. Ngaya.

Mrs. Ngaya said she hopes the children will be committed in their school work and better themselves in life. Her group runs a project. They have a dairy cow that provides milk for the children. Besides, she bakes buns and grows vegetables in her garden which bring in some money to meet some of the needs of her children.

A neighbour from the same village in Zhombe, Mrs. Gladys Ncube, was moved by the plight of children who did not go to school. She wondered how she could help them. She first became a foster parent to a young boy who was in grade six in 1998. She has provided for his welfare ever since by selling fruits, hawking and raising chickens. Mrs. Ncube is helping 12 other children aged between 8 and 15 who live with grandparents in her village. She has given each child a hen to start a chicken breeding project.

“I visit each of the children regularly. I discuss their problems with them to ensure that there is a homely environment even though they are not in my home,” Mrs. Ncube said. “Besides I supplement my income from knitting mats and at times I do part time jobs at Rujeko School. I also belong to a small fund raising group with 10 members. We meet as six groups from our area to contribute money to one group on a rotational basis each month.”

Mrs. Ncube said she would like to start a goat breeding project to boost her income so that she can give more to the welfare of the children in difficulties.

It is a case of a man in a sea of women for Kraal head, Government Makota.

Mr. Makota, believes that men have a greater role to play in mobilizing support for programmes to help vulnerable groups in the community.

Although men have not been prominent in the day to day task of home-based care, Mr. Makota believes it is time their presence was felt in taking care of children in difficult circumstances and the terminally ill.

Women constitute the majority membership in the Home-based care groups and orphan care groups with men making up a small number. One of the reasons has been that men, though keen to participate in practical projects, do not have patience for activities that do not generate easy money. Some are afraid of being bored.

Mrs. Mary Ntsangasi, chairperson of the Home-based Care groups in Zhombe, said some men were not keen to be involved in the care programmes as much as they were hesitant to undergo voluntary testing for HIV/AIDS. She said the eight groups in her areas were encouraging men to stand up and be counted in community projects for children in difficult circumstances and the terminally ill. She said men should be encouraged to volunteer their services without the cash incentive.

The experience with the Thusanang Home Based care group in Manama, Gwanda South province, has been that men are actively involved in the home based care training but there after lose the enthusiasm.

“Men are active but not so much in direct home-based care, but this also has to do with that culturally they will not be as active as the women,” said Sister Birgitta Grimheden, whose home based care programme has trained more than 300 care givers.