The March newsletter is now available. This quarter you can read all about Leeta the Home’s nurse and Zvirinane PA to Rev. Mawire. Paddy Coles also announces his retirement as Treasurer and we invite you to consider to becoming more involved in the committee.
Farewell to Astonishment Mapurisa – Home superintendent 2001-2012
Astonishment Mapurisa has been the director of the Matthew Rusike Children’s Home for 11 years and National Director for Childcare in the Methodist Church for 4 years. In that time he has changed the old dormitory lifestyle and introduced family groups.
Finding funding to build 6 new family group homes and refurbish and change the use of the boys and girls dormitories has been a huge task which he achieved. Funds were also found to extend the old crèche building into the Early Childhood Development Centre as it is today.
A large part of his work has involved spreading the MRCH influence into many communities in the Harare, Bulawayo and Gweru districts. This involved using Methodist church buildings in the cities as centres where vulnerable children and families could receive support. Pre-school children can be safely cared for and fed while their older siblings attend school. After school the children have someone to help with homework and also receive a hot meal. Some of these centres now grow food and rear chickens to improve the diet of very vulnerable families. All are run by church volunteers.
In rural areas, local volunteers from the Methodist churches were taught to make bricks, dig foundations and build resource centres where a child can be cared for until family members are traced (maximum stay 2 weeks). Wells have been dug and outdoor kitchens built to make the sites work well. These centres have been built within a radius of 15k of villages and are near enough to schools for children to attend daily.
The Friends of MRCH sponsored Astonishment to visit the UK 3 times. Each time he had a very busy itinerary arranged for him to meet and speak to as many supporters as possible. He greatly impressed everyone he met with his dedication and love for the children in his care. His presence inspired many people to make generous donations to FoMRCH.
He was sponsored once by the Uniting Church to visit Australia where he was able to make some excellent contacts which brought even more support for MRCH.
It has been very good to have personal contact with Astonishment and very helpful to be able to tell our supporters that we know, first hand, exactly where their money is going to help the children.
Thanks to Astonishment’s guidance and friendship, the Friends have enjoyed 11 years of cooperation for the benefit of the children of Zimbabwe as we have supported his inspired leadership and vision of growth. We shall miss him greatly and wish him well in his new placement.
December 2012 newsletter
The December newsletter is now available and this quarter you can read about some of the years fundraising successes and meet more members of staff from the Home.
2012 Christmas cards now available
The 2012 christmas cards are now available. The flyer contains all the information you need regarding those designs from previous years that are still available to order. Please note members-you will continue to receive 5 packs of the 2 new designs unless you alter your order.
If you have never had cards from us before you will need to send me your order using the style numbers on each card or asking for mixed packs.
Selling cards has raised a profit each year of around £3,000 which goes directly to the MRCH Organisation, so your support is greatly appreciated, A huge thank you to all of you who buy cards every year.
Please contact the Chairman with your order as soon as possible, particularly if you want something different from the standard order of 5 packs of the 2 new designs.
September 2012 newsletter
September 2012 newsletter MRCH welcomes the new National Director of Childcare for Zimbabwe Rev Margaret Mawire.
June 2012 Newsletter
The June Newsletter is now available. Words of farewell from Astonishment Mapurisa, an update from Shelley Cooling and an opportunity to hear a little more about the MRCH Secondary school and staff.
Chairman’s report for 2011
The Chairman’s report covering 2011 is now available. An excellent year with good progress made with the Early Childhood Development Centre.
The clinic has been expanded and it now has five rooms. The facility will be government inspected later this year and the nurse in charge hopes this will lead to an increase in the amount of free drugs made available to them.
March Newsletter (2012)
March 2012 Newsletter 2011 was our best year ever in fundraising terms – £79,000. A big thank you to all who helped in any way to raise this sum. There is also an excerpt from the ‘Meet the staff’ document about the House Mothers.
MRCH report from the Home for 2011
The Home’s report for 2011 is now available:
- A number of case studies describe the significant steps forward being made in the Community Outreach programme.
- The poultry project is up and running with 1000 birds. It not only supplies the Home but is also being run as a fundraising project serving the community.
- Effective self help projects are emerging in different communities where MRCH outreach projects are running. Currently MRCH are concentrating their efforts in consolidating programming in four main regions in the country, namely Mashonaland, Masvingo, Midlands and Matebeleland.
“The success stories in 2011 could have not been made without the contribution of our partners. They played a pivotal role to make the lives of children more comfortable.” Astonishment Mapurisa
Meet the MRCH staff
Carol Banham, our Chairman, visited the Home in September 2011 and conducted detailed interviews with many of the staff members. She has produced an illustrated report of those conversations, which illustrate the many roles the staff undertake as well as highlighting issues concerning the staff and where they feel help is most needed.
Excerpt…
8 House Mothers
Mercy, Lillian, Faith, Fungai, Mildred, Alice, Nancy and Sylvia. These warm hearted ladies lovingly care for the children in the house units. Each of them has a family of their own, mostly grown up now, who they leave with other family members for 30 days at a time while they’re at MRCH then they have 10 days break to go home. All of them have very obvious pride in their homes at MRCH.
Mildred cares for 6 babies, all under three. Amelia is the youngest at 3 months old. I said it must be a lot of work looking after so many small children and she said “it’s not hard when you love little ones”
The other mothers each care for 11 –12 children ranging from 2 to 16. Once they reach 16 they move to live in the independence units where they look after themselves with help and support available from the house mothers when needed.