Zimbabwe
Newsline
Ban on humanitarian aid threatens Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable children
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 12 June 2008 – Last week, the authorities here banned non-governmental organizations from distributing aid throughout the country. For many Zimbabweans already suffering from food shortages and rampant inflation, the lack of aid could prove disastrous.
Conditions in Zimbabwe could reach crisis levels if violence continues
NEW YORK, USA, 21 May 2008 – Continued violence in Zimbabwe is threatening the health and safety of children across the country. Since the disputed elections of 29 March, thousands of Zimbabweans have fled their homes and hundreds have been injured in politically motivated attacks.
Zimbabwe’s youth overcome bitter odds to fight AIDS
ALASKA, Zimbabwe, 28 December 2007 – A bright voice and the sound of drums cut through the low hum of the old mill. Suddenly, the sleepy mining town of Alaska, a few hours north of Zimbabwe’s capital, transforms into a carnival of song and dance.
Zimbabwe’s Child Health Days help to reduce measles and boost child survival
MUPANDAWANA, Zimbabwe, 29 November 2007 – One can still see the legacy of polio in the limping walks of a handful of villagers in Mupandawana, a small community with a population of just 300.
Illness rises as desperate residents seek safe water in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, 14 November 2007 – Twice each day, 72-year-old Emily Ncube struggles to hoist a 25-litre bucket of water onto her head. It is a gruelling chore for the frail women but a better option, she says, than making another trip to the clinic with a sick grandchild.
Multiple community programmes simultaneously fight HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe
MUTARE, Zimbabwe, 6 November 2007 – Cabby Chinamasa has just spent half his day teaching gym to energetic seventh graders, but the 23-year-old gymnastics teacher is not resting yet. His next assignment is even more ambitious: He is working as a youth volunteer on the UNICEF-supported programme, ‘Kicking AIDS Out Through Sport’.
Zimbabwean grandmothers help build a school for their community’s children
NYAMKUWARA, Zimbabwe, 15 August 2007 – Standing in a ditch, her feet and knees hidden in soiled water, her face splattered with dried mud and her body tiring from the labour, 60-year-old Agnes Mutima looks like a worker in a diamond mine.
Norway Cup gives girls from Harare a chance to triumph
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 26 July 2007 - With all the confidence of a world-class soccer star, Omega Mpini, 13, shrugs off the compliments of her teammates and runs back into position. All eyes are on the young girl leaping several feet in the air, volleying the ball across the pitch. As they say in these parts: Goal!
UNICEF expands its outreach to children affected by HIV in Zimbabwe
GOROMONZI DISTRICT, Zimbabwe, 20 July 2007 – With temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius, Lillian, 13, scoops water from a well. It’s just before six in the morning and she has 90 minutes to get the water back to her hut, collect wood, start a fire, make breakfast for her family and, finally, walk a kilometre to school.
In Zimbabwe, Child Health Days focus on polio immunization
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 28 June 2007 – On cue, the mothers clutch their babies and fall in with military precision. Vaccine cold boxes are lined up in the shade alongside them. Within a few minutes, a classroom has been transformed into an outreach immunization point for Zimbabwe’s biannual Child Health Days campaign.
Safe water project eases the burden for children affected by AIDS in Zimbabwe
BULILIMA-MANGWE, Zimbabwe, 25 April 2007 – As a child, Nomagugu Ncube had a dream. She wanted to be a dressmaker making people look cool and beautiful. But since her sister died and her mother fell sick with HIV, she has had to put her dream on hold.
German Government donation to aid vulnerable youth in Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE, 26 February 2007 – Tinashe was just eight when he lost his mother to AIDS. His father disappeared soon after her burial, leaving Tinashe and his younger brother in the care of their ailing grandmother.
Donors come together for Zimbabwe’s orphans and vulnerable children
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 22 February 2007 – In a one-room hut with a torn blanket for a door, Miriam, 16, lives with her six younger siblings.
UN Special Envoy cites key humanitarian issues on final mission to southern Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 13 December 2006 – The future of southern Africa depends on how governments cope with the orphan crisis and the effects of HIV/AIDS in the region, said the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in southern Africa, James Morris.
Insecticide-treated nets take a bite out of malaria epidemic in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 13 December 2006 - Young Prince Mafunga was suffering under the weight of his malaria symptoms. For two days, he had a high fever, his head throbbed relentlessly and his joints burnt.
A success story for girls' education in Zimbabwe
NEW YORK, USA, 20 November 2006 – “For most girls in Zimbabwe, access to an education is really a privilege and not a right,” says Winnie Farao, 26, explaining how the high cost of education, exacerbated by hyperinflation, has made girls’ education a “second priority” in her country.
Sports programme helps children fight AIDS and abuse in Zimbabwe
MUTARE, Zimbabwe, 9 November 2006 – Betty Mahomva, 9, ties her hair into a ponytail, stretches her legs and concentrates. She and her classmates are playing a game, but they are also learning an important lesson – how to avoid HIV/AIDS.
Teen speaks out at launch of girls’ education strategic plan in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 18 October 2006 – My name is Fransisca Nyabvure I am 18 years old. I am doing my lower six at Darwin High school, in northern Zimbabwe. I live with my grandparents. My parents are dead.
AIDS crisis strains family life in Zimbabwe
MURAMBINDA, Zimbabwe, 26 September 2006 – In a rundown pole and dagga hut, where the only piece of furniture is an old paraffin lamp, Mwaimbodei Chamutsa lives with her five grandchildren.
Communities find innovative ways to raise money for students in Zimbabwe
BUHERA, Zimbabwe, 5 September 2006 – Like all Zimbabweans, the people of Buhera endure some of the world’s worst inflation, crippling unemployment and an HIV emergency. But there is another basic need the children here are missing – enough money to pay for their ever-rising school fees.
Vitamin A health campaign targets Zimbabwean children under five
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 27 July 2006 – To rousing applause Irene Mwedziwendira steps forward with her twins at a demonstration on the benefits of taking vitamin A. At just under 160cm, she is not a tall woman, and her strides are small. But their meaning is massive. She is a member of one of Zimbabwe’s largest religious sects – the Apostolic – which bans immunization for children. Mrs. Mwedziwendira’s steps are nothing less than a leap of faith.
A community builds a school for its children with help from the UK and UNICEF
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 19 June 2006 – She has built a family. She has built a business, and built her own home. And now 72-year old Mavis Chanakira is building a school. As bulls heave a cart spilling with sand, builders give free instructions, and men mix and lay cement, Mrs. Chanakira and scores of women act as a conveyer belt, passing bricks down the line.
Strength and tears: Angélique Kidjo sees toll of HIV on children in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 8 May 2006 – From an early age, children are told to reach for the stars but very rarely does a star reach out to them. Angélique Kidjo is one star who does.
A mother grieves for three children who could have been saved from HIV/AIDS
MABYUKU, Zimbabwe, 27 February 2006 – Three years ago Zvanyadza Njanji met her second husband. They stayed in Harare’s struggling township of Mabvuku, home to some of Zimbabwe’s poorest citizens.
Girls' education and empowerment in Zimbabwe
HURUNGWE, Zimbabwe, 24 January 2006 - Ten -year-old Mitchell Gwatidzo shudders as she retells the story of her little friend who was abused by her uncle. In her crisply ironed blue uniform, Mitchell boldly raises an issue that more and more Zimbabwean children are speaking out about.
Zimbabwe: Home based care workers offer comfort and support
CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe, 19 December 2005 - Pauros is one of millions of people living with HIV in Zimbabwe who goes without antiretroviral drugs. Instead, he finds solace, if not health, in one of UNICEF supported home based care workers, Loveness.
Zimbabwe launches UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS Campaign
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 25 October 2005 – “At times we have no food at home for lunch or supper. At times I avoid playing with those who have food at school, fearing they may think I am in need. I always feel this way.” Eleven-year-old Jane Mushaninga, who has been orphaned by AIDS, received rousing applause when she spoke at the Zimbabwean launch of UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS.
Another side of UNICEF’s support in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 22 August 2005 – As Zimbabwe faces growing isolation because of the controversial policies of its government, UNICEF has been appealing to the international community to look beyond the politics and focus on the children and people of the country. Now more than ever – amid drought, grave economic troubles, and political polarization – Zimbabweans need the support of the donor community.
UNICEF launches Child Health Days in Zimbabwe
KARIBA, Zimbabwe, 8 August 2005 - It was a good day for Chipos Mafukidze, a 22-year-old mother of two. First, both her children received a vitamin A supplement. Then they were given a bed net to prevent mosquitoes biting…and spreading malaria. Neither of Chipo’s children had ever received Vitamin A before, and her eldest – who is just three – is only now recovering from a bout of malaria.
Zimbabwe: Helping the people hit hardest by evictions
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 8 August 2005 - Barbara Fero has always been a survivor. Having overcome poverty to raise her nine-year-old disabled daughter after the death of her husband – all while living with HIV/AIDS – Barbara felt she could surmount any challenge.
Forced evictions and demolitions continue despite UN condemnation
PORTA FARM, Zimbabwe, 27 July 2005 – Twenty-four hours after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy on human settlements, Anna Tibaijuka, called for an immediate end to demolitions and evictions in Zimbabwe, thousands of people at Porta Farm – a settlement 20 km from the capital, Harare – watched helplessly as bulldozers destroyed their homes, for the second time in a month.
Zimbabwe: Mass evictions leave thousands of children homeless
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 15 July 2005 - Unlike many thirteen-year-olds, Sirinko didn’t celebrate when he was forced to miss his mid-year exams. Two weeks ago he returned home from school to find his home - and scores around it - reduced to rubble.
UNICEF calls for donor support to assist thousands displaced by forced evictions
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 1 July 2005 - Three-year-old Taniya stands still and sobs as thick clouds of dust churn through the air. Three weeks ago her parents’ home was demolished as part of a controversial government effort to ‘clean up’ cities and fight the black market across Zimbabwe.
$1.5m needed to help children and families forcibly evicted in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 28 June 2005 – Thirteen-year-old Rose was at school when government bulldozers came to her house. By the time she got home, they’d flattened it.
Helping homeless victims of forced evictions in Zimbabwe
HARARE, 20 June 2005 – Mbuya (Granny) Mushambi is everything you could ask for in a grandmother. For the past six years she has been raising four grandchildren left in her care after her own children died from AIDS-related causes. But today eighty-year-old Mushambi does not know how she can continue to support her family.
UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman heads to southern Africa
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, 20 May 2005 – UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman’s first field visit, to the southern Africa region, comes at a time of crisis – a quiet, unseen crisis away from the media spotlight.
Zimbabwe: World Music superstar Femi Kuti brings hope to children
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 7 May 2005 – Pop superstar and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Femi Kuti took time to connect with the children of Zimbabwe during his recent visit as the headline act of Harare’s International Festival of the Arts.
HIV/AIDS: A deadly crisis each day in Zimbabwe
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, 24 March 2005 – In a small corroded tin shack, 71-year-old Emma Mlavzi lives with her 10 grandchildren. Their parents, Emma’s children, are all dead – a family destroyed by AIDS.
Zimbabwe’s forgotten children
JOHANNESBURG, 17 March 2005 - As Zimbabwe prepares for national elections, UNICEF today released startling new statistics about the state of the country’s children. Since 1990, the under-five mortality rate has risen 50 per cent, and one in five Zimbabwean children are now orphans – a result of the severe HIV/AIDS crisis affecting the country.
UK donates $3 million to fight malaria in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 24 February 2005 - The United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), a strong supporter of malaria prevention across the globe, is helping Zimbabwe battle malaria with a donation of $3 million through UNICEF.
Giving hope to children orphaned by AIDS
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 16 February 2005 - For sixteen-year old Kristen, every day is a long one.
Lavender and Learnmore: Two faces of Zimbabwe’s orphan crisis
ZVISHAVANE, Zimbabwe, October 2004— Of the 16 children who tend a small nutrition garden in Zimbabwe’s Midlands, 14-year-old Lavender is one of the few who still has a mother.
New Zealand jumps in to help AIDS orphans
Saving young lives: Zimbabwe’s health system struggles to cope
HARARE, Zimbabwe, 7 October 2004 – For the last 8 years, Wendy Poppie has worked at Kahobo clinic, in the remote part of Gokwe North in Western Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe AIDS orphans struggle to get back to school
HARARE, Zimbabwe 8 July 2004—Almost a million children in Zimbabwe have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Faced with extreme poverty and forced to look after themselves, it’s little wonder many have dropped out of school.
