Matabeleland South is one of the poorest regions of Zimbabwe. Young people who lose their parents here often take responsibility for their younger siblings. Since they have to earn money, they can hardly go to school and thus lose their future prospects. The Esandleni Sothando Trust's youth camp offers them a chance for a new start in this situation. Impressions from a project visit.
Markus Bütler, Programme Coordinator Zimbabwe
Dust-dry bush land, barren ground, a few cattle, and a few thatched huts pass the car window. After a long drive over bumpy dust roads, through potholes and dry creeks, we reach the village of Figtree in the Matabeleland South region of southern Zimbabwe. Our destination is a youth camp for 14 to 16-year-old orphans living in so-called children's households (households run by children without adult supervision). It was organised by Beven Mwachanda and his organisation Esandleni Sothando Trust (EST), which terre des hommes schweiz has been supporting for one year. "Beven works where the road ends", says the driver laconically, and it sounds as if he actually means "where there is no more hope".
A common place, just for themselves
Here we are in front of the modest community centre, where a crowded and happy group of young people, villagers and members of various local committees await us. We realize immediately that a particularly impressive experience awaits us here. Despite the sparseness of the room, it is lovingly decorated with pictures and objects that were created during the camp in group work. For example, the young people have just drawn a tree of life in which they have portrayed their fears and worries, but also their hopes, goals and wishes.
Time to find each other
This alone is a special feature. The orphans from children's households are among the most vulnerable young people in the region. The population of this remote, infrastructure-poor region is destitute. Hardly anyone has enough to live on. The risk of orphans being abandoned is very high here. So they fight daily for their own survival and the survival of their siblings. There is no place in their lives for education or the development of future prospects. But in the youth camp they have time to deal with their lives for the first time. Here they can tackle their traumas and get to know their own resources through experiential education and psychosocial support.
New experiences, new hope
50 young people live together during this week in the room of the parish hall, where during the day various games, exercises or courses take place. Cooking is done in the forecourt, where the young people now gather for trust games (trust exercises). We are impressed by the enthusiasm with which the young people engage in the games, in which, for example, one person is carried by the group on hands or without any action on their part through a kind of spider web. The exercises demand a lot of trust from everyone. Some are shy and have to overcome their own fear of participating. Others are just as euphoric. What is striking, however, is that in the end everyone is very happy to take part. The experience of being able to rely on each other unconditionally is completely new for them. The game promotes their social competence and helps them to overcome their fears.
Now we see so much light, hope and joy"
The afternoon in Figtree flies by. As short as the visit was, it left a lasting impression - for example, with what modest financial expenditure, but all the greater personal commitment, so many young people are reached. "It is remarkable how deeply the methods used touched everyone's hearts. Before, these young people seemed to have no future. But now we see so much light, hope and joy", a member of the local child protection committee is amazed, "even representatives of the village population take an interest and want to support the orphans". And so we leave, deeply moved and well aware that the dust road ends here. But the young people have not found the end of their way here, but the beginning.
About Beven Mwachanda and the Esandleni Sothando Trust
The biography of Beven Mwachanda reflects the fates of the young participants of the youth camp in Figtree. When he was 15 years old, his parents died of cancer in quick succession. As the oldest of three children, he took over responsibility for the two younger ones. They lived alone and impoverished in a miserable little shed. In this situation, Beven Mwachanda, who is now 30 years old, was given the chance to take part in a similar youth camp as he organises himself today. "This camp changed my life forever," he says. Through psychosocial support and accompaniment he found his way back into life. Soon he began to get involved with other children and young people. In 2003, he founded the Esandleni Sothando Trust (EST) to give young people a chance in a situation he once lived through. EST is active in the districts of Empandeni and Figtree (about 10 000 inhabitants), where there are about 1800 orphans and vulnerable children. About 200 households are run by orphans. terre des hommes schweiz has been following the work of EST for two years and has been supporting it since the beginning of 2014.
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This article first appeared in the current terre des hommes schweiz newspaper which you can download as a PDF file from this link.
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