ANNUAL REPORTS PUBLICATIONS NEWSLETTER NEWSFLASH NEWSROOM GLOSSARY USEFUL LINKS SUBSCRIBE HERE DONATE NOW

 

 

 

STAY CONNECTED

If Not Orphanages, Then What? Ethiopia Answers.

About twenty years ago, the Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organization was proud of the homes they’d built for 876 orphans in Ethiopia. But when children grew up uncomfortable in community settings and had difficulty establishing relationships, JeCCDO faced a crossroads. While orphanages provide shelter, they’re also expensive and they separate children from their communities. Now serving, 850,000 children and families in a single year, JeCCDO has found the answer by keeping children in their communities and helping communities to keep them there.

In the beginning, most of the children who came to JeCCDO were sick and malnourished and suffering from the trauma of the sudden loss of parents. JeCCDO quickly focused on saving lives and rehabilitation. They added vocational training to help children become self-supporting and independent and successfully served 876 children in five homes.

A few years later, they approached a typical organizational transition. JECCDO embarked on an assessment of their impact, the disappointing results surprised them. While the childcare program had contributed greatly to saving the lives of a significant number of orphan children, it had negative impacts on their futures. Growing up in a sheltered environment, children struggled to transition from the homes back into the community. As adults, they lacked relationships with family and friends. They struggled and were unclear whether to reestablish their lives as part of the community or to be independent and care for themselves.

It didn’t take long for JeCCDO to change course. They wanted children to have strong bonds to their families and their community. They looked to families first, successfully locating family members for each of the 1,000 children that then lived in their homes. Social workers began to foster relationships and reacquaint the children and families. Gradually, they left the orphanages behind and JeCCDO initiated programs with a special focus on children, women, and youth.

They questioned how to build the capacity of communities to provide care and support to vulnerable families. Local government had needed resources, so they established connections between them and communities. Community members would now influence the use of resources in ways that would benefit vulnerable families. JeCCDO became mentors.

This is when Firelight met JeCCDO. Since 2003, Firelight has funded them to provide small grants to the community organizations they now mentor. The community-based organizations use the financial support to provide educational support, medical care, counseling, and microfinance assistance to several hundred AIDS-affected families and children. Meanwhile, JeCCDO has also developed its own skills in managing community grantmaking.

Now, with a noticeable capacity, JeCCDO has attracted funding from larger donors like the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The SIDA funding complemented Firelight funding, with a focus on child rights promotion, child sexual abuse prevention and protection and a focus on enhancing community-based support for orphan children.

As JeCCDO enters its third phase as an organization, they now solely focus on building the capacity of community based organizations to care for orphans and vulnerable children. They are now developing a training institute focused on building capacity in communities. Their efforts and organization founder Mulugeta Gebru have been recognized by many including Tony Blair when he was the UK Prime Minister. Mulugeta is now asked to advise many community and school-based projects.

A shift in mindset and approach allowed JeCCDO to overwhelmingly increase the number of children it could support, and in ways that encouraged children to establish relationships within their communities. Many Ethiopian children will grow up a part of their families, and a part of their community with JeCCDO’s support.

Orphanages and the benefits of keeping children in communities is an important topic for many.

A Firelight publication, From Faith to Action, describes the strategies used by community- and faith-based groups in sub-Saharan Africa that support the families and communities providing care for the 13 million children affected by HIV and AIDS. Another great and popular resource is Melissa Fay Greene’s “There is no me without you.” Those who lived in Ethiopia may already be familiar with this account of Haregewoin Teferra’s story and her support of many children affected by AIDS. Lastly, David Tolfree, “Roofs and Roots” while a little dated now, 1995, is a classic on caring for separated children.

Butula Child Protection

Firelight grantee partner, the Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme (REEP) focuses on children’s rights in the Butula Division. Butula is a rural area near the Kenya-Uganda border. REEP works to reduce child abuse by educating community members, lawyers, educators and children, on children’s rights. “In a place with high HIV prevalence like Butula, orphans and vulnerable children are often abused and unless they know their rights, they cannot seek help or the abuse is discovered too late,” says Mary Makoha, REEP’s founder.

REEP began in 1997 “as a small organization working under a tree.” Relying heavily on nearly 500 community-level volunteers, they now mobilize the community, advocate for the protection of children and encourage the prosecution of offenders. They identify and report at least 90% of the total cases of child abuse. Community volunteers, trained as paralegals by REEP, received over 84 reported cases between 2008 and 2009 alone. They’ve been able to support 1, 693 children so far and reach out to 16, 234.

Parents and guardians of sexually abused children meet in support groups and are brought together as parent educators. This approach allows REEP to then train over 100 children as child’s rights leaders. Empowered with knowledge of their rights, children are more likely to recognize and report abuse.

Child participation and leadership is an integral element to their vision- over 60 primary schools now host children’s rights clubs that are fully run by the children themselves.

By training local administrators and teachers on children’s rights, REEP integrates child protection into existing institutions and systems. Strong relationships with local police and the hospital have led to more child-friendly services. Community leaders, who play an important role in setting norms, are also a part of the work.

Initially intimidated by the legal system, REEP tapped into the legal expertise of a trained lawyer working in the nearest urban center. Over time, they learned what evidence they need to document and how to present it to the police and to the court. They still call for advice, but much less frequently as their own knowledge and expertise have become more sophisticated.

From humble beginnings, REEP has grown into a respected organization with holistic programs that integrate health, education, nutrition, economic empowerment, children’s rights advocacy and protection. Following their five-year strategic plan, they are eager for additional resources to develop a safe house for children recovering from sexual abuse. “It also prevents a situation of repeated abuse, especially if it is happening within the child’s home,” Mama Makokha stated.

Building on the resources of the community to effectively increase support and protection for the most vulnerable children, REEP has increasingly brought attention to an important issue in ways that reinforce community and child leadership. In the words of Mama Makokha, “In my rural community, people have learned to respect children.”

REEP has been a Firelight grantee partner since 2000. The small grants they receive enable them to conduct vocational skills training and provide livestock, agricultural supplies, and sewing and knitting machines to encourage self-reliance among youth and caregivers in rural Kenya. The organization alsooffers microcredit programs and home-based care services.

Lesotho Responds to Disability

Early in 2011, Firelight staff visited Firelight grantee partners in Malawi, Lesotho, and South Africa. We try to visit grantee partners at least once a year because seeing groups in their communities shows us their impact in a way a project proposal cannot. It deepens our understanding of local context, brings light to intricacies and challenges faced by our partners, and also lets us develop a more personal relationship between the foundation and staff of the community-based organizations we fund.

Since returning, one conversation has stood out loudly for Gretchen Ellis, Firelight Program Assistant. It comes from a visit in Lesotho. As RPCV’s from Lesotho will know, Lesotho is a small, gorgeous, mountainous country challenged by poverty and difficult terrain. Firelight has funded grassroots groups here since 2003, funding thirty-three groups and providing $192,000 in grants last year.

Gretchen’s visit was with Lesotho Society of the Mentally Handicapped Persons (LSMHP) where she met a volunteer who dedicates his time with LSMHP several times a week. By trade he is an Occupational Therapist who works with families and children with physical disabilities. His main goal is to help families create a safe, conducive environment for children to enhance their motor skills, physical control, and overall growth. Recognizing that every family is unique, he differs his approach with each one. Sometimes he helps caregivers create walking apparatuses from materials within the home, sometimes he teaches caregivers massage techniques for stiff muscles, but mostly he uses play as their treatment. He uses play techniques to encourage the child’s muscle control and bonding between the child and caregiver.

He makes home visits to children for at least one hour a day, three times a week. These visits also educate caregivers so that the family gains basic skills to manage their child’s physical challenges.

Gretchen asked him what changes he sees after working with families. He told her, “Working with these families has transformed their relationships. Parents are initially scared of their own children, now they are empowered.” What he said was so simple, and so utterly powerful. “Those three hours a week literally transforms lives in immeasurable ways,” Gretchen said, clearly inspired by the meeting.

Firelight supports LSMHP to provide trainings on small business development to parents. These trainings create the means for caregivers to flexibly gain an income from their homes while taking care of their special-needs children.

LSMHP is one of those organizations with many accomplishments to brag about, but they also face many challenges. For instance, there are no speech therapy services anywhere in Lesotho, a setback for children with such disabilities. In addition, schools with special services for children with disabilities tend to be private or under resourced, creating real challenges for parents. Teachers do not necessarily have the knowledge, resources or skills to manage special-needs students, not to mention that school infrastructures are rarely disability-friendly. For these reasons, physically disabled students are often forced to stay at home, meaning that the caregiver must find ways to balance childcare with gaining income. Overwhelmingly, LSMHP sees that these families are highly susceptible to severe poverty.

LSMHP faces these challenges day in and day out and tirelessly motivates parents, youth, community members, government, and many other players within Lesotho to support those marginalized by disabilities. Their training, support groups, youth programs and networks with other national stakeholders create the mindset and the methods for children and families with disabilities to generate income, pursue an education, and develop relationships within their community that not only transform them, but transform the public’s image of disability. As the LSMHP motto says, “Move forward despite difficulties.”

Malawi: In Photos

Joop Rubens traveled to Malawi earlier this year to photograph Firelight grantee partners. A photographer and former Firelight staff member, he is originally from Belgium (and, in case you’re wondering, his name rhymes with “hope”). Joop is spending this month in the villages served by the Namwera AIDS Coordinating Committee (NACC). His photographs will show the families and communities in Namwera as they meet the needs of vulnerable children.

Since 2005, Joop has traveled and documented some of the remarkable work of African grassroots organizations. Reflecting on his travels, Joop wrote, “Africa is a magnificent continent and its children represent hope; they also live and inspire it. The privilege to witness this energy and photograph it continues to be the most humbling experience of my life.”

Joop left on February 1, 2011. This is his first series from his arrival.

Day 1- Life At First Sight

A few hours in a metal box and voilà, I am a stranger. Red dirt, umbrella shaped acacia trees, the smell of tropical downpours, and a big smile on the child walking next to me. I am eager to start asking questions and to have intense conversations about life in Malawi. Visually, completely over stimulated, I’m prepared to take life at first sight.

Day 2 - It Starts With The Family

The drive from Lilongwe to Namwera was fantastic thanks to a four-hour conversation with my travel companion, the director of NACC, Saeed Wame. When I asked him about governance in Malawi, Saeed replied, “It starts with the family. Though we are led by a president, the family is the backbone of society."

Day 3 – Circle of Friends

I’ve met so many children, parents, and grandparents today that my head is spinning. There was a grandmother caring for five grandchildren and the last of her ailing three daughters and a young man who took me to the seven homes he visits each day to ensure all the children are in school. That concept of togetherness is a photographic challenge. How can I convey that people live on $1 a day, but insist on sharing that $1 with their neighbor? A moment of doubt, I lay in the grass and close my eyes for a second. Unaware that children gathered around me, I open my eyes and the answer stares down at me: A Circle of Friends.

Day 4 – Scones and School

Through local partners in Malawi and other African countries, Firelight is able to support small loan initiatives. These initiatives provide a modest line of credit for people to start a business. As soon as the borrower repays, a second person can apply for a loan, and so on. Today I met Patuma, who used her loan to start a home-run bakery. She told me, “The income of my scones is sending all of my four children to school.”

 

Empowered Youth = Resilient Youth

Video: Rafiki Callixte, Director of Les Enfants de Dieu

Each year, Les Enfants de Dieu in Rwanda has an election season.

Young men, formerly living on the street, run an election campaign for a Minister position. As Ministers of Health, Education, Recreation, and others, they make decisions on how resources are used, how programs should be structured, and what policies guide behavior of the residents at the center. Their ideas and decisions shape the lives of more than 100 young men living in this residential center.

How is it that these young men came to hold so much responsibility and authority?

Les Enfants de Dieu evolved from a business that wanted to make a difference in their community into an organization that transforms the lives of young people who have spent years living on Kigali streets.

As a business, they provided material assistance to youth living on the street. When they realized that keeping youth on the street also kept them in a very difficult life, they established a residential center. The center would provide holistic rehabilitation services to street children. Later, they embarked on a program to reintegrate the young men back into their families and the larger community. Les Enfants de Dieu was born.

So far, they have successfully reunited 127 children with their families.

Les Enfants starts off by respecting each young person’s choice to come to the center. When they conduct outreach on the streets of Kigali, they let youth know about their center and the programs available there. Each young man has to find his own way to the center, demonstrating that he is making a choice and a commitment to be part of this community.

Their system of Ministries reinforces the center’s approach of respecting the voice and leadership of youth. Not just theoretical, but practically.

The Minister of Health noticed that a lot of the boys were frequently sick with malaria. He then developed a strategy to help prevent it. Working with his cabinet, they asked someone from the local government to come and teach them about malaria. The boys quickly identified that the nearby river was a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Working with the local government, they sprayed the area for mosquitoes.

They also worked with the director to buy mosquito nets and ensure that their clinic had malaria treatment drugs. By taking a holistic approach to solving this problem, the Minister of Health increased the young men’s knowledge to manage the situation. Today, if anyone tries to go to sleep outside of a mosquito net – you can be sure another young man will remind him to get under the net.

And that’s just one example of how the youth show leadership. When it was clear that a curfew was needed – it was the youth who discussed what was a reasonable hour to expect everyone to be in, and what time the gate would be closed. When the nurse noted that a number of youth were becoming sexually active, again, it was the youth who decided that the center should make condoms available. And when it was time to develop a program of support to transition into their families, the youth worked closely with social workers to develop a program that paid attention to the issues they knew would pose challenges to their successful reunification.

As you can see in the video, Firelight recently had the privilege of hosting the Director of Les Enfants de Dieu, Rafiki Callixte. It was his own life experience that helped to shape this program that respects and trusts youth to make the decisions that affect their lives. A momentary decision to forgive the person who tried to kill him during the Rwanda genocide, greatly affected Rafiki’s belief in the power of human kindness and the potential of youth to build a society of mutual caring.

That belief is reflected in the way that he leads the organization and in the lessons the young men learn living here.

And for each young person who makes the decision to come to Les Enfants, another life, family and community are forever changed.

Roodepan’s Invisible Community

Shocked to find an entire community including children living in and around a trash dump in Roodepan, Peter, a local resident, called Motivation Community Development because he knew they could help. MCD immediately extended their already limited resources to reach out and hopes to extend support and new opportunities to this community.

This photo series tells the story of this “invisible community.”

_________

Driving his own trash to the local dump one day, Peter stumbled upon this “invisible community.” Overwhelmed by what he saw, he informed a local community-based organization, Motivation Community Development who was also unaware of the issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A community consisting of about 100 people, mostly undocumented immigrants of all ages, finds refuge in the city’s remains.

 

 

 

 

 

Their days are spent sorting through trash, scavenging through shards of glass, sharp rusted metal and other dangerous materials. They are looking for materials to sell to recycling companies or to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toxic fumes from burning trash and dust from the tailings of the mine next door permeate the dump, making breathing and activity difficult.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Individuals sell one sorted bag for about 40 rand (~$6) to corporations who come to the dump to purchase the materials.

 

 

 

 

 

In what is discarded by the city, this persevering group creates a small income.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children live and work within this community, walking with or without shoes. Some manage to attend school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though working with limited resources, with the help of Peter and his family, Motivation Community Development brings a daily meal to the people living and working in the dump. Through this meal, they are establishing trust with this marginalized and exploited group of people. It is their first step in figuring out how to address the multiple issues faced by the community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Motivation Community Development works with each layer of this issue, initiating conversations with key local stakeholders: people sorting trash, municipal dump workers, and local government and businesses. They hope by working together to find sustainable and long-term solutions that lead to safer livelihoods for the people of Roodepan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spearheading Universal Birth Registration for Tanzanian Children

Ninety-seven percent of Tanzanian children who live outside urban communities are unrecognized by their state government. Because children have not received birth certificates, they are not legally registered and that makes access to essential services difficult in the best scenario and impossible in others.

“Unregistered children are, almost inevitably, the children of the poor and excluded,” saysShamsi Mhina, the Organizational Advisorof the Tujikomboe Group, a community-based organization in Tanzania’s Kilosa District. “Lack of registration exacerbates their poverty and underscores their marginalization. While birth registration does not of itself guarantee education, health, protection, and participation; its absence can put these fundamental rights beyond the reach of those already on the margins of society.”

Tujikomboe has now launched a universal birth registration campaign to register all local children. The roots of this campaign began in 2004, when Tujikomboe was formed by seven concerned citizens who saw the hardships caused by HIV, AIDS, and poverty and decided to address them. As staff trained community members in HIV and AIDS prevention, they saw growing numbers of orphans without birth certificates.

Children were left destitute because they were unable to access critical services such as educational assistance and healthcare. Adding to their lack of rights, without written wills from caregivers some children were unable to claim their parent’s property. Tujikomboe staff conducted a survey of community residents and found that more than 75 percent of children in the area lacked birth certificates. They quickly started to train community members on birth registration and helping parents to write wills.

By educating locals and leaders in churches and schools, and hosting community gatherings, Tujikomboe is able to sensitize some of the most rural communities in Tanzania to these problems. Working with the Kilosa Death and Birth Registrar, they set up mobile birth registration sites in local villages. The government has since seen their success, copied the model, and now uses mobile registration methods in urban areas throughout the country.

Initially, Tujikomboe planned to register 800 children in one year—400 in each of two wards. In the first ward, Malolo, they registered 483 children, 20 percent more than they had originally anticipated. But in Mikumi ward, they only succeeded in registering 58 children, 15 percent of their goal. Puzzled by the low participation in Mikumi, Tujikomboe staff visited 21 households to ask questions. They found that parents and guardians understood the importance of registration and were willing to do it, but lacked the money to pay the registration fee. Most caregivers are low-paid laborers with an average of 3 to 5 children in the household. With this information, Tujikomboe initiated the free, universal birth registration campaign for Tanzania.

Tujikomboe employs an approach that fosters collective, sustained participation. Using awareness-raising, community mobilization, and advocacy activities, they work to ensure children's access to preschool and primary education, strengthen agricultural extension services, help vulnerable adults access small loans for microenterprises, and create an informal, youth-friendly HIV and AIDS information center. With Firelight's support, Tujikomboe expects to register a minimum of 750 children (the first step in obtaining a birth certificate) or provide them with a birth certificate this year.

 

Green Living in Uganda

When Godfrey Kasozi looked around his home country of Uganda, he knew he would use his life to improve what he saw.

But it wasn’t just the poverty and technological development he wanted to change. Godfrey was just as concerned about the environment.

So in 1997 he founded the Centre for Environmental Technology and Rural Development (CETRUD). Today, CETRUD fosters relationships between families and their environment, to reach a sustainable future. They teach organic farming methods and help caregivers start small businesses while raising awareness on the environment and HIV and AIDS.

Their success is tangible. Visible. And great in number.

Visiting the families that have been part of CETRUD’s program, there is example after example of productive small businesses, flourishing home gardens, engaged and motivated community members, and children thriving.

Their approach is unique: most of the people they work with are living with HIV and caring for orphans whose parents have died of AIDS. CETRUD offers intensive training in managing a small business and provides small grants between US$200-$400. They provide ongoing support to help navigate the challenges that any business start-up faces. By providing practical solutions, they help their mostly female small business owners to build a successful enterprise.

CETRUD calls the women “caretakers,” emphasizing their role in caring for a business that belongs to the orphans and vulnerable children in their care. Program participants agree to tell the children about their HIV-positive status and to train the older children in running the business. This way, the youth are able to keep the enterprise afloat if the women fall ill. The businesses include restaurants, used clothing stalls, and sewing shops, as well as small stores and farms.

At a 95 percent success rate, the caretakers’ businesses are remarkable.

More than a business mentor, CETRUD teaches organic farming methods to all of their beneficiaries. Caregivers are trained at CETRUD’s own demonstration farm, where they learn about pest management, fruit improvement, soil management, and conservation. In each caregiver’s home, beans, squash, pumpkins, and tomatoes can be found competing for growing space among banana trees and a tangle of passion fruit vines.

By making sure that families have a constant supply of healthy food, CETRUD reduces the likelihood that money for the business start-up will be diverted to meet basic needs, resulting in an under-capitalized start-up. But it also helps the nutritional status of the caregiver, which is important to their health, given their HIV-status. It also helps to make sure children are well fed as they go to school.

Their holistic programs don’t end there. CETRUD’s environmental management program teaches the community agro forestry that includes the planting of trees to provide firewood, poles, and timber for construction and other purposes. Some trees also restore soil fertility by helping to fix nitrogen in the degraded soils. They introduce new methods like drip irrigation to help conserve water, or fuel efficient stoves to reduce use of firewood.

CETRUD's mission is to improve human life, environment, and give tangible hope to poor people in Uganda. And when you visit their beneficiaries, you see that they are doing just that: improving the quality of life for children and their families and protecting the environment and natural resources for future generations.

 

Lusaka Young People Take the Lead

Five young people who found themselves in charge of their households after their parents died, decided they’d fare better by supporting each other. Living in the Matero compound in Lusaka, they started meeting regularly. It wasn’t long before their support group turned into a series of programs for other youth in similar situations.

As their support group continued, the reality of need surprised even them. Instead of support, they began to see the problems as a need for fundamental human rights. They organized a group and called themselves Youth for Change or YOCA.

They now build coalitions with families and communities to respond to the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. A lot of their work is bringing the facts about HIV and AIDS to communities, helping children go to school, emotionally supporting children without their parents and adjusting to their new role in the family. They also provide a food-nutrition program to alleviate extensive malnutrition and a micro-finance and business development program to help women establish small businesses.

YOCA very quickly came to understand that to improve children’s well-being, their first step was to engage other community members. They saw that it takes just one meeting for those in the community to see the extent of the problem and develop a sense of urgency to find a solution. They were also fortunate to hear eagerness to be part of the solution. Community members lamented that efforts to work with police on issues of abuse had been challenging.

The leaders of YOCA said, “There are no clear child protection mechanisms in the community to report and handle cases of child abuse or child neglect. Knowledge of Child Rights and identifying abuse are very low. There is no follow-up for child abuse perpetrators and so they go without any action taken. NGO’s, government and other implementing partners do not have much collaboration and coordination that exist to trickle down to the community to handle and follow-up child abuse cases. The situation is further exacerbated by lack of child participation in prevention and mitigation of child abuse programs in communities. Cultural norms still exist that hide child abuse cases and as a result the problem continues.”

Firelight has supported YOCA since 2007 and recently brought this group together with our other Zambia grantee partners who work on issues of child protection. This opportunity gave YOCA a chance to learn from established organizations who had well-developed programs. The learning was rich and the dialogue was at times challenging. But the opportunity to understand the various challenges that these organizations faced, and how they overcame them, made this young organization even more determined to address issues of child abuse in Matero.

Their next step was to complete a community planning effort, guided by the knowledge and experience of Firelight Country Program Consultant Louis Mwewa. Louis had worked on issues of community engagement efforts for many years and had recently convened a stakeholder meeting of organizations in Zambia to develop guidelines for protection of children within the legal system. This depth of knowledge and experience was further enhanced by his experience in supporting organizational development of community-based organizations.

YOCA is now forming child protection committees and working with police and legal service providers to address the prevention of abuse. Along the way, Firelight will continue to provide resources. In fact, this is where Firelight makes a difference, working with organizations, such as YOCA, who have identified a community-level issue of child abuse and need support to develop a holistic program that is integrated into their overall efforts to improve child well-being. YOCA’s program of support will continue to expand and develop over time as they strengthen their knowledge and skill set about the particulars of what will be successful in their high-poverty, urban community.

Taking on the Tough Issues

When your goal is protecting children, you can’t shy away from the hard issues. Family Support Trust knew this when they started an organization to address child sexual abuse and neglect. So how does a small community-based organization in Zimbabwe begin such significant change? First, they focus on the child.

According to FST, “the child-friendliness of the service that we provide is at the heart of transforming the child victim into a child survivor.”

This small grassroots organization in Harare has a big reach. By training community leaders, they reach hundreds with information about child sexual abuse through local trainings and performances. Last year alone, over 1250 people attended their dramatic performances in five communities, and 166 children and 137 adults attended community awareness trainings.

Community and children’s participation is key for FST. They’ve found that the more children are involved in their programs, the more likely they are to feel comfortable disclosing any experiences of child sexual abuse. When children come to them for support they also participate in efforts to fight abuse in their community. Some children create poems and songs on child sexual abuse, showing a new openness on difficult and taboo subjects. This transformation is something FST staff is lucky enough to see often, and it sustains their motivation to continue. One staff member said, “At Family Support Trust, we are most excited that children who approach us as victims of child sexual abuse end up being survivors of child sexual abuse.”

Their path to healing and leadership isn’t simple. FST helps children gain access to medical examinations, which cover physical and mental assessment, screening of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV with available treatment, and the compilation of affidavits for use as evidence in courts. Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment provides one-month of antiretroviral treatment to children as a preventative measure against HIV.

To help them fulfill these ambitious goals, FST started their own “Victim Friendly Clinics” that are located in government hospitals. The clinics fill a gap in services for children. Eventually, they hope that government will take over the clinics, securing their long-term sustainability.

The clinics and their work with hospitals, helps to promote child-friendly medical examinations, treatment, and follow-up protocols for children. Working with children from the time of their trauma to the prosecution of perpetrators in court, they are able to take a multi-disciplinary approach that extends from the local clinic to the courtroom.

FST has even managed to influence some white garment churches that practice early marriages. A few churches have accepted their programs and are actively participating in the fight against child sexual abuse, including forced child marriages.

To gather even more information and find opportunities for greater impact, FST conducted research on the nature, causal factors, and prevalence of child sexual abuse in Zimbabwe. Their findings identified gaps in child protection, especially among girl children. FST pointed out that the increased rate of sexual abuse among girls is rooted in cultural beliefs, stereotypes, and poverty. When FST questioned what to do next, they went to their own roots and again focused on the child. They gathered girls together to inform them of their rights and offer a place to discuss incidences of child sexual abuse.

Family Support Trust now sees the need to scale up community mobilization to benefit more children and their families. Their linkages to local and national government agencies have them involved in advocacy, policy development, and resource mobilization. Being grounded in community will help them to continue to bring local perspectives to even larger tables.