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George Maponga in CHIKOMBEDZI
Tucked deep on the eastern fringes of Chilonga communal lands in Chikombedzi is Chambuta National Rehabilitation Centre, which used to be a holding camp for refugees, mostly those displaced by the bloody insurgency fuelled by Renamo in Mozambique.
After peace was brokered in Mozambique in 1992, the once teeming Chambuta faded into oblivion as refugees trooped back to their country. The abandoned rehabilitation centre became a relic in the midst of the sun-baked plains of Chilonga.
In 2015, Government decided to put Chambuta to good use by transforming it into a rehabilitation centre for homeless children to help them restore their lives while also equipping them with life-changing skills for them to be productive members of society.
The move marked the turning point in the history of Chambuta Children’s Home which is now a key national asset in terms of the rehabilitation of homeless children, most of whom live on the streets in the country’s major cities.
In June this year, the rehabilitation centre received a major boost when First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa visited and highlighted the need to look after homeless children by spearheading their rehabilitation through provision of decent accommodation and food.
Very soon, Chambuta had received a group of 37 homeless children rescued from the streets of Harare by Amai Mnangagwa and given an opportunity to start their lives on a fresh page.
Today, Chambuta is home to 40 children comprising 32 boys and eight girls at various levels of education either at Chambuta Primary School, about four kilometres from the children’s home or Chambuta Baptist High School, only 1,5km away from the rehabilitation centre.
Chambuta is now firmly poised for redemption, thanks to Amai Mnangagwa and her Angel of Hope Foundation, who brought the plight of the institution into the national domain. Individuals and corporates are now stampeding to help the previously forgotten and unknown institution that was wasting away at the periphery of the national pysche.
“The turning point in our long road to redemption was when First Lady Amai Mnangagwa visited us, marking the beginning of a close relationship that eventually saw us getting 37 homeless children that were taken from streets in Harare and are now living here to bring our total complement of children to 40,” said the home’s administrator Mrs Joyce Khumalo.
For Mrs Khumalo, the story of Chambuta will never be the same again, with corporates and individuals making a bee line to assist the home so that it can properly look after the homeless children under its wings.
“I am very proud of our association with the First Lady because ever since she visited this place, big companies and individuals also now want to help us,” she said.
“There are many who have since offered to help us after Amai Mnangagwa put us on the world map. We only pray that more companies and individuals offer us help because with more assistance we can even double the number of homeless children here from the current 40, which means opportunities for more vulnerable children. We are very grateful to the First Lady and we will forever be indebted to her.”
Mrs Khumalo believes that recurrent water challenges will soon be a thing of the past after Gonarezhou Conservation Trust pledged to assist with water reticulation at the institution.
She said Chiredzi West legislator Cde Farai Msikavanhu donated three tonnes of sugar and plans were afoot to sell part of the donation to raise finances to connect power at the institution.
Mrs Khumalo said following Amai Mnangagwa’s visit to the institution, there had been a major change even in food availability with more institutions and individuals promising more help. She said there were still several challenges they were facing, preventing them from transforming Chambuta into a model home for the homeless where they undergo rehabilitation and fully develop in an environment that allows them to hone their different skills and attributes.
The institution needs electricity and proper ablution facilities. Speaking during a recent Sport Fun Day organised by Amai Mnangagwa in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Ezra Chadzamira assured the institution that Government will make sure game meat from trophy hunting and wildlife culling in the adjacent Gonarezhou National Park was supplied to Chambuta to feed the homeless children.
There is scope at the institution for small-scale irrigation to grow vegetables and other crops that can be easily sold to raise cash for other needs at the institution.
Already, Chambuta’s gradual transformation towards becoming a modern 21st rehabilitation home is underway. Besides the looming installation of water reticulation and electricity, Government plans to start building a multi-purpose sporting complex to enable children at Chambuta to develop sporting talent.
Online Reporter