Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu
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EKHAYA Kip Keino Children’s Home which started off as an athletics training camp initiative has become a haven for hundreds of children.
The home that was established in 2002 is situated in Makwe Village in Ward 8 Gwanda and has 55 children.
Some of the children attend Makwe Primary, Makwe Secondary and Collen Bawn High School.
Retired athletes who are co-founders of the home, Mr Zibusiso Nyoni, Mr Patrick Masina and Mr Steward Mdokwani decided to establish an athletics training camp in rural Gwanda to train children to become professional athletes.
They approached an investor who assisted in building infrastructure to establish Ekhaya Kip Keino Athletics Club.
The three men who are all former members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) athletics club later decided to also establish a children’s home at the training centre after realising the need for a safe space for children.
Mr Nyoni, a co-founder of the home and a member of the board of trustees said they decided to run the home from the athletics club. He said their core business is to ensure that children develop.
The home is set up in family units which have four homesteads. Each homestead accommodates children and a house mother and her assistant.
“As the three board of trustees we are retired police officers who were members of the ZRP athletics club in Harare. We decided to open an athletic training centre in Gwanda and through the local leadership of the area and council we were able to get the space where we established what later became a home. We started building in 1997 and in 2002 we received our first intake.
Our target was to establish a training centre where we would nurture athletes that will be competitive at international level,” he said.
“When we looked deeper we realised that many children were in need of protection and a safe place to stay. Some children were left without parents because of HIV/Aids. We didn’t give up on athletics as we still train children though our main focus is the home. We engaged a donor who assisted us in establishing the home and is also assisting us with the day to day running of the home.”
Mr Nyoni said the initiative is a bid to give back to the community and help nurture and develop young people.
He said management of the home has assisted to build infrastructure such as classroom blocks at various schools including Makwe Primary School.
He said the home also assists to train learners in athletics at surrounding schools while children at the home also receive training.
Mr Nyoni said the management is also focused on developing nearby learning institutions as they benefit children at the home.
“Ekhaya Kip Keino Children’s Home accommodates children that come from various districts in Matabeleland South through the Department of Social Welfare. We house children that need a place of safety or those who are homeless. They stay at the home until the age of 18. Some would have been abandoned or rescued from the streets. Some children stay for a short time. Sometimes upon conducting investigations the relatives of the children are located and then they are reunited with their families,” he said.
Mr Nyoni said there are many people who have passed through the home and have turned out to be very successful in life. He said some are now based abroad.
Mr Nyoni said the home has helped to equip many people with various skills and professions.
He said some former inmates of the home are studying in tertiary institutions across the country and abroad.
“The home has benefited a lot of people and it’s still benefiting a lot of children. Some of the children come here feeling dejected, clueless and without hope. Some of them spend their entire childhood here. The youngest child that we once received who is now a builder came here at the age of one. Here at the home with the assistance of the home mothers and management we try and shape the lives of these children and give them a future,” he said.
Mr Nyoni said the home is in need of space to undertake various farming projects on a large scale. He said this will help the home to be self-sufficient while at the same time children will be equipped with agricultural skills which could also become a possible career path.
Mr Nyoni said the home has poultry, goat and cattle projects but on a small scale due to limited space.
He said well-wishers are free to assist the home in any way possible. Mr Nyoni said churches and various institutions usually donate to the home especially during the festive season. — @DubeMatutu
Sidumisile Mabena