Online Reporter
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT, though the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, is assessing the extensive damage at Mount Selinda Orphanage in Chipinge, which was destroyed by a fire yesterday, leaving dozens of vulnerable children without shelter, clothing, food, or educational supplies.
Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Manicaland Provincial Social Development Officer, Mr Antony Marongwe said: “We have received news of a fire which broke out at Chirinda Children’s Home and destroyed everything, but no casualties in terms of the children and staff.
“All children are safe, but all the property was destroyed including clothes, food, and furniture. We will give a full report tomorrow after the full assessment.”
However, the blaze is believed to have started when a child lit a candle inside a wardrobe while trying to arrange clothes, accidentally setting the clothes on fire.
The flames quickly spread throughout the entire building, reducing everything to ashes within a short time.
The orphanage, founded in 1955, provides for the physical and emotional well-being of children removed from unsafe homes, orphaned, or abandoned.
