The Community Care project was launched in 2006 in south eastern Chipinge in Zimbabwe. The project aims to address the educational, social and developmental needs of orphans and underprivileged rural youth. The project provides support to AIDS orphans in a home based, community context. The project reaches 100 orphans and underprivileged rural youth.

Education is one of the keys to opening doors of opportunity yet sometimes it is inaccesible due to extreme poverty and other crisis. This is the predicament that the young people in the rural areas of Chipinge in Zimbabwe are finding themselves in. Many youth, especially orphans, in the rural areas of Zimbabwe are dropping out of school due to poverty.  This poverty is primarily the result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic which has ravaged the Sub-Sahara region claiming the lives of many adults.  Children and the elderly have suffered most as a result of this pandemic.   Grandparents and children have become heads of households which they can barely support.  This problem has been exacerbated by the harsh economic climate prevailing in Zimbabwe and the prolonged droughts that have affected south eastern regions for the past five years.  Over 40% of the rural population lives below the poverty line and around 67% of them rely on agriculture and farm income for their livelihood.  They have to rely on outside help just to meet their basic day to day needs such as food and clothing.  The children who have dropped out of school in these rural areas, unlike their counterparts in urban areas, have no services or safe havens.  Instead, they end up being a menace to the community by getting involved in activities such as illegal trading, theft, and vandalizing property and engaging in pre-marital sex.  If this problem is not addressed soon the HIV infection rates among the youth will soon begin to rise.

An Individual Story (By Thelma Sithole)

In the picture below on the left hand side, Lovemore and Hebert are receiving clothes from the Tekeshe Foundation caregivers. In the picture on the right hand side Lovemore is in the back row holding a bag of candy donated by friends of the foundation in the US. 

  Our Approach

Through our education program we provide access to education to orphans and underprivileged students to help unlock doors of opportunity for them and give them a better head start for the future. While education is at the heart of The Tekeshe Foundation we are also committed to the social development of young people.  We believe that young people need more than academics, they also need to be taught life's lessons which are not taught at a desk in the classroom. Young people need to be taught to have good moral values, they should be taught to be honest, kind, to respect their elders and to work hard.  Yet due to the deaths of many adults young people in these rural areas have no parental guidance and there is no one to teach them good moral values.

Through our Youth Cares program we teach youth life skills and offer them opportunities for leadership and development.  We envision this initiative producing well-balanced young people who are empowered to utilize their acquired skills to transform their communities and resolve global issues.  Our trained care givers provide guidance and counseling services to the orphans and underprivileged children. The caregivers conduct home visits to check up on children from grandparent or child headed households.
We work in collaboration with stake holders, such as, local schools, local clinic, local committees and local churches to accomplish our vision.  

Our goal is to empower 100 orphans and underprivileged youth in the Chipinge district of Zimbabwe to reach their full potential through         education, skill development, and leadership training. We provide the following:

• School fees, uniforms, books and school supplies to orphans and vulnerable children in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Institutes.

• Guidance and counseling services to orphans and vulnerable children.

• Leadership and development skills to the orphans/vulnerable children.

                    

Our Accomplishments

• To date the foundation has assisted 86 local youth with school fees, school supplies and uniforms -  50 primary school students, 30 secondary school students and 5 tertiary school students.
• One of the students recently completed his teacher-training course and is now working as a primary school teacher. Efforts are underway to increase the numbers on scholarship.