Rose of Sharon Orphange Project, Harare, Zimbabwe
Rose Mary Craig's Visit, accompanied by Elizabeth Seigne 3-10 October 2012
Rose Mary & Fatima with children
We flew into a Harare seemingly unchanged – same glorious weather, same unsatisfactory political regime, same intransigent President as a year ago and yet, as the week progressed, we realised that some things were different. More cars on the road, and newish ones at that as there is now a law banning older cars, a rush hour traffic jam and supermarkets stuffed with imported goods. Combined with the virtual disappearance of local industry all this means that there is a severe liquidity problem as the adopted official currency of US dollars leave the country and circulating dollar bills get black and thin and everybody tries to rid themselves of filthy disintegrating dollars in case they may finally fall apart in their hands!
Mining and diamonds are the buzz words as one of the biggest diamond mines in the world has been found in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe – but nobody seems to be seeing any benefit from such riches. Like everywhere else, it seems, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and, with an unemployment rate of over 90%, there are a lot of poor. The country is gearing up for elections next year and whilst many are hopeful of change nobody really believes there will be change and some fear that civil war will follow yet another compromised election.
Meanwhile Fatima Maruta’s Rose of Sharon Orphanage and School continues to operate in these difficult circumstances where overseas aid is hard to access and local donations dwindle due to most people’s straitened circumstances. 58 children are now given a home by Fatima and some of the familiar faces from other years have graduated and are now gone to a very uncertain future. At least the older orphans mostly have a distant relative somewhere they can go to initially but the younger ones, now aged 4 or 5, have no family whatsoever having been abandoned and picked up from the side of the road or in a field and brought to the Rose of Sharon for housing. The children, living in three separate houses in and around Harare, are superbly looked after by a small dedicated team and seem very happy and well adjusted – in fact just like kids anywhere. The older ones go to Fatima’s own secondary school and the younger ones attend local schools to which they are driven every day in their bus the purchase of which was funded by a grant received from the Femmes d’Europe, a Brussels based charitable group, topped up with money from raised in Ireland.
To be as self-sufficient as possible is the objective so vegetables (cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, corn/maize) are grown, harvested and any surplus sold – this year a 100 tonnes of maize was sold. Two of the boys look after 200 chickens bred for their meat and it is hoped to develop a bigger chicken project if funds can be raised. A larger scale potato growing project is due to start next month, again aided by the Femmes d’Europe.
Land owned by Fatima (purchased in the early 90’s) awaits development as a centre for husbandry and horticulture if finance can be raised and offers a real hope of making the Rose of Sharon enterprise financially viable. Has anybody any suggestions as to funding sources? What is needed is a munificent backer or a benevolent joint venture partner.
It is without a doubt a huge challenge and effort to keep such an enterprise going without State or Church backing and, as usual, I learn that the funds raised in Ireland account for just 70% of daily costs. The main source of funds is from the CHRISTMAS SHOP and, together with donations and a small amount of grant aid, is keeping 58 orphans, educating 90 children in schools (some local children attend the Rose School) and giving employment to 16 teachers and carers.
Thank you to everybody who supports this venture. Without you we would have no funds to send. PLEASE COME TO THE CHRISTMAS SHOP THIS YEAR, bring your friends, and if you can’t come PLEASE SERIOUSLY CONSIDER SENDING A DONATION which goes to educating the children. All amounts welcome. Donations over €250 are tax deductible with cheques to be made out to the COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR IRELAND who are an official registered charity facilitator. We look forward to seeing you in Enniskerry this year.
www.roseofsharonzimbabwe.com
Mining and diamonds are the buzz words as one of the biggest diamond mines in the world has been found in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe – but nobody seems to be seeing any benefit from such riches. Like everywhere else, it seems, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and, with an unemployment rate of over 90%, there are a lot of poor. The country is gearing up for elections next year and whilst many are hopeful of change nobody really believes there will be change and some fear that civil war will follow yet another compromised election.
Meanwhile Fatima Maruta’s Rose of Sharon Orphanage and School continues to operate in these difficult circumstances where overseas aid is hard to access and local donations dwindle due to most people’s straitened circumstances. 58 children are now given a home by Fatima and some of the familiar faces from other years have graduated and are now gone to a very uncertain future. At least the older orphans mostly have a distant relative somewhere they can go to initially but the younger ones, now aged 4 or 5, have no family whatsoever having been abandoned and picked up from the side of the road or in a field and brought to the Rose of Sharon for housing. The children, living in three separate houses in and around Harare, are superbly looked after by a small dedicated team and seem very happy and well adjusted – in fact just like kids anywhere. The older ones go to Fatima’s own secondary school and the younger ones attend local schools to which they are driven every day in their bus the purchase of which was funded by a grant received from the Femmes d’Europe, a Brussels based charitable group, topped up with money from raised in Ireland.
To be as self-sufficient as possible is the objective so vegetables (cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, corn/maize) are grown, harvested and any surplus sold – this year a 100 tonnes of maize was sold. Two of the boys look after 200 chickens bred for their meat and it is hoped to develop a bigger chicken project if funds can be raised. A larger scale potato growing project is due to start next month, again aided by the Femmes d’Europe.
Land owned by Fatima (purchased in the early 90’s) awaits development as a centre for husbandry and horticulture if finance can be raised and offers a real hope of making the Rose of Sharon enterprise financially viable. Has anybody any suggestions as to funding sources? What is needed is a munificent backer or a benevolent joint venture partner.
It is without a doubt a huge challenge and effort to keep such an enterprise going without State or Church backing and, as usual, I learn that the funds raised in Ireland account for just 70% of daily costs. The main source of funds is from the CHRISTMAS SHOP and, together with donations and a small amount of grant aid, is keeping 58 orphans, educating 90 children in schools (some local children attend the Rose School) and giving employment to 16 teachers and carers.
Thank you to everybody who supports this venture. Without you we would have no funds to send. PLEASE COME TO THE CHRISTMAS SHOP THIS YEAR, bring your friends, and if you can’t come PLEASE SERIOUSLY CONSIDER SENDING A DONATION which goes to educating the children. All amounts welcome. Donations over €250 are tax deductible with cheques to be made out to the COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR IRELAND who are an official registered charity facilitator. We look forward to seeing you in Enniskerry this year.
www.roseofsharonzimbabwe.com
