Category: Friends’ Newsletters/Reports

Your newsletter this time reports on how adults and children coped with their first outbreak of covid 19 at the Home. We also introduce the new social worker Rumbidzai Mashoko.

Please note, we have changed our bank account. Information is contained in the newsletter. We are now with the Cooperative Bank. If you have set up a standing order with us please contact your bank and change the details to our new account, the old account will close on December 20th 2021. 

 Banks do not switch standing orders automatically.

It is important you make the switch because your donations continue to be vital to the support we give to the children at MRCH.

For the moment our HSBC account is still open but will be closed at the end of September.

We are also hoping to offer digital Christmas cards this year – watch this space for information.

It is with great sadness that in this Newsletter we announce the death of one of our founding committee members – John Richer. John was with us at the inaugural meeting of the Friends in 1996 and he served as our Secretary for many years. He will be greatly missed.

We are pleased to be able to relay that all staff have now had their COVID vaccines. Under COVID restrictions the children are able to attend 2-3 days of school a week at present and everyone is well.

MRCH is undergoing a significant staff restructuring partially as a necessary cost cutting exercise but also to ensure compliance with government requirements for a qualified and experienced social worker – this is currently being advertised.

We also extend out congratulations to all the students who have passed O-level and A-level examinations in recent months.

Our donations have been severely effected by the pandemic as fundraising opportunities are so restricted. Please remember there are a number of ways you can make one off donations – they will be greatly appreciated. Stay Safe.

Our new format Newsletter is working well and means we can include many more photos than before. We hope you like it.

This newsletter includes:

• An update of the conditions at the Home as a result of Covid restrictions – the Home is struggling, under another lockdown, to access education and basic food and hygene staples.
• Photos from the Annual fundraising dinner, joined remotely by Zimbabwe Methodist Fellowships from the UK, Canada and Australia.
• Progress update on the ECD with lots of photos.
• A report from the Rural COmmunity Outreach programme.

Thank you for all the wonderful donations we have received over the last few months, please keep them coming – we appreciate fundraising is very difficult at this time, but every little helps. Take care.

Welcome to our new format newsletter,

This time we report on:

• Activity month at the Home with lots of photos
• Managing Covid19 at the Home
• Community outreach projects
• Ella Shemitt’s Home visit
• How the Home came to be – an excerpt

Stay Safe

The September Newsletter reports on the desperate situation of the Home in recent months as a result of both Covid-19 and the ever declining economic situation of Zimbabwe. Overall, donations are down and the Home has had to make challenging decisions about cost cutting resulting in job losses and a return to outdoor cooking over a fire rather than paying for electricity.

The good news is that so far children have not missed any meals and everyone at the home is virus free.

A sincere thank you for all the donations we have received over the last 6 months, it is invaluable at this very uncertain and challenging time. The newsletter has details of other ways you can support the Home with one off charge free donations via PayPal and in your every day activities when purchasing on-line with Amazon Smile.

Our June Newsletter is now available.

Like many places, the Children’s Home is locked down and the schools are closed. At present there are no cases of Coronavirus at the Home and the health and safety of everyone at the Home is being well managed – no visitors are allowed to the Home and staff are only allowed out for essential items such as food and medicine. More widely in Zimbabwe, the new normal is wearing a mask wherever you are or face arrest.

With fundraising being a challenge at the moment any donations you can make through other routes is very much appreciated. See the newsletter for a list of ways you can donate. Thank you.

Your March Newsletter is here.

Once again there is a mixture of news. 20 children from the Home and Community Outreach Programme started new schools, all with the equipment and uniforms they needed and school fees paid. However, the difficult economic situation is making for very difficult times in the Home in general, made worse by the extreme summer weather.

As always, thank you for your support.

In this Newsletter we report on the terrible drought conditions threatening the Home and the knock on effects the power cuts and the economic crisis are having on life, both at the Home and for the staff both at home and work.

To counter balance all the bad news we send our congratulations to Lucky Magombedze-who recently graduated with a degree in Mining Engineering from Midland State University and our thanks to Judith and Jim McMullen whose generous donation in Jim’s memory is funding upgrade work to the Early Childhood Development centre at the Home. Thank you.

As always the newsletter is full of information from the Home. This particular quote really struck me this time…

“You will be amazed how costs are rising. Yesterday morning I boarded a bus for town for $1.50, but after my exams-around 5pm-the bus fare was $5.00”.

On a more positive note the MRCH Big Sunday fundraiser raised £4,195 for the Home as well as receiving lots of goods in kind – though this is down on previous years.

Finally, a book by Graham Jones describing the life and work of Astonishment Mapurisa – a former Director of the Home is coming out in September. It will be available on Amazon ‘Astonishment:Laying Ghosts in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe’.

The June Newsletter is here and a huge thank you to all of you supporting the Home. News this quarter reveals that the National Pharmacy of Zimbabwe-who send some medicine supplies to the Home-have not done so for months. Your funds have helped the Home buy essential medicine for the children to cover this shortfall in addition to our usual support.

There is also a very informative Q&A with Norlin Chisoro-Transitions officer about how the Home manages the transition to life outside the Home once children reach 18years.

Please consider joining us for our AGM on June 22nd at Droitwich Methodist Church.