Category: News

Our deepest thanks

Carol Banham has been our Chairman for over 20 years. As she steps down we would like to take this opportunity to extend our deepest thanks for her leadership and dedication to our charity and to the Home itself.

Carol has provided essential stability and focus for the Friends’ work throughout this time having been involved in the evolution of the charity right from its inception. Her belief in education for all, combined with her dedication to caring for others has been a driving force behind her work with the Friends.

Her time with the Friends has covered a very turbulent period for the Home and she has provided invaluable support to fundraisers around the UK as she speaks about the Home. She has visited the Home on several occasions and run many fundraising events herself with the support of her husband Don. This is in addition to running the lucrative Christmas card sale each year which alone has raised thousands of pounds over the years.

Through regular contact with the Home, Carol’s newsletters have given us a very clear picture of what is going on for the children and all those who care for them and raised our awareness of where focus could go for Friends development projects.

Her commitment and tireless dedication over the years has made an immeasurable impact on the lives of the children and carers our charity supports.

Carol, while we will miss your leadership, we look forward to continuing to benefit from your wisdom and support as a trustee, ensuring continuity of support for both us and the Home. We wish you well.

Reaching out to all former children from the MRCH Home

A group of adults who once attended Matthew Rusike’s Children’s Home are creating an Alumni organisation. They want to offer support to each other as well as reach out to those young adults who are imminently leaving the Home.

As you may know on reaching 18 years of age, by law, young adults have to be discharged from the Home. The Home does what it can to prepare these young people for this, but ultimately no longer have responsibility for them. A support network is one way to help with this.

If you, or anyone you know attended the Home in the past and wish to become part of this project, please contact our Chairperson and she will pass your details to the co-ordinator.

Hello and Thank you

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Immanuel Mudzinge, our Treasurer since 2017. Thank you for all your hard work. We are so pleased you will be remaining with us as a Trustee and member of our Executive Committee.

With this in mind, we would like to extend a warm welcome to Niki Phillips who will be taking on this role for us. We look forward to working with you. Niki is a qualified chartered accountant working in this field for over 20 years.

A drop in donations…can you help?

Since the Coronavius pandemic began we have seen donations for the Home drop off significantly as the ability to fundraise etc. has been interrupted.

The Home is now in lockdown but the needs of the children still continue. The latest update from the Home is here.

If you are able, please consider using alternative means of donating to help the Home…

If you shop on-line

We have set up FoMRCH as a charity on Amazon. This means if you purchase anything from Amazon you can choose to do so via their Smile link and nominate FoMRCH as a recipient. We then receive a 0.5% donation from Amazon. This is free to us and free to you – you just shop as normal.

Donate via your mobile phone

We have set up the ability for you to make donations via your mobile phone using Donr.

You can make either one off or monthly payments. Donr take a small portion of the donation. You simply say how much you want to donate to support the Home. For example:

Text RUSIKE 3 to 70085 – this will donate £3 to FoMRCH and will cost you £3 plus the charge of a standard rate message.

Text RUSIKE 10 to 70085 – this will donate £10 to FoMRCH and will cost you £10 plus the charge of a standard rate text.

Thank you so much for your continued support of the Home at this very trying time. Stay safe, stay at home.

Coronavirus – status update.

The Home is working very hard to keep children and staff safe. Staff who live off site are no longer able to work at the Home and no one is allowed to visit.

3 staff members (the Director, Matron and Nurse) are in charge and all the House Mothers and ancilliary staff remain isolated at the Home with the children.

The children are busy working in the garden, playing games and doing their chores. They are encouraged to wash their hands frequently.

All staff and children are well at the moment.

Welcome Rev Linrielink Mutendzwa as the new National Director for MRCH

Rev Linrielink Mutendzwa in his own words…

“I was born in 1972 in Chivhu in the Mashonaland East District of Zimbabwe. I am married to a supportive wife, Mercy, and we have been blessed with 2 sons and a set of twins a boy and a girl. I have been a Methodist minister since 1994. During my ministry I have served the church in different areas, rural and urban with different cultural settings, schools and at Head Office. I have been a circuit minister, minister in charge, Principal and synod secretary. I also served as the Research and Publications National Coordinator between 2006 and 2012. Before my appointment at MRCH I was a circuit youth minister at Hatfield Circuit where I had been for a year after a near fatal traffic accident that left me with broken limbs. The Lord raised me back to life on plated legs.

Professionally I hold an Executive Masters in Business Administration, BSc Management and Entrepreneurial Development Studies, Diploma in Theology and another Diploma in Religious Studies. I also hold various certificates in the areas of Development, Research Methods and Business and Project  Management.

I bring to MRCH a warmed heart, braced up spirit, enduring soul and an open mind. I believe God will use me as a reliable instrument in this special child care ministry.”

Reverend Margaret Mawire retires

In 2012 Reverend Margaret Mawire became the National Director of Childcare and the Superintendent at MRCH.  She was brought up by her grandparents and educated at Harare High school, doing A levels through correspondence. She achieved a Diploma in Theology then a BA hons in Religious Studies at the University of Zimbabwe. In 2011 she attained her Masters degree in Applied Theology at the Queens Foundation in UK. She has been a serving minister in 3 circuits in Zimbabwe and was chaplain at MRCH during 2010.

“ I felt challenged to be heading a big organisation like MRCH where so much has been achieved already by my predecessors and so much lies ahead of us that still needs to be done. However I feel blessed knowing that MRCH has a dedicated team of well qualified staff to assist to drive the vision of MRCH forward. Our first priority is to ensure continuity. Childcare in Zimbabwe is under funded so finances and resources for programming are a problem. In my short time here, one thing I have realised is that childcare is expensive.”

“I would like to thank you all for your support during my term of office at MRCH as National Director. When I came the economic situation was as bad as it is now. You continued to help us. Staff had gone for 5 months without salaries and FoMRCH paid all the arrears, it was a great relief for me. You raised funds to buy a new minibus and it became safe to take the children out. Electricity supply was another monster but you raised money for a generator at just the right time. You had friends who raised funds to refurbish all the 8 houses. The regular monthly remittance has made planning and budgetting so much easier. Please pass my gratitude to all the Friends of MRCH and I pray for the same kind of support for the Incoming Director.”

Words from our out-going Secretary

“After 10 years, and having passed my 80th birthday, I have decided to make way as Secretary for a younger person.  It has been a pleasure and privilege to do this job not least because of the excellent work done by the Chair and Treasurer which has made it so much easier.

My Wife and I were founder members of the Friends group in 1996 following a visit to MRCH in 1995 because we wanted to help the good childcare being provided at the Home, by providing Christmas presents for the children.

Over the past 20 years the operating conditions in Zimbabwe have changed enormously with food, power and water shortages plus unrest and currency problems. At the same time the external world has changed with the growth of communications so that a wider knowledge of what makes up our lives is now available to all.  However throughout all these hardships and changes, the Matthew Rusike Children’s Home has provided good childcare and also significantly expanded its influence throughout Zimbabwe.

This tremendous success has been made possible by the energy and vision of the staff at the Home and by the donations sent by concerned outsiders, particularly ten years ago by you the Friends when we provided 80% of its funding. Now, when the Methodist church in Zimbabwe is providing strong support for childcare, we still give half of the external donations to the Home, about 25% of the total.  The need for support is still very great as national conditions do not improve and Zimbabwe has had to appeal for international help, our efforts are still vital.

The Friends Executive committee is very experienced but we are always open to new faces and new ideas for continuing planning for sustained giving. I hope my replacement will enjoy the satisfaction I have had in working with the Friends and seeing the children of Zimbabwe thrive.”

John Richer

Thank you John for all your wonderful work over the years. We are so pleased that you will continue to be part of the committee.