What We Do
Since its inception, the Council for Zimbabwe has played an important role bringing together Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and other concerned individuals, to improve educational and health services in Zimbabwe. One of our primary goals is to leverage the skills, networks and resources of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora and global citizens to achieve measurable improvements in health, education and economic development in Zimbabwe. To that effect, we are always looking for volunteers and donations for the following projects.
Sadza in the City - Building our community one morsel at a time.
With a host of changing social, political and economic dynamics profoundly affecting the ways Zimbabweans and other communities relate to one another, our "Sadza in New York City" allows us to collectively celebrate our culture, meet new people, business contacts, old school friends and just have fun. At the same time, this is an opportunity to learn from each other and some of the experts and professionals at home who occasionally visit, build trust, unity, and foster healthy relationships needed to build a peaceful, prosperous and progressive Zimbabwe. Join us for our next event.
Click here to view New York photos. Click here to see other events.
Sending Educational and Health Supplies to Zimbabwe.
The humanitarian crisis, particularly with respect to health, has been exacerbated by the deterioration of health facilities. Medical equipment is breaking down, sometimes due to old age or simply because of lack of servicing. Without equipment, some simple life saving medical procedures cannot be done. Last year, a number of health institutions, including hospitals, clinics, and medical training centers that produce the human resource base to support health care delivery and recovery closed down at the height of the economic crisis. Because of lack of supplies, senior dental students at the University of Zimbabwe Dental School could not conduct practicals, let alone do examinations. Without basics to train doctors, the quality of training and consequently that of health care delivery in Zimbabwe cannot be expected to be excellent. In response to the crisis we sent in medical supplies to help Junior Dentists attend to patients in need and complete their program. Furthermore, we have helped collect and ship equipment such as Dental Chairs and books, in partnership with the US-Africa Children's Fellowship. We have also collaborated with the U.Z. Department of Dentistry to devise system to monitor and maintain records of usage of the dental supplies. This includes a dispensary sign-up sheet documenting each item received by the U.Z. Department of Dentistry and which student used that item. We plan to develop a long-term system to assist the University of Zimbabwe Dental School to establish a sustainable means to supply the required equipment and supplies for its program. Click here to see our photos.
Developing a skills Database.
In order to help the recovery of Zimbabwe, it is essential to take stock of our available human resources capacity in the Diaspora. To that end, our goal is to expand our current skills database directory to swiftly mobilize and facilitate the inclusion of individuals with skills, resources, and experiences acquired from countries of their current residence. This database will be of added value to both public and private institutions in need of expertise or skilled personnel. For instance, a professor abroad could be part of thesis supervisory team to mentor a student at a Zimbabwean University, an IT professional could help design a website for a school, specialized doctors practicing abroad could conduct a workshop for their colleagues at home under the auspices of a local organization that provides further education credits. To facilitate all of this, we are collecting information online.
Cholera Epidemic Initiative
The goal of this initiative is to support an organization in Zimbabwe that is already tackling the cholera crisis, namely Celebration Health. Celebration Health is a division of Celebration Ministries Zimbabwe (www.celebrationmin.org) Their vision is to be the leading influence in the reformation of healthcare delivery in Southern Africa and the world. Their mission is to meet health needs of people, soul, spirit and body. Currently, Celebration health has three main areas of focus in contribution to the alleviation of the current health care crisis. These are: Urgent Medical Relief; Medical Worker Deployment and Infrastructure Support.
We will be partnering with Celebration Health to support medical workers. Our primary goal is to assist with daily living costs of Harare city health staff working at the cholera camps and to see them adequately compensated for their gruelling work, especially under such difficult conditions. In order to support the collapsing health system, an area that required urgent attention was the recalling of striking staff and deployment into needed areas. Celebration Health has set up treatment centers in parts of Zimbabwe and are calling upon doctors and nurses to work at the centers while giving them salary top-ups in US dollars to make it feasible for them to travel to these centers to help. There are three Celebration Health teams that are on the ground partnering with city health personnel in Harare. The teams comprise doctors, nurses, pharmacists, support staff as well as volunteers drawn from Celebration churches in the various communities.
On average an outreach in response to a cholera outbreak costs $3,000 USD which includes top-up stipends for the staff, transportation and food. The staff receives $15 USD each per day. Each outreach, depending on the outbreak is usually a minimum of 5 days. Zimcouncil plans to sponsor 10 staff members for 5 days in each response i.e. $15/day adding up to $750 USD for 5 days ($75 per staff member). Our budget anticipates 2 outreach responses per month at a cost of $1,500 USD.
Sponsor A Teacher
The Council for Zimbabwe and the U.S. Africa Children’s Fellowship (www.childrensfellowship.org) would like to offer you an opportunity to do something amazing. You can, with very little effort, dramatically change the life of 50 Zimbabwean children and one aspiring young Zimbabwean adult. The children need a teacher. The young adult needs a chance at a future. You can provide both. As you may already know, there is an economic and social crisis unfolding in Zimbabwe. Schools are literally hemorrhaging teachers because of low pay, lack of food and the harsh economic conditions. Zimcouncil and the U.S. Africa Children’s Fellowship and the Organization of Rural Associations for Progress (ORAP) have put together a plan to hold our schools together - but we desperately need your help to make it work.
Students who qualify for admission at the University in Zimbabwe (U.Z.) but cannot afford university tuition can earn a degree by enrolling in a correspondence course or distance learning course (DLC). DLC degrees usually take about four years to complete. Our plan is to pay for DLCs for qualified candidates who agree to teach in government schools while they are working towards their degree. While they are teaching, the government will pay them a teaching salary, which we will supplement with a stipend. The cost of a DLC is approximately $250USD per annum. And an additional $50/yr to help cover food costs. Imagine, for a mere $300USD, we can put a teacher in front of a classroom and at the same time allow that teacher to educate him/herself.
We need you to help to sponsor a teacher. You will be provided the name of the person you are funding and where they are teaching so that you will be able to correspond with your candidate. In addition we will provide you reports on their progress. Zimcouncil already works with organizations that offer tuition scholarships to children who demonstrate need; but imagine what happens when there are no teachers? We challenge you to find a better way to spend $300. We hope that you are interested having a real impact on the lives of 50 school children.