Safe haven Campaign

In Zimbabwe there are over 1.6 million orphans. As of the year 2021, there was an estimated 550000 orphans who had lost their parents to HIV/AIDS related illness. Stigma and discrimination when it comes to HIV/AIDS is still present in Zimbabwe, often times this results in extended family members offering negligent care or neglecting these orphans altogether which leaves them to raise themselves in child-headed families.

Nomatter, a 13-year-old is the head of such a family, taking care of her 9-year-old sister Yeukai and Thomas an 8-year-old boy who was born HIV-positive. Thomas hears all the misinformed discriminatory remarks from society and this contributes to a lot of self-stigma. He receives the worst of it from those members of society who know of his HIV status.

This reminded me of my childhood.Growing up as an orphan who was born HIV positive, I was discriminated against, and the long-term impact was a lot of self-stigma and absolutely losing the will to live. This self-stigma involved feeling isolated; ashamed about being HIV positive and thinking that discriminatory comments I heard from people were true.  It made me stop taking my medication consistently and this was bad for me because consistently taking the antiretroviral treatment is the only way to suppress the virus.

My name is Mutongi Kawara, I recently founded mukundi, an organization that addresses the challenges faced by orphans affected by HIV/AIDS. The name was derived from a Shona word mukundi which means one who overcomes or rises above challenges.  I am embarking on a life-long journey to make the social impact that I would like to see in the lives of these orphans.

Though mukundi is not yet registered I believe I have to start somewhere. Orphans like Nomatter and her siblings lack access to education; physical and mental health; nutrition; shelter; support; love and care. This makes them vulnerable to sexual and economic exploitation. These 3 orphans will be the first beneficiaries of mukundi whose core activity will be to provide the support, love, and care through a holistic residential program. To read more about our residential program click on this www.mukundizw.org .

To initiate this intervention I am looking forward to raise R82,281.55 which will be used to pay rent space; cover health insurance; school fees and uniforms and stationery; food and the fee I need to provide for the use of this platform.