By Ilene Ramsay | Mimi was just 12-years-old when her mother died of Aids and she went to live in the Chiredzi Children’s home, in the south-eastern Zimbabwean province of Masvingo.
Now aged 24, she has not only completed both her primary and secondary education with flying colors but last year graduated from university with a degree in developmental studies
“I am filled with gratitude for all that has been done for me,” she says. “I am still in care of the home but as soon as I find work, I will leave the home and start leaving independently.”
For many young women living in the region, the Chiredzi Children’s home has been a sanctuary of support and respite away from the chaos they were forced to endure in their family homes after being orphaned.
Mimi had no idea that the carefree childhood she has enjoyed as a little girl would completely disappear after her mother’s death when her dad decided to remarry.
While her little sister was taken in by her grandmother, Mimi remained at home with her father and step-mother.
“My father was a teacher and a good father,” she says. “When my mother alive, he provided for us and we lacked nothing. But when he remarried, the relationship I had with my step-mother was very difficult. It was as if she was jealous of the bond between me and my father.
“Every morning she would beat me for bed wetting and I would be given extraordinarily little to eat as punishment,” said Mimi.
The terrified youngster was also made to walk miles after school to find water.
“I had no time to play with other children of my age, after school my job was to fill up a 40-liter container at the communal borehole. I would receive a beating if I didn’t do it.”
Even though life was at times unbearable in the face of so much cruelty, Mimi loved her father and hoped that if she obeyed her step-mother, the woman would leave her alone or eventually treat her more kindly.
Tragically, just twelve months later, Mimi’s dad also died of AIDS and Mimi made up her mind that she would run away.
With no idea how she was going to fend for herself but determined that she couldn’t remain a helpless victim, Mimi set off along the dusty track in front of her house.
“It was late at night when I came across a woman who seemed shocked to see me alone and took me to the local police station. From there I was put into the care of social services and found a place at the Chiredzi Home.”
Mimi’s life-changing story is typical of many orphaned youngsters who, after losing their parents to AIDS, are lucky to be given the chance of a life filled with hope and happiness.
Sadly, poverty in Zimbabwe is now one of the biggest contributing factors to the increase in the number of orphans throughout the country.
Even though the number of AIDS deaths in the past 14 years has dropped from 54,000 in 2005 to 20,000 in 2019, more than half of Zimbabweans are currently unemployed with little hope of finding a way to earn a living.
According to the World Bank Group, the number of people living in extreme poverty in Zimbabwe reached 40 per cent in 2019 – up from 37 per cent in 2017.
For further information please visit https://www.nandb.co.zw/orphanage.html
Mimi’s name has been changed to protect her anonymity.
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