Winner’s Blog – My Trip to Zimbabwe

In December I was lucky enough to go to Zimbabwe; it was such an amazing experience to see my home country after a long while. I was so glad to be, back home and the trip had added importance to me because I was going back home as the inaugural Miss African Spirit! I knew that this would be a homecoming with a difference, with my title in mind; I would be going home with the aim of setting the ball rolling for my pledge of helping the Neniwo/ Lamifuti Trust. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to Zimbabwe to find that the country is not necessarily the country that has been represented in the media. The economic situation has become so much better compared to a few years ago. However there is an important point to be made here that even though the economic situation is getting better it is not necessarily getting better for those who are less fortunate. So after getting reacquainted with my old friends and relatives I hadn’t seen in years it was time to get to work!

I had asked the director of Neniwo/ Lamifuti Trust if it was possible for me to go and see the children who the Trust was taking care of. I was very happy to be met by personnel of the Trust, (a special mention here goes out to Mr Sipho Moyo), I was taken to an area called Queenspark in Bulawayo. I was brought to the house where I was met by one the guardians and children who all gave me a warm welcome. This is just one of many locations where the Trust has been able to provide assistance. I then spoke to Mr Moyo, who told me the history of the Trust, which had been started as a family project after a relative of his wife had passed away and the children who were left as orphans were then taken on by the director to ensure they went to school and had accommodation. Mrs Nester Moyo, the Director of the Trust, then proceeded to ask her friends, in the Netherlands where she lives, if they could lend a hand in helping her with her recently orphaned nephews and nieces. At this point I asked Mr Moyo why they hadn’t sought help within Zimbabwe and he reminded me of the economic situation in Zimbabwe which at this time was suffering from inflation rates nearing 1000%.

The money received from their donor friends in the Netherlands went far as they were paying fees using Euros. The Trust had to be set up to give accountability and to keep track of the monies sent. Using this funding they were now able to expand and sponsor more children since there was a surplus of money at the time. These were particularly desperate times more children needed their help because of the difficult economic situation in Zimbabwe. Some children were face to face with the prospect of hunger and no education because their parents had abandoned them to go to neighbouring countries such as South Africa in the hopes that they would be able to get jobs and send money back to Zimbabwe for food and if the children were lucky for school fees.

The Trust took on as many children as they could and sent children to school whilst trying to also organise homes for some of the children, others still lived with their parents but couldn’t afford school fees. A watershed came when the world economy collapsed as many of the donors could no longer afford to sponsor children anymore; another setback for the trust was the scrapping of the Zimbabwean dollar to the US dollar which meant the funds they were given were now falling short.

So this is the task I have taken upon myself to try my best to help this great cause that this Trust has embarked on. I did interviews with the lady who was taking care of the children, who told me that the difficulty she was facing was in providing financial assistance for the children ever since the currency had changed to the US Dollar. Donors are not able to give as much money as they used to because of the recession. Mr Moyo told me it is unfortunate that the Trust can no longer help as many children as it used to, reminding me of its past successes such as the young girl who had been educated when the Trust was founded and was now looking to start her own hair dressing business. I also had the pleasure of interviewing the children who were very willing to talk to me about their enthusiasm to go to school and their aspirations to become the future lawyers and teachers of Zimbabwe.

I am so inspired by the work being done by Neniwo/Lamifuti Trust; the children have been effectively given a second chance at life. The children understand the opportunity they have been awarded, they are willing to work hard to make their lives better. I can only hope that I can contribute positively to their lives as they have already done so for me. The children have reminded me how fortunate I am to have got an education, what I believe is a very basic instrument for any community to empower itself, and at this point of my life I have been given the privilege of being Miss African Spirit thus giving me a voice to make change for those aren’t able to do so for themselves. So now my next challenge comes in raising as many funds as possible at my inaugural Miss African Spirit Gala which will be held on the 21st of May 2011 venue and other details TBA so keep an eye out for my next blog entry.

Peace and Love

Nonhlanhla Kayla Togwe
Miss African Spirit