Farm Orphan Support Trust
Canon Collins Trust has worked with the Farm Orphan Support Trust (FOST) for over 5 years. Fighting to break the cycle of poverty, this partnership enables some of the most marginalised children in Zimbabwe to access education and a chance to build a better future. Working in the Central Provinces of Mashonaland and Manicaland, FOST is committed to supporting orphaned and other vulnerable children. These children, without a place at school, have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS and the political violence that has devastated their home communities from which many were forced to flee.
UNICEF estimates that by 2010 20% of all children in Zimbabwe will be orphans and in the farming provinces where FOST works a quarter of all children have been orphaned.
Victims of circumstance and pushed to the very margins of society these isolated and vulnerable young people, many of whom do not have access to basic amenities for cooking and washing are misunderstood and stigmatised.
In the last 5 years, a unique programme developed by FOST and funded by Canon Collins Trust enabling orphaned children to access the same educational opportunities as other children in their communities has gone from strength to strength. Block grants are paid to 12 primary schools across the farming communities, allowing these schools to waive the school fees for up to 840 orphaned children. The secondary school fees of 75 children are also paid. Each year FOST pays the school fees of over 1200 secondary school children, in total (50% of these were girls) and the children also receive school stationary and uniforms.
The partnership with FOST means that teachers in over 20 schools have trained in psychosocial support for orphaned victims of HIV/AIDS. The training enhances the capacity of teachers to offer an enabling environment for these children so that bereaved and traumatised children can begin to flourish in a caring and encouraging environment.
As Zimbabweans look towards a better future for their country savaged by disease, political violence and a decimated economy, reintegrating these vulnerable children back into education is vital. The displacement of communities, a cholera epidemic, and a shortfall in funding for teacher’s salaries mean that investment is needed now more than ever before.
