The Story of Chigodole Community
The community of Chigodole is located west of the nearest town of Chimoio, Mozambique. With few opportunities for employment, many people rely on farming as their source of income, but if the rains fail, this proves challenging. A lack of consistent education is a challenge and many children have dropped out of school. Young girls in particular are left with very little hope, as many will be offered up for marriage before they finish school.
150 Children currently supported
18 Care Workers coordinated by Fungai
Basic Services Started in 2018
33 KM from the Chimoio Local Office
In 2017, the Zimbabwe Regional Support Team (RST) travelled to Mozambique and began visiting Chigodole Community on a weekly basis because of the immense vulnerability that was clearly evident there. At the end of October, the Zimbabwe RST and the Hands at Work team in Chimoio met with five church leaders from across the community. Together, they shared the vision of Hands at Work, resulting in the potential Care Workers expressing interest in being involved because of what it would mean for their children and the needs within the community.
One of the church leaders, Pastor Madomasi, began meeting regularly with the Chimoio team and was identified as a ‘Man of Peace’ within the community. Eventually, a group of eight Care Workers responded to the call to care for the children.
The Chimoio team were introduced to the local chief who welcomed Hands at Work into the community. Through Holy Home Visits, the Care Workers and the Chimoio team were able to identify the most vulnerable children. The latter half of 2017 was spent getting to know the homes of the children well and identifying the children’s needs in terms of schooling and health care. Over time, more Care Workers from the local churches committed to caring for the children.
The Chigodole Community Based Organisation (CBO) started providing the three essential services of food security, access to education and basic health care for 50 children in April 2018. Since then, the number has increased to 150 children. From the beginning, the Care Point has operated out of Pastor Madomasi’s church.
In 2020, four local pastors helped in the construction of the fence which now provides protection for the children and stops roaming cattle coming onto the land. It designates the space for the children and Care Workers to know that this land belongs to them. Additionally, a well has been dug at the Care Point, allowing the children to have access to safe, clean water.
The local Hands at Work team in Chimoio currently supports five Community Based Organisations, which exist to care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The office provides training, networking, and encouragement to those Community Based Organisations like Chigodole. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors.
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When Gertrude was 6 years old her father died, leaving her mother to care for her and her 4 year old brother, Alexandre. “It was sad for us to lose our father,” Germena says. “It was difficult. No one was helping us, and my mother worked very hard in the fields to provide food for us. We did not have any money and many times we went to bed hungry. Without a father in the house we did not feel safe and were scared of other people to abuse us.”
For the past four years, Chumai has suffered from epilepsy. His mother decided to return to her family because she could not deal with Chumai’s illness or those of the rest of the family, including Chumai’s father. A few months after leaving her children, Chumai’s mother remarried. Tragically Chumai’s father, Joaquim, died after falling from a platform used to dry maize cobs.