The Story of Tsatse Community
For people living in the community of Tsatse, life is a daily struggle. Situated near the Mozambican border, it is a rural community where many people from Mozambique have made their homes. With little to no means of official employment, people have few options but to survive by farming, yet the area is plagued by drought and this forces a search for piecework within the community.
In Tsatse there are many white-robed churches. They are accustomed to childhood marriage and believe that accessing medical care shows contempt for God. This leads to people staying sick because they are unwilling to accept help from clinics or hospitals. There is no clinic in Tsatse. There is also no school for the upper grades, leaving most people ill-educated. A spirit of fear grips the community, as traditional healing and witchcraft have a hold on many people living there.
100 Children currently support
16 Care Workers Coordinated by Tafirenyika
Basic Services Started in 2022
150 km from the honde valley local Office
Hands at Work heard about the vulnerability of people living in Tsatse through word of mouth. When people from Tsatse visited relatives living in other communities where Hands at Work serves, they would see the work that the Care Workers were doing to serve the most vulnerable. They would also hear the beautiful stories of Care Workers fighting and advocating for the children.
As people from Tsatse witnessed what God was doing in these other areas, they said that if Hands at Work could come to their community, many people would be helped. Eventually these conversations reached the ears of John, a member of the local Hands at Work team in the Honde Valley, who shared them with the Honde Valley team members and the Zimbabwe Regional Support team.
A trip was organised to go and assess the community’s level of vulnerability. Walking through the community, meeting children, and seeing the vulnerability with their own eyes, the calling was confirmed, and Hands at Work began serving in Tsatse.
The Honde Valley team began assessing the needs of people living in Tsatse and mobilised a group of men and women to become Care Workers – many of whom are the Primary Caregivers of children coming to the Care Point. Hands at Work began officially providing the three essential services of food, education and basic health care to 50 of the most vulnerable children in November 2022.
Shortly thereafter, the Honde Valley team facilitated a Foundations Training for the Care Workers and local church leaders, where they shared in depth the vision of Hands at Work and what it means to care for the most vulnerable children.
Meet Charles
Nine-year-old Charles* comes from a broken family. His mother struggles with a mental illness, leaving her unable to care for her three children. Often found wandering around the community, she has been taken advantage of, resulting in the birth of Charles and his two siblings. None of the fathers are involved in the lives of their children. Although the children live with their elderly grandparents, they are unable to find work and subsequently unable to provide for their grandchildren’s needs. This leaves Charles and his siblings relying on handouts from people in the community as their means of survival. When the local Care Workers began serving the most vulnerable children in Tsatse, Charles and his siblings were among the first invited to the Care Point. Here, they are guaranteed to receive a hot, nutritious meal daily and are surrounded by people who love, care and support them.
The local Hands at Work team in the Honde Valley currently supports six 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 Chinaka B. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors.
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