TALK show host, Rebecca Chisamba says she is considering providing parental and societal guidance to children living outside proper family units as a way to groom them into responsible members of society.
BY WELLINGTON ZIMBOWA
She said she would tackle issues such as personal grooming, reproductive health and moral uprightness.
Popularly known as Mai Chisamba, the television personality said she was not abandoning her talk show but would find time to accommodate her new motherly role.
Speaking at a recent ceremony where she donated groceries and toys to Maunganidze Children’s Home in Chitungwiza, Mai Chisamba bemoaned rising societal decay, which she blamed for the prevailing high divorce cases and prostitution in the country.
The home looks after 17 children. She said divorces exposed children, especially the girl child, to exploitation.
“A child’s future is only guaranteed if he or she is protected from the harsh world through proper guidance, love and counselling,” Mai Chisamba said.
“Unfortunately, most children outside proper family units lack such and, while those that are lucky to be in children’s homes may be better off than their counterparts on the streets, we should not leave all the burden to social workers.”
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Mai Chisamba said according to African tradition, it was an obligation for every member of the community to help raise a child.
“Society should join hands to ensure that we help every child if we are to secure, not only their future, but our society’s future,” she said. “That is why I am considering reaching out to them and counselling them as they are the most vulnerable when it comes to unwanted pregnancies, poor reproductive health knowledge, sexually transmitted diseases and child abuse.” Mai Chisamba is a qualified counsellor.
The donation to Maunganidze Children’s Home — a transit centre for homeless children — was sourced from a local company, Pro-Air. Maunganidze Children’s Home was founded by Virginia Kadzunge, a teacher who abandoned her profession to venture into humanitarian work in 1991.
Since then, the place has been home to disadvantaged children from Chitungwiza and surrounding Seke communal areas and is now the only major children’s home in the town.
Mai Chisamba, who has been a benefactor of the home for several years, sourcing for resources to cater for the various needs at the home, said the children were facing accommodation challenges.
An official at the children’s home, Regis Manjoro concurred: “We are confronted with the problem of limited resources and we also have massive challenges in managing rentals,” he said. “Although we acquired our own land from Manyame Rural District Council, we have not started any construction work due to financial challenges.”
He also highlighted the high number of children without birth certificates at the home, saying at least 95% of the children had came to the home without the document.
As a result, he said, some of them failed to write their public exams. There were others too that were traumatised by such violations as rape perpetrated on them before they came to the home. They had difficulties in attaining justice because of the absence of official documentation to help them validate their ages in courts.
Mai Chisamba’s focus comes at a time when the Southern Africa HIV and Aids Information Dissemination Service (SAfAids) has shifted focus to target street children whom it noted were left out in issues relating to reproductive health.
It is estimated that there are 12 000 children living on the streets in Zimbabwe, with the majority of them in Harare.
