Kasinauyo’s unfulfilled dream

Sport
When former Warriors midfielder Edzai Kasinauyo passed on last month, orphans and vulnerable children from Good Hope Mothers in Hwange sent a bouquet of flowers just to say, thank you.

When former Warriors midfielder Edzai Kasinauyo passed on last month, orphans and vulnerable children from Good Hope Mothers in Hwange sent a bouquet of flowers just to say, thank you.

By Munyaradzi Madzokere

Some of the orphans at Good Hope Mothers centre
Some of the orphans at Good Hope Mothers centre

To many, he was just one of the top football figures in the country, but to Good Hope Mothers, he was a like a father for a good nine years.

He fed them, clothed them and occasionally visited them and together with partner and friend George Mbwando wanted to build a home for those disadvantaged children.

Some of the building material required for at least one house had been gathered and funding to erect the structure was being sought.

But time had other ideas; Kasinauyo will not be here to see this dream fulfilled, if ever it will be completed.

“We managed to buy building material for the orphanage and we were still looking for funds to start building in the near future but God decided to take Edzai before he saw the results of our work,” Mbwando told Sports World from his Germany base.

“But now is not the time to give up on this dream because we have more than 600 orphans who are still looking up to us for help and if anyone is willing to assist in our project, we would be grateful. We need to fulfil this dream for Edzai,” said the former Warrior’s wingback.

Good Hope Mothers is a project conceived by three women, Rugare Mpofu, Duduzile Ncube and Ellas Mpala in 2005 with an intention to provide supplementary feeding for orphans as well as providing shelter and clothes.

The project started with 23 children but the number has since ballooned to 600. The orphanage also provides life skills, counselling and school fees for some of the children.

“The kids really love Edzai and George because these two made them feel loved. We were very saddened by the death of Edzai and we are grateful for everything he did for the children,” one of the Good Hope Mothers founders Mpofu said.

“It was our long-term vision to build a home for these kids and when we met Edzai and George in 2008 they shared the same vision and they have been there for us. They would often send foodstuffs, clothes and blankets. Only last year, they bought us maize seed for our agricultural project,” she said.

Kasinauyo and Mbwando met in 2008 and decided that they wanted to use their influence in society to help improve other people’s lives.

“I told my late friend Kasinauyo about the idea and he said that he had been having the same idea for a long time. We identified the Good Hope mothers of Hwange where three women sacrificed their own lives to take care of kids orphaned by HIV and Aids despite having their own families to take care of,” Mbwando said.

“We have been working together for close to 10 years because of the transparency and accountability of these women when it comes to handling the little money we raise. We met the kids at the Good Hope Centre, which was just a small room on a very dusty place in Cinderella, Hwange.

“I said to Edzai let’s build the kids a place to stay because most of the kids were abused, and forced into prostitution by their circumstances. In our interaction with the kids we realised they have a lot of dreams but you could see that in such an environment these dreams will die,” said Mbwando.

In Germany with his friend Hans Benz, Mbwando started raising money for food and clothes and they managed to send some children to school and one of them became a doctor.

According to Mbwando, Hwange Colliery through its MD Fred Moyo bought land for the Good Hope Mothers and they took it upon themselves to mobilise resources for building.

Good Hope Mothers’ master plan has six houses, an administration block, an Early Childhood Development (ECD) school, and a clinic.

One of the people working together with the three founders of the project is Medicine Shonhayi who is the co-ordinator.

Whether the project is completed or not, Kasinauyo will always be remembered at Good Hope Mothers centre.