Creating Better Futures are asking for support to keep helping the children.

This article was updated on 23/03/20 after the Zimbabwean governement announced that schools would be closing.
 
The COVID-19 outbreak is preventing us from fully delivering our food, education and health programmes in Zimbabwe. Many children and families and communities depend on these programmes, so we are asking for donations to help keep our team safe and protect the children in the coming months.
 
We appreciate that these are highly uncertain times and everyone is vulnerable. Our supporters are incredibly important to us, and we would never wish to put you at risk. However, any support you could give would go a long way towards securing the children’s future.
 

 

The risks of COVID-19

We have been carefully monitoring COVID-19 in order to protect everyone in the Creating Better Futures community. Recently, we have taken significant steps to secure our staff, volunteers, and trustees. From now on, all staff, volunteers and placement students will be working from home. Likewise, we have encouraged our team in Zimbabwe to communicate electronically with schools and distance themselves from crowds.

The children will be at increasing risk as the outbreak spreads across Zimbabwe. Many in the community can’t afford to use medical facilities or preventative resources. It is hard to communicate the severity of the disease because many families live in remote areas. 

COVID-19 will also imapct daily life. We feed 5000 schoolchildren on our feeding programme. These children risk going hungry when schools close. The feeding programme is the only source of regular food for many families. It also reduces financial pressures on them. 

Our team in Zimbabwe is entirely made up of volunteers. They do extraordinary work for the children, their families and the wider community. Unfortunately, we are not prepared for a problem of this scale. We are not willing to risk their safety without further measures.

Help us manage the outbreak

You donation could go towards:

  • The continued delivery of our programmes: We want to keep providing the children with food, education and hope – whether they are in school or not!
  • Protecting the children from the outbreak: We intend to provide hygiene supplies for the children in our communities. 
  • Protecting our team: We have already advised our team to avoid large crowds and communicate digitally with schools when possible. We want to keep our team even safer by providing them with individual hygiene packs. If required we would also ensure that they could afford access to medical aid. 
  • Engaging the community in preventative measures: We will communicate the risks of COVID-19 to our communities and encourage them to follow World Health Organisation Guidelines. This will reduce human-to-human transmission.
  • Dealing with the impacts of COVID-19: Like everyone, we can’t predict how this will progress. However, your support would prepare us for any outcome. If a child gets sick, we can be there for them. If a family runs out of food, we can feed them. 

UPDATE: Thank you for all your donations, with your help 600 children and their families have received our food packs!

Below are some photos of the work we have done during the Covid19 crisis:

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Help us fight COVID-19

 

Water crisis in Zimbabwe 

As the lockdown continues, our team on the ground is hitting  a new challenge where water scarcity is increasing. Water is not just essential for their health, farming and livelihoods but also washing your hands is vital for protection against the disease. 

How is our community suffering?

  • Children have to drink dirty water which brings a lot of disease
  • Piggery project require a constant supply of water 
  • Banana and orange orchard are dying with a lack of water
  • Vegetable gardens with a thriving onion crop will not mature with a  water shortages 
  • Toilets need cleaning everyday to prevent diseases  

Through our Covid19 appeal, we will be supporting our communities with better access to water and building a new water borehole. 

 

Help us fight COVID-19

 

Providing Sustainable Agriculture

Creating Better Futures is partnering with Foundations for Farming to provide our team the skills, knowledge and tools to promote sustainable agriculture. 

Zimbabwe has suffered with droughts for years and many families struggle to get enough crops to feed themselves let alone sell their products for a profit. 

The training that Foundation for Farming provides: 

  •  Teaching the best agriculture practice for the land and unlearning problematic traditional methods
  • Training on Vegetable, nutrition, compost, rotations and alternative crops etc
  • Knowledge on crops surviving the extremes of climate change  

Through this programme we will be able to increase the yield productivity throughout the year no matter what the climate brings. Therefore, it will provide more of the community sustainable food and income especially within and after the covid19 crisis. Creating Better Futures will be able to use the land we own to provide even more food for the children within our food packages. 

It is vital that we respond to this emergency with sustainable support that can provide help now and in the future.

£40 will provide a Pfumvudza package  from Foundation for farming to a family to produce food for a year! £100 will cover the fees for all of the training for one of our team member who will go and train others. Please support below!

 

Help us fight COVID-19

 

Anything can make a difference

We understand that this is a global pandemic. Lives and jobs have been impacted across the world. Please only make a donation if you feel secure enough to do so. If you are in a position to support us at this time, please be assured that you will be helping disadvantaged communities to overcome this disease. We are hugely grateful for any support you can provide.