A registered Zimbabwean trust for vulnerable children
Zimkids provides 200-300 orphans in Pumula North, Bulawayo, and outlying areas with educational opportunities, skills training, medical care, food, and recreational activities. At Zimkids, we have no fancy vehicles and no paid foreign staff. All but two of our employees are former beneficiaries we've trained ourselves, who now have the skills to build their own futures or move on as opportunities arise. Our day-to-day operations are largely self-funded, based on the work of the children themselves; they make dolls and wire toys, as they do for their own pleasure, which are shared with donors abroad. Individual donors and grants pay for special projects like schoolbooks, outreach, medical aid, and building work. Our welding and construction vocational training program also generates income for the Center, and our preschool is entirely self-sufficient.
- Registered trust under Zimbabwean law (MA29/2009)
- Local giving through our Zimbabwe Director, Tinashe Basa
20 years of showing up for Pumula North's
orphans
0
Years
Serving Pumula North since 2006
0k+
Orphans Served
Since 2006
200-300
Current Orphans
In our care today
Who We Serve
ZimKids Orphan Trust was built, bit by bit, brick by brick, by orphans in Pumula North and has evolved according to their pressing needs rather than according to some NGO handbook. The 200-300 orphans we work with at any one time are extremely fragile. Not only have they watched their parents die, but most have also been traded around among relatives, moved from rural areas to town and often back again, used as servants or cow herders by distant relatives, or are leading child headed households raising two or three younger brothers and sisters.
We're A Family
We provide a new type of family, one in which the children are valued as individuals and helped to reach their potential. We're succeeding because the "heads" of that family are their brothers and sisters, alumni of our program who, as orphans themselves, understand their needs and challenges from the inside, and who have learned new personal, interpersonal, and practical skills as they've grown within Zimkids.
After operating out of the yard of a neighborhood woman and then the local primary school, in 2011 our Council of Elders broke ground on a permanent home, built brick by brick by six of our own teenage members, trained on the job in construction skills they still use today. Read Adrian's story →
Experienced Team
So when we say, "Built by Orphans, Run by Orphans, for Orphans," we're serious. Our leaders mentor our 16-year-olds, who tutor our 12-year-olds. They plan and run our sports programs, teach chess, read to our preschoolers, keep an eye out for children who might look upset and fill our facility with joy.
A registered trust under Zimbabwean law, Registration #MA29/2009. Contributions can be made directly through our Zimbabwe Director, Tinashe Basa.
Beneficiaries, trustees & the people who run Zimkids
Beneficiaries
250+ orphans from Pumula North, ROBERT SINYOKA, MAZWE and Methodist village.
Trustees
Tinashe Basa, Sambulo Dube, Nigel Mevana, Hezvo Mpunga, Amalia Kaerezi & Dennis Gaboury
Council of Elders
Committed to empowering youth, we maintain a Council of Elders composed of our beneficiaries over the age of 14. The Elders plan, schedule and direct our daily recreational activities under the guidance of our staff.
Seniors
As our council of elders grow up and leave school, we formed another group called our Seniors. These beneficiaries are over the age of 17. Many will continue their vocational training at the Zimkids Center and go on to further their skills at local certified training centers, or colleges at Zimkids' expense.
Health
A local Doctor provides free medical care for our orphans. Zimkids provides funding for medications, hospital expenses, specialist doctor or dentist visits and transport for beneficiaries to hospital.
Programs & activities
- Tutoring
- Reading
- Early childhood education
- Computer training
- Gardening
- Sewing
- Welding
- Construction skills
- Carpentry
- Chess
- Dance
- Choir
- Sports
- Art
- Performing arts
Legal status: A registered trust under Zimbabwean law, Registration #MA29/2009. Contributions can be made directly through our Zimbabwe Director, Tinashe Basa.
To give, visit our donate page or reach out to our Zimbabwe Director directly. We're concentrating our efforts in one of Bulawayo's poorest and most underserved neighborhoods, Pumula North, on a growing group of orphans between the ages of three and eighteen.
Donate nowOur Grant Partners & Supporters
Keep reading
The Story Behind Our Home
After operating out of the yard of a neighborhood woman and then the local primary school, in 2011 our Council of Elders broke ground on a permanent home, built brick by brick by six of our own teenage members, trained on the job in construction skills they still use today.
Read Adrian's story →
How to Contribute
To give, visit our donate page or reach out to our Zimbabwe Director directly. We're concentrating our efforts in one of Bulawayo's poorest and most underserved neighborhoods, Pumula North, on a growing group of orphans between the ages of three and eighteen.
Donate now →Meet the people
behind Zimkids
Director, Zimkids
Trustee
Trustee
Trustee
Trustee
Founder & Trustee