The Country of Zimbabwe
Click here to view the introduction video of our work in Zimbabwe.
The country of Zimbabwe on the continent of Africa has been plagued with poverty for many years. Economic collapse, political turmoil, internal upheaval, population displacement, drought, Aids and HIV, and high inflation have caused this severe poverty. There are almost no jobs available in the country, and the few that can be found pay an average of only 40-50 USD per month.
According the CIA’s World Fact book, of the 11,392,629 Zimbabweans 140,000 of them die each year due to HIV/Aids ranking them 5th in the world. The infant mortality rate is 32.31 for every 1,000 live births, which ranks them 71st in the world compared to the United States, which is ranked at 180th. The life expectancy of Zimbabweans at birth is 45 years. They are at a high risk for major infectious diseases like malaria, typhoid, bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, among others. This is a country deeply in need of our support and discipleship.
In the Tanyaradzwa Orphanage, where Change A Life is working on the pilot project, there are 150 children aging in the range of 1 year to 15 years. After interviewing the Director, we found that many of these children have a parent or grandparent who, due to the economic collapse and drought can no longer feed themselves or the children. In meeting with these parents and grandparents, most confirmed that they truly would like to have their children back in their homes if they could find a way to provide for the children.