BEFORE the sun rises over the small town of Chiredzi, Gladys Gura (57) is already up and getting ready for another day at the nearby market.
As a foster parent to three orphaned children, each day is a blessing to do what she loves most: taking care of young children.
As she expertly arranges her wares on the market stall, Gura’s mind is already on the day ahead as she has to carefully break down her time to fit in parenting, hustling for money and fulfilling her responsibilities as a community care worker (CCW).
She needs to ensure that she earns enough money to feed her children and buy them clothes and other necessities.
It is a daunting task as a widow, but she has to soldier on.
The children — Nkosi (13), Njabulo (10) and Sibusisiwe (8) — are all orphaned and Gura is the only parent they know.
“We eat whatever is available that day,” Gura said as her face lit up with joy.
“I am stress-free because I know I am doing what I love most.
“Despite the challenges I normally face financially, I am grateful for the help and support I am getting from the Social Welfare Department.”
Gura is proud of the fact that all the three children are in school, thanks to the support of the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), a social welfare facility that pays their school fees.
Moreover, the children also receive food items and clothes periodically for their upkeep.
Passionate about children, Gura underwent training for child protection, through the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry, which earned her the title CCW, broadening her ability to help children beyond her household.
Gura was among a group of men and women who received training under a child protection programme implemented by the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare ministry with support from Unicef’s Child Protection Fund II and the Swedish International Development Agency.
The training was mainly focused on preventing child abuse, promoting children’s rights and being watchdogs for children’s welfare. It also equipped her with the right knowledge to take care of her foster children and watch over the children in the community.
“I am also a community care worker here in ward 7. After we were trained, we would go into our community, door to door to assess the living conditions of each household to make sure each child is well taken care of. The training helped me to embrace being a foster parent and that is how I started,” Gura said.
“Right now, everyone knows me and other CCWs and people come to us to report any form of child abuse, cases of child-headed families, cases of widows or widowers who are struggling to take care of their children and we refer them to the necessary departments, be it the Social Welfare, the clinic, police or civil registry for birth certificates.”
Their job heavily relies on whistle-blowers, hence they engage in awareness campaigns and constantly engage schoolchildren, teachers and community leaders to make sure everyone understands the importance of child protection.
In a community where drug and substance abuse has become a major challenge, Gura said young children were also coming to the CCWs to report such cases and they refer the cases to the police.
Margaret Chingore, who is also a CCW and a foster parent, expressed gratitude for the training she received during the child protection programme.
“Way back, we used to think that one cannot take a child that is not hers into custody, but after we underwent this training through the government, now I have two children I am taking care of,” she said.
“Before these two, I had a girl who was under my care since she was young until she completed her A Levels. She wrote her examinations and passed with flying colours.”
She also explained that several children in her community spend some time with her learning from her life experiences as she takes time to talk to them and enlighten them on the hardships faced in life and advise them to never give up despite the challenges.
Masvingo provincial social development officer Stanislaus Sanyangowe applauded the "great" work being done by the CCWs, adding that the government was working closely with them in Chiredzi.
“We are working very closely with our CCWs in all the districts and all the wards,” he said.
“They are assisting us in identifying child protection issues and welfare issues and children who are facing challenges to pay school fees and we place them under the BEAM programme.”
Added Sanyangowe: “Currently, we have 221 050 children under the BEAM programme across the provinces.
“The CCWs are also assisting in identifying children without birth registrations. We also have partners, like Unicef and the Swedish government. In a nutshell, we are working very well with our partners and the CCWs”
