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Tapfuma Machakaire   
They are affectionately referred to as little angels. They are orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), some disabled and others infected or affected by HIV/Aids.These are children whose future was destined for gloom and doom. Suddenly they have been boosted to blossom and shine, demonstrating to the nation that they have the potential of developing into useful citizens who can contribute significantly towards the development of their nation.

These are among the 200 orphaned and vulnerable children attending early childhood development classes at three centres dubbed Little Angels Learning Centres in and around the city of Bulawayo. They include 52 orphans resident at a home in Woodville in the outskirts of the city.

Where it not for the introduction in the year 2002 of the Mustard Seed Communities programme, a project with its origins in Jamaica in the West Indies and introduced in the city of Bulawayo by a visiting member of the Roman Catholic Church, the hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children benefiting from the project could have faced a bleak future, with the possibility of some ending up as street children.

The project title, Mustard Seed Communities, is derived from the parable of the mustard seed which reads: “The kingdom of heaven is like a Mustard Seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. It was the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.”

Takawira Singadi, Mustard Seed Communities Zimbabwe project administrator, says the programme is inspired by the healing caring ministry of Jesus Christ.

“We aim through the positive interaction of caring, sharing and training to uplift the most vulnerable members of society, especially handicapped and abandoned children and marginalised communities to fostering of homes and communities, which will lead us all to loving service and mutual respect and which will bring us joy, hope and dignity,” says Singadi.

Mustard Seed Communities  runs three free early childhood development (ECD) programmes at Cabatsha squatter camp on a farm next to Bulawayo City  Council-run Aiselby farm, Sauerstown low density suburb and at its headquarters in  Woodville.

The ECD centres also double as nutrition feeding centres for OVCs in the same areas including another stand alone feeding programme in the old high density suburb of Pumula.

A total of 500 children receive nutritious free meals everyday at the four feeding centres in and around the city courtesy of well wishers who continue to support the programme.

Anastasia Muranda, who worked as a caretaker at the Roman Catholic Church in Sauerstown suburb, witnessed the birth and growth of the Mustard Seed Communities programme with the arrival into the country of Given Augustine, a member of the Catholic Church from Jamaica in 2002.

Anastasia who was a member of the local home based care group said on arrival, Augustine, who had a small group of assistants, began by providing breakfast to ten OVCs in Sauerstown.

“When Brother Augustine approached me to identify the first ten beneficiaries of the programme, I had no clue what he was up to. I however did not have a problem with the idea since I also had been assisting some needy children who used to come to my place in Sauerstown asking for food and clothing.”

She said at that time Brother Augustine was looking for a place to develop the first Mustard Seed Centre in Zimbabwe. Work was soon to begin in Woodville where a plot had been secured which has since developed into the renowned caring, sharing and training centre for needy young people in the country.

At the Woodville centre, the 52 inmates who include some with severe handicaps are housed in homes. Each of the three homes with an average of 15 children named Freedom, Generosity and Joe’s Place is administered by a foster mother with a passion for the well being of children.

The inmates are brought up under a Christian family setting with the necessary social, medical, spiritual and educational nurturing, said Singadi.

Some of the children attend school both at primary and secondary level in the formal schools around the city with all their needs catered for by the organisation.

The younger inmates attend lessons together with other OVCs brought in daily by their parents or guardians from the neighbourhood at the Woodville Little Angels Learning Centre.

Towards the end of each year, the children from all three pre-schools are brought together at a joint graduation and farewell ceremony for those that would be ready to move into primary school. The emotive ceremonies are also attended by parents, relatives and guardians of beneficiaries of the Mustard Seed Communities programme.

The function is also an opportunity for the ECD graduands to demonstrate what they would have learnt from their quality time at the Little Angles centres through song, drama and poetry.

To cater for the training aspect of the programme is Potter’s House, a centre where disadvantaged youths are trained in entrepreneurship skills. Courses at the centre managed by a Catholic nun, Sister Martin Jeaka include baking, dress making and décor and candle making.

Sister Jeaka said some of the graduates from Potter’s House had done so well that they had now been employed by the centre as trainers. Youths undergoing training at Potter’s House also undergo additional lessons in music and theatre programmes.

Other youths attend courses in gardening and poultry rearing. The garden and the poultry project also help supplement food supplies for the nutrition programmes thus reducing the cost of having to buy food requirements for the 500 beneficiaries.

A clinic has been completed at the Woodville Headquarters that will cater for not only the OVCs but the surrounding communities who currently travel a distance of more than five kilometres to the nearest clinic in Northend suburb.

Singadi said with resources permitting, the Mustard Seed Communities would soon be establishing similar centres in other parts of the country.