In Zimbabwe Cesvi works mainly helping children, orphaned due to Aids, and supporting families in the poorest quarters.
It is estimated that more than 15% of children under 15 are orphans. Almost 80% of these children has lost both parents to Aids and most of these are seropositive.
In the rural areas of the Country, characterized by severe poverty, the spread of Aids has disrupted the primary and fundamental core of community life: the family.
Due to Aids, families have been extended to take in as members both indirect victims of the virus, the orphans, and also many carrying the disease who have lost their self-sufficiency with the progression of the disease, and have not been marginalised by stigma. However, doing so has forced the families to scrimp on their children’s education and to limit the consumption of food to the verge of survival. As a consequence, many children and orphans have no alternative but the street.
For this reason, Cesvi has set up and runs the House of Smiles in the capital, Harare, which takes them in and supports them. The House gives them a real chance to be saved from the street and start over. A place where they can get food, medical care, toilets and where they can take training courses and artistic workshops.