Servant leadership

“The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.” “The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?“

SOCIAL MOBILISATION

Rationale

Even as new advances in science and technology promise new vistas on the horizon of human development and welfare, our ability to apply these advances lags behind, particularly for the benefit of those who need them most. This dilemma and challenge has pre-occupied the international development community for some time. Methods to improve management of centrally planned programs, endeavors to generate critical political will to provide appropriate direction and support to development programs, and efforts to involve communities as decision makers and implementers of their own development have received considerable attention. Communicators, educators and marketers have contributed to efforts that aim at the application of knowledge. Change agents and grassroots organizers have urged the empowerment of those segments of society whose participation and involvement is crucial in the effort toward equity and justice.

There is no escape, however, from the fact that development involves change, and change involves complex interaction among groups in different segments of society who hold different attitudes, values and interests. Changes made within one group affect other groups. Isolated attempts to involve various groups are not enough. There is a need to tackle these complex tasks in a broader strategic framework. Training and applied research in mobilization work for development are necessary.

Concept

Social Mobilization, as defined by RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION, is a broad scale movement to engage people's participation in achieving a specific development goal through self-reliant efforts. It involves all relevant segments of society: decision and policy makers, opinion leaders, bureaucrats and technocrats, professional groups, religious associations, commerce and industry, communities and individuals. It is a planned decentralized process that seeks to facilitate change for development through a range of players engaged in interrelated and complementary efforts. It takes into account the felt needs of the people, embraces the critical principle of community involvement, and seeks to empower individuals and groups for action.

Mobilizing the necessary resources, disseminating information tailored to targeted audiences, generating intersectional support and fostering cross-professional alliances are also part of the process. While the components of the process may be everyday practice in many development programs, they tend to be taken up in isolation of each other. Social mobilization in total aims at a continuum of activities in a broad strategic framework. The process encompasses dialogue and partnership with a wide spectrum of societal elements. At the policy level, the outcomes should be a supportive framework for decision making and resource allocation to empower communities to act at the grassroots level. The outcomes should be people's active involvement ranging from identifying a need to implementation in achieving the development objective and evaluation effort. The solidarity of bureaucrats and technocrats and a broad alliance of partners among various non-governmental groups are equally critical for the attainment of any change-oriented development goal. Simply stated, social mobilization calls for a journey among partners and results in the successful transformation of development goals into societal action.

Though circumstances differ from country to country and often from one part of a country to another, health programs depend upon the collaboration of other sectors. The societal mobilization strategy calls for partnership with all stake holders, which are illustrated in the diagram:

I. Political - policy makers

The extreme left column names some types of policy makers. Advocacy with and among leaders in this group helps foster the commitment that will clear the way for action. The goal here is to build consensus with sound data, to create a knowledgeable and supportive environment for decision-making, including the allocation of adequate resources.

II. Bureaucratic/Technocratic – government workers and technical experts

Policy makers depend on the technocrats, bureaucrats, and service professionals to provide the rationale for decisions as well as to plan and implement programs. This sector includes disparate groups, each with its own agenda, conflicting interests and concerns. Harmonizing the disparate units in this sector is probably one of the greatest challenges in development, because development specialists have hitherto failed to recognize how difficult it is to foster unity among government units and technical groups.

III. Non-governmental sector

This covers a multitude of interests. Non governmental organizations for special purposes, social institutions and associations that represent organized support, religious groups with their ideological bends, commerce and industry that operate on a for-profit basis, and professional groups that exist to advance their interests are here. Though difficult to mobilize, they do not hide their positions. If their stakes are given recognition, they are important partners and allies to mobilize the civil society for various health objectives.

IV. Community Groups

Community leaders, schools, churches, mosques and grassroots groups are critical to get communities involved. They help transform development goals into action. Unfortunately, they are often not given a voice in identifying problems and designing solutions. Popular participation takes place here.

V. Households and Individuals

Individual actions are the ultimate pay-off of the health program. In the household, where such behavioral actions take place, key individuals in traditional society often hold sway. There needs to be deliberate action to inform and educate individuals in the household so that they can make informed choices.

BY BRENALD CHINYOWA

FOUNDERR & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION

CELL + 263 777 897 586

EMAIL : infor.rohf@gmail.com

SKYPE : brenald1

WEBSITE : http://rayofhopef.wix.com/zimbabwe

“saving the vulnerable child”

APPROVE TO DEVELOPMENT

The decade of the 80s was characterized by many as one of retrogression for development, especially in a large number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Latin America and South Asia. In a bleak landscape dotted with setbacks in social and economic development, the Child Survival and Development initiative stood out as a beacon of hope and one of the few positive forward movements. The solid achievements of the Universal Child Immunization and Control of Diarrheal Disease programs have demonstrated that concerted efforts at mobilizing various elements of society for a common developmental goal can overcome long odds and reach goals hitherto thought unattainable in a limited time-frame of just a few years.

Mainstreaming PSS

RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION has adopted the following strategies in fulfilling its mandate:

Strategy 1: Use advocacy to promote the mainstreaming of psychosocial care and support in all aspects of child development.

• Strengthen national orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) networks to mainstream psychosocialsupport into their member organizations’ policies and practices, for example REPSSI participated in the Namibian National OVC conference in 2005 during which their National OVC Strategy was inaugurated. REPSSI’s role focussed around ensuring that there was child and youth participation in this process.

• Sensitize, encourage and support partners to mainstream activities and forms of organizations where children and youth assume responsibilities as social actors. The Vijana Simama Imara programme in HUMULIZA - a kids savings club from Tanzania - is an amazing example.

• Develop mainstreaming guidelines for enhancing the capacity of multi-country organizations tointegrate psychosocial support into policies, practice, and care. REPSSI is currently working with Save the Children UK in scaling up community sensitization to psychosocial support through the ‘Journey ofLife’ tool

• Support policy development and enforcement at both regional and national levels.

Strategy 2: Develop, share, and disseminate knowledge, skills, and expertise in the application ofpsychosocial care and support with partners at all levels.

• Use reflective and interactive processes for capturing, developing, and sharing knowledge with community groups and organizations. An example here is Memory Work itself, which is both a therapeutic tool as well as a powerful participatory reflective and qualitative research instrument. By engaging with their own stories and sharing them with others, this kind of work spills into another domain which is very useful in communicating and understanding a wide range of complex issues not easily captured by empirically structured quantitative research methods.

• Through collaborative processes, harness the knowledge and experience of recognized partner organizations to efficiently and effectively develop, share, and disseminate knowledge, skills, and expertise. Via its website and the regular production of resource materials containing REPSSI latest research findings as well as useful resources developed by partner organisations, knowledge and skills are widely disseminated.

• Create a healthy psychosocial support environment for all children by working with and supporting teachers and other organisations providing services to children.

Strategy 3: Work in partnership with existing organizations that interface with children and youth toenhance and promote the provision of psychosocial care and support.

• Develop internal skills and capacity that enable REPSSI to communicate with partners to extract, enhance, and share psychosocial care and support knowledge and skills.

• Provide widespread technical support throughout the region via a mobile psychosocial support task team.

• Share psychosocial support knowledge with partner organizations through productive and collaborative dialogue.

Strategy 4: Ensure quality psychosocial care and support service delivery while meeting the very urgentpsychosocial support demands of the region.

• Consolidate and harness internal skills and capacity to provide quality assurance both internally and externally.

REPSSI’s goal therefore, is to facilitate and increase the overlap between knowledge development, transfer, and scale-up. Primary elements to the REPSSI scale up strategy include:

• Psychosocial support model development and testing, working with organisations that havepsychosocial support expertise.

• The creation of partnerships, alliances, and networks – to facilitate psychosocial support model transfer and scale up.

• Training and mentorship - Regional Pool of Facilitators, the Youth Development Diploma and the New orphans and vulnerable children degree being developed in partnership with UNISA & UNICEF.

• Information creation and dissemination - Knowledge Net Centres;

• Advocacy, Community mobilisation for better care and support of children -Journey of Life - a community mobilisation tool; and

• Material and technical support for mainstreaming psychosocial suppor

THE TEARS OF A STREET CHILD

 

IN the eyes of many, the sight of a street child sends shivers of heartless, wicked, uncultured, dangerous, brutal and potentially-harmful beings.

They are viewed as petty thieves, resilient and rebellious children, who should be avoided at all costs.

Many billboards in the central business district read 'do not give alms to street children', giving society every reason to dissociate themselves from this marginalised group of individuals.

Street children are thought of as people who do not deserve a second chance or indeed the benefit of doubt in life.

They are seen as 'someone else's responsibility', and for many in society, they are seen as children who despite provisions by the Government to provide free primary education, they are not willing to get an education.

In fact, a lot of people in society can attest to the fact that they have at least once in their lifetime had a negative encounter with street children.

Members of the public have suffered vices such as violence, verbal abuse, pick-pocketing, and in extreme cases rape, and assault.

However, there have been many Government-driven interventions aimed at finding a long lasting solution to some of the challenges affecting street children, some of whom have since matured into street adults.

Whether or not, some of these interventions have had an impact, although, the bare fact is that, the matter of street children is still a major source of concern in various societies.

However, there are people in society who have a completely different perception of street children, and possible solutions to addressing the age-long challenges affecting street children and their impact on society.

The children are not criminals as most people like to believe. In fact, they themselves have in most cases been victims of negative vices such as sexual abuse.

If the cycle of problems affecting street children is not addressed, and broken, then society will end up with street children and youths they should fear.

There may be cases of street children involved in a lot of vices, while others have ended up on the streets because somehow, like in every society, life may have been very unkind to them due to no fault of their own.

Like the old adage says: 'do not judge me if you have not walked half the journey I have been through.'

It is, therefore, imperative that before exercising any judgment on some of the children who live on the streets, it is worth contemplating what a simple gesture such as love can do for them.

CHILD VUNERABILITY

VULNERABILITY
Vulnerability mean "a high probability of a negative outcome", or an expected welfare loss above a socially accepted norm, which results from risky/uncertain events, and the lack of appropriate risk management instruments. Vulnerability is shaped by risk and stress characteristics such as magnitude, frequency, duration, and scope, to which individuals, households and communities are exposed. This implies that vulnerability is a relative state - a multifaceted continuum between resilience and absolute helplessness.

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL OF CHILD VULNERABILITY
Compared to adults, all children are vulnerable by nature, but some children are more critically vulnerable than others. Child vulnerability is a downward spiral where each shock leads to a new level of vulnerability, and each new level opens up for a host of new risks. In other words, the probability of a child experiencing a negative outcome rises with each shock. At the bottom of this spiral we find children who live outside of family care or in situations of severe family abuse and neglect. OVC interventions can be made at all levels to prevent (a further) increased vulnerability, or to mitigate the effect of likely shocks. The higher up in the spiral the intervention is made, the more cost-effective it is likely to be. OVC should preferably be assisted before they have reached the most critical stages of vulnerability, because interventions aimed to rescue and rehabilitate the most critically vulnerable children tend to be too expensive to be sustainable and moreover have low rates of success.

THE SCIENCE OF SELF CONFIDENCE

The Science of Self Confidence

(Six audio cassettes or CDs)
Learn how to develop unshakable self-confidence. Brian Tracy explains how to take full and systematic control
of your conscious mind. Learn keys of persuading others and techniques for dealing with difficult people. Plus,
learn how to become fearless in your work and personal life.

Session 1: The Foundation of Self-Confidence
What having greater self-confidence will do for you. Understanding, applying the Law of Cause and Effect.
Taking full and systematic control of your conscious mind. Deciding upon your values. Integrity. Self-control,
self-mastery and self-discipline. Boldness. Self-assertion. Inner trust.

Session 2: Purpose and Personal Power
The Laws of Indirect Effect…Attraction…Correspondence…Concentration…Substitution…and Emotion.
Clarity, conviction, commitment and consistency. The tragedy of comfort zones. Seeing yourself as a leader.
How setting goals can help lead you to greater self-confidence.
 
Session 3: Achieving Competence and Mastery
To achieve competence and mastery, start with self-analysis and self-awareness. Six successful methods to
analyze yourself. Simple tests to determine if your job is right for you. Finding your "true place" in life. Three
simple rules that will change your life.

Session 4: The Inner Game of Self-Confidence
The Law of Belief. Mental fitness. The power of suggestion. Three forms of suggestion. Accepting
responsibility for everything you think, say and do. Using positive self-talk. Serendipity. The verbal antidote to
fear of failure. Techniques for building self-confidence.

Session 5: Winning with Others
Putting the Law of Reciprocity to work on your behalf. Focusing your attention on the other person. Keys to
winning with other people. How to increase your popularity. The power of praise and recognition. Keys to good
listening.

Session 6: Succeeding in Personal Relationships
Your most intimate relationships are reflections of the kind of person that you are. As a living magnet, you can
attract the people and circumstances you need. Developing your personality. Meaningful, relevant selfdisclosure.
Understanding the differences
between the sexes.

 
Session 7: Getting the Things You Want
Deciding what you want and who can help you get it. Establishing trust and rapport. Helping others get what
they want. Conducting a creative job search. The Universal Hiring Principle. Keys to persuading others. Secrets
of skilled negotiators.

Session 8: Dealing with Difficult People
Overcoming the fear of confrontation. Suppression, repression and denial of feelings. The effects of destructive
criticism and conditional love. Where does the fear of success come from? Aggressiveness. Techniques for
dealing with difficult people.

Session 9: Capitalizing on Your Strengths
Determining your areas of excellence. Divine discontent. Knowing your weaknesses. Increasing your return on
energy. Finding your competitive advantage…and putting it to work. Exercises for building self-confidence.

Session 10: Health, Fitness and Self-Confidence
 
Creating new energy through the high-performance diet. Avoiding the three white poisons. Why diets don't
work - by themselves. The wonderful thing about exercise. More keys to health and self-confidence. The
"impressions" factor.

Session 11: Triumphing Over Adversity
The Reality Principle. Performing well as a team member, and during crises. Adversity builds character.
Responding to disappointments. Mental tools used by society's most effective people to cope with adversity.

Session 12: Self-Confidence in Action
Exploring opportunities…and being successful. Desire, decision, determination and discipline. Why every act
of self-confidence builds self-confidence. The five most important qualities for self-confidence and success.
Positive self-talk. Becoming a person of action.

BRENALD CHINYOWA

EMAIL : chinyowab@gmail.com

CELL : +263 777 897 586

WEBSITE : http://rayofhopef.wix.com/zimbabwe

THE SEVEN C’s OF SUCCESS

 
After having studied top achievers and peak performers over the past 25 years, I’ve
concluded that these unique men and women, have in most cases, mastered what I
call the Seven C’s of Success.
 
1.Clarity - Eighty percent of success comes from being clear on who you are,
what you believe in and what you want.
 
2. Competence - You can't climb to the next rung on the ladder until you are
excellent at what you do now.
 
3. Constraints - Eighty percent of all obstacles to success come from within.
Find out what is constraining in you or your company and deal with it.
 
4. Concentration - The ability to focus on one thing single-mindedly and see it
through until it’s done takes more character than anything else.
 
5. Creativity - Flood your life with ideas from many sources. Creativity needs to
be exercised like a muscle, if you don't use it you'll lose it.
 
6.Courage - Most in demand and least in supply, courage is the willingness to
do the things you know are right.
 
7. Continuous learning - Read, at the very least, one book a week on business
to keep you miles ahead of the competition. And just as you eat and bathe,
organize your time so you spend 30 minutes a day exploring e-mail, sending
messages, going through web sites, because like exercise, it's the only way
you can keep on top of technology. If you get away from it, you'll lose your
edge.
 
By BRENALD CHINYOWA

EMAIL : chinyowab@gmail.com

SKYPE : brenald1

MOBILE : +263 777 897 586

THE SECRET TO SUCCESS

1. DESIRE 

It is not accidental that Hill begins with desire. Success always begins
with desire. 
Most people want to be successful. Wanting success is a waste of time.
Worse, it just produces frustration. Only a burning, all-consuming, fervent
and passionate desire will produce the exceptional results that make up
true success. 
Wanting is best understood by its second meaning in the dictionary: lack.
To want for something is to lack something and so long as you merely
want success, you will lack success. Wanting is mere wishful thinking. 
Desire, on the other hand, is an extremely potent force. It is a supreme
motivator. It is a metaphysical principle of creation. 
Desire is an energetic emanation of the human spirit that enacts the law
of attraction. Desire is the metaphysical equivalent of gravity. Desire
draws to you the thing desired, or the elements that will constitute the
thing desired. Desire is the fuel that ignites the fire that transmutes
thoughts into things. 
The sad truth about most people who claim to want success is that they
actually do not desire success. What they desire is comfort and security.
The path to real success often demands that you give up comfort and
security in order to gain rewards greater than mere creature comforts
and minor financial security. 
For years, I wanted to be a millionaire. I wanted and wanted to no avail.
It was not until, one day, in my frustration and anger, I graduated from
wanting to truly desiring success, and, as a result, I was almost magically
catapulted into millionaire status. 
It was the burning passion of fervent desire that pushed me out of my
comfort zone of mediocrity and security and empowered me to achieve
real success. It was my desire that enabled me to get past the fear of
failure and get past the frustrations of obstacles to achieve the success I
had wanted for so many years. 
You must have or develop a burning passion for success. Without it, you
are highly unlikely to achieve it. Get passionate or stay home. 
This is critical…your desire must be specific. It must be attached to a
clear and specific ideal, a clear and consistent thought picture of what
success means to you.

EASY WAYS TO GET YOUR CHILD TO BEHAVE—AND WANT TO

On any given day you've probably had two or three showdowns with your child over everything from brushing her teeth to getting in the car seat  -- all before lunch. But contrary to how things may seem, most kids like to behave in a manner that makes them (and you) proud  -- at least most of the time. The best way to get there: Help your child feel as if you and she are on the same team. These six strategies show you how.
Build stronger bonds
If you want your child to be more cooperative, change your focus from improving him to improving your relationship. When you dwell on the ways he's misbehaving, it just discourages both of you  -- you feel like a bad mom, and he feels as if he can't do anything right. Besides, all that energy you're using to correct him could be channeled into something more uplifting and effective. So try to give him positive feedback several times a day  -- a specific compliment on something you see him doing ("You're choosing such great colors to draw your picture," or "I really like the gentle way you played with your baby sister"). And don't forget to spend some time with your child each day, doing something he enjoys.
Be a booster
After having fed, diapered, dressed, and done just about everything for your baby, it's hard to step back when she's older and let her do things herself (especially when you're in a rush). But micromanaging her life  -- from telling her exactly what to wear to opening her juice boxes  -- just sends the message that you're not confident about her abilities. So whenever you can, let her accomplish as many small tasks as possible.
And as much as you'd like to help, it's better for her to resolve some squabbles with her playmates or siblings on her own. You can encourage her to do this with a couple of simple sentences that state the problem and provide a resolution: "I understand you're angry, and I know you can use your words instead of screaming at your friend.

Sympathy Works

Stay cool
We've all been there. You tell your toddler it's time to turn off the TV, and he screams, "No!" Then you probably dig in your heels and find yourself in a shouting match.

But as you've already discovered, power struggles don't promote cooperation. They only make each of you angrier  -- and teach your child to resist you even more.
The key is to control yourself. Maintaining your composure instead of showing your frustration lets your out-of-control child "borrow" some of your calmness. How can you do this? Label his intense feelings without judging them: "I can see you're really mad now." Then state the unacceptable behavior and give him a better alternative: "Kicking your truck isn't right. You can tell me you're angry without hurting things." If your older child likes to argue, look for something you can agree with: "That's true  -- it's more fun to play computer games than it is to do homework."
Remember, it takes two to keep a power struggle going. When my kids were younger, I often found that if I dropped my end of the rope in our tug-of-war (even though it pained me to do so!), they'd eventually stop resisting me, give up the battle, and concentrate instead on their behavior and how they could change it.
Try a little empathy
As busy moms, our expectations are often, naturally, self-centered: We need everyone's cooperation to get out of the house on time; we finally got the baby to nap and want our firstborn to play quietly. But it's important to examine your expectations from your child's point of view  -- for instance, she feels pressured when you rush through the morning routine, which prompts her to dawdle. Or everything seems to revolve around the new baby's needs, and your toddler was having fun banging on the piano.
When you notice and accept your child's feelings, it helps her handle the limits placed on her. And it takes only a few extra seconds. Instead of snapping, "We've got to leave right now or your sister's going to be late for school!" you can say, "I know it's hard to get up so early to take your sister to school. If you want, you can come in your pajamas."http://rayofhopefoundation.wix.com/child

ZIM CHILDREN AT RISK

ZIM CHILDREN AT RISK

An array of complex factors is creating a rising population of ‘children on the move’, vulnerable to violence, exploitation, human trafficking and abuse.

Today, more than 4 million people reside in locations considered high risk for transmission of waterborne diseases due to unsafe water sources, poor sanitation and hygiene with nearly half the population in rural areas practicing open defecation and the city it has been reportedly said that people returns back latrine systems which is unsafe. Chronic food insecurity remains an urgent issue for 3.5 million girls and boys living below the poverty datum line. There is risk of poor health and stunted growth due to greatly diminished access to all basic services and protections. The HIV and AIDS prevalence rate of 13.9 per cent remains one of the highest in the world, though a negative growth has been reported.  

Parents with children with HIV/AIDS leave there kids un cared for & they pass away earlier. When these parents die the children became orphans and most of them will have an oblique future, especially in our current economic situation which makes it difficult for step parents to provide all the needed support to these children.

 As the door to accessibility to ARVs has been shunned to many due to economic factors especially those who are hidden down in the very remote areas of the country, were even cell phones are still not yet there, clinics are still kilometer away with river and dam water being their safest water sources. Life for children in such areas has always been pathetic (in contemptuous pity), orphans are forced to pull out from school due to financial hardships or abuse by step parents. They live in a world where they will grow old without wearing a shoe, neither a new trousers. Children with disabilities are hidden behind the doors.

 Also even in towns the living conditions are turning the children to a menace as mothers do commercial sex for survival, all this leading to the pandemic of the deadly diseases, the children ending up in the streets , dying with HIV, indulging in early marriages and being sexually abused as they try to find survival means.

STREET CHILDREN

Street Children

A street child or youth is “any girl or boy who has not reached adulthood, for whom the street (in the broadest sense of the word, including unoccupied dwellings, wasteland, etc.) has become her or his habitual abode and/or sources of livelihood, and who is inadequately protected, supervised or directed by responsible adults”. However the definition is meant to cover both children of the streets and children on the streets. These kids are vulnerable and prone to abuse and diseases such as categorised below:

1. Child Abuse

Over one half of the street children are concerned with child sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse as their concept of child abuse. Nearly forty three percent (42.6%) of the children identified sexual abuse as the most prevalent form of child abuse. The majority of the street children felt that child sexual abuse was caused by poverty, psychological problems, to power imbalances and by dysfunctional families.It is confirmed that street children are engaging in risky sexual behaviour. They experience casual sex, rape, prostitution, and sex for goods and other services. Younger boys engage in sex without protection, while other boys were raped by older male youth or adult street people. Some had “girlfriends” or “boyfriends”, others buy or sell sex while some had sex with friends as a way of living.

2. HIV/AIDS/STIs Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices

The majority of those who are sexually active (50.8%) are in the 11 to 15 years age group, while, 38.5% were in the 16 to 18 years age group and 10.8% were in the 6 to 10 years age group. From this study it was found that street children are engaged in sex at a very young age. Again children who slept both at home and on the street were likely to have had sex than children in other categories. Again children who slept both at home and on the street are more likely to be affected by an STI. But a few children could identify at least three symptoms of STIs (STDs) while most of them can not mention three symptoms of STIs. And some of the children said they could tell one has HIV just by looking at them while others said they could not tell by looking. The majority of the street children are at a risk for getting HIV, though some of them felt it was only commercial sex workers, or promiscuous persons.Some street children identified use of condoms as a measure to reduce the spread of HIV;however seeking treatment has certain flaws to them such as privacy andthe low or absence of costs of treatment as the reason why they would seek treatment from a particular healthprovider

3. Community Responses

Street children are seen as “vagrants”, “illegal vendors” or “truants” by both the law and the general public. Focused group discussions with street adults confirmed what many street children felt that many people view street children as irresponsible young persons who were “criminals in the making”. Reactions to such children thus tend to be punitive and anti-social and delinquent behaviour stemming from poverty is not considered in its proper social and psychological context

In Zimbabwe there is a growing disquiet over the numbers of children working and living on the streets. These children have been portrayed, especially in the electronic and print media, as being little thieves or criminals in the making. Their moral values and behaviour are seen as different from that of other children who are not street children. This is so as they are seen to lack parental guidance and protection. Some children loading and unloading trucks and buses, exerts a great deal of demand on their meagre calorific reserves. This, together with excessive alcohol use and poor nutrition, may weaken their resistance to diseases. Children’s work is generally assumed to impair their educational and intellectual development as work leaves them with little time and energy for school. The majority of street children have little or no education at all. Street children are seen to be at risk for HIV-infection given their sexual behaviour; however there is limited information on the HIV-infection rates amongst street children in Zimbabwe. Exchange of sex for security, comfort sex based on mutual consent, sex with female sex workers, and having their “wives” sell sex as an income-generating activity for the “couple”.

A careful analysis of the street children phenomenon reflects a number of immediate, underlying and basic causes. Available literature on street children in Zimbabwe from academic presentations, journal articles, books by researchers and situational analysis and survey reports, show a plethora of causal factors and effects to the street children problem.

The phenomenon of street children in all countries seems to be a social institution with basic social, economic andenvironmental causes (Auret, 1995; Bourdillon, 1991; Dube, 1999; Muchini, op. cit., Muchini and Nyandiya-Bundy, op. cit.). It appears to have basic causes in the polity, the economy and other basic social factors such as public social policies about employment, housing and land ownership. Thus, for the larger number of street children, the underlying and basic causes for pushing them onto the streets lie in the increasing number of families surviving under extreme poverty, unemployment, and lack of opportunity for social mobility and strained family relationships

BY BRENALD CHINYOWA
DIRECTOR & FOUNDER OF RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION
 

ADOPTION

ADOPTION

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another, that is you will be taking a child from her or his biological parents and provide parental care, however we encourage parents who are willing to adopt to look for the most vulnerable and orphaned children which need vasts of parental care. Below I have listed types of adoption but mostly the well-known is just identify your child or task an agent mostly organisations which operate for the best interest of child welfare like RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION
Note that adoption is permanent and foster parenting is a temporary arrangement in which adults provide for the care of a child or children whose birthparent is unable to care for them. Foster care is not where juvenile delinquents go. It is where children go when their parents cannot, for a variety of reasons, care for them
When you adopt a child there are some important things to think about. First and foremost for the child's sake, that the baby should have a safe and loving life and a home to grow up in. It means that you as a parent need a good financial standing (able to give care and support like education) and have no problems with either alcohol or drugs or other psychological problems.
If you have biological children from before, make sure that you are not treating the children any different. Conflicts may arise, but be sure that you tackle them early by showing that you treat everyone in the family equal.
Also have in mind that the adopted baby may start to ask some questions about their background history. Be even aware that when a child are adopted from another country, or if she or he has a different look or race can get some questions that may seem hard to her/him and also being teased during their grown up.
It is important to talk with the child about its history when it is adopted; regardless of the child’s original origin. Do your homework and read about the child’s country and get to know the background history of the child.
If you adopt a baby from another country you should keep in mind that the child may feel confused, cause of the new language, maybe even the food tastes funny, and many factors may play a role. You must also remember that, the younger a baby is when it’s adopted, the easier it becomes for both the baby and the adoptive parents to create a bond with each other
TYPES OF ADOPTION
1. Open Adoption
An open adoption allows for some form of association between the birth family, adoptees, and adoptive parents. This can range from picture and letter sharing, to phone calls, contact through an intermediary, or open contact between the parties themselves. Many adoptions of older children and teens are at least partially open, since the children may know identifying or contact information about members of their birth families, or may want to stay in touch with siblings placed separately.
2. Fost-Adopt Adoption
A special type of agency adoption is foster adoption aka fost-adopt. This is a form of adoption in which a child is placed into a home as a foster child, with the expectation that the child will become legally free and be adopted by the foster parents. Also, children may be adopted directly from the foster care system without the period of fostering
3. Domestic versus International Adoption
The first option is domestic adoption versus international adoption. For those in the US, domestic adoption involves adopting from within the 50 states or U.S. territories. International adoption refers to a situation in which a child is born outside of the U.S. but brought to live in this country.
4. Closed Adoption versus Open Adoption
The next major distinction is a closed adoption versus an open adoption.
A closed adoption is an adoption in which no identifying information about the birthfamily or the adoptive family is shared between the two. Additionally, there is no contact between birthparents and adoptive parents. The adoptive family usually receives non-identifying information about the child and the birthfamily before placement. In a closed adoption, after finalization, the records are sealed. Depending on local law and what paperwork was signed and filed at the finalization these records may or may not be available to the adopted child upon their 18th birthday.

BY BRENALD CHINYOWA
DIRECTOR & FOUNDER OF RAY OF HOPE FOUNDATION