ZIMBABWE
Stanley - Training for life
Personal Story
HIV has had a devastating impact on Zimbabwe. Since 1990 life-expectancy has dropped from over 60 to just 37 years. Almost one in four adults is HIV-positive. In response, Silveira House puts HIV-awareness training at the heart of its work. It is very important to reach those who own usinesses, so when people come for business-management education, they automatically receive guidance on HIV.
Stanley Mudavanhu trained as a welder with
Silveira House. He set up his own business in
1995 and is doing so well he now employs
several people, and has paid for the schooling of
all his younger brothers. ‘Now I am taking care
of my family’ Stanley says, ‘they all benefit from
the income that I make here’.
Recently he trained in business management and HIV awareness, including how anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs)* can keep people healthy.The training has already proved invaluable. ‘Before I did the training I just thought that AIDS was something that affects others, I didn’t know that it could come to us.’
‘The biggest challenge now is HIV testing. I’ve convinced my brothers and workers to go for the test.’ One employee found out he was HIV positive and immediately went to Stanley for help. Stanley is now paying for his ARVs, even though, as he says himself, ‘before the training I didn’t know what ARVs were!’
Seven hundred thousand people lost
their homes and/or jobs in the summer
of 2005, when the Zimbabwean
government tore down houses and
market stalls across the country as part
of a ‘clean-up’ operation. Many of the
workshops of carpenters, welders and
blacksmiths, who had trained with
Silveira House, were destroyed.
With funding from Christian Aid’s emergency appeal, Silveira House is now helping 60 carpentry and welding businesses to reopen. The project runs practical tool-building courses and provides advice on how to apply for official workspace, and formal registration as a business. It also helps small family businesses to link up with each other, so that they can engage with local authorities from a stronger, unified position.
GIVE
| £28 | funds a carpenter’s place on a tool-making course, so they can replace the tools they lost in Operation Murambatsvina | |
| £1,100 | buys the materials for HIV training days for 500 small business owners | |
| £2,900 | funds a workshop helping small family enterprises link together, to promote and protect local businesses |
Please give generously
ACT
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PRAY
On the millions of people living with
HIV/AIDS
Lord have mercy.
On our brothers in Africa
On our sisters in Asia and Oceania
On our cousins in Europe
On our friends in the Americas
Lord have mercy.
On the doctors and nurses facing an
epidemic
On the teachers educating
communities for a better future
On the students and young people
desperate to help
On the church projects working
with affected people
On each of us as we learn the best
ways to support one another.
Lord have mercy
Peter Graystone , Christian Aid
