Our Programs: Refuge: Zimbabwe runs 13-week support groups for adoptive and foster families, based on material from ‘The Connection’ course adapted to a Zimbabwean context. Refuge also consults with and trains churches to run these support groups within their congregations.
When you partner with us by making a tax-deductible donation to support the work of Refuge: Zimbabwe, these are the programs you are sustaining. Thank you for being a part of our team. GIVE NOW
Revive
Addictions, domestic violence and poor mental health are on the rise in Zimbabwe, exacerbated by the prolonged economic crisis and now Covid-19. With little affordable help available, Refuge: Zimbabwe launched ‘Revive’, a Christian 12-step meeting at their local church. Revive helps people recover from addictions, reducing families’ vulnerabilities and increasing the likelihood of them remaining united. Regina and Nyasha have been asked to run Revive in hospital psychiatric units, as well as to train other local churches to launch their own version of the group. They frequently involve fellow Revive members who are in recovery, enabling them to share their stories and encourage others.
Jacaranda Communities Of Hope
There are at least 1million orphaned children in Zimbabwe and on average one child is placed in institutional care in the capital city of Harare every day. Millions more children remain living with their extended families but grow up with neglect, hunger, and lack of education and healthcare as a daily reality. There are only 80 registered foster carers in Harare and on average only 15 adoptions are processed each year nationwide.
Through the ‘Jacaranda’ programme, Refuge: Zimbabwe trains caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable children in trauma and healing play. The jacaranda tree blooms during the driest season of the year before the rains come. It does not wait for rain before it flowers, but shows its beauty and resilience in the hardest period as a sign that spring and new life are near. This programme was named ‘Jacaranda’ because Refuge: Zimbabwe believes that children can thrive in very harsh circumstances if they are given the right support, and so the adults who care for them can have hope that their care will make a difference.
The Jacaranda programme is a 2-week intensive training immersed in vulnerable communities. Our Healing Play Camp allows trainees the opportunity to practice the skills they have been taught under supervision. So far Refuge: Zimbabwe has used the Jacaranda model to train 150 individuals from churches, schools, children’s homes, social services and local charities. Together these 150 people have impacted 4500 vulnerable children across the nation. Twenty participants have completed an advanced training course, meaning that they are ready to deploy in a crisis to help children with short-term trauma recovery. The advanced trainees are being mentored to run the 2-week model across Zimbabwe by themselves over time.
Caring Classrooms
Teachers may be the only safe adult in a child’s life and play a vital role in children’s development. With their world marked even further by trauma due to Covid-19, schoolchildren in Zimbabwe are struggling even more to concentrate and learn – whether online or in the classroom. Refuge: Zimbabwe runs an 8-week training course for teachers called ‘Caring Classrooms’, which enables teachers to learn about trauma. The course focuses on equipping teachers to use local resources at their disposal, to support their students to regulate their emotions and have a greater chance of succeeding in school.
Connected Family Coaching
Refuge: Zimbabwe works with individual families who are in distress or have experienced trauma. Coaching sessions focus on implementing tools and principles of attachment-rich parenting. These sessions aim to equip and empower parents and caregivers to bring healing to their hurting children through love and connection.
Connected Family Support Groups
Refuge: Zimbabwe runs 13-week support groups for adoptive and foster families, based on material from ‘The Connection’ course adapted to a Zimbabwean context. Refuge also consults with and trains churches to run these support groups within their congregations.
Making Sense Of Your Worth
Refuge: Zimbabwe runs this 8-week therapeutic group called ‘Making Sense of Your Worth’ for two groups – adults and teenagers. The course uses material developed by the Halo Project and focuses on restoring positive self-worth and secure attachment. Over the course of 8 weeks, we consistently see individuals processing trauma to a level only normally achieved through 6-9 months’ worth of therapy. The course can also be offered in one-to-one sessions when necessary.
When you partner with us by making a tax-deductible donation to support the work of Refuge: Zimbabwe, these are the programs you are sustaining. Thank you for being a part of our team.
Hope House – A Place of Safety and Healing
“I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.” Psalm 57:1
Refuge: Zimbabwe intends to buy a property in Harare in the next two years, which will be registered as a place of safety with the Department of Social Welfare. Hope House will provide a home for abandoned babies for 21 days while they await placement in a forever family.
Hope House will also function as a resource centre where Refuge: Zimbabwe can train caregivers in attachment-rich, healing parenting techniques in a practical, relational way. This will serve as a base for us to run our support groups, courses and coaching sessions, and offer meeting rooms as a venue for healing play sessions where children do not have an alternative safe venue.
This is an audacious goal in the midst of Zimbabwe’s enduring economic crisis, but Regina and Nyasha are committed to making it a reality!
If you would like to be part of realising the vision of Hope House, you can support our GoFundMe campaign here.
"Imagine a world where every child's hurt, every child's cry and every child's need is met by a loving adult."
Dr Karyn Purvis