Our story
With encouraging support from friends and relatives, Seppoand Oili were able to increase the number of children each year. In 2002, the project was properly registered as a foundation in Zimbabwe: the Dzikwa Trust Fund, which today acts as a local partner for all operations. Zimbabwe’s Aids-Orphans Society was established in Finland 2003 to increase the credibility of operations. Society cooperates with the Dzikwa Trust Fund so that Dzikwa owns our activity center for children in Dzivarasekwa, which was started in 2007.
Now, after 25 years, the association has about 500 members and supports the education and well-being of about 400 children age between 6-23 with 63% of them girls. Children have access to education with the generous help of their sponsors. Nowadays, children also have a safe environment in our activity center, where their well-being is supported in many ways. The founders Seppo and Oili are the father and mother of all the children according to the Zimbabwean extended family concept. Together with all the members of Zimbabwe’s Aids Orphans Society, they want children’s rights to be upheld and do their utmost to ensure that children have the best possible circumstances to grow into healthy adults who can contribute to the future of their own country.
Read ”AIDS orvot ovat meidän lapsiamme” -article (in Finnish) in Oma Aika -magazine (2017)