Zimbabwe's children - not forgotten

You may have watched ‘Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children' aired on BBC 2 in August 2010. Here's an update from our Programmes Officer, Ashley Damewood, who visited our Zimbabwean partner, Streets Ahead, to meet the children.

In Autumn last year, I travelled to Harare, Zimbabwe for the first time to visit our partner, Streets Ahead. As well as monitoring and evaluation work, I recorded hours of radio footage for BBC Radio Surrey, took hundreds of photographs, and had countless laughs with the children.

I experienced lots of new things shadowing Streets Ahead's staff and participated in day and night outreach - visiting the places where children eat, sleep, and play. I made friends with a group of boys in Mbare and played a game of pick-up football on their turf. The boys danced around me as they scored goal after goal - putting my collegiate goal keeping skills to the test. At night, I helped project staff to check for new arrivals and counsel existing children. The children were eager to have their pictures taken and clambered on the back of Streets Ahead's pick up truck chanting and clapping as we drove from ‘base' to ‘base' visiting their friends.

For me, the most emotional and memorable part of the trip, was assisting the team reunite two young girls - Molly and Eve - with their families in rural provinces. During the 14 hour drive, the girls wore my sunglasses, played with my camera, taught me their local language, Shona, and looked intently out of the window. It was absolutely amazing to see them change from nervous passengers, squished uncomfortably in the backseat, to joyous daughters hugging their relatives in wide open spaces.

It is success stories like theirs that keep me positive, forward looking, and ever more committed to Street Child Africa's overseas programming.