Volunteer Work

Volunteer Work in Zimbabwe (Africa)         

Since 2015 I have been spending my summers in Zimbabwe to do volunteer work in the Gweru area as a guest of the Diocese.  During my first stint in the country, I stayed mainly in Silobela, at the Loreto Schools, where I helped the local Dominican Sisters with the management of the orphanage, the construction of the new shelter where the children of the poor local families would be fed and with the feeding of the handicapped in the Jairos Jiri center.

Thanks to generous donations from friends, relatives and former students, we have been able to finance 25 scholarships in favor of children studying at Chinyuni primary school, Lalapanzi secondary school, Chaka primary school and at St. Joseph's Hama primary school.  The money donated was used to finance self-generating projects which are meant to provide regular revenue with which to pay the students' tuition till the end of their study cycle.

At the Hozheri Clinic we financed a fridge which now allows the staff to store vaccines with which to vaccinate the local population, when the need arises. In 2016 we also installed a borehole to bring clean water to the clinic.  Another borehole was installed the same year at the Chinyuni Primary School: fully operated with solar panels of Danish make; the fresh water is also tapped by the local community and has made possible the cultivation of crops with which the children are fed at lunchtime.

In Summer 2017 we built an A-level building for the students at Lalapanzi who had no way of attending high school because of the great distance between them and the closest institute.

In 2018 we built from scratch a brand new maternity ward, as part of the rural Hozheri Clinic, to provide the women of that less populated region with a facility where they can go and stay at the 7th month of gestation in order to stand ready to deliver their babies in a comfortable environment equipped with a delivery room, a waiting area and a decompression room, besides enjoying adequate lodging and board until they are able to go back to their rural abodes.  That same year we put a brand new roof on top of a school building in Chinyuini which had been ravaged by a cyclone.

In 2019, instead, we focused on helping the population affected by the nation-wide recession and widespread drought by providing seeds, fertilizer, agricultural tools, food, clothing and school fees to the more needy families of Gweru.

The years 2021 and 2022 were mainly dedicated to the construction of a wood-fired kitchen next to the Hozheri maternity ward, along with bathroom facilities for the guests visiting the clinic and an additional building which operates as dining hall, storage room and bedroom for accompanying family members. The entire clinic at Hozheri has been endowed with a second borehole and a sufficient amount of pure water capable of satisfying the ever-growing number of gestating women and other patients in attendance. Both UNAIDS and WHO have approved of the clinic as their base in the region to prevent the spread of HIV, conduct training on family planning, diagnose and prevent the spreading of Covid or any other future pandemic. UNDP has contributed solar panels in recognition of the key role that the clinic plays in the area. The next step will be to erect a fence all around the facility in order to prevent the damage caused by wandering cattle, wild animals and occasional pilferers.

If you are interested in helping out, please, contact me and I will be more than glad to discuss with you the ways in which you can contribute to the numerous needs of the local community.