Klaukkala school sends aid to Zimbabwean AIDS orphans

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Last weekend, a large container crammed with goods and materials was waiting in the yard of the Klaukkala school in the southern Finnish municipality of Nurmijärvi, ready to be sent to poor orphans in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.
     
When the school’s main hall was renovated earlier this year, headmaster Helena Pelkonen decided that the 300 old chairs were to be sent to the AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe via the Dzikwa Trust Fund, which was established in 2002 to provide an official channel through which donations for orphans could be received and related investments or longer-term contracts could be made in Zimbabwe.
     
A supportive society was founded in 2003 on the initiative of Seppo Ainamo and his partner Oili Wuolle. The mission of the society is to help underprivileged talented orphans in the Dzivarasekwa suburb of Harare.
      In the spring, the pupils and the AIDS Orphans Society also started collecting further donations, including furniture, clothes, toys, bicycles, books, bedclothes, tools, computers, and hospital equipment. Moreover, a total of 2,000 kilograms of dry food was bought from the Finnish retailer Kesko at half the going price.
      At the same time, the Zimbabwean AIDS orphans became a target for internationalisation education at the Klaukkala school. Some teachers and students have even visited the capital of Zimbabwe.
      At present, the growing number of orphans is already 400, and the need for assistance has been increasing constantly.
     
The aim is that these children have an opportunity to go to school, have daily meals and health services as well as have some fun.
      In Zimbabwe a child is entitled to go to school, provided that he or she can afford the tuition fee and a school uniform.
      A total of 240 Dzikwa children have sponsors who pay their tuition fees. According to Ainamo, only the most talented orphans have special sponsors.
     
The Zimbabwean authorities have adopted a favourable attitude towards the society’s aid work, while the ongoing economic crisis in the country is bound to aggravate the life of the poorest people in particular.


Links:
  Zimbabwe Aids Orphans

Helsingin Sanomat