ACCEPTED BY BOARD 12 March2006

ZIMBABWE AIDS ORPHANS

ANNUAL REPORT 2005

Throughout 2005, the Zimbabwe AIDS Orphans Society (Society) continued to support the operations of the Dzikwa Trust Fund (Dzikwa/Dzikwa Trust) in Harare's densely populated suburb of Dvaresekwa.

The activities of the Zimbabwe Aids Orphans are those of a development organisation, on a small scale and works as a cooperative partner to the Dzikwa Trust. The Dzikwa Trust was established in 2002 to further the work of the Finnish initiative that had already been commenced in 1992 to support the basic schooling requirements of needy orphans; the objective being to enable the schooling of approximately 120 talented orphans. The children chosen for the Dzikwa programme must fulfil five basic requirements: 1) they must be orphans of, at least half-orphaned 2) the child must have already begun school or be about to start school in the Dzivaresekwa area 3) the child's guardian is unable to pay the compulsory school fees and other expenses 4) the child has a suitably sound school record and 5) he or she is well behaved and keen to learn.

The Society is responsible for the gathering of funds to finance its operations, primarily through the support of the sponsors and other backers. Funding provided through the Society covers school fees, school uniforms, sports gear and footwear as well as books and other school equipment. In addition it covers the cost of a daily hot meal, basic health care and participation in at least one trip or outing, sports and other cultural activities every year.

1.Child numbers and other statistics

In 2005 the Dzikwa Trust supported the schooling of 122 children. Over the year total numbers rose to 127, a little over the budgeted number of 120 that we strive to keep to. The overall number is limited in order that the persons responsible for the project are able to maintain a close, personal contact with each individual and their current situation.  The number of children involved varies due to households moving away from the area mid-school year or because a child with immediate need for our help comes to our attention.

In 2005, 88 of our children attended primary school, 34 in secondary school and 5 have gone on to further education, either to an academic college or a vocational school. Of the children attending secondary school, 21 are in boarding school (13 girls and 8 boys).

There are 45 boys and 82 girls in the Trust's programme, which meets the gender breakdown aimed for by the Trust. Detailed statistics on the distribution of girls and boys by school is listed on our web site, www.zimaidsorphans.org.

2.School achievement

One of the key factors in choosing a child for the programme, and for keeping him or her on it, is the child's abilities in school and how well they apply themselves to their studies.   The support provided by the Dzikwa Trust is seen as reward for hard work at school. The children attending day school are expected to maintain a school average of over 50%, based on the Zimbabwe grading system that grades out of 100%. The children attending boarding school are expected to maintain a 60% average. The success of each individual is closely monitored each term, in a school year that is made up of three terms.

When a drop in grades is noticed, background to the falling grades are discussed with the child him or herself, the teachers as well as their guardian.   In August of 2005, 38 of the children were given written admonitions to improve their grades in the coming term, with the threat of being dropped from the programme if improvement wasn't made. Several of the children who received such warnings had clearly picked up their school performance by the end of the school year. However, some of them were unable to improve their grades, usually due to challenging home and life circumstanced. We have shown these children compassion and have given them a new chance.

Based on the school reports received at the end of the third term of the reporting period, 32 warning letters were issued to various children and 7 were dropped from the school support programme.

3.Schools

In 2005 the children of the Dzikwa Trust were attending all four of the Dzivaresekwa area state primary schools and three municipal primary schools.  In addition to which, some of the Dzikwa children were attending two of the Dzivaresekwa secondary schools and one child was in a special school for the handicapped.  We had 20 children boarding in the De Wure High School, 250 kilometres from Harare and one in the Kwenda Mission High School, 150 kilometres outside Harare.

For more information on the school, please see our web site www.zimaidsorphans.org.

4.Daily meals

In 2005, the Dzikwa Trust continued to serve a hot meal every day, throughout the year, which came to a total of close on 30,000 meals. The meals general are made up of a staple maize-based dish ('sadza' in the local language of shona) as well as a vegetable stew and a small portion of meat or fish. The meals are made in a lean-to in the grounds of one of the schools, over an open fire and mealtimes continue to be supervised by two of the mothers whose children are part of the Dzikwa Trust. This year saw the introduction of a daily register of the children turning up to eat. Also those children who have been dropped from the education support programme are still able to come and eat, on a daily basis.

Over the year we purchased 6 bullocks and cows, from which we were able to get about 200 kilos of meat per carcass, we also purchased 6,000 kilos of maize meal, 100 litres of cooking oil as well as bread and some basic vegetables. From October onwards, we have received the bread and vegetables we need as donations, on a weekly basis.

Continuing provision of the Trust's food programme in 2005 was ensured by the funds raised by the International School of Helsinki, whose enthusiastic primary school classes  along with their parents  organised a Fun-Run which raised the money to finance over 12,000 meals. Among other generous supporters were the children, teachers and parents of the Nurmijärvi primary school in Greater Helsinki, the staff of the Helsinki School of Natural Sciences and Aino-Leena Akujärvi, whose donations each allowed the purchase of a bullock apiece.

5.Health care and welfare

The Dzikwa Trust has not had the means to provide the children with full health care. However, with the funds that are available acute needs have been attended to with those in need being taken to a clinic or hospital and by providing the appropriate medication. We have also made dental care available out of our funds, where needed.

Most of the funds used to cover the medical costs incurred have been provided by an organisation operating out of Bonn in Germany, Harare e.V., which is one of our sponsoring organisations.

6.Temporary shelter for homeless orphans

When over 20,000 building (houses, shacks and huts) that didn't have correct building permits were demolished in Harare in May-July 2005, 40 of our children were made homeless. In June 2005, the Dzikwa Trust arranged a shelter home for those children that had nowhere else to live. At the busiest time, we had 18 children living in the house the Trust had rented. By the end of 2005, 2 of these 40 homeless children had disappeared without trace from Dzivaresekwa, 24 had been re-housed but 15 still lived under the care of a minder in our shelter home a good 5 kilometres' walk from their schools.

Despite the long walk to school, these 15 children attend classes daily. The children are cared for by the owner of the house, who uses the house during the school day as a kindergarten. Dzikwa pays rent as well as paying for electricity, the children's food and other running costs, totalling EUR 200 per month.

In order to enable the children to move in, we paid EUR 1,200 for repair work to the house to be undertaken (ie to improve hygiene facilities) as well as the purchase of a new stove, some wardrobes and blankets. The Dzikwa Trust received specific funds to cover the repair work and other purchases from the Finnish Embassy in Maputo, Mozambique (more about this, below).

Most of the shelter home's running costs in 2005 were covered by the support provided by the staff of the British financial institution, the Crown Agents, one of the Trust's supporting organisations.

7.Communication and public relations

In 2005, the Dzikwa Trust was granted funds by the Finnish Embassy in Maputo to produce a 26-minute long DVD film on the children's lives and their schools as well as the Trust's work and activities.  The Society also published a four-colour handout in both Finnish and English and had envelopes made. Our Internet pages, www.zimaidsorphans.org were skilfully updated and renewed by Peter Parkkonen.

Several very positive and supportive articles were published during the year, in Finland and Zimbabwe, on the activities of our supporters' work with the orphans of Dzivaresekwa. In addition to which, a book called the 'Elefantti joka luuli olevansa puhveli' (The elephant that thought it was a buffalo) by Raili Mikkanen, was published by Tammi in Finland, inspired and based on Raili's experiences when she visited us to see the Dzikwa's activities first hand. The title is inspired by the famous elephant Nzou, which thinks it's a buffalo, a resident of the Imire Game Park, where many of our children have been taken to pay the elephant a visit.

8.Children's recreational activities

Our grandest recreational happening of 2005 was the Dzikwa Sports Day arranged on the 23 August at the Zimbabwe national sports stadium's training ground, an arrangement made possible by the generosity of the country's National Athletics' Commission. We had 106 enthusiastic child participants. The children were divided up in to four teams: Cheetah, Impala, Kudu and Sable and the competitions were both team-based and individual.  The relay race and several of the finals were then run in the main stadium, with its massive stands that fit 80,000 spectators. All the children's results were recorded. Harare's main newspaper made mention of our Sports Day and published the results and some details on the Dzikwa Trust's activities in a brief article.

The Dzikwa's 18-voice choir gave its maiden performance in connection with our Sports Day. They were all dressed in the outfits specially made for the Dzikwa choir.

Many of the children who did particularly well in school were taken on an outing to the Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage as well as to the Natural History Museum in Bulawayo or the Imire Game Park in Harare.

9.Sponsors and other supporters

Altogether we had 116 sponsors in 2005. Of these, 93 were from Finland, 16 from Britain and 7 from Germany. Included in the Finnish sponsors were 2 schools, 1 Trust Fund and the 'Martta' organisation (a woman's institute) as well as 1 company. At the end of the year, only 3 children were without a personal sponsor and were such children as had been dropped for a period from the programme because of poor school performance or had been away for a time.

There were 28 other supporters of the Dzikwa Trust from Finland, Germany, England, Scotland and Norway. We were delighted that these supporters exceeded our expectations and helped out in significant ways over the year, enabling us to cover the unforeseen costs that arose over the year.  In addition to which, the Zimbabwe National AIDS Council donated 60 kg of dried fish and 20kg of  a dehydrated health drink to the Dzikwa Trust.

Seppo spent about half the year in Zimbabwe. Also several of our sponsors and supporters visited Harare in 2005. Ulla Haukka-aho, chairman of the Zimbabwe AIDS Orphans and secretary Oili Wuolle spent April-May in Zimbabwe and were also able to enjoy many of the delights of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA). On top of which, Oili also spent 3 weeks with the children in august-September.

Our sponsors also include Markku Ainamo, whose IT training and know-how was put to use for 7 weeks in September when he visited Harare and taught the children the basics in computer use as well as further developing the Trust's Access data base.

Teams of sponsors visited Siuntio twice during the year to help sort out goods for various sales as well as clothing for the children in Zimbabwe.

10.Finance

The children's individual sponsors again paid EUR 120 for the support of a primary school child and EUR 140 for middle school and EUR 160 for a secondary school child. Those children attending secondary boarding school cost EUR 600, including full board. Many of our sponsors also made small personal donations in addition to the basic sponsorship fee.

A total of EUR 27,500 was collected through sponsorship payments. In addition to which, we received about EUR 13,500 in gifts and assistance, of which over EUR 9,000 was earmarked specifically for the food budget.

An additional inflow of funds comes from the fabrics and textiles, handcrafts, small artefacts, tea and coffee brought over from Zimbabwe and sold at such happenings as Siuntio Fair, the Keski-Suntio Martta coffee evenings and the Bank of Finland's Christmas bazaar.  This year handcraft and art sales brought in approximately EUR 1,000 towards our funds.

The Dzikwa Trust gave its accounts to Camsela, chartered accountants, who also acted in the same capacity for the Trust's accounts in 2003 and 2004.

11.State support from Finland

In 2005, the Dzikwa Trust received EUR 21,000 in support in Zimbabwe, from the Finnish Mission in Maputo, whose mandate also covers Zimbabwe. The support was intended for, and was indeed used for:

• School equipment
• Essential kitchen repairs and acquisition of dishes etc
• Computers
• DVD project
• Children's cultural programmes
• Essential repairs to the housing of many of the Trust's children
• Investment for the improvement of the temporary shelter

In May 2005, the Zimbabwe AIDS Orphans Society put in an application for financial support from the Unit for Non-Governmental Organisations within the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department for Development Policy. The application covered the years 2006 to 2008. The total application was for EUR 693,350 and a majority of the budget was calculated as covering the construction of a community centre on a plot set aside for the use of the orphans in Dzivaresekwa, Harare.

The decision on the application came through in December 2005, where the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted our Society EUR 60, 000 in financial assistance per year, for the following 3 years, totalling EUR 180,000. This money, which is a significant to the Trust's funding, is to be used to cover the operations of the Trust and therefore is not to be put into investments.

In order to facilitate our development aid application and to improve the opportunity to train the persons involved in our activities, we became a member of the Kehitys yhteityön palvelukekskus KEPA ry, the Service Centre of Development Cooperation, a Finnish NGO.

12.Members and board of Zimbabwe AIDS Orphans

By the end of 2005, there were 32 members in the Zimbabwe AIDS Orphans Society. The annual membership fee remained at EUR 20 and has mostly been used to cover costs arising in Finland.

The Society's Annual General Meeting was held in Siuntio's Skencafe on 16 April 2005 and an extraordinary meeting was called on 30 May 2005, in the Marian Helmi restaurant, Helsinki.

The board consists of Ulla Haukka-aho, chairman, Esa Ojanen vice chairman, Merja Grandell finance, Oili Wuolle secretary and permanent members Seppo Ainamo and Kaija-Leena Rikkonen. Louise Park-Ahonen and Vilja Perttola act as deputy members of the board. The board convened 6 times in 2005.  The accounts were inspected by Annika and Peter Parkkonen.

13 January 2006