From May to July 2005 the government of Zimbabwe ordered tens of thousands of homes in Harare and elsewhere in the country to be demolished. The order concerned those homes and buildings, housing extensions, shanties and lean-to shelters which had been built without the relavant building permits.

Of the children cared for by the Dzikwa Trust, 40 lost their homes in this clearance operation. As many as 23 were able to find new accommodation and three of the girls disappeared altogether from Dzivaresekwa. One of these girls was located three months later, but was in such a state of mental distress that she was unable to tell us where she had been or who had taken care of her.

We therefore decided to rent two rooms from a kindergarten and placed 15 of our children there to live under the care of the kindergarten minder. From June 2005 we supplied the children living there with food and paid rent for their rooms. In December 2005, using funds granted by the Finnish diplomatic mission in Maputon, we renovated much of the house. There were as many as  22 of our children living there at the busiest time.

The rental charges for the Shelter Home accommodation for 2006 was covered by a private individual from Finland.

As this first Shelter Home was situated six kilometers from the childrens' schools, we decided to make a new rental agreement for a second house in the centre of Dzivaresekwa, only 100 metres from the Dzikwa Trust's Activity Centre land. Renovation work on this new Shelter Home was commenced at the beginning of May 2007 and the children were able to move in on 9th June 2007.  

All 7 rooms of the new Shelter Home will be in our use and will allow us space to house as many as 30 children. There is a Dzikwa matron to look after the Home and the children.