An important part of Buwe will be cultivating community. The Shona people are a community-based culture and have a lot to teach us foreigners about living in community and depending on one another. It’s our goal to build a house for one of our employees after the completion of each major project we do in the greater community. The employees will be building homes for each other and learning and teaching on the job. We will have an apprenticeship program where we will have the teens leaving Eden live in the Buwe community to learn vocational and life skills before leaving Doma for good.
I understand why people are often hesitant to donate to aid organisations working in Africa. After decades of hand outs the continent is in worse shape than it started. Corruption is rampant in governments and aid money often doesn’t get to those it is intended to help. Africa is seen as a black hole that billions of dollars are thrown into and nothing positive comes out, nothing good happens. I can’t argue with that. I wouldn’t want to throw my money away either. But I believe that small organisations can have a great influence in a focused area that can have exponential impact. When we teach life and vocational skills to the orphans at Eden Children’s Village they will go out into their country, or neighbouring countries, and build businesses that will hire employees, build communities and boost the economy. Eden Children’s Village is a good news story that we love to share and are so happy to be a part of.
