AFRO-NETS> Promoting Health through Poverty Reduction - the Mutoko Example

[Regina Cammy Shakakata <shakakatar@whoafr.org>]

Promoting Health through Poverty Reduction - the Mutoko Example
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Colleagues,

The AFRO feature below was prepared by the Information Unit of the 
World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. We are posting 
it to you to share some experience that individually and working col-
lectively we can begin to change the lives of AIDS orphans and even 
bring smiles on their faces because some of the donations we take to 
Mutoko are as simple as balloons which we fill with air by blowing 
with our mouths jointly with the children and share moments of laugh-
ter with them.

Regina Cammy Shakakata
AFRO Librarian
mailto:shakakatar@whoafr.org

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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR AFRICA 
Temporary location
P.O. Box BE 773, Belvedere
Harare, Zimbabwe

AFRO FEATURES

22 February 2001/001
Promoting Health through Poverty Reduction - the Mutoko Example

"Poor health traps the poor, and poverty keeps them in poor health"
- Dr Ebrahim Samba

On 22 February 2000, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim 
M. Samba, paid a visit to Mutoko, a sleepy hamlet tucked away in the 
scenic valley of Mutemwa hills in Mutoko district, about 120 kilome-
tres north-east of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

The purpose of the visit was to determine how he and staff of the WHO 
Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) in Harare could make a difference 
in the lives of the children at the Mother of Peace, an orphanage 
which presently caters for more than 100 children whose parents have 
died of HIV/AIDS.

During this first visit, Dr Samba, leading by example, announced a 
personal donation of 10 milk cows valued at US$1,000 to the centre. 
As if on cue, AFRO staff and other public-spirited individuals have 
taken up the challenge, making frequent visits to the orphanage, and 
donating generously both in cash and in kind.

Returning on their seventh visit to Mutoko on 18 February 2001, Dr 
Samba and his colleagues were struck by the transformation that had 
taken place at the Mother of Peace within 12 months. 

The centre was beginning to assume the character of a commercial farm 
- a familiar feature in modern Zimbabwe. It was "green" all round - 
with water pumps and springlers firmly in place, watering vast 
stretches of the centre's 255 hectares already planted with rice, 
maize, wheat, groundnuts and vegetables etc.

"We owe all this to Dr Samba and his team, Ms Jean Cornneck, Direc-
tor of Mother of Peace, told the visitors. She painstakingly read out 
a long report in which she detailed how the cash donations - total-
ling nearly US$ 40,000 - had been used for "animal husbandry, poultry 
development, farming, horticulture, enhancing the health and welfare 
of the children as well as the surrounding community with regard to 
employment and handouts etc." 

Ms Cornneck also reeled out a long list of items and services pro-
cured with the cash donations: 45 cows, 41 goats, 1,000 chickens, wa-
ter pumps, wheelbarrows, garden tools, insecticide-treated nets, vac-
cines, tuition fees etc. "I think we are right on target, and that we 
are achieving our objectives," Dr Samba responded. "Our ultimate goal 
is to make this orphanage self-sustaining to the extent that it will 
have no need for further external support."

Two of the visitors to Mother of Peace on 18 February were senior of-
ficials of the Standard Chartered Bank of Zimbabwe who promised to 
facilitate the realization of this goal by opening credit facilities 
for the centre to launch and sustain its agro-related commercial ven-
tures.

An agricultural extension officer with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Lands 
attached to the centre, Mr Peter Myambo, rang optimistic about the 
economic future of Mother of Peace. "We are presently undertaking a 
farm planning assessment for the centre over a five-year (2001-2005) 
period, and our preliminary projections point to viability and prof-
itability," Mr Myambo said.

The Mutoko community is also reaping the benefits of the benevolence 
of WHO staff. Said Mr. Myambo: "At least 60 families live around the 
orphanage and they are direct beneficiaries of the assistance of WHO 
staff because they find employment here. Also, some of the donations 
in kind are passed on directly to them." 

Indeed, the future may hold even more in store for the small Mutoko 
community of 1,200. According to Dr. John Mwaniki, Director of Devel-
opment Innovations and Networks, a Harare-based NGO, a pilot poverty 
reduction project would be launched in the area this year. 

"This project would initially support 60 members of the community 
through the provision of inputs such as draught cattle and fertilizer 
to promote the development of agriculture and small-scale agro-allied 
industries," Dr. Mwaniki had said during a visit to Mother of Peace 
in September 2000..

"We are doing what we preach by promoting health through poverty re-
duction," Dr Samba said after his 18 February visit to Mutoko. "Poor 
health traps the poor, and poverty keeps them in poor health. We are 
proud to be making a difference in Mutoko."

Few will doubt that the example of Dr Samba and his staff is worthy 
of emulation. 

For further information, please contact:
Samuel T. Ajibola
Public Information and Communication Unit 
WHO Regional Office for Africa
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263-4-703-580; 706951; 707493; 705043 
Fax: +263-4-700-742
mailto:ajibolas@whoafr.org
All AFRO Press Releases can be found at the AFRO Home Page:
http://www.whoafr.org/

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