Across Zimbabwe, girls without any options are forced into early marriage to men who are abusive, unfaithful and, in too many cases, infected with HIV. Zimkids Orphan Trust, run by Dennis Gaboury and Elinor Burkett of Hobart, is changing that. We’re giving them nothing less, and nothing more, than control over their own destinies.
How? “Women’s work” doesn’t get you very far in Zimbabwe, so last year, we trained two girls in welding and building techniques– from laying brick to pouring cement. Now, we’re establishing an expanded version of that program, ZimGirls Welding, and growing it into an independent company for future trainees. And we plan to make it a template for other microenterprises run by, and tailored to, dozens of young women orphaned by AIDS.
We’re currently competing in a Nike/GlobaGiving Foundation challenge to improve the lives of girls across the world. In order to become one of the twelve winning organizations – each of which will get about $30,000 - we need as many individual donations as possible during the month of November. Donations don’t need to be large. Since it’s the NUMBER of donations, not the total amount raised, that will catapult us to the top, even $10 will make an enormous difference.
Our goal is 1000 donations, and we've already received tremendous support from our neighbors. But we have long way to go, so can you spread the word and ask your friends and family members to give our girls a helping hand? Every little contribution is worth a LOT to us. Let’s take these young women viral!
To donate –before November 30th - go to
http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/building-girls-futures/
For more information on Zimkids, go to www.zimkids.com or facebook/zimkids
