Supporting the Umhambi children even after they have finished school was important to us when our association was founded, and is anchored in our statutes as the purpose of the association. However, this task is currently still difficult. In Zimbabwe, neither studying nor vocational training is free of charge, let alone associated with an allowance, as in Germany.
The money required to support vocational training or studies is far higher than the sums that we currently provide for school fees. In addition, there are costs for accommodation and living expenses, which we don’t currently have to pay for school children.
This means that with our current income, we cannot offer broad support after graduation.
In the spring of 2021, however, we received an inquiry to which we could not say no. Farai Mboweni, a student who had been supported by Umhambi up to that point, received outstanding grades and thus was determined to start studying afterwards. Much to our delight, he received a scholarship from an American aid organization, which covers the cost of the tuition fees.
Of course, as an association, we also wanted to make our contribution to Farai’s studies and decided to bear the costs of accommodation and living expenses of US$ 100 per month.
Farai is now studying social work in Harare and Misheck, who is mainly responsible for Umhambi’s on site affairs, can imagine Farai taking on a job at Umhambi after his studies.