Working For The Orphans Of Zimbabwe

By Tanjua Damon

The basement of Dianne Malin’s home is full of books, bedding, clothes, children’s furniture, and toys that have been collected and donated from the surrounding community to help orphaned children in Chinudyze, Zimbabwe.

With half the money raised to send the donated items, Mrs Malin of Newtown Christian Church is hoping that the community will come together again to help raise $2,350 to the $4,600 that is needed to send the items across the ocean. A recent tag sale raised $1,250 and another $1,000 was donated early in the project.

The orphaned children from Chinudyze, Zimbabwe, are HIV positive or are infected with AIDS. An organization through an American Christian missionary program called All God’s Children is heading the project that has been building a hospital and living quarters for many children in Zimbabwe who have been orphaned.

Americans Jim and Denise Hayes have been heading the project in Zimbabwe. Mrs Malin had an opportunity to speak with Mrs Hayes, who was back in the States seeing a new grandchild. Mrs Hayes is pleased with the work that is being done here in Newtown and is thankful for all the support, according to Mrs Malin.

“It was really, really neat. She brought pictures of the stuff they already have,” Mrs Malin said about her meeting with Mrs Hayes. “They sleep on cow dung with ten people in a row on the floor of the huts. They are lucky if they have blankets.”

Mrs Malin began this project with putting some things in a box hoping to touch a few lives. But her simple gesture blossomed into a larger scale with the community answering the call.

“It really has been God-led. I have not done this. I made a couple of calls and it all came to me,” Mrs Malin said. “It helps children. It’s going to touch hundreds of lives for years and years to come. It’s going to affect generations.”

Ms Malin decided to make it her mission to organize the collecting here in Newtown. She has solicited from various towns to collect children’s items like books, clothing, furniture, and toys to send by boat to the orphaned children of Zimbabwe. But before it can be sent, the money needs to be raised to get the 20’ x 8’ x 8’ container to then send it to the village.

More then 3.7 million children have died from the AIDS epidemic that began in the 1970s in Africa, according to UNAIDS. Another 12 million children have been orphaned by the epidemic. In Zimbabwe, one-quarter of adults are infected. In 1999, 160,000 adults and children died and 900,000 children were orphaned.

Mrs Malin is grateful to all those who have made individual donations as well as schools and businesses like Once Upon a Child, a children’s consignment shop in Danbury, who have donated many items to the crusade.

For more information about helping with the monetary cost of shipping the items, contact Dianne Malin at 364-0441 or send a check to Newtown Christian Church, All God’s Children Fund, 210 Sugar Street, Newtown, CT 06470.