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The Life Sowing Ministries, Training Center, our vocational training school in Zimbabwe, has equipped over 12,000 graduates into the workforce with marketable skills.
In 1987, Child Legacy established an orphanage in Chingele, Zimbabwe. Currently, the Chingele Children’s Home provides invaluable shelter, education and care to over 40 Zimbabwean children. Our facility fosters a nurturing environment that allows individuals the chance to grow spiritually, emotionally and mentally.
As a result of providing a setting conducive to learning, the kids at Chingele have achieved some of the highest standardized testing scores in the area. Our primary school in Malawi offers an age-based curriculum to 60 children from pre-school to 5th grade. Additionally, we offer a bridge program that allows each child to transfer into our vocational training school upon completion of primary and secondary schooling–some of them choosing skills training, others opting for formal university or employment at CLI’s facilities. Overall, our initiatives aim to equip future generations with the right skills and resources to benefit both themselves and their community.
The heartbeat of CLI’s work is vocational training. We are committed to making vocational training a viable option for rural communities, and to helping every individual get the right training and core skills needed to contribute to sustainable development in Africa.
The Life Sowing Training School, our vocational training center in Zimbabwe, has graduated over 12,000 students, with over 80% retaining income-earning jobs today. Coursework ranges from auto mechanics to secretarial to cosmetology. In order to follow through with our students completely, CLI works with local businesses to locate employment for our graduates. In addition, we provide microfinance loans for qualified students to begin their own small businesses. Each loan gives an individual an opportunity to achieve their dreams and become a positive role model to help transform their communities. The big picture is that hundreds of teenage prostitutes and street kids are given the opportunity to learn a trade that keeps them from living lives of crime just to survive.
Vocational training provides the foundation to help individuals be self-sufficient. Men and women in Africa can learn a particular skill set or trade to provide for themselves and their families, and ultimately give back to their communities and empower their neighbors to realize their own ability to do the same. By promoting self-sufficiency, we are molding leaders of influence who will be agents of positive social change within their communities.
Since food is a necessity of life, we research and teach the local population the best agricultural methods and crop choices for the climate and soil of each specific rural community we serve.
Nearly 100 people from the surrounding villages are employed on the farm at our rural Malawi site, and they bring the methods learned from their vocation back to enrich the harvests in their own communities. Local farmers who implement what they’ve learned at CLI report larger yields within a single harvest cycle, providing nutrition for their families and participation in the markets. In addition, our vocational training schools provide in-depth education on large- and small-scale farming, including crop rotation, fertilization, and irrigation methods powered by renewable energy.
In Malawi, women and children are disproportionately affected by inadequate access to health care. Cultural traditions in many rural areas prevent women from carrying money or leaving the homestead for personal reasons such as a clinical visit. We empower women to overcome gender inequalities by not only offering free world-class health care in their immediate area but also by raising awareness in villages throughout Malawi. We work closely with traditional leaders and chiefs to facilitate dialogue that can ultimately change the way women are able to function in their communities.
For example, before opening our Labor & Delivery Ward in 2015, Child Legacy Hospital’s leadership staff met with chiefs from surrounding villages to create a plan of action and confirm their support of these services. Then, our clinicians and nurses organized and delivered multiple Community Sensitization Campaigns to educate and inform thousands of people about the dangers of delivering on a dirt floor. Many of the chiefs we worked with chose to implement a “mortality tax” on members of their village who chose to deliver at home instead of at the hospital— a practice that drastically decreases a woman’s chances of survival when giving birth.
CLI takes an active role in addressing the devastation brought about by the HIV/AIDS virus by bringing educational programs to the rural populations–the most high-risk areas–that focus on awareness and prevention. Our Mobile HIV/AIDS Program in Malawi educates individuals about maintaining healthy lifestyles and encourages them to know their HIV status so they can protect themselves and those they love.
With over half of Malawi’s population living below the poverty line, education could not be more important. Yet, many Malawian schools function without books, supplies, running water, or even qualified teachers, contributing to the the nation holding some of the lowest literacy rates in all of sub-Saharan Africa. We are working to raise the standard and bring high quality education to our community.
Our primary school provides children with a safe learning environment through licensed teachers, appropriate age-level curriculum, and all the learning supplies they need to thrive. But now, we need to expand to meet the demand for higher grade levels. We are so close to finishing the 3 new classrooms for our School Expansion Project, but we need your help!
The Life Sowing Ministries Training Center, our vocational training school in Zimbabwe, has equipped over 12,000 graduates into the workforce with marketable skills.
