Health and Nutrition Development Initiative

A women is selected from each village to attend ASAP's skills training in agriculture farming

Orphans are children whose dreams and hopes have been shattered by the loss of their parents. In Zimbabwe 3,000 people die every week of HIV/AIDS related illness, leaving over one million children that have lost one or both parents. Traditional obligations to provide care to these abandoned children remain strong. Nearly 20% of adult headed households already contain orphans. When parents die, orphaned children are often sent to the rural area to stay with distant extended families; often with relatives they have never met. Child headed households are increasing at alarming rates as over-burdened families can no longer cope.

This home based care center works to become self reliant with the help of sewing machines and skills training

ASAP's HANDEI project helps strengthen rural communities to meet the increased demands created by this urban to rural migration of helpless children. Agriculture training and nutritional gardening helps to increase food production but filling the physical requirement for survival is only a start. The spiritual and emotional needs of these orphans, left abandoned and devastated by the killer HIV/AIDS, are equally important. Increasing HIV/AIDS awareness and providing training in psycho-social support and counseling for community and family members helps to create a more nurturing environment for these traumatized children.

Vocational skills training for unemployed youth provide survival skills and income

Shona is the predominant language spoken in rural Zimbabwe. HANDEI is a Shona word meaning "Let's go!"! This project builds upon the momentum and team spirit created as part of the IS&L project.

HANDEI means Let's Go Move forward with ASAP to strengthen community members to thrive

ASAP works with the community to identify to most urgent needs to be addressed so the HANDEI project looks slightly different in every village. Agriculture skills, conservation farming techniques and HIV/AIDS awareness are normally included with other skills added as requested by the community. For example: building a sustainable income base of a community home-based care center, providing vocational skills to unemployed young adults, and training in animal husbandry such as rearing rabbits for protein and nutrition.

In all of these ways, HANDEI increases the capabilities of communities to meet many of their own needs and creates self reliance.