Emily's Trip with Sethule Trust

After many months of planning, and after having gone on multiple service trips in the past (like in the picture above from a trip to the Dominican Republic!) I will finally be traveling to Zimbabwe Africa in February with the organization Sethule Trust and we need your help!

Sethule Trust is an organization with a mission to see orphans living an enjoyable and meaningful life through the support and love of their new families. The aims of the project are:

-To integrate orphans into families

-To support and strengthen families

-To uphold interests of orphans and vulnerable children in rural areas

-To promote the rights of children

-To reduce the vulnerability of children to abuse, STI's and HIV/Aids 

-To aid in the education of orphans and vulnerable children

These orphans are primarily the result of parents who have passed away from HIV/AIDS. Sethule works within the village community to integrate and support the children into these new families.   They provide workshops for the new parents and families about the importance of positive parenting, grieving, and education for the children on protection against STI's and HIV/Aids.  

Malnutrition is one of the largest problems for the families of this village.  Sethule Trust has started a food program of which a good portion of the food goes to the children in the pre-schools to help provide 2 nutritious meals a day.  Only $50.00 a month helps pay for an orphans basic needs as far as food, soap, toothpaste, etc.  A large portion of the funds raised will go to the feeding program as well as different programs directly within the village.  Please visit the website for Sethule Trust is located below:  

On a more personal note a trip like this one is expensive and costs do add up.  I will be paying for everything by myself which includes airfare and the costs of daily living within the family I will be living with, which adds up to about $10.00 a day and I'm hoping to stay about six months.  I'm also responsible for expenses incurred while volunteering in the different areas within the community.

  As a recent graduate with a Human Services degree I will be using my education in social work and case managing to work with the people of this village.  For example, I will hopefully be leading counseling session for the children of the village who's parents have passed away to aid them in dealing with their grieving and bereavement.  I will also be aiding Sethule Trust in training people to become better counselors and creating written materials about positive parenting to the parents of orphaned children.  All of this is wonderful and things that I am excited about, however everything that I will be doing does come with a cost.  For example, for me to lead the workshops and counseling session I need to provide meals for everyone attending. To create the booklets and pamphlets I need to provide all the funds to do so.  

Any sort of help will be greatly appreciated and I hope the work I do there will aid the community for years to come so no funds or donations will go unused!

I will also be starting a blog to document the work I am doing so donating or not please follow it to keep in touch!  Thank you so much!

Emily