AS the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread throughougt the world and Zimbabwe in particular, children with developmental challenges have been identified as some of the most vulnerable during the COVID-19-induced lockdown. Zimcare Trust director Nicholas Aribino says if mitigation measures are not strengthened to take care of the vulnerable, the effects might severely affect children with developmental challenges. The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsDay (ND) senior parliamentary reporter Veneranda Langa and Aribino (NA). ND: What is Zimcare Trust and who are its beneficiaries? NA: Zimcare Trust is a private voluntary organisation (PVO) 57/82 with a non-profit-making agenda, administering 14 centres across the country for persons with intellectual challenges. Zimcare Trust legacy started much further back than 1981, when the organisation was formed by an amalgamation of Hopelands Trust, Salisbury Association for the Care of the African Mentally Handicapped (Sascam), the Midlands Association for the Mentally Sub-normal African Children (Mamsac) and Sibantubanye Day Care Centre. Zimcare Trust centres within Harare are Homefields, St Catherine, Sharon Cohen, Tinokwirira, Batsirai, Ruvimbo, Zambuko, Bulawayo (Sibantubanye, Sir Humphrey Gibbs and Simanyane), Mudavanhu in Midlands, Rubatsiro in Kadoma, Ratidzo in Masvingo and lastly Chengetai in Manicaland province. All these centres cater for children and young men and women with intellectual challenges by providing specialised education and care for age groups between six and 17 years and those 18 years and above. ND: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the PWDs that Zimcare looks after? NA: The novel coronavirus involuntarily undermined the fundamental rights of children and young people with intellectual challenges, in particular the right to adequate food as well as quality and specialised education. The organisation is confronted with the threat of COVID-19 as an emergency that comes in the form of food insecurities. The nation thrives on an informal sector and with extended lockdowns, the total number of people requiring food relief that had previously been estimated by World Food Programme is likely going to double from 4,3 million. This places children and young people with intellectual challenges on the extreme receiving end compared to other social groups. The centres under Zimcare Trust thrive on income-generating projects (IGPs) for subsistence and commercial purposes. The emergence of the pandemic means that all these economic nuggets had to be stopped, further exposing people with intellectual challenges to hunger and food insecurity, a chief evil that the sustainable development goals has been committed to address. ND: What kind of mitigation measures did you embark on in order to ensure PWDs in your organisation are safe and well taken care of? NA: Due to the mysteries associated with the coronavirus on treatment or diagnosis compared to other diseases, we had no option except to adhere to presidential directive of working from hom
