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The Orphans Guardian Angel (OGA), a philanthropic organisation founded and led by Miss Mollin Munyaradzi Ziwira, a nurse based in the United States of America is an inspiration and fountain of hope to the needy in Zimbabwe.
The organisation was formed in 2010 and Miss Ziwira said she was inspired by the need to help those in need. OGA has a presence in Rusape, Murehwa, Buhera, and Harare. To date, more than 1 000 children have been assisted.
Spiked Online Media was in Rusape recently and caught up with Mrs. Fildah Netsayi Venge and Mrs. Harriet Nyamasoka who are the OGA coordinators for the organisation’s beneficiaries at Tsanzaguru Primary School.
“OGA has helped us in many ways. We are really grateful for the gestures rendered to our beneficiaries. The organisation has been paying school fees for the beneficiaries on time. They also buy the beneficiaries, who are mostly from child-headed families, some school uniforms, shoes, and socks.
“OGA has been buying the beneficiaries some Christmas groceries every year. Miss Ziwira has been taking our kids for lunch in town every time she comes to visit Zimbabwe. This year (2022) she bought us a refrigerator for the income-generating project. We plan to buy and sell freezits then we might be able to pay part of school fees for one or 2 kids,” Mrs. Venge said.
Clemence Tafadzwa Mutero, another beneficiary of the OGA philanthropy said he first met Miss Ziwira and OGA in 2019 after she heard his story on a popular radio programme called Tilda live.
“I was in college where I funded my own education while taking care of my mom and sisters. In 2020, my fees were paid by OGA and since it was Covid-19 time and there were scarce part-time jobs, I received food humpers from OGA and that helped me to sustain my family. I graduated in political science from the University of Zimbabwe last year and as usual, OGA paid school fees for me and gave me food hampers that I shared with my family.
“It was a tough time especially when I had to look after my sister’s child and pay for my younger sister’s fees. OGA eased the burden by taking care of my family while I studied. And when I graduated, everything was taken care of, from buying the gown to paying the graduation fee.
“Right now I am a graduate trainee at Viteqy Medicine Insurance Company. I hope one day I would be able to fund school fees and provide groceries for children in need. I know how it feels to be at the receiving end of poverty. OGA taught me that taking care of the needy helps ease the pressure and stress that people in such predicaments face every day,” Mutero said.
Miss Ziwira said OGA has taken the initiative to not only source food for the orphans but equip them with vocational skills which will enable them to become economically independent and take care of their families as most of them come from child-headed families.
“These initiatives include sewing and welding. We recently started a detergent-making project where beneficiaries will be able to not only generate income but also learn business administration skills and marketing. We understand that the world is evolving and many innovations are coming into play, therefore, we are also aiming at empowering them in the area of financial literacy so that they not only learn how to make money to buy food and basic necessities while being able to save and make that money grow.
“We have a team of volunteers who are from different fields and that includes social workers and counsellors. Occasionally, we take time to visit and spend some time with the children and youths and allow them to have a safe space where they can freely voice out their concerns about where they’re coming from and be able to get emotional, social, and psychological help,” Miss Ziwira said.
OGA has partnered with different stakeholders in an attempt to create relationships that will be beneficial to the children under its care. It is proud of the success stories of children who have come from dire backgrounds but are now able to fend for themselves.
“We have one youth who is permanently employed at a clothing manufacturing company whose position was secured by OGA and most of the help we have received has come from individuals who continue to support us over the years.
“We still thrive to make partnerships with organizations and recently we received sewing machine tools from Tools With A Mission (TWAM) which are going towards our vocational centre. Currently, our academic scholarships are available at primary and secondary levels as we have been the ones mainly funding the money that goes towards the paying of these fees. We do hope to be able to take through children from primary through to college until they realize their dreams and God-given visions.
“We continue to work towards empowering more children and youths who are in positions of disadvantage and our vision is to grow our vocational centre and be able to offer more skills, especially to disadvantaged women and girls so that they’re empowered to walk away from unsafe situations which they’re prone to go through as a result of not being able to fend for themselves,” Miss Ziwira added.