My name is Roseline Ndoro and I am the Charity’s founder and chairperson.

Ndoro Children’s Charities has been formed to turn awareness into positive action. Our first major project is to build an orphanage home, school and clinic in Zimbabwe.

The Zororo Leadership Academy will be a school and home for orphans. Emphasis will be placed on the devastating effects of the HIV/AIDs epidemic on the family.

"Zororo" means peaceful and restful

The secured school site is a farm and as such the school will be financially self-sufficient in the long-term. This will minimise project costs and maximise effectiveness making the project sustainable.

I visited Zimbabwe in 2005, after over a decade away. I was emotionally and physically affected by the plight of the Zimbabwean people; especially children orphaned due to to HIV/AIDs, TB and Cancer. What I saw is hard to describe let alone imagine as it is far removed from the Zimbabwe I grew up in and our daily lives in the UK. The experience left me with a vast feeling of emptiness and helplessness. I counted no less than 16 orphaned children within my extended family. Can you imagine how many children must be orphans in an entire village? The eyes of those small children shall haunt me for the rest of my days.

Fully understanding the meaning of “charity begins at home”, I decided to setup Ndoro Children’s Charity with help from my family and friends in the UK. Unfortunately, before I could fully pursue this course, I was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo extensive treatment and therapy. While on the road to recovery, my life partner and biggest supporter had a massive heart attack and passed away suddenly in October 2006. His death not only turned my world upside down, it also robbed me of a special person that had willingly agreed to help the children. Shortly after, my brother and only close relative in Zimbabwe also caught an untimely death in November 2006. Due to this unfortunate series of events and setbacks all immediate plans to launch the Charity were put on hold, but the idea never died.

I was finally able to start the charity in August 2007.

I decided to register a charity in honour of my father – Michael C. Ndoro who believed that if you educate girls, you educate a nation. He saw a window of opportunity for every child regardless of race, colour, religion or creed.

I went back to Zimbabwe in late February 2007 and carried out a small survey. I collected 179 names of children in two days. Their ages ranged from 4 to 16 years. 120 of these children are orphans, and are cared for by their grandparents, relatives and other children as young as 13years old. 80 of these children did not attend school and at least a third of these children were HIV positive. Medicine for these children is not readily available and the nearest clinic is at least 30 miles away in a country without a public transport system. The number of orphans and vulnerable children increases on a daily basis with over 80% of children considered vulnerable. Food has become a scarce commodity in a country which used to be the bread basket of Africa. With food shortages, hyper inflation in excess of a million%, unemployment and many households headed by grandparents being the norm, there are little or no prospects for these children. The idea of a healthy and normal childhood or to reach adulthood is a fantasy.

Zimbabwe now has the lowest life expectancy in the world. The most difficult thing of all is knowing that these children are victims and innocent in all of this.

Your support or any assistance you may offer shall be warmly welcomed. I look forward to your correspondence and to meeting you in person sometime soon.

Thank you for your support

Roseline Ndoro