“The spread of HIV/AIDS will not be stopped unless the human rights of women and girls are at the centre of the response.” ~ UNICEF

Tariro’s work with orphaned Zimbabwean girls emphasizes the importance of women’s education as an effective response to the AIDS epidemic. Young women orphaned by HIV/AIDS are often forced to drop out of school due to a lack of financial resources, putting them at extremely high risk for contracting HIV themselves. Education can reverse this negative cycle, empowering young women to build a future free from poverty and disease.

How did Tariro start?

Tariro was founded in 2003 by two Mount Holyoke College alumnae, Memory Bandera and Jennifer Kyker, in order to address the particular needs of Zimbabwean teenaged girls. Young women are at highest risk for contracting HIV, yet many non-profit organizations operating in Zimbabwe focussed on younger children, leaving teenaged girls without the critical resources they need to obtain an education. In founding Tariro, Memory and Jennifer sought to redress this disparity by providing comprehensive educational support for teenaged girls to enable them to finish secondary school education.

Why are women and girls at higher risk for contracting HIV/AIDS?

“Girls and young women are highly vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, and a lack of education makes them more so. Girls are at greater risk than boys because of gender inequalities in status, power, and access to resources.” ~ World Bank

Around the world, women and girls are more susceptible to contracting HIV/AIDS for a variety of reasons, including social, economic, and educational disparities. Socially, women may be at higher risk of HIV infection due to factors such as their role as caretakers for relatives already infected with HIV/AIDS. Desperate economic conditions can force young women to trade sex for food and other necessities. Lower literacy rates and education levels among women and girls compound these social and economic factors, putting women and girls in an extremely high risk category for becoming infected with HIV/AIDS.

Tariro’s focus on young women and girls is a strategic move to work toward promoting gender equality as a necessary step in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS.

How does education protect young women against HIV/AIDS?

“Growing evidence shows that getting and keeping young people in school, particularly girls, dramatically lowers their vulnerability to HIV… Evidence from Zimbabwe shows that among 15-18 year old girls, those who are enrolled in school are more than five times less likely to have HIV than those who have dropped out.” ~ Global Coalition on Women and AIDS

Attending school dramatically reduces the risk that young Zimbabwean women will become infected with HIV/AIDS. School enrollment delays the onset of sexual activity among young people, reducing their risk of infection, and participation in HIV/AIDS education in schools improves girls’ knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

Completing a secondary school education is the single most important factor in reducing a young woman’s risk of becoming infected with HIV/AIDS. For Zimbabwean girls, education is truly a life-saving opportunity. 

What makes orphaned girls more likely than their peers to drop out of school?

“Girls are more likely than boys to be retained at home for domestic work when household income drops due to AIDS deaths or to care for sick relatives. Thus HIV/AIDS reduces girls’ already low enrollment in secondary and tertiary education.” ~ World Bank

Like many other African nations, even government-funded schools Zimbabwe require each child to pay mandatory school fees and to buy their own uniforms, textbooks, and supplies. Students who cannot afford to cover these costs are not permitted to attend school, depriving them of the chance to complete even a basic education.

Orphaned girls are especially vulnerable; girls may be required to drop out of school in order to care for ill relatives, do domestic work at home, or look after younger siblings. Social expectations may also favor the education of boys over that of girls, as girls are expected to become wives and mothers while boys are expected to seek employment outside the home. Orphaned girls are also likely to drop out of school because they are living with extended families and guardians who may not be able to send all the children in their care to school. These families often prioritize education for their own children and aren’t able to send the orphaned children living with them to school.

Why is the economic situation in Zimbabwe so bad?

Beginning in 2000, President Mugabe began a land reclamation program to transfer land from white Zimbabwean farmers descended from European colonizers into the hands of black Zimbabweans.  The initiative prompted severe economic stress in the country and resulted in many non-operable farms, food shortages, job losses, and severe inflation.  

The country has struggled to recover economically ever since, a situation compounded by periods political and civil protest and unrest. In an effort to stabilize the economy, the government began allowing the use of the US  dollar as standard currency in 2009.  

To add to this complex situation, 2016 was a year of severe drought, heightened civil unrest, protest against the government, and renewed financial insecurity brought on by the introduction of new currency bonds that seem to have further destabilized an already unstable economy.

As a result, Zimbabwe is currently experiencing profound economic challenges that have led to significant job losses and unprecedented levels of poverty. Currently, 9 out of 10 people are out of work and the average person lives on only $2.50 per day.  

What is the school system like in Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe schools are in two levels: primary and secondary school.  All Zimbabwean children are expected to attend primary school through Grade 7. Students then continue to secondary school, which begins at Form 1 and continues through Form 6.  At approximately age 16 at the end of Form 4, students sit national-level exams in 11 subjects – these are called Ordinary Level (O-Level) Exams.  

Students who do well enough on these exams will be able to continue studying three subjects through Form 6.  If a student does not do well enough on her exams, she has the option of re-sitting her O-Level exams or finishing school and switching to a vocational program or entering the workforce.

Students who continue to Form 6 will sit national-level exams in their three subjects – these are called Advanced Level (A-Level) Exams.  Students who do well on their A-Level Exams have the option of continuing their studies at university or at a post-secondary institute.

Although Zimbabwe has public schools, these schools are not free to the students.  Students face costs for school fees, exam fees, school uniforms, school supplies, books, and even transportation to get to and from school. Students whose families are unable to pay these fees are at risk of not finishing their education. Many of Tariro’s sponsored students have had long interruptions in their education while their families tried to raise money for fees.

Tariro believes that education is a basic human right and should be available to all children, regardless of socio-economic status. By working with young women orphaned by HIV/AIDS, Tariro seeks to meet the challenge of ensuring that even the most vulnerable Zimbabwean children have access to the life-saving opportunity of obtaining an education.