Dear Tariro supporters,
Thank you so much for your continued support for Tairo: Hope and Health for Zimbabwe’s Orphans! You make such a huge difference in the lives and futures of the girls we support. I’m so proud of our students this year – they have been working hard at their studies and many have won awards and accolades and been selected for leadership positions at their schools! Our 2015 Annual Report is full of highlights from 2015 — please click here to read the full report.
A big first for Tariro in 2015 was taking part in the international giving movement, #GivingTuesday on 1 December – and what a success it was! Between donations made that day and over the course of the Fall Fundraising Campaign, we hit and exceeded our funding goal! Between online donations, checks mailed to our PO Box, and benefit events over the holiday season, you helped us raise more than $10,000. Wow. On behalf of our students, we are so grateful – Thank you!
In 2015, Tariro supported a total of 34 students enrolled at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The number of students we supported has decreased significantly over the past few years because of the increase in students who have been admitted to university. As we move into the future, Tariro will be actively seeking partnerships and scholarship opportunities for our students who are accepted to university so as to be able to build up our numbers of secondary school students again. The cost of sending one student to university is about the same as sending six students to secondary school, so we need to find new funding partners to join with us in supporting our university students.
Core to Tariro’s mission is helping girls finish secondary school – this is because this age group is the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, and staying in school is one of the single most important ways to bring down the risk of contracting the disease. I’ve seen several articles lately about the continued problem of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe, and I am reminded that by keeping girls in school and providing a safe, caring community for them to learn about HIV prevention, Tariro – with your help – is contributing to the solution.
The biggest change for Tariro in 2016 will be welcoming a new Executive Coordinator to take the helm of Tariro’s programs in Harare. We had to say goodbye in December to our previous coordinator, Kenny Magwada. Our candidate pool for the new hire is exceptionally strong, with hundreds of applicants. We are currently in the final interview phase and expect to have a new coordinator in place by 1 March. In the interim, our former coordinator, Fadzie Muzhandu – also a member of the Zimbabwe board – has stepped into the gap.
Thank you for your faithful support. On behalf of the entire board of directors, but most especially on behalf of our students – thank you.
Elizabeth Davis,
President, Tariro Board of Directors
Tariro: Hope and Health for Zimbabwe’s Orphans
P.O. Box 50273
Eugene, OR 97405
USA