A BULAWAYO-BASED HIV and Aids intervention organisation, Million Memory Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ), a private voluntary organisation, is the only surviving chapter after eight other Sadc chapters collapsed amid its success stories of HIV positive beneficiaries who are now assisting it and the communities around them.
The developments were revealed during a media tour organised by the National Aids Council at the MMPZ’s Nkulumane Centre, where it conducts its activities and during an engagement meeting held in Esigodini on Thursday.
MPPZ director Sandra Chivomvu told journalists during the tour at Nkulumane that the organisation turned 21 this year since it was formed in 2004.
She said it started off as a trust and later on became a private voluntary organisation in 2017.
“In the start when the organisation was formed, it was part of a consortium of 10 organisations that were based in 10 different countries in the Sadc region,” she said.
She said over the years, the other consortium member organisations slipped into oblivion and MMPZ remained the only surviving partner.
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Chivomvu said originally, the organisation was formed to offer psycho social support to children living with HIV around 2004 when there was no paediatric art and children would not go beyond age of five.
She said the organisation was created to assist these young people to appreciate life more.
“So the Million Memory comes from one of our tools that we use to collect different memories together with their parents just preparing for life in general,” she said.
“When children reach five years, we then incorporate parents in our interventions to try and offer support to the parents of those children.”
During engagements with the media in Esigodini, MMPZ community development officer Freddy Matumbu said in their interventions, they are working with schools in Bulawayo and Mpilo Central Hospital, with engagements being made with the United Bulawayo Hospitals on the programming around HIV and Aids.
Matumbu said the MMPZ has recorded various success stories around its intervention programmes, among them being their recognition on its activities with partners, schools, health institution and the Youth ministry, among others.
“We now have young people engaged through the budding support system and we also have young people capacitated to assist other young people in their communities,” he said.
Matumbu said the organisation has conscientised parents with children who have HIV on how to deal with such issues, although he indicated that every family has its way of dealing with the issue considering the fact that people react different to situations.
He added that they were working with churches to increase the information spread.
“This year alone, we had three churches we have engaged which have been able to communicate on HIV interventions and other activities to assist young people, to assist them see HIV as not an end of life,” he said.
“We also have teachers volunteering to provide lessons to HIV positive children who will have missed lessons.
“Currently, we have one teacher from Mzilikazi who assists such children to be able to catch up where they missed in their lessons.”
MMPZ deputy board chairman Tapfuma Machakaire said among the major success stories of the organisation was its survival after its consortium members from the Sadc countries collapsed.
He said up to 2010, the other consortium members started disappearing and could no longer attend meetings, adding that this also led the MMPZ to a near collapse.
Machakaire said he was engaged by the organisation in 2010 when it was also most collapsing.
He said he did documentaries and highlighted various ticking issues around it and its target goals, which set its revival in motion.
Machakaire said after its near collapse, the organisation struggled to have new directors until recently when they appointed Chivomvu.
He said some of the success stories are that of children with HIV, who at some point contemplated committing suicide and felt neglected, but through the intervention of MMPZ, they picked themselves up and continued with life.
“Some of those children are now adults who are assisting other HIV positive young people.
“They are now volunteers and assist in our programming.”