JULIET | Zimbabwe
A Safe Place to Live
The prisons in Zimbabwe are overrun with nearly 19,000 prisoners—a number that has steadily increased over the last few years. Sadly, it’s their families left behind who suffer most.
Mothers must feed little mouths on scarce incomes and few resources. Children face the cruel reality of judgment and discrimination from their peers and communities for being related to a prisoner. Some experience the violent reality of the streets.
And many are swept, all-too-quickly, from childhood to adulthood, as they drop out of school and work to help their families get by.
When Juliet’s husband was incarcerated, she was left alone in a dangerously rundown house with her six children.
“It seemed everything turned against us,” says Juilet. “I used to ask God, ‘Why me?’”
In her despair, she considered abandoning her children.
“I did not know how I was going to look after six children.”
Juliet found piecemeal work, but it was not enough. During a visit to Chikurubi Maximum Prison, Juliet’s husband begged Prison Fellowship Zimbabwe staff to care for his family.
In September 2015, after a year of preparation, Prison Fellowship Zimbabwe became the eighth country to partner with our child sponsorship program, allowing more families of prisoners to receive assistance in the areas of safety, health, education, and spiritual care.
The program assisted the Zindoga family to move into safe and stable home, and help the children go to school.
Give families like Juliet’s help and hope.