by Tichaona Chifamba
HARARE, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Outgoing Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Yuan Nansheng on Monday gave 10,000 U.S. dollars to Mashambanzou Care Trust, as he bade farewell to the Harare home which caters for Zimbabweans infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Yuan will leave Zimbabwe on July 1 after a two-and-half year tour of duty.
He started the Care Action program to mobilize the Chinese community and businesses to support disadvantaged people especially those affected and infected by HIV and AIDS.
Mashambanzou Care Trust became his focal point, with the Chinese business community and diplomats visiting it at least once a month to help in one way or another.
"During my two-and-half years here, I think the most important thing I did was to launch Care Action. Care Action is a program that mobilizes all the Chinese people here and Chinese private companies and diplomats to support and take every measure to help the disadvantaged people in Zimbabwe, especially the HIV infected, the orphans and the disadvantaged people. The exact place we use to support Care Action is Mashambanzou," he said.
"So far all the Chinese in Zimbabwe have already supported more than 1,200 orphans and President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have paid high tribute to Care Action," Yuan said.
He pledged continued Chinese support for Mashambanzou Care Trust, saying the incoming ambassador was a caring man who would continue with the work that had been started.
Mashambanzou Care Trust was established in 1989 and celebrates its 20th anniversary in October. It provides home-based care, education, orphan outreach and community work among the infected and affected.
Some beneficiaries are help to start and manage small businesses so that they become self-reliant.
Finance manager Rosa Chigwa thanked Yuan for the assistance he had rendered to the charitable organization and chronicled how Care Action had helped ease the problems of disadvantaged communities in Harare's high-density suburbs, including providing education to 54 children who had not been going to school.
She said the trust had received 28,400 dollars and food, bicycles and a sewing machine.
The Chinese community has, since the launch of Care Action, also supported the Zimbabwean First Lady Mrs Grace Mugabe build an orphanage which will accommodate about 1,000 children just outside Harare.
"In that orphanage, the Chinese government is ready to help build a primary school which will hold more than 800 pupils there. There first phase of the orphanage is almost complete," he said.
Besides assisting Mashambanzou Care Trust and the orphanage, Care Action also supports the Danhiko Project, which cares for the paralyzed, while other companies help schools and orphans either through the program or as individuals.
