Transformation stories

Girls' education in Zimbabwe

Many girls in rural Zimbabwe face extreme poverty, negative cultural and religious norms, early marriage and pregnancy and drop out of school as a result.

Between 2017 and 2021 a programme partly funded by a gift in a Will changed all that for 123,000 marginalised children.

Teachers and headteachers were trained in more than 300 schools, along with adult mentors and girl peer leaders. And 25,000 students received a bicycle so they could travel to school safely. They were also able to set up Community Learning Circles during Covid lockdown, enabling learners to continue during the pandemic.

Child Protection Committees – 298 of them – were created to raise awareness of the barriers girls face and strengthen the process for reporting abuse.

As a result, half of the girls who completed community-based education were able to pursue self-employment and over a quarter, further education.

Young mothers were able to continue their education without stigma and 89% of those who finished vocational training started an income-generating activity.

Gifts in Wills make so much possible including ensuring families can continue to send their children to school and complete their education. They can build a better future for themselves and those around them – for generations to come.

Being there in an emergency

When the devastating earthquake hit Syria and Türkiye in February 2023, World Vision teams were able to support straight away as we’d already been in Northwest Syria for over 10 years.  

We provided life-saving essentials like shelter, hygiene kits, clean water, food and education. Then 50 projects were launched to support survivors to rebuild, adapt and increase – helping more than 1.8 million people over one year. 

Almost 200,000 people received mental health and psychosocial support including Qamar*, 10. 

Qamar and her family live in a camp for displaced people, having fled their home in Syria in 2016. Both parents suffered physical and mental ill health, and Qamar was not developing as she should for her age. After the earthquake the family stayed outside for nine days before returning to their badly hit one-room lodging. 

Thanks to World Vision’s Protection Centre, Qamar, along with 600 children, began participating in psychological support sessions to understand her emotions and deal with them instead of bottling them up. 

Qamar is now doing much better and says, “I just want to grow up healthy just like my friends.” 

We don’t know what the future holds but gifts in Wills can help children wherever the need is greatest at that time. 

*Name changed to protect identity.

Every child deserves clean water

It’s estimated that 2 billion people don’t have safe drinking water, meaning children like Paseka must walk to find the closest water source.  

Paseka, 13, lives in Lesotho with his aunt and younger brother. He used to embark on an hour-long journey to the river to fetch water after school. 

He says "I missed out on learning and playing with my friends. We had to rely on river water, which was far from safe to drink. We used to visit the clinic frequently due to stomach pain. I even missed school days because I got sick from drinking river water, affecting my test scores.” 

But thanks to World Vision supporters, his life and that of his community was transformed. Now 12 standpipes dot the landscape in the area, providing clean and reliable water to 139 homes and one school. 

Paseka can fetch clean water from a tap just a few steps away from his home. His school results have also improved and he feels more hopeful. He says, “I want to be a doctor when I grow up, to make enough money to help support other communities the same way World Vision has helped us." 

Gifts in Wills can make so much possible, including supporting communities to have a safe and sustainable source of water, sanitation and improved hygiene practices.  

Multi-faceted support in a protracted crisis

In Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, around 1 million Rohingya people are crammed into the world’s largest refugee settlement, having fled violence and persecution in Myanmar. 

Brothers Ares, eight, and Hares, five, live there with their mother Juhara and younger sister Jasmin. Ares and Hares both have physical disabilities, so they can’t walk, play or move like other children. Ares can’t speak either. 

Taking care of them has been difficult as Juhara explains: “They were afraid to use the toilet as there were no handrails to hold. So, when they needed to go, I would help them defecate in the yard and later I would clean it.” 

Life changed for the family when handrails were built from the door of their house to the toilet. Shares Juhara: “[My children] can go to the toilet easily by themselves. Sometimes they play and laugh in the yard by holding the handrail. I smile, seeing their joy.”  

Simple changes like this have given Ares and Hares independence and dignity and have lifted a huge burden from Juhara. Since 2017, World Vision has provided humanitarian assistance to over 500,000 refugees in Cox’s Bazar, almost half of whom are children, providing essentials like clean water, food, and education. 

We don’t know what the future holds but gifts in Wills can help children wherever the need is greatest at that time. 

Passionate about regreening the community

Samson, 47, is a farmer and local leader passionate about regreening his community in Kenya. He lives with his wife Pauline and seven children in an area prone to drought due to the impacts of climate change. In May 2022, he joined 209 other smallholder farmers and pastoralists to train in Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration. FMNR is a simple, low-cost technique that regrows indigenous trees from felled tree stumps, sprouting root systems or tree seedlings naturally present in the soil.  

Samson has limited mobility after contracting polio as a child and shared his new knowledge with Pauline so they can work together. Soon the trees provided timber for firewood, fodder for animals and increased shade for grass. Nearly extinct indigenous plants began to pop up. And as the soil improved, crops grew better too. 

Thanks to the increased income from their farm, Samson and Pauline have been able to support their children’s education, with three already in college, and have spare time to spend with them too.  

“Growing up, there were lots of trees, wild food and fruits in abundance,” Samson recalls. “There was enough for us and our livestock to eat. If only we can restore that... our lives would change." 

A gift in your Will could enable more families and communities to be self-sufficient in the future. 

The first to go to university

Moses is 19 and the first person in his village in Malawi to go to university. When he was small, crops died, causing children to be malnourished and drop out of school. But everything changed when he was seven.  

Moses’ family and friends learnt new farming techniques, how to breed and care for the cows they were given, and how to set up cooperatives to sell milk. School fees could be paid, while local volunteers learnt about health and nutrition. The entire community has been transformed. 

Moses says “The whole village is improved – more kids are able to go to school, more people can buy food when they need it.” 

Moses is studying to become a doctor. “I want to save people’s lives, be the one who helps people to be healthy. Then I want to join an organisation like World Vision who helps people to improve their lives.” 

Moses is building his legacy for others. Could you leave a gift in your Will to help more children like him in the future?