Fifteen
percent
of
these
cases
involve
sexual
abuse
and
early
child
marriages.
Speaking
during
the
handover
ceremony
of
the
new
Childline
call
centre
in
Bulawayo
which
came
through
the
support
of
the
Australian
Embassy,
Taru
said
on
a
daily
basis
they
receive
over
1000
calls.
“On
a
daily
basis
we
receive
over
1000
calls
every
single
day
for
example
between
12
midnight
and
11
am,
we
have
already
received
347
calls
and
the
number
will
increase
especially
if
we
get
into
the
afternoon
when
some
of
the
children
have
left
school
where
they
are
now
able
to
access
phones,”
said
Taru.
“We
get
between
15
and
20
000
cases
every
year
because
calls
are
just
a
number
of
calls
that
come
through
the
call
centre
but
then
we
categorise
them
according
to
what
is
required.
In
terms
of
the
calls
that
then
translate
into
violence
cases,
we
receive
between
15
to
20
000
cases
every
year.”
She
added,
“These
cases
are
then
categorised
according
to
the
type
of
abuse
that
is
happening,
around
15
percent
of
those
cases
are
sexual
violence
cases,
children
are
being
raped,
children
are
being
molested
and
we
also
have
incidents
of
child
marriage
that
we
receive
through
the
call
centre.”
Taru
said
the
numbers
are
continuously
increasing
every
year,
“The
numbers
continue
to
go
up,
so
where
we
would
receive
11
000,
the
following
year
the
number
will
go
to
12
000
and
as
of
last
year
we
were
now
recording
around
15
665
cases
per
year
of
children
that
are
being
abused,”
she
said.
Taru
said
some
of
the
children
also
use
their
dropping
centres’
facilities.
“Some
of
the
children
physically
come
to
our
dropping
centres
if
they
need
assistance,
Childline
currently
has
32
dropping
centres
but
we
have
16
that
are
currently
functional,
some
of
them
are
not
functional
because
of
limited
resources,”
she
said.
She
added
that
the
new
call
centre
is
going
to
increase
the
number of
volunteers
attending
the calls.
“We
did
make
an
application
to
the
Australian
Embassy
last
year
and
we
managed
to
get
a
grant
to
construct
a
new
call
centre
for
Childline
Zimbabwe,
we
are
hoping
that
with
the
new
set
up
we
will
have
more
calls
coming
through
and
we
will
also
reduce
the
number
of
dropped
calls
that
were
coming
through
because
we
did
have
limited
volunteers
when
we
had
the
old
room
that
we
were
using,”
said
Taru.
She
also
said
they
received
support
from
Pretoria
Portland
Cement
(PPC)
and
they
are
grateful to
all
their
friends
who
came
through
to
ensure
that
they
continue
to
provide
the
critical
services
that
children
of
Zimbabwe
need.
Speaking
during
the
ceremony,
the
Deputy
Australian
Ambassador,
Susan
Cash
said
Childline
is
making
an
important
contribution
to
child
protection
efforts
in
Zimbabwe.
“The
work
that
Childline
undertakes
is
incredibly
important
in
complementing
the
Ministry
of
Health
and
Child
welfare
efforts
in
advancing
children’s
rights.
Children
need
to
grow
up
in
a
safe,
healthy
and
positive
environment,
however,
we
are
living
in
unprecedented
times
of
difficulty
where
children
now
face
a
myriad
of
challenges
which
have
been
more
pronounced
and
have
been
made
more
complicated
by
the
Covid-19
pandemic,”
said
Cash.
She
said
children’s
mental
health
and
emotional
well-being
have
been
adversely
impacted
by
the
pandemic.
“We
strongly
believe
that
Childline
116
toll-free
helpline
service
is
an
incredibly
important
support
to
children
in
different
forms
of
distress,”
said
Cash.
“Australia
is
committed
to
promoting
and
protecting
the
rights
of
children
and
we
are
incredibly
proud
to
have
supported
ChildLine
with
the
construction
of
their
new
call
centre,
we
hope
that
this
new
call
centre
will
enable
Childline
to
assist
even
more
children
in
Zimbabwe.”
