Irish Minister of State to visit Young Africa Zimbabwe

This coming Monday, we’ll be welcoming someone special at our Chitungwiza Centre, Zimbabwe, Mr. Neale Richmond, Ireland’s Minister of State for International Development and Diaspora. It’s the first time an Irish Minister is visiting us, and the first Irish Minister visit to Zimbabwe in 20 years. It means more than we can put into words.

This visit is about showing what’s possible when two organisations, SERVE and Young Africa, come together with one shared belief, that young people deserve a real chance at life.

For the last 17 years, SERVE has stood with us. Quietly, consistently, powerfully. And thanks to the generosity of Irish Aid, thousands of young people in Zimbabwe and Mozambique have learned a skill, found purpose, and discovered their worth.

We seen it in the young mother who learned to weld. In the boy who fixed his first solar panel and smiled like the sun itself. In the classrooms that came alive with possibility. In the volunteers who crossed oceans just to be part of something bigger than themselves.

This visit is a thank you. Not just to Minister Richmond, but to every Irish person who has made this work possible. Through SERVE, your support has built hostels and classrooms, equipped workshops, funded scholarships, trained teachers, and launched dreams.

Right now, SERVE and Young Africa are in the middle of their latest three-year journey, phase 2 of the Skills for Youth Resilience Programme, supporting 5,000 young people with tools that don’t just teach, but transform. It’s also why we were able to launch our first mobile training unit in Bulawayo, because of you.

So when the Minister walks through our centre, we hope he sees more than buildings.
We hope he sees hope, resilience and every young life that’s been changed.

And we hope he leaves knowing this: You haven’t just helped us. You’ve walked beside us. And that’s something we’ll never forget.

Thank you, SERVE.
Thank you, Irish Aid.
And thank you, Ireland.