Spar Rainbow Run

Zimbabweans of all ages, sizes and walks of life came together at Mount Pleasant Sports Club on Saturday 28 May 2022 to literally create a rainbow of hope, promise and fun for Childline. More than 2,500 participants registered for the event.

Formerly known as the SPAR Family Fun Run, the event was rebranded in 2017 to the SPAR Rainbow Run. The rainbow is a symbol of hope. It is a promise to protect. It is a message of love and signals the end of a storm. This is what Childline seeks to do for hundreds of thousands of children who reach out to them in their hour of need, every day. Even if they are too frightened to give their name, these children have access to help.

In a ceremony to hand over the cheque to Childline held at their Harare Call Centre on Thursday 9 June, Cypren Borerwe, General Manager of SPAR Zimbabwe said, “It is our conviction that children are the future leaders of tomorrow and that every Zimbabwean child ought to be protected and be afforded a chance to grow in an environment which gives them their rights and proper protection. A hope for the future.”

SPAR Zimbabwe’s relationship with Childline started in 1997, and has continued to grow and strengthen over the years as Childline’s operations have grown to deal with an ever-increasing need. Childline is the only non-profit organization of its kind in Zimbabwe, focusing on working in partnership with the Government to stop child abuse and provide a safe environment for all children.

“We are humbled by the work that Childline does every day to protect the children of our country, and we are honoured to contribute in a small way towards this noble initiative".

The Rainbow Run is our biggest annual fund raising event on behalf of Childline, and we are so happy to have managed to get it back onto the calendar after an absence of more than 2 years due to COVID. We are delighted to announce that a total of USD $37k was raised on the day, our biggest ever result for the Rainbow Run,” Mr Boererwe said.

The Childline Helpline has received 9,257,378 calls from 1997 to date. Currently the help line receives an average of 87,594 calls a month, translating to 2,820 calls per day from children reaching out to have their voice heard from all over Zimbabwe.

Since it opened, Childline has documented 132,054 cases of child abuse, neglect and child marriage. 66% of these are female, 33% are male. The most vulnerable age groups are 13-15 year-olds (32%) followed by 10-12 year-olds (23%). Of all the cases documented by Childline, abuse cases are the most prevalent (71%), followed by neglect (21%), and child marriage (8%).

At the handover ceremony, Shamiso Pfumayaramba from SPAR Zimbabwe’s Responsible Retailing platform said, “We would like to thank everyone who participated, from sponsors and suppliers, to service providers, partners, the SPAR and Childline teams and the whole community, to make this wonderful day possible. Childline is a place of refuge, it is the ear that listens without judging, it is the hand that protects without asking for anything in return. The $37,500 raised from the SPAR Rainbow Run in aid of Childline 2022 will help to keep this vital lifeline open for all the children of Zimbabwe.”