By 
By Ross Moyo
He is a pastor on Sunday and a Chairman on Monday. Gary Cross leads Northside Community Church and KidzCan Zimbabwe.
But on Thursday he was neither — he was a man thanking God for a village.
“We’re here tonight at Rainbow Children’s Village to bless the home. It’s a very significant milestone,” Cross said.
Milestone indeed. Zimbabwe loses a child to cancer almost every 5 days. In 2020, 69 children died according to KidzCan. 40% abandon treatment because they cannot afford bus fare.
The story started with Andrea Whatman. A survivor herself, she started visiting Parirenyatwa Hospital 26 years ago. She saw children sleeping on floors, mothers with no food, children dying of infection, not cancer.
She started KidzCan.
For years, KidzCan wanted a halfway house. “We never could actually do it, just funding resources weren’t available,” Cross admitted.
Then came Roundtable Zimbabwe and Meikles Foundation. They built what government could not — Rainbow Children’s Village.
Built in 2017, now in Phase 3, the village is more than a building. It is why a child from Binga can finish chemotherapy. It is why a mother from Rusape does not have to choose between rent in Harare and her child’s drugs.
“Rest, recover, eat, and enjoy a clean environment. All of these things are so important when you are undergoing treatment,” Cross said.
Today, KidzCan trains 440 nurses in Harare and Chitungwiza on early detection, works with 630 Apostolic churches, and is piloting awareness in Mashonaland Central.
One girl had bone cancer, had one leg amputated, got scholarships throughout Zimbabwe and is now a qualified neurosurgeon in New York — a survivor proof KidzCan uses to show early detection works.
If childhood cancers are diagnosed early and appropriate treatment given, 80% can be cured.
For now, at Rainbow Village, Cross and his team prayed — that God would bless every child, every caregiver, every family that comes through these doors.
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