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CHILDLINE ZIMBABWE Issued 4th June, 2002

(Extracted from Philatelic Bureau Bulletin No 3 of 2002)2

Childline-Zimbabwe is the free, confidential multilingual helpline service which, through its

unique approach of freepost, freephone and drop-in centre, aims to reach all children in Zimbabwe

regardless of economic circumstances.

The organisation was founded in 1997 by members of Soroptimist International of Harare and

later Bulawayo, who realised the importance of reaching out to children and young people in the

rural areas of Zimbabwe where access to a telephone is limited, and thus the idea of an issue of

Childline stamps was born.

The illustrations for the Childline issue were done by the children themselves as a result of a

nationwide 'Design a Stamp Competition' held with the support of the then Posts and

Telecommunications Corporation now called Zimbabwe Posts.

Below are the four winning designs used for the stamps.

$12: Tazivei Makwavarara of Peterhouse

Girls School

$25: Ashley Elkington of Hellenic School

Approximately one hundred letters a week are currently received from children in all areas of

Zimbabwe. This number is expected to rise considerably after the issue of these stamps. Every

writer receives a reply sent in a plain brown envelope to any safe address given by the child.

Many of the issues raised by children in Zimbabwe echo the concerns of young people the world

over, with problems of abuse, sexual, physical, emotional and neglect forming a high percentage

of all letters and calls receded. Relationship problems with parents, step-parents or

boyfriends/girlfriends also feature strongly. Issues relating to school problems, especially payment

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of school fees and birth certificates are common, and requests for information on HIV/Aids have

seen a rapid increase in the past few months.

$35: Goldine Hobbs, also of Hellenic School

$45: Admire Kacheche of Mhangura School

Childline considers the family unit to be the optimal environment for the growth and welfare of

all children in Zimbabwe, but the phenomenal growth of Childlines the world over reflects their

growing acceptance and importance, particularly in the field of child protection.

Other winners of the design competition:

Left: Ken Elliot of St Johns College (used in

Bulletin

Above: Cuan Fisher of Midlands Christian

college (not used)

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The Stamps

Catalogue listings

SG ZSC1 Value Description

1083 509 $12 Two girls by Tazivei Makwavarara

1084 510 $25 Girl on public phone by Ashley Elkington

1085 511 $35 Teddy bear by Goldine Hobbs

1086 512 $45 Help phone by Admire Kacheche

Technical details

Stamp size: All values 35 x 30 mm

Sheet Size: 50 stamps (10 rows of 5 stamps), two panes per printed sheet

Artist: Artists as described above, adapted for stamp design by Dianne

Duedney

Paper: ZSC paper type H - another HS8 type paper. The paper is off-white

and non-fluorescent front and back, PVA creamish gum. The shade

intensity of the gummed side may vary occasionally under UV.

Print colours: Cyan, magenta, yellow & black

Perforations: SG 14½ x 14, ZSC 14¼ x 14

Top margin: Perforated through.

Other margins: Imperforate

Printer: NatPrint, Harare, Zimbabwe

Printer’s Imprint: Bottom Margin, below Row 10 Column 3. Imprint printed in black

Cylinder numbers: Top margin above R1/1. Colours from left – cyan, magenta, yellow,

black

Colour register: Type TL 4– round boxed – left margin opposite R1/1. Colours

reading down – cyan, magenta, yellow, black

Sheet Value: Top margin, above R1/5, printed in black.

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Sheet Number: Type SN 7 with printed ‘ZIMPOST’ prefix, right margin opposite

R1/5, reading down

Print numbers: $12 2,000,000 $25 210,000

$35 210,000 $45 210,000

Issue date: 4th June, 2002

Listed varieties

No listed varieties have been noted.

Unlisted Varieties

There are numerous small dots and specks in the printing of these stamps, particularly in the

backgrounds.

$12: Ink clot in 1st ‘B’ of Zimbabwe

(Courtesy Narendhra Morar)

$35: Water on cyan plate left lines pinkish in

colour.

(Courtesy Narendhra Morar)

$25: Top row of stamps imperforate to top, due

to failure by comb perforator to perform last

strike of sheet

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First Day Cover

The cover numbering comes from the catalogue

produced by Geoff Brakspear.

A pictorial first day of issue canceller was produced for

this issued and was used by the Philatelic Bureau.

Other first day cover cancellers continued to be used at

main post offices.

ZW096.1 (Zimpost)

220 x 110 mm

ZW096.2

Covered printed for Childline for distribution to sponsors, helpers and donors

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Related Material

Natprint Proof Presentation Cards

Presentation cards produced by Natprint with imperforate proofs of the stamps to be issued. The

presentation cards were forwarded to the PTC for approval of the final product.

(Courtesy of Jefferson Ritson)

Front cover

Inside front cover

$12 stamp

$25 stamp

$35 stamp

$45 stamp

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Short Philatelic History of Childline 1997 to 20023 Related by Geoff Brakspear

Childline Zimbabwe is a free confidential counseling service for all children in Zimbabwe, no

matter where they live within the country. Children can either write or telephone Childline to seek

advice on their difficulties. The children have expressed concerns in respect of abuse (mental,

physical and sexual) by adults and other children, concerns about school fees, examinations,

school uniforms, birth certificates and HIV/AIDS, amongst others.

Childline Zimbabwe was set up by Soroptimist International of Zimbabwe in 1997, and was the

national project of its President at the time, Dr Liz Robb. She was appointed the charity’s founding

managing director in 1998 when she put aside dentistry to work full time in setting up Childline.

Her fulltime involvement was the catalyst for Childline’s growth and subsequent success. I was in

a unique position to monitor and assist in any philatelic aspect of Childline. The first five years

scored a number of unique firsts in Zimbabwe from a philatelic point of view.

First Freepost in Zimbabwe

For children anywhere in the country to contact Childline they needed access through the post or

by telephone. As many of the children in need had insufficient funds to post a letter, let alone have

access to a telephone, Childline had to persuade the Post and Telecommunications Corporation to

do something it had never done before in Zimbabwe - allow a freepost and freephone system. To

the credit of the PTC and the negotiating abilities of Liz Robb both such systems have been set up

in Zimbabwe for the benefit of Childline.

The freepost system commenced on 1st April 1998. As this was a special philatelic event I

designed and produced a cover to commemorate it. Proceeds from the sale of the cover went to

Childline. The cover, which is addressed to the freepost box number of Childline, consists of the

Childline logo together with that of Soroptimist International and Health International. Freepost

is not exactly a free system, someone has to pay in the end. At the time the freepost was set up for

Childline did not have the financial resources to pay for such a service. Health International

stepped into the role of paying the postage on all letters received, a role it has continued to fulfil.

125 covers which were produced to commemorate the event, with the first of the 15 envelopes

signed by the President of Soroptimist International of Zimbabwe. As this was the first time that

freepost had been introduced in Zimbabwe, it took a bit of persuading to get the Philatelic Bureau

to postmark a cover, without a stamp.

Proposed commemorative cover, sample for approval

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Front and back of first signed commemorative cover

Childline, following the launch of the freepost system was kind enough to let me retain the

envelopes for the whole of April 1998. The collection of envelopes is obviously unique as well

interesting from the philatelic viewpoint. The PTC had previously advised all post offices that the

freepost system would come into existence from 1 April 1998, as well advice on what the post

offices were to do. So, it was interesting to see how well the message had got through. The first

letter posted was from Masvingo on 14th April 1998, without any effort of taxing for unpaid

postage. The rest of the collection of some 30 envelopes show some post offices taxing the

envelopes, some changing their minds, some being totally uncertain (they stamped the envelope but did not tax) and one stamping the envelope APostage Paid@.

The following are samples of some of the covers.

The earliest dated cover from Mazvingo

17 April 1998

Mutare – taxed at $1.30, not sure why as the

postage rate should be $20

Chinhoyi applied a “Postage Paid” postmark

to be doubly sure that nothing was charged

One child wanted to make sure the letter get

to Childline, and included an 80c stamp, even

though the postage rate was $20

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Children, however, although usually quick to pick up something for free, couldn’t believe anything

could be Afree@, wrote to the freepost address and, to be sure that the letter reached its destination,

affixed stamps as well. So good has the publicity by Childline been in schools on its freepost

system, some children have decided that it included all mail, including mail to the Mashonaland

Philatelic Society!

The ‘Design a stamp’ Competition

Childline then considered the possibility of the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation

issuing a set of postage stamps to further publicise the organisation. In September or October 1998,

Dr Liz Robb contacted the Philatelic Bureau with a proposal for such an issue. The proposal was

forwarded to the Postage Stamp Advisory Committee, who approved the concept. Although

Childline had asked to have the stamps issued in 2000, the Committee advised that the stamps

would be scheduled for January 2002.

When Childline suggested the idea of a ADesign a Stamp@ Competition the PTC appeared be

reluctant and saw it only of significance in order to get possible subjects for the stamp issue.

Although supporting the competition it would appear that the PTC was not initially, at least,

overawed. Never-the-less, Childline proceeded. After obtaining the consent of the Ministry of

Education, Sport and Culture, Childline sent the competition details to most schools in the country.

The closing date for the competition was set as 25 June 1999. Unfortunately, the response from

the schools was not good, and by the time the competition closed there were very few entries. As

a consequence, the competition was extended firstly to 6 August and later to 17 September, 1999.

The entries were finally judged in November 1999 by Mrs Mukono from the Philatelic Bureau,

Di Deudney (a previous designer of Zimbabwe stamps and also a Soroptimist) and Bubbles Kavonic (another Soroptimist). Eight winners were announced, two for each category, with eight

runners up on 19 November 1999. Scans of the winning designs have been included in the opening

section of this chapter.

Preparation for the issue of the stamps

Work on the final design of the stamp issue commenced in February 2002, when Liz Robb and

myself met up with the Philatelic Bureau. At that meeting we were advised that there would be

four stamps issued on 4th June 2002. At the meeting the six winning entries were examined and it

was agreed which of the four designs would be used. One of the remaining designs was used on

the Zimpost flyer.

Two of the other four designs had the words AYou are not alone@ in their message. It was suggested

and agreed that all four stamps would bear these words. The artwork for the stamps was sent to Di

Deudney to complete with appropriate instructions. Within my collection are copies of the final

computerised artwork, for the stamps, first day cover and the Zimpost Bulletin. Apart from the

copies with Zimpost there are no other copies available.

The stamps were issued on 4 June 2002 as scheduled. But what has been disappointing was that

six days after of the issue of the stamps all postage rates were increased. Use of the Childline

stamps therefore needed to have additional stamps to make up the correct postage rates.

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Computer generated artwork before finalization.

Note the year is not included in bottom right corner, and

Colour of $25 stamp was changed from blue to green

In addition, there is a further cover bearing a single $12 stamp. This envelope was produced for

Childline by one of its many sponsors, and simply says AThank you for your support@. The

intention of the envelope is that it should be sent to the many, many benefactors of Childline as a

small token of appreciation. Finally, below are the only two envelopes signed by the Director of

Childline on the date of issue of the stamps.

It could well be asked how I obtained such unique material on Childline’s philatelic material. It is

really quite simple, Dr Liz Robb is otherwise known as Liz Brakspear, my wife!

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Bibliography:

1. “The Zimbabwean Concise Postage Stamp Catalogue”, published by Harare Stamp Company, edited by Ken

Allanson, Mike Amos and Geoff Brakspear. The catalogue continues to be updated and expanded by Geoff

Brakspear 2. Zimbabwe Post, Philatelic Bureau Bulletin No 3 of 2002 3. “Childline Zimbabwe – A short philatelic history 1998 to 2002”, by Geoff Brakspear - Rhodesian Study

Journal, December 2003 Vol 54 No 4, RSCJ No 209, pages 151–154