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The Batsiranai Handicraft Project was founded in 1998 by a support group called 2001 Handicraft project. Batsiranai is a women’s handicraft project that supports mothers with severely disabled children living under challenging circumstances in Harare, Zimbabwe. In addition to living with extreme poverty, these families often suffer from stigma related to local beliefs regarding the origin of disabilities.

It is composed of 24 mothers and George. It is based in a highly-populated township outside of Harare known as Dzivarasekwa. Batsiranai’s success is evidenced by the increased self-confidence and independence of the members. The mothers now provide food and housing for their families and are able to meet the basic educational and medical needs of their special-needs children. When the handicraft project begun in 2001, these families were underfed and hungry, now the Batsiranai motto is.... “Batsiranai has made us, FAT AND FATTER!"

Batsiranai is a member of Zimbabwe Parents of Disabled Children Association (ZPDCA), an advocacy organization registered with the Government of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Social Welfare. Within ZPDCA there are 600 families with severely disabled children living in various townships around Harare. The original Dzivarasekwa group consists of 24 mothers and George (an older brother of a disabled child). The sale of handicrafts has enabled the members to reach out to include additional mothers from various townships around Harare. Today there are 97 mothers working with Batsiranai (July 2007). The dream of this project is to grow and grow quickly, so that all 600 families may participate in the success of Batsiranai: In fact, the Shona word Batsiranai means “helping each other.”

The mothers believe It's is through interest and support that Batsiranai can expand. If you purchase one of their beautiful handcrafted products it goes along way in assisting both the mother and children.