Busimuzi Mabhena nicknamed "PASTOR"
The thirteenth quarter saw the children closing schools. Most of the children passed their end of year exams. Both girls and boys had a successful sleep over night.
Coordination activities continued during the course of the quarter. Our sustainable projects, piggery, goat and sheep, traditional chickens and nutrition garden did quite well. Two more pigs furrowed 14 piglets collectively. Maize, groundnuts and round nuts seeds were sown on the arable land. A Christmas party was conducted mid-December for the children.
EDUCATION AND HEALTH SUPPORT
Jubilee grade 2 Marceline grade 3 Tawananyasha grade 7
All the children closed school in good health. Most of them. About 70% did quite well in their final exams with the grade seven pupils scoring 75% pass rate. One had 5 units, the other 9 and 11 units. All of them have secured places for Form 1. Prices of $10 were given to the best students in Grade 2, 3 and 7 . This encouraged a competitive attitude to the children so that they work hard in school.
School Fees
The children being fostered in the rural area did quite well in their exams too despite hard economic enviromental.
School fees were paid for all the children at both primary and secondary levels. Again this quarter also saw some increase in school fees for both primary and secondary education because of hyperinflation bedeviling our nation.
LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Besides the day to day activities at the home, children were also involved in clearing the land and sowing seeds in preparation for the summer season. Zimbabwe, being an egro-economic country, requires children to know much about crop and animal farming just to prepare them for
SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS
Production is on the increase, the home has embarked on a breeding program and the increase is attributed to this strategy. piglets, goats and chickens are fast growing and in good health.
Orchard
Through our association for residential care facilities, the department of Forestry donated some fruit trees so that we establish an orchard at the home. A variety of fruit trees shall be collected from their depot once we are through with digging the holes.
CHILDREN AND YOUTH MINISTRY
A Christmas party was conducted for the children at Emmanuel Homestead on a Family Sunday service. The children were in a jovial mood and celebrated the birth of Jesus. The service was dedicated to them and together with the youths they led all the proceedings of the service.
WORKSHOP
The following day had a psychosocial workshop for the children .There were a number of children in very difficult circumstances who joined the institution and in need of psycho social support. One specific example is that of Tonderai who was referred to Emmanuel Homestead by his school authorities. Both his parents committed suicide and his only brother was murdered. Tonderai was left all by himself in a rented house with no rentals. He was an Ordinary level exam candidate and had to go through his exams.
The workshop went very well and children felt so free to share their past experiences and how they maneuvered.
Topics covered during the workshop included: self-awareness, resilience, children’s rights, child abuse, and memory projects. Children were trained in ways of bouncing back to their original form-resilience after being stretched by life experiences and circumstances.
EVANGELISM
Change A Life Foundation (CAL) purchased 155 Shona and 40 English bibles for Masvingo region, a move that will assist in disciple making. Our evangelism has been enhanced in that scores of believers shall receive bibles which when read will make them able ministers of the word. Most believers do not own individual bibles in some of our churches. As a result, CAL has responded in meeting the need which shall go a long way in equipping the saints. The bibles shall be distributed on a Family Sunday when most the church members from various assemblies are present.
My wife and l attended a revival meeting in Bulawayo in October. It was such an awesome experience where we saw God moving mightily in the lives of believers. Under the theme “if only you obey” believers were encouraged to obey God and live faithfully. The shifted our attention dramatically and encouraged believers to have a heart for the vulnerable groups in our society. It is the responsibility of the church to look after these vulnerable groups according to James 1:27. A plan is in place to train saints in Bulawayo on Child care, psychosocial support and women and girl child economic empowerment.
CHURCH CONSTRUCTIO AND COMMISSIONING
Makorokoro church site and toilet Epworth church sanctuary
Our evangelism in Bulawayo (by Bulawayo region) has seen scores of people turning to the Lord in Makorokoro area. A church building is being constructed. The toilet has been completed and awaits painting. Similarly in Epworth (Harare region), a church building is also being constructed with aid from ICM. Evangelism has resulted in scores of believers gathering hence the need for a church building. In Epworth, they are at the slab level.
ENTREPRENEURIAL DEVELOPMENT
Following the women and girl child empowerment conducted sometime in the first quarter, some women relentlessly pursued the vision and to date they have teamed up work at Sally’s kitchen. They generate income every month and continue to do the internal saving and lending scheme. The returns obtained are used to start their small to medium businesses catering for the welfare of their children and families. A Christmas party was conducted for these women at one of the restaurants. Gifts were also given to bets performers in various categories namely, faithfulness, committed worker, one of them surpassed the target sales, excellency in service delivery and loyalty to the vision. The objective was to encourage and cultivate a competitive nature in work ultimately making much profit in business. Once this is achieved, their families are also impacted positively in terms of standard of living and God is glorified. This also assists in nurturing certain biblical virtues like faithfulness in individual believers.
Foster Parenting
Following our partnership with Rugare Community Relief Services (RUCORS) our foster parents together with the godly parent at Emmanuel Homestead received food hampers for Christmas. We sincerely thank the Lord for such a gesture which comes at a time when food is expensive in our nation because of the harsh economic environment. These food donate will go a long way in assisting our children and the fostering homes. Most of the children being fostered attended the sleepover night, worship service and psychosocial camp conducted at the orphanage.
PARTNERSHIPS
Following our partnership with Rugare Community Relief Services(RUCORS), we received food hampers for our children being fostered at Emmanuel Homestead. We applauded the gesture and Thank the Lord Almighty for such gift. We received 10 bags that included sugar, flour, rice and cooking oil. Our partnership has gone beyond information sharing alone. We sincerely see God’s hand in it considering the harsh economic environment we are in as a nation.
CHALLENGES
In this quarter of project implementation, the following were the challenge faced:
- Hyperinflation continued to be a major setback with the daily rising of commodities (food staff, stationary, uniforms, animal feeds, vaccination, medication, fuel etc.)
- Some birds were affected with new castle disease and lost some(10)
- Our borehole is not producing enough water commensurate with the demand at the orphanage.
- Because of the above challenge we entirely depend upon rain fed agriculture and as such because there is no rain our maize crop has begun succumbing to moisture stress.
FUTURE PLANS
In the subsequent quarter we envisage the following:
1. Support for foster parenting and tertiary education continued
2. School fees payment and procurement of uniforms
3. Training of more Foster parents and some entrepreneurs
4. Sleep over night for the girls and distribution of hygiene packs
5. Expansion of vegetable garden and pigsty
6. Establishment of a fruit tree orchard.
7. Borehole drilling
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful unto the Lord for the continued partnership with Every Home for Christ and the support from Dr. Cleopas Chitapa and our senior church leadership and Cornerstone Fellowship International at large. We also acknowledge the partnership with Change A Life Foundation and International Cooperating Ministries (ICM) which has seen us supporting activities at Emmanuel Homestead and construction of a number of churches in Zimbabwe respectively.