This quarter was characterized with children’s education, ministry evangelism, sustainable projects, life skills development, foster parenting and sanctuary construction.
However Covid 19 triggered another lockdown just before schools opened. School opening had to be deferred by two weeks.
Education and Health Support
All their school fees were paid for the term. Some required some uniforms and they were taken care of.
We also took on board new children (12) on the education support list.
We now have a total of 40 children on the education support list.
The children were in good health during the quarter. We continue to thank the Lord for sound health amidst the COVID 19 pandemic. Children who sat for their exams in the previous term did quite well. Below are some of their results.
Life Skills Development
Children were involved in some life skills routine activities like weeding, feeding of pigs, traditional chickens, guinea fowls, turkeys and rearing of goats and sheep.
Sustainable Projects
Piggery
The piggery project is promising to grow. Three of the sows were serviced and in three months time we expect them to have littered. We managed to buy some pig concentrate to mix with maize grain to improve their nutrition.
Goats and Sheep
Following the death of some sheep and goats, we are in the process of restocking
Traditional chickens:
The birds by God’s grace before we had even bought more increased in number. The number of traditional chickens and turkeys doubled (40 and 7 respectively). The guinea fowls still maintained the previous number of 5.
Orchard Project
The fruit trees continued to blossom because of the good rains received. Right now the trees are flourishing at expected to flower soon.
Memorial Garden
The memorial garden also continued to blossom because of the good rains received.
Crop Production The maize crop was shelled and a total of 23 x 50kg was stocked. Over and above the maize, we also harvested 7 buckets of beans, 5 of cowpeas, 3 of round nuts and 2 of groundnuts. The sunflowers are still yet to be harvested.
Evangelism
Evangelism continued in Masvingo at three sites were we intend to establish some church sanctuaries. Door to door witnessing was done during the quarter by some women and youths as well as one man. A total of 29 people gave their lives to Christ and we sincerely thank the Lord for such a harvest. Distribution of EHC pamphlets was done to the villagers
Children and Youth Ministry
Three of the children had their birthdays during the quarter and all of them were celebrated as per our custom and practice. We thank the Lord for keeping the children alive and we continue to celebrate lives.
Children’s ministry continued to blossom as we continued to realize more numbers coming in because of continued evangelism. The Lord increased the number of these children who are now under our care.
The youths continued to be active in ministry. To date they are the ones coordinating the online church services. Because they are an active group, we now have an opportunity to hear God’s word every day through sermons arranged by these youths. They are encouraging the preaching of the word so that believers grow thereby as they partake of the sincere milk of the word as the Apostle Peter alludes to in scripture.
Children also received some clothes from one of the godly parents (caregivers)
Foster Parenting
Foster parenting remains pivotal in our programming as we continued to see a significant increase in number of children under foster care. HIV and AIDS together with these non communicable diseases have wrecked havoc in our society leaving many children vulnerable and hence liable to foster care. Below are some stories of two the children under our care.
Ivy Story
Ivy is a girl 14 years of age. She comes from a polygamous family but her father does not support girl child education. She was attending to one of the rural secondary schools but struggling to pay school fees let alone purchase some exercise books and uniforms. The mother apparently had been divorced and sent back to her family home. Somebody recommended this child because of her academic aptitude. We started by supporting her in her poor rural home until we realized that the environment was no longer enabling for her education. We sought dialogue with the father and by God’s grace he understood and allowed her to be fostered in town. We then moved her to a better school which would support her dream of becoming a medical doctor. She is living in town now under a foster parent and going to one of the best schools in town. She is doing quite well in school and is a very responsible child who is focused. Her dreams have been resuscitated now and she loves the Lord so much.
Vandem Story
Vandem is a boy whom we enrolled during the quarter. He is 16 years old now and is a son of single mother. The Lord brought her to our church only to realize that she had issues. The father abandoned this family for another wife and disappeared into thin air. The mother by some chance managed to fend for her son. She could only manage to look for food and going to school was kind of secondary to this family. The boy was therefore out of school for two years until the mother by the grace of God managed to send the boy to a rural school where he would travel 10km to school and back.
By Gods grace, he passed with flying colors and managed to get 7 points at Grade 7 (highest primary level). We only learnt of his ordeal halfway in the term because the mother could not send him to secondary school. Because of the proximity of the secondary school to the orphanage, we had to take him in and thus started his secondary education. He is a hard working boy who is focused and well mannered.
By God’s grace his life looks brighter now and he is doing quite well in school.
The foster care program has begun to pay some dividends as we continue to see some children being enrolled in universities. Two of the children under foster care have secured places at two different universities were they shall undertake Medicine and Human resources respectively. We look forward to seeing the program growing and we now have a challenge.
Partnerships
The church organization continues to enjoy partnerships with umbrallar bodies like National Association for Non Governmental Organization(NANGO), Zimbabwe Aids Network(ZAN), Zimbabwe National Council for the Welfare of Children(ZNCWC) and Masvingo Association for Residential Care Facilities Trust(MARCFT).
Church Commissioning
Chisiya Halfway Home is still to be completed and will be commissioned in July following some delays because of the incessant rains. Four sanctuaries are being constructed in Masvingo.
Coordination
Coordination continued with sister children homes continued, Rose of Sharon, Tanyaradzwa, Voice of Peace children homes and Esteemed Children Trust. Informal meetings were conducted through WhatsApp just to keep everyone abreast of what is happening. Generally children were doing well in respective homes despite the Covid 19 lockdown restrictions.
Challenges
In this quarter of project implementation, the following were the challenge faced:
1. Hyperinflation remains the common challenge resulting in exorbitant prices for commodities.
2. Covid 19 pandemic was also a challenge since it limited movement and association with
Other members
Future plans
In the subsequent quarter we envisage the following:
Conduct PSS camp for children parents
Expansion of foster care program
School fees payment, training of entrepreneurs
Girls Sleep over night and youth outing
Growing of crops and vegetables
Purchase of more pigs, birds, goats and sheep.
Completion of the halfway home in Chisiya.
Purchase of feeds for the animals
Provision of psychosocial support for primary carers.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful unto the Lord for the continued partnership with Every Home for Christ Canada, Change A Life Foundation and International Cooperating Ministries.
Comments