Dear friends and family:

After many hours, tears, prayers and cries of joy, we have 72 anxious young faces and souls waiting to start school at Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School this January, 2008! The PAOC (Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada) head office, and CHILD CARE PLUS ladies are waiting your phone calls, to offer to sponsor a child. Ask for a child at the ‘VILLAGE OF HOPE, ZIMBABWE’!

Your investment of $29 / month provides food, education and medical care to a needy child. By calling 905-542-7400, and asking for the CHILD CARE PLUS office, you will change a young life in Zimbabwe forever!

CHAPS (Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School), on the grounds of the Village of Hope, will be open in January 2008, for 190 children of Primary School age. Of this total number, approximately 130 will be, or are, on Child Care Plus Sponsorship. The other children will come from the local more affluent community whose parents can afford the school fees. By keeping the class sizes down and hiring the best teachers, we are giving these children a better chance in life, a higher standard of education! Most importantly they will be taught the gospel of Jesus Christ! (Mrs. Kubara’s current grade one class pictured)

The children whose lives we will invest in at CHAPS, will be provided with a nutritious porridge to start the day. Those on CCP sponsorship will have their school uniforms and all needed education materials provided, as well as free access to medical care. These children are aged from 3 to 12 years old. They will enter CHAPS at either Preschool, Kindergarten or at grades 1-6. Each one lives in the local community of Good Hope. Their stories are all a little different, but all are truly in need of a devoted Canadian sponsor.

Picture Evernice – a young girl hit by a car recently. I assisted at the scene of the accident and discovered later that that was her first day in the neighbourhood and at a new school. Both parents are unemployed. With a nasty leg break, she is now losing this term at school and will not be able to walk the 4-5 km. to the next local school. Instead CHAPS will allow her to walk through her immediate neighbourhood in January and give her a higher educational standard.

Picture Freddy – He is only kindergarten age and yet has already lost his mother due to AIDS. His father was removed from the home shortly after and taken far away, to be cared for by relatives. Freddy’s father is suffering from cancerous sores on his leg and is too ill to take care of himself. This has left Freddy in the care of an aunt who has 5 children of her own. They live in a one room concrete block house without electricity or running water. Freddy needs a chance at a better life – to be loved, to be educated, to come to know Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour!

Picture Tecla who lost her dad last year due to a serious illness. Following the funeral and the time missed, the school told Tecla not to return. Her mom, stepdad and stepsiblings – 6 in all – live in a one room house and have basically no income. CHAPS will give Tecla a chance to catch up on her grades and her missing school year, give her a higher standard of education and make sure she has a full belly to start the day.

Picture Germaine – an orphan who lost both her mother and father to Tuberculosis just a year apart. She has been without them for two years, living with an aunt and her own children. Last year, her uncle left the family, with nothing. Her aunt is a Christian lady who is struggling to make ends meet and keep her ‘family’ together by selling anything she can.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE….
Nathan turned 16 this month!! Although he is thrilled, his parents are feeling their age thinking back to that night 16 years ago, when such a dear little bundle entered our life and changed it forever J. He is anxiously dreaming of a driving license now L.

Life in Zimbabwe has not changed over the last month. The big news this month was that British Airways announced they are pulling out! As of October 27th, they will no longer fly directly into Harare and regional airlines will instead service Zimbabwe. Bread and milk continue to be scarce items, as well as many other staples. Yet God continues to provide at the Village and at our home. We have been incredibly busy with prepping for the new teachers coming in January, and new house mom starting October 15th. Our own kids are full swing in school and happy to be busy again. We are enjoying the purple Jackaranda trees in full bloom again, and some early rains this year. The electricity cuts have been particularly bad this last week and we have cooked over an open flame every night this week, and turned the generator on to make coffee each morning. Another cobra was killed at the Village, but it was the first one in months! The new school blocks are now getting final touches, and a playground and new school furniture arrives before the end of the October to make the school blocks complete.

God bless you as you pray about sponsoring a child at CHAPS and through the Village of Hope, Zimbabwe!

Here’s a report by CNN (rare to have news about Zimbabwe from major news organizations) about how bad the food situation is getting in Zimbabwe.  Some are even resorting to eating meat that has been obtained from animals that are usually people’s pets:

Pets are being slaughtered for meat in shortage-stricken Zimbabwe and record numbers of animals have been surrendered to shelters or abandoned by owners no longer able to feed them, animal welfare activists say…. (read more…)

Please pray for the recently hired teachers of Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School as they prepare to become part of our team.

Please pray for Derrik – a 4 year old boy who is HIV +’ve and very ill. He is part of our feeding program, but part of a difficult family situation as well. Pray that God would intervene and heal Derrik.

The interview and selection of house moms is a lengthy process and one we want to make sure we tread carefully with.  These mom’s will play such a pivotal role in the lives of the children they look after so it’s crucial the right selections are made.

We hired 7 new teaching positions to begin with Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School (CHAPS) in January, 2008. On that month, we will open for a full stream of grades 0-6, 25 children/class. (the norm in Zimbabwe is 50 /class)

The largest bread company just announced they have 2 days left of flour and then will be shutting down operations. The local supplier of Coke & Fanta (sorry Hanover J) and other drinks have now closed their doors.

I find it hard to believe, but things really have gotten worse over the last month. And where there were pockets of goods here and there last month, the shelves have emptied to almost nothing. The lack of things, I have often said, are making us all ‘non-christians’ as it is easier to hang onto butter, milk & bread for your own use, then share with those around you because you might not see them again for a while. The lack of water for days, or electricity for whole days, and the phone line that cuts in and out, is wearing on a soul and family. The general mood in the city is turning from one of jovial acceptance and prayerfulness, to one of defeat and depression.

And yet God has still supplied ‘manna & quail’ and there is little at the Village we have gone without!! We have still managed to feed the 7 children that live on the grounds, provide for 34 preschool children and over 75 children through the feeding program daily. For that we praise God! We are living the instruction & miracle in Matthew 6 … “Therefore do not worry about what you will eat, or what you will drink, or what you will wear…for our heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you.”

We thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for your emails and phone calls of concern over our well being! We are being stretched and we continue to need your prayer support, but still know that this is where God wants us and are waiting the situation out. There is so much positive happening on the ground, and we are watching God’s favour over the Village. Because God has supplied our needs at home, our own children are handling the crisis well as they are somewhat protected from the lack we see daily as we run errands for the Village.

THIS MONTH /

- We hired 7 new teaching positions to begin with Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School (CHAPS) in January, 2008. On that month, we will open for a full stream of grades 0-6, 25 children/class. (the norm in Zimbabwe is 50 /class)
- We reviewed resumes and set up interviews for 6 house moms out of the over 20 applications received. These positions are yet to be decided on and will need your prayers.
- We have chosen about 70 children for Child Care Plus, of the over 100 spots in CHAPS for sponsored children. Meetings continue as we deliberate over spots for grades 4, 5 & 6. My heart breaks with the horror stories, the stories of oppression and abuse that repeat themselves over and over as we review these children’s histories. Please continue to pray! (Profiles of these children are not yet ready to be picked up as we take pictures and prepare the profiles for transfer to Canada. We’ll let you know when they are ready J.)
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The two newest classroom blocks for CHAPS now have their roof! And the Administration block is being painted, awaits a final inspection, and then will be ready to move into. Mr. Musasa and our newly hired Administrative Assistant are thrilled!
- Our relationship with Social Welfare is being established as the 7 orphans already on the grounds were fully registered as being official residents of the Village of Hope! We are now walking through the process of taking on more children once our newest house mom is trained and ready to go.
- The gazebo at the VOH entrance was rethatched and refurnished to create a shady and pleasant meeting spot at the Village.

SEPTEMBER 2nd /

On the 2nd of this month we celebrated our second full year in Zimbabwe as Directors of the Village of Hope! And while it seems a life time ago that we first stepped off the plane, we can look back with satisfaction and give glory to God for the milestones He has made happen, the cornerstones He has established! Despite the economic and political strife in the country, the 7600% inflation, the 80% unemployment.…
- God has given the orphanage full Registration with the Department of Social Welfare!
- God has given the Primary School full Registration, provided funds to build it, and opened its doors!
- God has provided a little girl in Ontario who is 2/3’s of the way to providing all the monies needed to establish a Medical Clinic on the grounds of the Village of Hope. Thank you Carrie Anne!
- God has provided for our children’s education and our family’s wellbeing over and over in difficult circumstances.
- God has continued to provide for our own missionary budget and for the Village’s financial needs during this critical growth period.
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God has healed Precious and Chipo and Takunda and Rumbi and……….

PRAYER REQUESTS /

For the people of Zimbabwe through this crisis in the country. That God would supply all their needs.
- For house moms with a God given calling to be at the Village and affect the life of a child.
- For Derrik – a 4 year old boy who is HIV +’ve and very ill. He is part of our feeding program, but part of a difficult family situation as well. Pray that God would intervene and heal Derrik (pictured right with Anita).
- For the new CHAPS teachers as they prepare to become part of our team.
- For our children and family as the schools open for third term. For our safety and wisdom during these times.

We pray for you often. We are blessed to know you! THANK YOU.