‘His divine power has given us everything we need for life…’ (2 Peter1:3)

This has long been a favourite verse of mine. And since I love the KISS principle and am getting worse by the year at memorization  - I’ve shortened it to remind myself constantly that when times get rough, when you’re not sure which country you’ll be in next month, when the cost of living rises to what seems beyond our means, when you’re living through your 4th 12 hour electricity cut of the week, and when the future seems uncertain - that God still has everything I need to get by!

As the months fly by here, the Village of Hope seems to take on a life of its own, and we are running, trying to keep up with the grace of God. We are at the tail end of a Zimbabwean winter and still using heaters at night and layering clothing. The USD has made many things available again, but is still elusive to the average citizen. Salaries and services simply cannot match the high demand for the greenback.

In the midst of it all, here’s what God’s doing on the ground at the VOH right now…..

Work Permits

Gord and I travelled to Immigration on Thursday last week to check. There is no news. Please keep praying as waiting for that much-needed visit home to Canada with family, friends and all of you, is getting harder to wait for by the day. Pray for our children who are nervous about the long furlough – Zimbabwe is now home where friends, school and youth group are.

Community Outreach

These last 2 months, as the grass grew high on the sides of the road, people in our community were getting mugged and assaulted along Good Hope Rd. which leads from the highway to the Village of Hope and beyond. The perpetrator would then vanish again into the grasses. So we took the problem to heart, dropped our pencils and shovels, and shut down our computers one Friday afternoon to slash the grass along the roadway. This meant a clear walkway for our neighbours without fear of hidden culprits on their way home. We thank our staff who took it on willingly! (before and after shots below)

In August, another afternoon is being planned to fill in the deepening potholes along Good Hope Rd. And to add speed humps in front of our gates, to protect the hundreds of Primary School children using the roadway now. We are worried about a fatal injury if the cars aren’t slowed down.

Our kids program on Wednesday afternoons is now holding their own services – identifying music and worship talents in our kids. Though unpolished, the electric atmosphere on Wednesday afternoons is something we wish you ALL could be a part of!

We ended term 2 again with a bang, and a FUN DAY for all the kids from our feeding program!

Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School

We celebrated loudly this past month as our Volleyball team made it all the way to Provincial competitions and won 2nd place! Basketball won at district levels and more than the winning that happened, we were so proud of our kids for the comments they got on their sportsmanship. When a rival player went down on the court, our CHAPS Head Boy was the first one across the court to check on him and help him up!

We thank God for the Canadian people and communities that have invested in CHAPS and the double storey, and so named the Library ‘Hanover Community Library’ and the Computer Lab – ‘North Pointe Computer Centre’ in honour of those that sacrificed to make it all happen!

Term 2 closes August 6th. Term 3 begins Sept. 8th.

Cornelius Hope Academy Secondary School

An application for a Secondary School on site is now in process! To help all our kids with quality Christian education right through their learning years and without interruptions, we are excited for this new phase at the Village of Hope!

Sponsorship

A number of difficult meetings happened through July, as our committee met to pray over and review 120 needy children’s profiles. And yet we could only accept 30 into preschool and Kindergarten for January 2010. Home visits to verify information, and more data is now being collected so that these children can be sponsored through Child Care Plus after final decisions are made.

Children’s Homes

We now have 24 resident children in 3 open Children’s homes, as we welcomed 2 new little girls into Dumisani this month – Kudakwashe & Christinah (pictured below).  We have removed the need to call our homes by number, as most of our Children’s Homes now have a name!

1. Genesis (the first )

2. Kadesh (a place of decision, of new paths, of entry into ‘the promised land’)

3. Dumisani (this mean praise in the Ndbele language – one of 2 main people groups in Zimbabwe)

4. Rehoboth (Gen. 26:22 – “Now the Lord has given us room and we will flourish in the land.”)

5. To Be Announced!

6. Nyasha (this means ‘grace’ in the Shona language)

Praise God that through the PAOC’s ‘Just Add Water’ Campaign & North Pointe Community Church, Edmonton, we were graciously supplied with a new borehole JUST for our Children’s Homes! (pictured above) This means that when the other taps are on, our moms and kids no longer have to run and fetch buckets because of the lower water pressure. We’ve added a 5000 L water tank on a tower to continue to supply them when the electricity (and the pump) goes out.

We are interviewing for House mothers – again! These dear women are hard to find and we value the ones who have made a commitment here. Please continue to pray this process through – that God would provide! We need to hire 2-3 immediately for children’s homes that are almost ready to move into!

Hope Community Church

Celebrate with us, as our own Pastor Zowa graduates with a Master’s degree this Saturday, August 1st from PACU (Pan African Christian University), Nairobi, Kenya. They were blessed by donations from past team members that sent his wife with him to Nairobi, to share in this momentous occasion!

Feeding Program

The VOH continues to feed about 350 children each day. About 200 at our gate before they start their day at CHAPS, and another 150 in the local community at 3 feeding points. We praise God for ERDO (Emergency Relief and Development Overseas) who are providing cereal for us in assistance!

God bless you for being part of all our lives here in Zimbabwe!