Give thanks to Him and praise His name for the Lord is good.  His unfailing love continues forever and His faithfulness continues to each generation.
Psalm 100:4, 5

While Canadians are celebrating Thanksgiving, we here at the Village of Hope have been celebrating and giving thanks also. Our greatest reason for celebrating is always the children – we see first-hand the difference that this Village is making in the lives of hundreds of little ones. Celebrate with us!

This weekend we also celebrated for four days the 10th Anniversary of Hope Community Church – in so many ways the hub of the Village of Hope Zimbabwe. With special speakers, including our Overseas Missions Director Rev. Murray Cornelius, much music, good food, games and activities, drama by the children, etc. we all rejoiced in the goodness of God over the past ten years. It was a wonderful time of Celebration. But with the Celebration also comes the challenge of how to accommodate the growing needs of this packed out church. (for more including pictures see the .pdf below)

Well, this week….

- ceilings are being completed in our first ever youth boys apartment! Jeff is now 18 and Social Welfare would prefer he be out of the homes, now that he is legally an adult.

- the SS washroom block has final touches going on – just need to finish the plastering and plumbing.

- our students are finishing up their final exams and taking in last classes, before they take a break for the month of August. Term 3 for 2011 starts up again September 6th.  We are proud of some of the awesome results of our resident kids – the very ones you sponsor!  Pam, Daniel, Esheka, Yvonne, Karen…..

- one of our housemoms lost her father last week – please pray for her and the family as they grieve.

- histories and profiles are being completed for about 25 new children to start school in January 2012 at CHAPS!  These are ones that would not afford to go to school without help and come from desperate situations.  Please pray about taking a new one on sponsorship and helping them achieve their dreams!

- the medical clinic is now being furnished – the next step in the registration process.

To God be the glory!!

Psalm 112:4 tells us that ‘Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright…’.  How good are God’s promises that despite poverty, politics and instability, God provides light! For our paths, a clear way forward, sustenance where there seemed to be none. We are so thankful to our partners for their part in these recent developments….

The washroom block for the Secondary School is nearing completion (pictured right).  Once done – this will allow our Registration to be independent, and not under another local school! Thank you! And the electricity for the first ever boys youth apartment is going in.

At the end of June we received an anxiously awaited for container from our friends in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! WHAT A BLESSING! As a riding tractor, school uniforms, laptops for the computer lab (happy students assisting with the off load and set up, pictured below), sewing machines to teach Fashions & Fabrics, and other items too numerous to mention were loaded off to shouts of praise!

And we celebrated as our sports teams from the school earned a name for themselves – girls Netball & Volleyball teams in 1st place!

The downside of these last 2 weeks have been the many and looonnnnggg electricity cuts which makes business and cooking dinners a challenge.  And in the midst of a Zimbabwe winter, means being outside in the cold cooking over a fire, that much more of a challenge.

Well these last few weeks have been fuller than we could imagine for the Cooledge family.  Beginning and ending our goodbyes with lunches, hugs & tears, and more ‘last suppers’ than we could count.  Yes, we’ve made our family’s transition from life in Zimbabwe, back to life in Canada, but have left half our heart with the children, mom and staff that have impacted our lives for eternity.

We will continue to watch over and administer the Village of Hope from afar through July and August,  as God puts the final plans in place for Rev. Gaye & Elizabeth Norrie.  They will be on the ground in Zimbabwe and taking over as Directors in September.  Until then, Rev. Zowa is Acting Director and will do an outstanding job.

Continue to pray and support our children, our staff as they keep loving on the children and teaching them in word and deed, about Jesus!  God is not yet done with the Village of Hope Zimbabwe! The toilet block for the Secondary School is being dug and constructed as we speak.  And we ALMOST have all funds in place for the next Secondary School – 3 classroom block.  We also hope to open Hope Community Medical Clinic in the next few months.  God be praised!  We are still growing and believing for great things for our children because of it all!

Keep watching this space as we keep you up to date….

With the start of the Zimbabwe winter and cold nights, we have a host of our resident and community children that are struggling with flu, rashes and not mumps! Today alone, we’ve got about 5 residents under 5 yrs. sick at home with swollen glands and chipmunk cheeks.

God praise the day that our medical clinic opens! We are so close! We now have an occupancy permit, but need now to furnish the rooms to be approved to hire a nurse and open the clinic. Please pray with us for the resources to do just that!

This week we were blessed to have representatives from 4 other Villages of Hope in Zambia and Malawi, join us for KIDPOWER training. This is a Child Protection Training for our youngest pupils and residents – a ‘train the trainer’. What a blessing and our thanks to KIDPOWER who provided this training for our benefit and without cost.

This video was shot on the grounds of the Village of Hope, 2011. God sees each child, God knows each child! This is just a few of almost 600 stories here.

Hi!  So glad you’re taking the time to read and catch up on week to week stuff around the VOH!  You’re probably better at reading than I am at blogging.  Case in point – it’s taken me 3 days of trying for the internet to be stable enough and fast enough to do this.  Sometimes keeping in touch is frustrating, but not for lack of trying .

We are excited to announce that we’ve got a container on its way from Edmonton, AB, Canada that should arrive here within the next week or so.  Our children and the school will be blessed!

Yesterday was our annual Village of Hope Sunday at Hope Community Church and our resident children lead praise and worship, moms in bright pink t-shirts backed them up (check out the video as soon as I can upload it ); our school presented a play on the life of Esther; we ran a Powerpoint on the last 6 years in pictures; and our eldest 2 residents – Pam and Jeff shared God’s word on ‘sacrifice in worship’ with the congregation.  We all popped a few shirt buttons – what an amazing job they did!

Please join us in prayer as we organize for a few more second house mom interviews.  There are a few promising candidates and we need God’s guidance in making a final decision.  We have the occupancy permit for our 8th house, so as soon as we get the go-ahead from Social Welfare to take in a few more children – we’ll need her fully trained and ready to go.  Praise God for the opportunity to provide even more children a nurturing and loving environment to grow up in!

Today is a national holiday – Africa Day!

AND a national day of prayer for Zimbabwe.  Join us ….