Have we just stopped you in your tracks?  Stop and think about that for a moment.  Picture 3 of your own children, a class of 30 from your sons or daughters school, or maybe you have 15 grandchildren.  What if one third had nowhere to go , no one to care for them or feed them, no one to ensure they went to school or dreamed of a future.  What if….?

SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Gord and I had the privilege recently of visiting a small mining town about 4 hours from the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe.  We looked forward to the time away from the city - to meeting some new people, to being with more children.  And so we spent Saturday with about 60 children from a local feeding program, and  preached in church that Sunday.  We visited 2 rural pastors and took them bicycles they could use in visiting their congregants, and drove past the mines, through the scenic hillsides.  We talked with the local people and left with such a profound sense of the desperate need all across Zimbabwe.

As we sat waiting for the service to begin Sunday morning, and as 5 men ran around town trying to find gasoline for the generator and were failing because without electricity all the pumps were shut down - one young lady quietly came and sat with me.  Her story is one of a million such stories all over Zimbabwe, but it touched me deeply.  She didn’t ask for money, or a job the way many in desperation do, but simply poured out her heart.  She left an impression on me forever.  Here is her story….

Priscilla (not her real name) is 26 years old.  She is beautiful and intelligent.  Married at 22, she now has a 4 year old son.  Her husband works in the local mine as he has for years.  About 6 years ago, things were okay.  The salaries and housing provided for mine workers was enough.  They lived well.  But when the mine’s private owner was removed, conditions began to deteriorate.  Salaries dropped in the face of massive & rising inflation; the condition of their homes began to deteriorate; machinery at work could no longer be maintained as things got tougher; conditions in the mine became troublesome.  When the Zim dollar hit into the quadrillions at the end of 2008, they could no longer get their paycheque out of the bank.  In 2009, as the Zim dollar was shelved and foreign currency became the currency of the day, things got even more desperate.  The mine workers have not been paid since January this year.  Nothing!  If they choose to leave the mine, they must leave their housing as well.  With 90% unemployment in this nation, where will they go to work?  And so they stay.  They feel trapped in a
desperate situation with nowhere to go.

Priscilla now feeds her family on the little income she receives from hair dressing - a few USD at a time.  As we are talking, an older man, tall and thin, hobbles across the room on his crutches to greet us.  She introduces him as her father.  This elderly man was hit by a car last year. But because hospitals were not functioning at the time, nurses and doctors on strike, he was never treated.  The injured leg bone was never set, and the operation that they were told he needed to repair the damage, would cost $1000 USD.  Now laid up with an injury, no income and no access to USD, the operation never happened.  Her father has now lost his livelihood, the small store which he ran, and the goods he would run to purchase and resale.  He is now unemployed and disabled, unable to help his daughter or grandson out of their own situation.

For 5 years Priscilla has watched her family become more and more desperate. Her dreams of a young family, college, a new career fading quickly into her
exhaustion with life.  She is so very bone weary and wants to leave Zimbabwe.  But to where?  How?  With barely food on the table, how could they even begin to think of the costs of travel, passports, a new home. What would happen to the extended family they now support on their meagre income?  If you could look into her eyes the way that I did, you would see the deep tiredness that weaves through her soul.  Even trying to retain HOPE requires more effort than she can muster.

HOPE… FOR THEIR FUTURE

Is it any wonder that, having lost all hope, exhausted by the struggle for life, women abandon babies, fathers leave sons with relatives and never return, those that are sick and dying have nowhere to leave their children and statistics like 1 in 3 become harsh reality?!

Is it any wonder that, the Village of Hope exists to provide just that… hope?  HOPE through homes, through education, through love and care, hope for eternity.

There is a scene weaving itself all across this beautiful nation.  The picture is bigger than 20 acres in Harare.  The stories repeat themselves in every mining town, in every circle of huts at the end of a 15 km trek off the main road, in the people only accessible across the river through dry season, in the mountains where coffee plantations once flourished.

Pray for this once prosperous nation.
Pray for restoration.
Pray that God would ‘expand our territory’ as Jabez prayed.  That we could do even more.
Pray about what you can do.
Pray for the children.
We so appreciate your heart in taking the time to read, consider, weep and pray with us.

COOLEDGE FAMILY PLANS

ZIMBABWE WORK PERMIT - Once again we will need to reapply for a work permit in Zimbabwe. Our current permit expires August 25th, 2009. We can reapply up to 3 months in advance (as of end of May). Please join with us in beginning to pray the process through again! The granting of a work permit will have a direct influence on when we can plan a furlough home in Canada.

Please pray again for God to make a way, for the papers to fall into the right hands, for a quick response so that we are not again working on month to month stamps like we did last year. The frustrations of living on an uncertain future, and month to month, can take its toll on work and family life.

FURLOUGH - September 2, 2009 will mark our 4th year in Zimbabwe at the Village of Hope! At this point then, we are due for an extended leave in Canada, to touch base with family and friends, to fundraise, to report back in person to our support base, to personally refresh and get ready for another timely commitment to the children of Zimbabwe.

However, we cannot make firm plans or dates until the above Zimbabwe Work Permit issue is settled. Our wish at this point, is to be in Canada by mid-September, and return to Zimbabwe sometime in January/February of 2010.

UPDATE ON OUR KIDS - As of April 15th, we officially have 3 teenagers in our house! Latasha turned 13 years old, Ben will be 15 next month and Nathan is now 17 and driving! We are proud of the Christian men and women they are growing into!

Nathan won the most prestigious award at school this year - the Arete Cup - for having outstanding and consistent Christian character! He has become prayer leader of his youth group, on the youth leadership team, and will be preaching for the first time in a few weeks. He is on his last year of high school and needs your prayers as he makes plans for his future.

Ben’s love is skateboarding and drums. We were so proud this month as he auditioned for, and was selected to become the new drummer for the youth worship band! This happened being virtually self taught, as we have had challenges finding a drum teacher in Harare!

Latasha is now also heading to youth and has developed a beautiful singing voice, which has gained her an award or two in school competitions.

VILLAGE OF HOPE PLANS

C.H.A.P.S. - By September this year, we will begin construction on the last building to complete Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School. Funding is already in place for this 3 classroom school block. It is here we pray to begin Secondary School classes, moving in one graduating grade 7 class at a time, and giving us about 3 years grace to make final plans for building and registering a Secondary School.

SECONDARY SCHOOL - It would be our dream to start a Secondary School to maintain a high level of excellence in our children and community, throughout their education. As we do not have enough land at the Village of Hope currently to meet city requirements, we are looking at 2 options - the purchase of another piece of property, or special consideration by the Ministry to use existing land. The latter is the most cost effective option. Please pray with us that God would make this next step very clear as we endeavour to see our children right through high school.

ORPHANAGE - We now have 2 children’s homes occupied with 22 resident children. We have 4 homes under construction and in various stages. Our third house mother and her 4 children are getting ready to move into the 1st of these 4 homes within the next month.

Churches and people in Canada have been so gracious in providing for these children, that we have money in the bank and/or being raised currently for another 4 children’s homes! We hope and pray that these would be built through 2010, dependant on the rate at which funds are raised. Our ability to move forward will also depend on changes to our Registration with Social Welfare, allowing more resident children to come on board. They set a maximum based on liveable homes. Please pray for this process as we start it even now.

MEDICAL CLINIC - Funds have been raised! We praise God that this month we celebrated with great joy, the visit of Carrie Anne (pictured second from left) and her family, as well as 9 other members of their home church. If you haven’t yet heard this story - you need to! Through a project she called, ‘bracelets of hope’, Carrie Anne raised $50,000 to build the clinic we have dreamed of for years at the Village of Hope in just over 2 years - and started at the age of 11 years! Carrie Anne then went on to raise money for our 2 playgrounds at the Village of Hope!

What a privilege it was to have her share her testimony, speak into the lives of our CHAPS kids and inspire them to ‘dream big’! There are still things like politics, Registration, and long term sustainability, to wade through before the first brick is laid. But we pray to do just that, God willing, before the end of 2009! Please pray that God would continue to ‘make a way where there seems to be none’!

Let me close with a story we received across email - a testimonial of what God is doing in young hearts at the Village of Hope. And a way of thanking you for what you have done in being part of the Village of Hope!

I just want to thank everyone involved in the running of Village of Hope, but mostly to the school.

I am a mother of two, and i got divorced in 2007. My children were very much affected by the events that led to it. My youngest was the one who showed most signs of being affected and went from being a very good reader, very expressive, never afraid of speaking her mind on anything to a very quiet and withdrawn child. A child who used to excel at nursery and 1st grade to someone who could not even read the word; mother.
I was very much worried and being a parent you want the best and don’t want to see your child hurting.

I made it a point of highlighting my child’s situation to the teacher and i am very happy to say that there is alot of improvement. In just one term, my child is now very confident, is benefitting immensely because of the After Schools program, schoolwork has improved etc.. The teacher has been paying individual attention (i’m sure to very student in her class) because i am very happy with the results.

i just wanted to say “THANK YOU” for the work of God in your lives that you are administering to your staff and children of VOH. It just goes to show that God is at work and will see us through. May God continue to bless you…

We probably couldn’t describe this moment in time any better than this! At a time when Israel was at peace with their God, when they had found favour in His eyes, enemies yet surrounded them and attacked. But God thundered and threw them into panic, allowing the Israelites a glorious moment of triumph. To mark the occasion, Samuel did more than praise with his mouth, more than an offering - he erected a stone, a monument to the moment! So when his grandson or great-grandson walked past the stone monument generations later, the story would be retold and God’s glory revealed over and over again.

On March 16, 2009 we officially opened the double storey school block of Cornelius Hope Academy Primary School! Our student body has expanded from an initial 19 students in 2007 to 343 students today! Despite the instability we have lived in past years, we have a monument that will attest to God’s triumph over the situation for generations to come!

Even today, many schools across Zimbabwe have not opened because of a lack of teachers and disputes over their level of pay. And yet C.H.A.P.S. opened on January 27th for 343 local students - 200 of them on sponsorship! The Village of Hope is busier than ever! In a depressed society, the Village of Hope is a beacon of life and activity. Hundreds of children are being fed, clothed and educated.

We have been encouraged as we watch those children that have been chosen for sponsorship begin to excel in academics, leadership capabilities, english or sports. God truly made us all one heart as we looked through their profiles and prayed over each one. We truly believe that the sky is the limit for our kids!

NEW LIFE

Another exciting moment happened at the end of February, as several of our new children knelt at the altar to ask Jesus Christ into their heart and begin a new life in Him! It’s why we serve at the Village of Hope! If we’ve lost them for eternity - what have we gained through food and education? The push is on to train all our teachers in teaching Christ and salvation in the classroom daily.

The Zim economy and CHAPS has kept us hopping this past month. Our new addition - Fatima - is settling in well. Our construction crew, after a few more ‘tweeks’ on the double storey, will move on to finishing the 3rd Children’s Home. Then we can get our 3rd housemom and her 4 children moved and settled into a home of their own - at last!

CHANGE OF EMAIL ADDRESSES

Please note that effective immediately, we have 3 new email addresses! Our ZOL (zimbabwe on line) will continue to operate for now, and be forwarded to the new email address. Please use the new addresses below, as ZOL continues to experience server and technical problems that are causing a slowdown, and sometimes a complete stop, in us sending or receiving emails.

To reach Gord & Anita - gacooledge@vohzimbabwe.com

PRAISE & PRAYERS

- We praise God for Blessing and her health (pictured left). She was hit by a car just 3 weeks ago and suffered a broken leg. We thank the CCP office for covering most of her medical expenses!

- We are thankful for the teams that have visited us over this last year. The donations, the pouring of themselves into children’s lives, the encouragement along the way - your visit has meant so much to the Village of Hope and to us personally.

- We thank God for continuing to ‘make a way where there seems to be none’.

- Please pray for the safety of our family as ’smash & grabs’ and violent thefts are increasing. Thiefs know that those that have cars, probably carry US cash as well.

- Please continue to pray for the righting of the economy. Things still make little sense in that salaries don’t match the price of items available on the shelves. But without the manufacturing, farming and mining sectors running smoothly again, there are few jobs and no money to spend for a majority of the population.

- Please pray for our new children at CHAPS as they settle in.

We have been asked the following questions over and over again in the last few months.  Please take the following to heart, pray and know that God is still on the throne despite it all!

HOW IS THE CHOLERA SITUATION AFFECTING YOU PERSONALLY?  AT THE VILLAGE OF HOPE?

   The cholera outbreaks are primarily in the high density suburbs where old and worn sewer pipes and water supply are intermixing.  In some areas the water has been shut off for months because of this problem, leaving people to draw water from local wells which are again contaminated from seepage.  The lack of medicines and a hospital system that is not functioning has made this treatable illness become an epidemic. 

   Where our family of 5 lives there is little danger but for the city water which cannot be kept clean due to the lack of chemicals and upkeep of the water system.  The water cuts then became more frequent in all areas of the city of Harare (we went without water for as much as 5 days at a time).  As a result, and to keep our family safe and provide us with a constant water supply, we have had a borehole ( drilled well) put in at our home.  We are still boiling drinking water as a precaution, but are safe.  We have now been able to put the many buckets we had on hand all the time, away.

At the Village of Hope, we function daily off of 4 boreholes on the property.  The city water supply has been turned off for now to not mix with our borehole water. 

     One of the biggest effects we notice is the lack of shaking hands as people worry about the spread of cholera.  Greetings are a large part of friendly Shona culture and so there is much laughter as everyone has taken to hitting clenched fists together in greetings instead of a handshake. 

HOW ARE YOU MANAGING TO FIND FOOD?

    One of the the wonderful things that has happened with it now being legal to use foreign currency, is that goods have begun to flow into the country and shops again.  As long as one can access USD or South Africa Rand or Botswana Pula, one can purchase anything on the shelves and survive quite well.  Things like the appearance of skittles, smarties and licorice, inspired us to create a beautifully decorated gingerbread house for our family this Christmas - for the first time in 4 years! 

    The issue is with the average Zimbabwean who is getting paid in Zim Dollars and still has no access to foreign currency.  Because of cash shortages, the average person for the last 2-3 months has only been able to withdraw enough ZD (zimbabwe Dollars) out of the bank in a day, to buy a loaf of bread or for one bus ride.  They may have had quintillions (LITERALLY!) of ZD in a bank account, but it was inaccessible to them.  Even if one could access extra ZD, shops began to refuse them because they devalued so quickly as ZD inflation continued to rise.  The result of that is that the ZD has dropped 12 zeros again - after dropping 10 zeros just last August! 

    For over 80% of the population that live in small towns or rural areas, or without bank accounts, it has become impossible to collect a pay check, or to spend it anywhere.  And so starvation grows.  Food has become inaccessible to a large percentage of the population just because they can’t get foreign currency. 

    Because of the banking rules, cash shortages, and devaluation of the Zim dollar, it became impossible for us to even pay our VOH staff adequately.  If we transferred funds into their accounts, they could not get it out.  Our hands were tied and we dealt with many upset employees who could not buy enough food for their families through a very difficult Christmas.  Food baskets for our staff, became a regular part of keeping the Village of Hope staffed and running.  As all of Zimbabwe tried to keep their head above water, the rules of survival changed each week.  

    We praise God for the access to USD that afforded us the ability to buy bulk foods, to stay afloat, to provide for the children we have committed to during a very difficult season.   

HOW ARE YOU SURVIVING - THE WORLD NEWS LOOKS SO GRIM?

    We survive, literally, by the grace of God.  It seems that everytime the rules of engagement change, God has already provided a connection, a friend, a way out.  We have had to be flexible and creative like never before.  But one also has to remember that the news reports the worst of the worst.  How many horrific stories do you read in your own paper each day, but then get up and go about your routine and life without it affecting you?  Despite the routine changing week to week here, we have worked hard to keep some normalcy in our lives and regular routine around the Village and at home.  Boring and regular moments became lifelines and happy interludes in a day.

    Please do continue to pray for peace and an end to the political stalemate in the country.

HOW IS THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL SITUATION AFFECTING YOUR WORK?

    The effect has been huge!  It seems that each day there is a new dilemma that we have to wade through.  Here a few of the effects of life in Zimbabwe today, on the Village of Hope….

- our VOH driver surprised us when he jumped the border into South Africa, leaving a young son behind.  Although we were disappointed, after 2 years without treatment for his illness and a family to think about in a hard economy, it is hard to be upset at him.  God has already provided a replacement for his position!

- The amount of desperate families and desperate situations that walk into our office looking for assistance, is growing.

- almost half of our casual construction crew walked off the job in mid December because they could not access their pay (Zim dollars) from the bank, and because the food that we could provide was not enough, because they could not even feed their families.  We became victims of the failing economy and were frustrated as answers to assist them were shortcoming.  On a donated budget we could not suddenly double or triple salaries to ensure they had enough to survive.  We were frustrated and our hands were tied!  The result was a major slowdown on construction all over the Village, and increase in our costs as we were forced to hire a contractor to move the second storey school block along!

- the way we pay bills and function has changed from month to month.  As the ZD devalues, banks are emptying out of customers, they are on skeleton staff and reduced hours. We can no longer write a cheque, or use a debit system - our ZD accounts have become obsolete as the whole economy turns to the use of foreign cash.  Instead, our dilemma has now become obtaining enough cash to keep the Village of Hope, and our family afloat from day to day.  It is not available at banks here.  We cannot use our CDN bank or credit cards to access cash.  Please pray that God would continue to ‘make a way where there seems to be none’.

- The construction slow-down, has meant that our new students and teachers have taken up residence during the day in our church, and in 3 storerooms while we race to complete the double storey school block and move them into proper classrooms.  We are blessed by our relationship with Hope Community Church!

- the construction slow-down, has also meant that our 4 children’s homes under construction have taken a back seat to the expansion of CHAPS.  We are now hoping to open the first of these four homes at the end of February. 

- the economy, the legalization of the use of foreign currency, the trouble our staff are having in feeding their families, have ensured that we rework the Village of Hope budget to provide for them as best we can.  This required a little creativity :).

PRAISE REPORTS!

- After more than 6 months of waiting, our 22nd resident child joined us at the Village of Hope!  Her name is Fatima and she smiles and giggles constantly!  She is the youngest sister of 2 resident children who lost both parents to AIDS.  The slowdown in moving her to the VOH was a result of fuel shortages, cash shortages, and personnel shortages at the Ministry of Social Welfare.  All gov’t offices are having trouble functioning on a devaluing ZD!

- On January 27th, 2009, CHAPS opened for a total of 315 students!  About 100 of those are brand new to the school, 70 of them sponsored through Child Care Plus!  However this opening was supposed to happen early in January.  The opening of school across Zimbabwe was arrested due to the lack of teachers who were on strike and protesting their pay and their ability to get cash for food, for bus fare to work.  A massive walk out and pay disputes meant that schools closed early last year, and could not reopen on time in January.  These disputes are not settled yet with government paid teachers, and 1000’s of children are affected!  CHAPS is again an oasis in the middle of an education system that is falling apart, and is being dealt a double blow after the many school closures during the 2008 political year.  

- we have been working for 2 years to get all our resident children tested for HIV.  The systems in place did not allow it without a parents consent.  Most recently, the hospitals and clinics were not functioning.  Unless a child became visibly ill, we could not test, or get them treated.  But God opened a door this month, and 18 of our 22 resident children tested negative!  We praise God for their health!

I form the light and create darkness; I give prosperity and create disaster.  I, the Lord, do all these things.

Isaiah 45:7

God is still on the throne!

Thank you for standing with us!