Home of Hope - January 2019 Update

Harare, Zimbabwe

We greet you, dear fellow believers, in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So much has happened and is happening around the world. We realize more than ever before that without Jesus, we can cope with nothing and achieve nothing. He is our source of life, provision, and strength, our battle is his battle, and our victory and hope are in him alone.

We wish to begin this news update with the wonderful story of Tinotendaishe (pictured above with Joan) and God’s provision in his young life. He experienced Joan’s caring heart in the early 1990s when she was distributing food and sharing the gospel on the streets in central Harare with the help of her three young sons. Joan’s youngest son, Craig, is still serving in this ministry.

In 2001 Tinotendaishe (Tino), then ten years old, came to Home of Hope and brought several other young boys along as well. Consequently, facilitating junior school attendance became an important part of the ministry. After a while, authorities picked up Tino and several of the children and moved them to other children’s centers around the country. Tino ended up in a center in Gweru along with the other children. They remained in the center for a month before being moved into dormitories. Tino was eager to learn and desperately wanted to attend school.

Through Joan’s early ministry, he learned to pray to Jesus. He did this frequently during the day while at the center. He was given the opportunity to go to school, did very well, and was head prefect in primary school as well as prefect in senior school. He passed his O-levels (high school) and A-levels (advanced) and very much wished to attend university. He kept praying for this and after seeing his test results, his pastor obtained a university scholarship for him.

Tino returned to Home of Hope 17 years later to show Joan and Craig his Bachelor of Science in Music and Musicology honors degree. What a proud and joy-filled moment they shared. Tino thanked them for being there for him at a time in his life when he had no one else to turn to. He sang “Worthy is the Lamb” for them beautifully and shared that he earned a scholarship to a university in China to study Music Therapy. He is the first African selected to attend this university. Thanks be to God that Tino believed in Jesus the Son of God as his Savior. This is but one of many miracles the Lord has worked through Home of Hope and made possible through your giving and support.

Women’s Skills Training
New dressmaking classes started in August. Three women attend on Tuesday, five on Wednesday, and one on Thursday. Due to financial pressures, this is the lowest number of students we have ever had. Tuesday’s girls are quite young. One of them, Naomi, dropped out of school because of poor eyesight, struggled with headaches (we found a pair of glasses for her) and cares for her 100-year-old grandmother. Naomi shows a lot of enthusiasm for dressmaking. She perseveres and refuses to give up because of her eyesight. The Wednesday group is mostly mothers who are eager to learn dressmaking skills. All trainees receive jam sandwiches and tea for breakfast as well as sadza (cornmeal porridge) with soya mince and vegetable relish. Each one also receives a bag of maize meal every month. They have praise, worship and prayers at breakfast and watch the Jesus film in Shona at lunch.

Ted and Sue Wright traveled to Zimbabwe with the Outreach team in August. They visited Home of Hope and brought a large amount of over the counter medicine from churches they had contacted. Many of the people we serve suffer injuries and sickness. Some medicines are expensive and difficult to get, so we are grateful to be able to offer these for illnesses such as sore throats, flu, and indigestion as well as provide care for minor cuts and burns. We are also able to distribute vitamins and tablets for aches and pains. This is another example of your contributions making a difference in street people’s lives. We appreciate your generosity.

Feeding has become hard with the tough economic conditions, but God always makes a way. When bread was rationed to two loaves per person and prices increased (the Home uses as much as 140 loaves a week), cooked sadza and vegetable relish were served as a substitute until a supermarket manager offered us 70 loaves every Monday at an affordable price. Almost all of our costs here in Zimbabwe have drastically increased.

Our economy is again in a mess. Although we used to produce much of what we needed, we have become a nation of importers: fuel, power, vehicles, tires, clothing and much of our food. Local production is often destroyed by cheaper imports, and we have failed to optimize hydro and solar power generation. But even though we have been going through very difficult times – the bad economy, loss of loved ones, health issues – when bad things happen in our lives, we immediately turn to God. These situations remind us that we need him every second of the day.

And we also have blessings. Our rains are here, crops are planted, and the people of Zimbabwe are eternally hopeful. They remain patient and considerate, optimistic about better days to come. Trust in God is all we have for the future.

Love,
Joan, Craig, Lucy, Ongai, Ria and Dave