Zimbabwe, Africa

ZIM02b - Fountain of Hope - Personal Support for Gideon & Jennifer

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Key Partnership Information:

• Partnership Ref.: ZIM02b

• Partner: Gideon & Jennifer Chisamba

• Commenced: 21/11/2013

• Funding Status: No Current Donor

• Partnership Type: Community / Agriculture Development, Orphans & Vulnerable Children

• Funding Size: $3,000 - $7,999

• Annual Budget: US$ 5,940

• Connected To: ZIM02a , ZIM02c , ZIM02d , ZIM02e , ZIM02f , ZIM02g , ZIM02h

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Current Partnership Impact:

• 1 families are being assisted

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Other Partnership Information:

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Partnership Overview

Fountain of Hope Foundation (FHF) is a faith based organization whose main mission is to combat the spread and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children, women, and the community at large through the provision of orphan care services, HIV/AIDS workshops and community based development projects.

Fountain of Hope operates in a community called Mthombothemba (population 2,250) which lies in one of the regions that has a high HIV prevalence rate and which is a drought prone area receiving below normal rainfall every year. Due to the above problems the community is now full of orphans, some of whom are part of child-headed families, and has many widows who always find it difficult to make ends meet. The economic climate that Zimbabwe has gone through has also exacerbated the problem with most men leaving their homes and going to South Africa looking for greener pastures thereby making their families more vulnerable.

It endeavours to see the community rising up and being able to run income generating projects which will take families out of poverty. One thing that excites them is how the community is ready to take ownership of projects that will be started in the community. Women of the community have been approaching FHF to assist them to start projects that will take them out of the mud of poverty so that they are able to send their children to school, buy food for their families etc. Some of them have gone ahead and moulded bricks to start a chicken project. Fountain of Hope's aim is to alleviate poverty in this community and break the cycle of depending on hand-outs. The project also endeavours to provide psycho-social support to orphans and vulnerable children.  

History of Partnership

In 2001 Rob Purdue, BHW Executive Chairman, travelled to this project as his nephew was living there. Rob was impressed by Gideon and Jennifer and they have continued to minister to this community since that time. 

BHW's Field Director continued to dialogue with them and in December 2012 we sent them US$300 to assist with training some of their people in Foundations for Farming. He then visited them in June 2013 and late in 2013 BHW commenced partnering with Gideon and Jennifer at a greater level, providing financial support for the children's home and community development, and personal support for Gideon and Jennifer.  

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries are Gideon and Jennifer, the key couple of Fountain of Hope, who are being financially supported to enable them to continue to do their life-changing work in this community.  Indirectly the community of Mthombothemba also benefits. 

What We Like About The Partnership

Gideon and Jennifer have been helping the community of Mthombothemba since July 2000 when God led them to this downtrodden community which was adversely affected by HIV/AIDS. They have seen God working miraculously in this community through the various programs they have started in consultation with the community members to tackle the high incidence of HIV/AIDS, hunger and malnutrition, and poverty. They have experienced a reduction of HIV/AIDS related deaths since 2009 to date, reduction of the increase of orphans, hope being provided to homeless orphans at Peniel Centre, and improved agricultural production through conservation farming and the ongoing livestock production training.

We are encouraged by the commitment of Gideon and Jennifer to this community - they have been involved here for a long time. They also have a holistic understanding of their work and understand development and not just aid. 

 

Key People

Gideon & Jennifer 

Gideon was raised up in a very remote and poor community. His father died while he was still very young which eventually meant he had to stop going to school while doing Form 2. He hated God then for making his family poor, taking his father away when he was still young, and allowing the school authorities to chase him away from school when he really wanted to proceed with education. However his friends from school helped him to study from home by bringing their books to him and eventually, although he did not go to school formally like other children, he was able to write his ‘O’ Level exams and pass all the six subjects. 

He wanted to be a teacher but the colleges also wouldn’t take him because he had no money. So he again stayed home still with his hatred for God whom he blamed for causing all this. Gideon and his brothers went through very difficult times and one night, Gideon says, “He met me and told me that He died for me out of His Love for me.” That night he cried the whole night for it was the first time that he sensed that there was someone greater who loved him. The following day he went to see a Christian friend who helped him to accept Jesus as his personal Saviour.“That was the same day I realized that God had called me to communicate His love to orphans, vulnerable children and the poor.” 

He then later joined YWAM where he met Jennifer whom he later married and adopted her five children. They live in a rented house outside Bulawayo. 

 

Vision And Annual Strategy

Gideon and Jennifer's passion is to communicate the love of Christ to orphans, vulnerable children, downtrodden communities, widows and families affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty by meeting their physical, emotional, social and material needs.  They do all that they do to point the poor to Christ, the true Fountain of Hope which never dries up.

This is done by:
• Providing a safe home at Peniel Centre for physically, emotionally and sexually abused orphans and vulnerable children 

• Ensuring that orphans and vulnerable children are in school by meeting their educational needs (currently paying school fees for 21 children out of a target of 50 children)
• Running a daily feeding program for orphans and vulnerable children from Mthombothemba
• Reducing poverty in the community by training and running income generating projects like Foundations for Farming gardening, livestock management, goat and chicken loan programmes, chicken layers/egg production etc
• Running psycho-social support camps for orphans and vulnerable children during each and every school holiday period as well as free counselling services and life skills training.
• Discipling the church and the community to raise up disciples who are Glorifying God (Eph 3:21), Grounded in Love (Eph 3-14-19), Growing in Christ (Eph 4:15-16), Going and proclaiming (Eph 6:18-20)
• Community development and leadership training to pastors and church leaders, to challenge the church to be a vehicle of transformation of their communities.