Partnership Overview

Fountain of Hope has developed many networks and key relationships which has enabled them to have a significant impact in various remote villages in Zimbabwe. Nemauzhe is a community in Chivi district of Masvingo province which was influenced by the community of Mandiva (ZIM02d) to consider practicing farming God’s way as a way of breaking the cycle of poverty. The community belongs to the Ngara people of Masvingo who speak mostly Karanga dialect of Shona. It is one of the largest communities in Chivi with many villages and at the moment Fountain of Hope is only targeting Chipunza village of Nemauzhe area. As they have done in other communities, they will slowly move from one village to another until the whole community has been transformed to be able to change their situation and circumstances.

Chipunza village has 400 households, one primary school, one shopping centre, a dirt road that connects the community to the nearest town which is 90km away, one dip tank for cattle and one big river that flows through the community. The river has been dry for the past two seasons as the community received very little or no rainfall at all during these seasons. People predominantly get water from the river bed which obviously becomes very difficult when the river is completely dry. The only primary school in this community does not have running water and this has caused the school to lose qualified teachers every year. Hence Fountain of Hope is keen to establish a borehole here. The school pass rate has consistently been very low due to the unqualified teachers but once the water situation has been sorted out and the school is able to get qualified teachers the pass rate is expected to improve.

Fountain of Hope's desire in this community is to improve the quality of life through increasing food security, provision of psycho-social support interventions to orphans and vulnerable children, increasing individual and household incomes, increasing access to clean and safe water for drinking and productive purposes, increasing family and community livestock production, increasing the number of children who attend school on a daily basis, and the establishment of a skills training centre for vulnerable youth.  

History of Partnership

In 2001 Rob Purdue, BHW Executive Chairman, travelled to visit Gideon and Jennifer in Mthombothemba as his nephew was living there. Rob was impressed by them and BHW's New Partnership Director continued to dialogue with them. In December 2012 funds were sent to assist with training some of their people in Foundations for Farming and then late in 2013 BHW commenced partnering with Gideon and Jennifer at a greater level, providing financial support for the Peniel children's home (ZIM02), Mthombothemba community development (ZIM02a), and personal support for Gideon and Jennifer (ZIM02b). Following on from this, in 2015 a community development project in Makamure was commenced (ZIM02c), in 2016 a community development project in Mandiva village commenced (ZIM02d) and then in 2017 two more villages were added - Chirogwe (ZIM02f) and Mtshazo (ZIM02g).  

As Fountain of Hope continues to reach out into new communities they present these opportunities to us and in September 2020 the BHW Executive approved financially assisting them to get involved in Nemauzhe.  

Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries here will initially be the 35 people who are trained in Foundations for Farming whose families will directly benefit from this training but the entire 400 households of this community will also benefit from the borehole and clean water supply.  

What We Like About The Partnership

Gideon and Jennifer/Fountain of Hope understand that transformation requires a broad based holistic approach to solving the issues and the starting point has been building relationships with the community. We continue to be incredibly encouraged by the commitment of Gideon and Jennifer to the communities they are involved in. Their love for these people and their desire to transform these communities is inspiring. 

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

The vision of Fountain of Hope 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.

In Chipunza village this will be done by:
1) Foundations for Farming training: 35 people from Chipunza village will receive ongoing training in Foundations for Farming. The people of this community are excited about this program because they have seen the way it has worked wonders in the community of Mandiva. These farmers are not only going to grow maize but will also grow sorghum and cow peas which are drought resistant crops. If cow peas do well the community would also be able to sell the surplus and earn an income out farming. In time, Fountain of Hope envisions reaching out to all the villages of Nemauzhe community with this training. 

2) Provision of clean and safe water for drinking and productive purposes: Fountain of Hope is looking to establish a solar powered borehole pump at Nemauzhe Primary School in Chipunza village. The borehole will supply the school with water and also enable the school to have a garden where the children will be able to learn agricultural skills which will help them in life after school. The borehole will not only benefit the school but will also benefit the entire community since there is no source of water for the people of this community and their livestock. 

In addition to the borehole, the community will also be taught how to purify water from the river bed which will go a long way in reducing water borne diseases in the community by enabling people to have clean and safe drinking water. They also intend to find ways of harvesting water from the river and use it to run small irrigation plots to improve food security in the community.