This community used to have the highest HIV/AIDS prevalent rate in the whole country of Zimbabwe, was the second highest community of school drop outs every year especially amongst orphans and vulnerable children, had the lowest school pass rate every year (it's pass rate was 3%), was the fourth largest community with animals that were dying of hunger and diseases, and was the community that was known as the poorest.
We are in this community of four major villages which are surrounded by squatter camps to lift people from the doldrums of poverty. Through the support from Bright Hope World, the school pass rate has increased from 3% to 85%, the community is no longer the highest in the country in terms of HIV/AIDS prevalent rate, their livestock have stopped dying and they now use their livestock to make a living, they are able to produce food on their own and do not necessarily wait for hand-outs - transformation is taking place in this community! Please find herein below the report on some of the projects that are taking place in Mthombothemba:
The community is very rocky and receives very little rainfall every year since it is in region 5 of Zimbabwe. It is exciting to report that this community embraced Foundations for Farming training and many people from Matabeleland region have been coming to this community to learn how they can improve food security in their areas through farming God’s way. It is in this community that the idea of using plastic bottles as a way of cheap irrigation was birthed and the program is already cascading to other communities. This way of irrigation does not only help crops to grow during the hot season but it also helps the community to clean the environment. No plastic bottles are left to fly around to pollute the community for the people of the community pick them up to use them to irrigate their small plots. This way of farming is working as long as people do it on time, at standard, with joy and without wastage.
Due to the economic challenges that we are facing at the moment this Transformation Centre has grown from 55 children to 80 children. They come to the Transformation Centre to get food on a daily basis as well as to be provided with psycho-social support interventions. Some of the children who come to this Centre are on HIV treatment and the staff members do a great job of taking these children to hospital to get medication.
Children are not only taken to the hospital whenever they are sick but there is now a mobile clinic that runs at the Transformation Centre to cater for these children and their grandparents. We give them medication on a daily basis since hospitals in Zimbabwe are not functioning well at the moment.
Apart from the mobile clinic, a school was established at the Transformation Centre which caters for girls who have dropped out of school. These girls are given another chance of being in school with the hope that they will do well and follow their life dreams. Thank you so much Bright Hope World for making this possible for children and young ladies from the community of Mthombothemba and its surrounding areas.
Due to the heat wave that Zimbabwe has been experiencing over the last months, both of the two dams in Mthombothemba dried up and the few boreholes in the community do not have enough water for both people and animals. People are praying for more rain so that we may see the community dams harvesting water again for their gardens and livestock.
The community would like to see one of the squatter camps outside the community having a borehole because the situation is not good for the children and people who live at the squatter camp.
Apart from these challenges, the two gardens in the community are functioning well and are providing people with enough vegetables. (The photo shows the well mulched cabbage garden in Mthombothemba.)
This is one of the communities that has been doing very well as far as management of livestock is concerned. Up until now, even though there is drought, the community has not yet lost any animal to drought thanks to our Agriculturalist for training and empowering people on how to look after their animals.
We thank God for our trainer who empowered or trained the community not to burn grass. People of this community used to burn grass every summer season but thanks again to Bright Hope World for enabling us to have an Agriculturalist who has been doing a wonderful job to look after the environment thereby also prolonging the life span of goats and cattle. (The photo shows the livestock training workshop in Mthombothemba.)
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Fountain of Hope staff members and management would like to hereby register our heartfelt appreciation to Bright Hope World for all the love and generosity that you are rendering to communities right here in Zimbabwe. We are very confident that though we operate through very difficult circumstances, these communities are not going to remain the same. Your support is breaking barriers, making people realize the potential they have, it is building bridges in communities, people who used not to talk to each other are now able to talk and work together, and above all the support is making Christ to be known in these communities.
We are so persuaded that through the grace of God we are slowly stopping desertification of communities and will eventually make these dry communities ‘GREEN’. We have seen great changes already in Makamure which used to be a completely dry area but now people are driving from far away places to buy green veggies from this community which was once very dry and dusty.
Thank you that through your support orphans and vulnerable children have got a home, family, hope and a future at Peniel Centre. Thank you that through your support some schools are getting qualified teachers because your support improved their living conditions at these schools. Through your support communities like Mtshazo which used to live on food hand-outs are going to work in their fields and producing food on their own through the Foundations for Farming program.
“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you PEACE”
Thank you so much
Gideon & Jennifer Chishamba and the team (pictured)