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This home was created to offer a home, family, hope and a future to abandoned, abused and homeless orphans and vulnerable children, in and around the city of Bulawayo. The home takes those children who are very desperate and who completely do not have anyone to look after them. We are so grateful to Bright Hope World for all the support that is being rendered to this home. The home has got 26 children to date, the youngest is a wonderful young girl who is 8 years of age.
Most of these young people came to the centre with no hope and even no future at all and we want to thank God that they do have a wonderful future and their dreams which were shattered have been resurrected. There is complete restoration of dreams, hope and joy. This is the home that they call home, they do not have any other home. We thank God that the support from Bright Hope World is going a long way in making us be able to provide food to these children, send them to school, buy clothes for them and assist them to acquire identity documents. All these children have got different dark and sad stories of their past and thank God that Peniel Centre is creating smiles on the faces of these children. Some of these children are already at University level, thanks to the support that comes from Bright Hope World.
These children are not only being fed with food and sent to school but they are always taught the word of God. Some of them are so passionate about knowing Christ and making Him known at school and even to the neighbours around. We have seen some of these children emerging as leaders such that they have been nominated at their schools either to be class monitors, school prefects or even school head boys/girls. Thank you that through your support we are raising up such kind of people.
Challenges:
The greatest challenge in the past two years has been COVID-19 which has caused some of these children not to be able to go to school all the time.
Many children, especially those from rich families, have been learning online but sadly it has been difficult for our Peniel children to do lessons online because we do not have the gadgets for the children to use.
There are so many thieves and robbers in Zimbabwe at the moment who are stealing anything that they find; they stole our electricity copper wires and we have gone for two years without power. We are now using solar power to pump water but are finding it hard to run refrigerators etc.
The engine of the van that our children use to go to school ceased because it is too old.
Because the van is not running, we have been finding it hard to transport the garden produce from Peniel to the market.
Resolutions:
We need to repair or buy another van that will be used by children as they go to school.
There is need for us to have enough laptops and computers so that children may be able to learn online.
Increase the solar panels and batteries so that we can harvest more power to run the place.
Advertise the farm produce on social media if there is no transport to take the produce to the market.
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There is high unemployment amongst the youth in our nation of Zimbabwe, more so in our town of Bulawayo, and some of the young people end up abusing drugs creating a whole lot of problems for the whole community. Due to the economic challenges that we are going through as a nation coupled with COVID-19 challenges many young girls are turning to prostitution as the only source of income for their families. If these girls and boys who dropped out of school were provided with skills that are tradable, they would not engage in all these illicit businesses of prostitution, drug abuse, burglary, property vandalism and all kinds of juvenile delinquency. Some of them have established fierce gangs in the city of Bulawayo and in some communities where they steal from people and companies so as to get money for food and other basic necessities. Our prisons are being filled up with these youngsters who are not employed and most of them do not have skills that can help them to make a living.
It is to this backdrop that Fountain of Hope came up with a vehicle to drive young people off the streets and provide them with skills so that they may either be employed or create employment for themselves.
Our mission is to empower young people, socially and economically, giving them an opportunity to improve their circumstances through either creating their own job or getting employed using acquired skills. At the moment we are focusing on carpentry training.
Our first skills training started in January this year with 21 participants who all were taken off the streets and out of living lives with no direction. We are not just going to dump them back into the streets after training but are going to walk with them and mentor them until they are able to stand on their own.
We are happy to report that through your support these children are already trying to make chairs and tables. We already have got dozens and dozens of young people who would like to be trained from the streets of Bulawayo and the avenues of our communities.
We have also witnessed great transformation in the lives of these youngsters as some of them have already stopped abusing drugs and are living respected lives. Some of them would like to be business people after the training for example the girl in the story below.
Challenges:
The training school has only got one teacher for 21 students and this really strains him a lot such that he needs to have time to rest every weekend.
Due to the challenges of COVID, the students are unable to go on work placements since most companies have closed down.
We started off with a very big class and yet our tools are not very many and this is always a challenge for all the students to be able to practice doing something at the same time.
Resolutions:
The next intake which is going to commence in January 2022 should have a smaller, more manageable class.
We need to buy more tools so that each student be given the opportunity to practice whatever they are learning.
The school is going to take the first intake for more than a year since they have not been able to use the tools as per the curriculum.
Fountain of Hope is going to assist them by training them on how to start and run small scale businesses.
The students are to be divided into smaller groups so that they may start their small cooperative businesses.
Fountain of Hope is to support these youngsters up until they are able to run on their own.
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Ebenezer is a young lady who is a school leaver. There was nothing that she could do after finishing school and yet she desired to be employed but sadly there are no jobs in Zimbabwe. She heard about this training skills program and she quickly came forward to register for the school and she is doing very well in all subjects that are taught at the school. Her desire after the training is to open her own carpentry shop where she will be making furniture for schools in the rural areas. She has been to some rural areas where children sit on the floor and where they use their laps as tables and her greatest desire is to help these communities by providing better furniture for their schools.
Thank you so much for all the support that you are rendering to all the communities, orphans and vulnerable children here in Zimbabwe. Your support is undoubtedly going a long way in transforming lives and creating a better future for the vulnerable and their communities. The Carpentry Skills Training for the young people which is our new project is already bearing much fruit as these young people are not only getting skills to make things but their entire lives are changing. Peniel Centre continues to receive new children from very hard places. We are very much grateful to you for the support.
Blessings
Gideon & Jennifer Chishamba
on behalf of all Fountain of Hope staff members