5th Annual VOH Africa Leadership Meetings: Monthly News

Every month we like to share the latest news coming from Villages of Hope Africa – Society as we continue bringing hope to children in need throughout Africa. If you would like to receive these updates as a monthly newsletter, please subscribe. Here’s what’s been happening this month…

Note from the Directors

August is always a big month for Villages of Hope! With many people on school break or summer holidays, we are often blessed by teams and short-term volunteers.

This August has been no exception and we are so thankful for everyone who visited one of the VOH locations and spent time with the children and staff, leading VBS, kids camps and workshops, and taking part in building and maintenance projects. A big thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who supported others to come. We have been blessed!

August is also when we hold our annual leadership meetings, and we are excited to share a bit about this year’s meetings with you below.

We would like to thank each of you for your continued support and encouragement as together we bring hope to children in need!

Sincerely,

Nancy and Sergio Bersaglio

5th Annual Villages of Hope Africa Leadership Meetings

The 5th annual Villages of Hope Africa Leadership Meetings were held this year from August 20th – 22nd in Kitwe, Zambia. Village Directors and other Village leaders, including Administrators and School Heads, came together for the meetings.

Before heading to the conference center, we all paid a visit to VOH Kitwe. The Kitwe village is the oldest of the eight VOH locations; it opened in early 1999 with 43 children from the surrounding communities attending school at the Village each day. Today, there are eight Villages of Hope locations with approximately 3,000 children attending school each day, taking part in the feeding programs, and being provided with free medical care when needed. The Children’s homes at the eight Villages provide safe shelter in a loving, Christian, family environment for almost 500 children!

For most of the leaders it was their first time visiting the Village in Kitwe. We started with a program that the children prepared for everyone. There was singing, dancing, and one of the youth and one of the house moms both shared their testimony.

The highlight of the program was when we sang a song that is a favorite of children and adults alike in Africa: “There’s no one, there’s no one like Jesus.”

VOH Leaders led the song in the language spoken in their country and although some VOH locations share the same national languages, we still sang in 5 different languages: Bemba, Kirundi, Shona, Swahili, and English.

After the program, Everlyn Chitente, the Director at VOH Kitwe, took us on a tour of the Village. It’s great for the leaders to see what is happening at other locations, it is a time to learn from one another, encourage one another, and know how to pray for each other and the needs of the individual Villages.

Pastor Mark Francisco from Coquitlam Alliance Church in BC was the guest speaker and shared thoughts on leadership from a Biblical perspective. Pastor Mark has led tours to Israel many times and brought new insights about what it means to be a servant leader reflecting on the places and times of both the Old and New Testaments. The pictures and historical and cultural information that Mark shared brought context to what we read in the Bible and everyone was helped, blessed and inspired by what was taught.

Executive Director, Sergio Bersaglio, led a session about our Child Protection Policy, which is an important and ongoing topic. He also led discussions on the development and role of the local VOH Boards, which govern the individual Villages. Nancy Bersaglio (VOH-Africa Administrator) presented a newly developed fund-raising document, which outlines the history, current statistics, and future plans and goals for Villages of Hope.

Zowa from VOH Zimbabwe and Everlyn from VOH Kitwe led a session where they spoke about their trip to Canada earlier this year for the annual VOH-A Board meeting. They are both members of the VOH-A Board of Directors and were able to talk about the role of the Society and how it is managed in Canada. They encouraged the leaders to continue the good work that they are doing and to keep maintaining the high standards that have brought the Villages their good reputation overseas.

Between sessions, we had a great time visiting with one another. In most cases, the Village leaders only see each other once a year when we gather together for these meetings and so there is always lots of catching up to do. The relationships grow stronger each year and the excitement about being together is high.

One thing that we all share in common is a love for the children and youth that we are caring for and the desire to help as many more as we possibly can.