Welcome to our weekly news roundup! Here we share stories from each of our Villages about our Programs, celebrations, children, and staff. If you’d like to receive these updates via email, please subscribe to our newsletter.
Kitwe: Pumpkin and Maize Harvest!
The moms at VOH Kitwe just harvested maize and pumpkins from their house gardens. It was a joyful thing to see the gardens produce so well after labouring to prepare the land. The children enjoy eating the maize and pumpkins they helped grow.
Some of the maize is dried and ground into a course mealie powder and mixed with roasted groundnuts for a very nutritious and tasty cereal!
Burundi: School Success Evaluation
After Easter holidays, all of our VOH Burundi Staff and Volunteers attended a meeting to evaluate how our children did in school during the second term. We then brainstormed together what strategies to implement in order to effectively help our children succeed as we head into the final term of the school year!
We are thankful for our staff’s commitment to excellence as they work hard to ensure our children’s success in school.
Chongwe: Exam Preparation
This week at VOH Chongwe the children started writing their end of term exams. The kids appreciate all the help they received in the weeks leading up to examination time. We are so grateful for our teaching staff who managed to still cover all of the lessons for the term despite the late opening due to the country’s recent cholera outbreak.
Mongu: Child Protection Workshop
This week at VOH Mongu, our child protection officer Clarissa led a very helpful workshop about our policies. We started by singing together and then Clarissa shared an amazing reminder about how God declares us as great, even when we don’t feel great.
We then went through the child protection policy and reviewed and discussed all of the ways we can serve the children and ensure they feel loved, safe, and protected!
Mwanza: Meet Joseph
VOH Mwanza would like you to meet 8-year-old Joseph. He has lived at the Village since he was very small. He came from a different child care centre to join his brother and sister who were already at VOH.
Not much is known about his family or childhood, other than the fact he and his siblings were abandoned.
While his past is full of sadness and many unknowns, Joseph’s future is bright. He is part of a loving family here at VOH and is growing well. He is in grade 2 and goes to school onsite. He loves being silly and playing with his friends and siblings.
We know God has great things in store for this sweet little boy.
Zimbabwe: New Soccer Team Uniforms!
VOH Zimbabwe has a budding soccer team being coached by Tashinga, one of the older boys in our homes. The idea is to develop athletic talents in the boys and to give them something fun to do to keep busy after school and during the school break.
The team was recently blessed with a soccer kit from friends in Ontario and they were very happy to try on their new outfits.
They also recently played another team from the community who is coached by one of the Hope Community Church members. It was a great day of friendly competition!