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.
This week we welcomed visitors, celebrated donations, and were featured on local TV in Burundi!
Don’t forget to scroll all the way to the bottom to see our photo of the week!
Don’t miss our latest blog:
Read: https://vohafrica.com/blog/2019-04-23/watn-justina
Bulale (Tanzania): Meet Verediana
VOH Bulale would like you to meet Verediana. She is five years old and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Verediana lives with both of her parents and one sister, Revina.
Both Verediana and Revina are students at VOH Bulale School. Their parents try hard to get any casual work they can, but neither have permanent work and so providing for basic needs is often a challenge. The girls love school and are learning so much! Their parents are also thrilled that they are receiving a quality education.
We can’t wait to see all the Verediana will accomplish as she grows!
Bwiza (Burundi): Featured on Local Television!
This week at VOH Bwiza we held a special event to raise awareness and support from the local people in Bujumbura, the capital city. The local television network even attended and filmed portions of the program to show in a half hour TV broadcast!
We strongly encouraged those in attendance to join our other local and international partners in supporting this very important ministry. The children performed a variety of things for our guests: songs, traditional dances, and poems.
We were very privileged to have Uncle Serge, the Executive Director of VOH Africa, and his wife Nancy, the Director of Development, join us. Uncle Serge shared a great message that touched the hearts of our guests. We are convinced that people were not the same by the end of the event and that they have a new understanding and passion for children and the ministry of VOH Africa!
Chongwe (Zambia): Meet Mildred and Shelly
Meet Mildred and her sister Shelly from VOH Chongwe. In 2012 Mildred and her sister were brought to the Village after the death of their father. Mildred was just 7 years old.
At VOH, they were given the opportunity to continue schooling. They are both doing great at school and Mildred recently passed the very difficult grade 7 government exams with very excellent results and graduated into grade 8! Mildred’s dream is to become a medical doctor.
They are both so happy to be at VOH and they love their Village of Hope family!
Kitwe (Zambia): Fatuma Visits!
This week at VOH Kitwe we received a visit from VOH graduate Fatuma. Fatuma grew up at VOH Kitwe after both of her parents passed away. Now, she and her husband Churchill have 3 children of their own and together pastor a church.
This past week Fatuma and Churchill stopped by to bless the children’s homes with some groceries! The children and house mothers were very happy to see them and were so encouraged to receive this donation from one of our former VOH children! They sang songs of joy and appreciation.
Fatuma and her family helped in delivering the groceries to the homes and Churchill concluded with a prayer of thanksgiving for the work that VOH Africa is doing in all our Villages.
Malawi: Donated Goods
This week at VOH Malawi we were happy to receive a very practical donation. Each child received a package with hygiene items and food staples such as salt and sugar. Donations like these are very helpful to our ministry and we are grateful to have received this one!
Maramvya (Burundi): Welcoming the Directors!
Our VOH Maramvya Preschool kids were excited to welcome Uncle Serge, the Executive Director of VOH Africa and his wife Nancy, the Director of Development. Uncle Serge and Auntie Nancy flew all night to get to Burundi and were greeted at the airport by our Director Delson. They were taken straight to Maramvya where they found the children waiting to greet them!
The children sang welcome songs and held welcome signs written in three different languages! We are very thankful for this blessed couple and we take this opportunity to wish them a happy 40 year anniversary!
Mongu (Zambia): Emotional Support Training
At VOH Mongu, we were blessed to have Jenny and Graham Evans, pastors from Cape Town and long-time VOH supporters, spend time with us!
Graham led devotions and Bible studies with the staff at our weekly devotion. In addition, one of the highlights from their visit was the training that Jenny did with some of our staff on how to counsel people and children through tough situations. It was a very informative session where we learned about our body language and how to ask open-ended questions where people feel safe and heard. We then got to practice these techniques on each other!
We are so grateful for these learning opportunities so we can provide better care to our children and give support to our coworkers, families, and friends.
Mwanza (Tanzania): Welcoming Crian and Cleofas
VOH Mwanza would like you to meet the newest children to join our VOH family, Crian and Cleofas. As part of our routine community assessments, we met these twins and their mother who live nearby in the community.
Their mother doesn’t have regular work and is alone, struggling to provide for her babies who are 15 months old. The twins were in need of some extra nutritious food and we are very happy that we were able to step in and help!
Crian and Cleofas are part of our new morning daycare program at the Village. Through this program, they receive a nutritious porridge meal each day.
We have also been able to buy some nutritional supplements for their mom to feed them at home. We are very happy to see them both gaining strength and growing well!
Zimbabwe: Child Protection Policy Training
At the beginning of each school term at VOH Zimbabwe, we take time to do a refresher on the child protection policy. This allows everyone to be reminded of their responsibilities and what they have to watch out for as they take care of children at the Village.
To make it more exciting we usually pair it with team-building activities. This time we refreshed ourselves by discussing some case studies in groups so we could bring the child protection policy to life.
It was an exciting time of discussion that will ensure we continue bringing hope to children safely and effectively. Through these activities, we continue to strive to bring everyone together so we can be responsible caregivers who look out for our children with open eyes.