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 visited with alumni, cleaned our homes, and held student elections!
Don’t forget to scroll all the way to the bottom to see our photo of the week!
Save the Date: Evenings of Hope 2019
Save the date for an evening of hope near you!
- Kelowna: Friday, September 27
- Winnipeg: Friday, October 4th
- Ladner: Saturday, October 5
- Ottawa: Friday, October 11
- Toronto: Saturday, October 19
- Vancouver: Friday, October 25
- Langley: Saturday, October 26
- Comox: Friday, November 1
Bulale (Tanzania): Student Leadership Elections
Recently at VOH Bulale, the students held elections for student leadership. The students themselves nominated some of their fellow students for various roles like Head Boy and Head Girl, Assistant Student Leaders, Environmental Leaders, and Timekeepers (for sports).
They were each able to vote for the students they thought were capable of being good leaders in each role.
We want to train up leaders right from the beginning, encouraging children to grow in their leadership skills and to become more responsible. This is a great opportunity for students to grow in this way and we are excited to see how the children will step up into their new roles!
Bwiza (Burundi): Learning MATLAB
VOH Bwiza was blessed to have one of the Cross Church team members equip our teachers with new computer skills. These new skills will help our teachers train their students how to use computers.
The training was on using MATLAB. MATLAB is used by engineers and scientists in many fields such as image and signal processing, communications, control systems for industry, smart grid design, robotics as well as computational finance.
We appreciate this training as for many of our teachers, this was the 1st time to hear about MATLAB.
Chongwe (Zambia): Welcome, Favour and Moses!
VOH Chongwe would like to welcome Favour and Moses. These two siblings were sent to live with their grandmother after the death of their parents, but although the grandmother loves them she is not able to meet their basic needs, or send them to school. She is too old to work and depends on well-wishers to survive.
The family lives in a remote village and Social Welfare asked if we could provide a home and schooling for them both. They have joined the VOH family and are so happy to be in a loving home and back in school!
Our teachers are working with them so they can catch up with the other students their age. Their grandmother comes to visit them from time to time so they don’t lose touch.
We are happy to see their smiles and to hear them talk about their futures with hope!
Kitwe (Zambia): Visit from Abraham
Recently Abraham, a VOH Kitwe alumni, came by for a visit at the Village!
Abraham is now 26 years old. He was raised and educated at the VOH Kitwe school since he was 11 years old. He graduated in 2010 and went and trained as Machinist.
His fiancé came with him so we could meet her. We were so excited to have Abraham back and to meet his future wife. We served a meal in the house where he lived and he was even able to sit on his old bed!
He chatted with the boys and encouraged them to listen to their housemothers and follow their guidance.
It was so wonderful to have him back for a visit!
Malawi: Hope Hope Hooray!
This week at VOH Malawi we celebrated with our annual “Hope Hope Hooray” party!
It was a wonderful occasion marking the end of another successful school year at Lilongwe Hope Academy. All the students and their caregivers were in attendance as well as many local community leaders.
Awards were handed out to students who scored at the top of their class as well as those who showed most improvement over the school year.
Each class had a chance to make a special presentation to the audience and we finished our time off with a delicious meal together.
Maramvya (Burundi): Solar Panels!
At VOH Maramvya, we were honoured to receive visitors from Cross Church in Canada. The visitors spent time with the VOH children playing and singing.
While they were here, they helped set up solar panels, which will be incredibly useful. Up until now, we have had trouble accessing enough electricity, but we can.
We would like to say a big thanks to Pastor Chris and Cross church!
Mongu (Zambia): Moonga and Namasiku’s Progress
We love seeing the improvement of our kids in the Save A Life program at VOH Mongu! Two of the children that are coming close to graduating from the program are Moonga and Namasiku. They are both showing amazing improvement since they were admitted at the beginning of the year.
Moonga was admitted into the program in January, weighing only 5.16kgs at 10 months old, around half of what she should have weighed for a baby her age. She is now weighing almost 9kgs and is on track to fully recover from her time of being malnourished!
Namasiku came into the program in December 2018 and weighed 6.6kgs as an almost 2-year-old girl. She has done so well on the program and has gained almost 4kgs since being on the program! This is a huge improvement for her and we are confident of her mom’s abilities to properly care for her and provide for her after she leaves the program.
We know both of these girls have big futures ahead of them!
Mwanza (Tanzania): Monthly Clean-Up!
Every month at VOH Mwanza we take time as a community to clean the Village. We know it’s important to take care of our Village, clean up litter, and keep our grounds looking great.
The children, staff, and members of the community come together to help out. Sometimes members of the business community also help us by donating various supplies like garbage bins.
All the children are taught how to properly dispose of waste and how to keep the environment around them clean. We know that by instilling this value in them at a young age, they will grow up to care about their environment and make a difference in their community!
Zimbabwe: Congratulations, Pamela!
Pamela came with her brother Daniel to VOH Zimbabwe after both of their parents passed away when she was just a young girl. She worked hard, did well in school, and graduated from high school and then went to University and recently graduated with flying colours!
After graduation, Pamela got a job with an insurance firm in Zimbabwe and began her career there. She also took a required course about the insurance industry and completed it with distinctions.
Pamela is an example to emulate for the younger children and visits us often. She tells the young children that regardless of the challenges that they have faced in life, it is possible to do well if they just put their hearts to it.
We celebrate with Pamela and are grateful for all those that have had a hand in helping her and many others like her achieve their dreams!