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 received back to school gifts, visited a new voh school, and attended helpful training seminars!
Don’t forget to scroll all the way to the bottom to see our photo of the week!
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- 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
Latest Blog “Where Are They Now: Joyce”
Bulale (Tanzania): Growing Healthy Greens!
At VOH Bulale we are happy to grow many of the green vegetables we use in our feeding program ourselves. These vegetables are commonly eaten here in Tanzania and include spinach and various types of kale. Eating greens gives our kids extra nutrients and help them grow well.
We are thankful for Uncle Edward who looks after our gardens. He puts a lot of hard work into ensuring the greens grow well.
Our community parents also help in the garden with planting, weeding, and harvesting. It’s a great way for them to participate in the program, helping all of the children!
Bwiza (Burundi): Congratulations, Divine and Noella!
VOH Bwiza is proud to celebrate Divine and Noella, who have just graduated from their post-secondary programs! Divine graduated from hairdressing school and Noella completed a hotel course.
Divine and Noella have been cared for by VOH Burundi for many years. Now they are ready to embrace life as adults thanks to their time at VOH, which made all of this possible!
It is our joy to share these stories to thank everyone who has contributed to the life of a VOH child; you are making a difference!
Chongwe (Zambia): Visit from Murray and Cindy Cornelius
This week at VOH Chongwe we welcomed Uncle Murray and Aunty Cindy Cornelius who came from Ontario! Murray Cornelius is the Executive Director for International Missions
at PAOC.
During their visit, they toured the Village and also had an opportunity to see our discipleship Club in action. During their visit, the children read the bible, asked questions, and acted out and sang messages from scripture.
We were blessed by the visit and encouraging words from Uncle Murray and Aunty Cindy and we hope to see them again soon!
Kitwe (Zambia): Luongo School Project
This week the VOH Kitwe lead team took time to visit our satellite school in the community of Luongo. We had a meeting with the Luongo staff. The meeting was fruitful and Luongo staff were encouraged to emulate what VOH Kitwe is doing.
While there, we had time to see the site and meet some of the children.
The local community is grateful for the new school is already helping out by making bricks for the new classroom block!
Malawi: New School Uniforms!
The end of winter break is upon us at VOH Malawi and we are gearing up for the start of another school year. The children have had close to two months of holidays and are excited to get back to their studies.
This week we have been handing out their new school uniforms. Each child receives a new school uniform at the beginning of the year. They also receive a brand new pair of durable black school shoes, which make them feel very special. With their new uniforms on, they’ll look so sharp as they come to class next week!
Maramvya (Burundi): New Backpacks!
At VOH Maramvya our children received brand new backpacks filled with school supplies for this upcoming school year!
The kids were all excited to receive their backpacks and had fun going through them to see what was inside. The student’s parents and guardians joined them for the distribution and they were just as excited as their children were!
We would like to take this opportunity to express our thanks to each sponsor and donor that helped make this special day possible.
Mongu (Zambia): Art Lessons!
We love seeing the creativity come out in our kids at VOH Mongu! While the students were on school holiday this past month, many of them took the opportunity to take art lessons from some of our full-time missionaries. They were able to experiment with new mediums, including watercolours, oil paints, charcoal, and coloured pencils.
Joseph, Isaac, and Mutende were among some of the students that came to practice their drawing and painting skills and made some gorgeous new artwork. We love how our students are pressing into their creative sides and becoming more confident as artists and as individuals.
Mwanza (Tanzania): Health Training Seminars
Recently at VOH Mwanza, we were very proud of one of our graduates who organized a community training event. Paul is studying pharmaceuticals and throughout his long break was chosen as the Publication Officer for his University to help organize several training seminars in the Mwanza region. He is the regional coordinator for this initiative and is working with over 50 pharmaceutical students to plan and teach these seminars across the region.
The seminar itself is focused on education around the proper use of antibiotics and common medications. It’s an initiative of the local Ministry of Health in partnership with the World Health Organization. They are using University students in medical fields to organize and put on many of these public health training sessions.
Universal health coverage is also part of the training and seeks to help members of the community understand and access basic healthcare options.
Paul’s first seminar took place at VOH Mwanza and some members of our VOH family took part in the training as well as members from the surrounding community.
It was a great success and we are very proud of Paul using his knowledge to impact his community in such a positive way!
Zimbabwe: Career Choices
At VOH Zimbabwe, each year we share career options with our highschool students. We invite universities to come to the school and talk to the children about the programs they offer and what the children need to qualify.
The goal is to assist the students in their career choices based on their strengths and passions.
This year we had the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) come and speak!