Here's more news from Paddington ... the story of how our donor's lives converged with one woman on a rural mountain half-way around the world >>>>


This old woman lost her husband in 1986 as a result of accident. She single handedly raised her children by her hard work. She managed to send her children to school by the labour of her hands. Unfortunately some of the children died due to the deadly HIV and AIDS that has caused untold suffering in many families. This resulted in the old woman having to look after four grandchildren of the deceased children. In her old age she can no longer work as before so she now needs support to feed herself and the orphaned grandchildren.

 

Support and Help received by the old woman from Village Hope.

 

A] Poultry Project

 Through the community poultry project the woman was a beneficiary of 50 chicks, chicken feed and the medicine. Through hard work and paying attention to our support and education she managed to keep all the birds. At the present day she is now managing the fifth batch of the chickens and she is realising profits from the poultry project. The set up of her project shows that she is a hardworking old woman who is appreciating the efforts that are being put in place to make her burden light.

 

B] Pass it On Project

In the Pass it On programme the old woman received a goat and a beast. As the project involves keeping the first animal until you get an offspring and then return the first animal, the woman has managed to produce tremendous results.

 

With the goat that she has received she now has four off springs and this show a lot of attention and effort in the keeping of the animals. Anytime from now she will be able to sell some of her offspring and realise money that will go a long way in meeting the needs of the family. Given the reproduction cycle of goats being so short, the number of goats will soon double.

 

The beast that she received gave birth to an offspring and unfortunately due to some unforeseen circumstances the offspring died. Although her offspring died her tedious effort in the keeping of the mother(cow) is still commendable.

 

Overall Evaluation of the Beneficiary

 

The woman has proved to be a hard worker and a faithful steward over the immense help that she has received. She has successfully applied hard work in rearing the chickens, the goats and the beast. The projects that she has benefited from has managed to transform her life and that of the immediate grandchildren that she is taking care of, she can now put a decent meal on the table for the family of five. With the proceeds from the poultry project she can also send some of her grandchildren to school. The project initiatives combined with her prudent effort has managed to change her life in the community and make her a proud owner of livestock. With the breeding cycle of chickens being 6 weeks, the woman will earn more from the chickens for her livelihood and the grandchildren in her care. The life of the beneficiary has been transformed by the projects that she benefited from. I hope and believe more families are going to learn a good lesson from her. May the living Father keep on the hands that gives." Paddington


















 

October 2012   Household Poultry Project

 

The background of our community is that of many families that are child headed, chronically ill headed, elderly headed and single parent headed. This mixed bag of families in the community is major reason we had to join hands and take the initiative of rolling self help projects.

 

From all the families that I have mentioned above I would like to track one family as a case study for the Household Poultry Project.

 

The Case of an Elderly headed Family

The family is headed by man and a woman who both well advanced in years and are looking after five orphaned grandchildren who needs to be fed, clothed and send to school. Given that they can’t find any formal employment because of their age and lack of educational qualifications they have no source of income. The couple lost some of their children to the deadly HIV and AIDS disease and they were left with grandchildren that they must look after.

The woman used to be a heavy liquor drink and would also smoke traditional tobacco. Thank to the Almighty Father that through our community initiatives she has now reformed. She is now a full time member of our church, is working in our new women’s program (which was started by Alice with the help of our American sister, Mary)  and was bloused this year in Masvingr.

 

Their story in the project reflects the major and positive developments that come with the project.

 

The Starting Phase:

The elderly woman received 50 day old chicks, enough chicken feeds and the medication required. She successfully looked after the chicks for the breeding cycle of 5-7 weeks. She exerted all her effort and would enquire whenever she faced challenges in keeping the birds. She successfully managed to sell all her chicken and kept the money faithfully

 

Progress:

After the first batch the woman didnot give up. She secured the second,third batch and at the time of writing this report she has managed to buy  100 chicks which is the fourth batches sequentially. This is a sign of hardwork and capacity to appreciate the efforts being made to uplift the livelihood of her family.

Benefits to the Family:

As a result of consistency and resoluteness the project has brought about a massive transformation of life to the family. There are several areas that were positively changed by the impact of the project on the family and some of the areas include;

 

School fees; the family is now able to meet the demands of school fees for her children from the little profit that she is making from keeping the chicken.

 

  Uniforms: out of the profits of the project the family is also able to buy school uniforms for the children.

 

Food; the family can now have decent meals and daily supply of food due to the benefits of the poultry project.

 

 

Further Support

The family in the casestudy are also beneficiaries of the goats through the Pass it On project and they now have 9 goats and four of them are encalf. Apart from support that they have received they have also appreciated the gesture by a corresponding effort of hard work by our friends in America who have helped to sustain the projects.  


Pass our love to all our friends,

Paddington and the Village Hope Family

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As we begin yet another year of supporting the miracles that spring from Village Hope, it's good to take time to  consider the life of one of God's neediest daughters and to  realize what our 'little' yeses have meant to her.

Often, I try to imagine  what our efforts mean in the great 'scheme' of things. Some, I suppose,  would see our accomplishments as just a tiny grain of sand on a vast beach. And for sure, sometimes it seems that way. But,  when Paddington shares a story like the one following ...I realize that you and I, together, are  reaching out to the very people God wants us to touch.

No, we can't change the entire world but to Ambuya, in a remote community in rural Zimbabwe ..... We ARE changing her world ... Thanks for being a part of this worthy adventure ... May God bless your new year! Love, Pam







Dear Friend,

Today I just want to give you the story of an old woman, who in our Shona language, we call,  “Ambuya”.

Ambuya is a name for a grandparent who takes care of the grandchildren when her active children are in various works of life, either employed in towns or working in the same community.

  The grandmother that I am talking of today,  had seven children, four girls, three boys. All went to various places looking for work and some were employed and some were not employed. Those ones who were employed they did quite well in cities where they were working but they never thought of their mom who was struggling in the community, even after the father died and she was doing domestic work for the rich people in order to support her self.

With her love and hope she thought one day the children will look after her but it was a mere wish, little did she know that when her children goes out looking for employment they will go forever. When HIV/AIDS was at its peak, she lost three sons and two daughters. The three sons were well employed but they did not behave well, and when they died they left a number of children who were then taken back to the grandmother in our community.

That grandmother, AMBUYA, was then an elderly woman who is no longer fit to work in order to raise an income to support the children. She was left with eight children without even a cent to feed them, to clothe them and to send them to school.

She was really very desperate until she was rescued by the Village Hope, which is You.

Now, because of your hardwork, support and love, we are going to outline some of the things that really changed the life of this old woman.

First step, the children were coming hungry, for the feeding program where they were having meals to keep them healthy. The older children through Ambuya, and the support that they were getting from the Village Hope Family, they enrolled at a nearby school were they were being assisted through school fees and uniforms. The children were being fed at the school through the school feeding program supported by Village Hope. That was on the academic and nutritious side.

ON the projects side, the grandmother was helped with her garden through  'seed to Sadza', then she was given 50 chickens and all the feeds and medicines to raise them,  and the grandchildren were looking after them as a way of generating income. They are now struggling to maintain the project at maximum, and they are surviving.

They were given a goat through 'Pass It On'  project, now they have 11 goats which is also a very positive development.

She also benefited a beast and the beast is now in calf for the third time. SO in total they have got two and one is in calf in order to give birth to another third beast. All was made possible because of your love for the poor, now they have what we call life.

When they need to buy uniform or pay school fees, they can sell a goat.

Ambuya also joined the 'Women's Empowerment' sewing project, though with age she is no longer able to see well.

Yesterday, she came with her youngest grand-child and she was enrolled at Village Hope School.

This is a clear new generation ready for a bright future. Please let us spread the word and preach the word, we have seen the hand of the Almighty Father. He sends His daughters and sons to rescue other people who are in need. Now golden opportunities wait for the least of these little children in our community at Village Hope's new preschool.

I have seen the hand of our living God.

Please pray for the school, children and the staff.

Amen.