The picture of the little boy is Godfrey Nyarugwe’s son. He will be four in December. I happened to drive up to Nyamashato Primary School recently as the kindergarteners were lining up to wash their hands for lunch. This little guy popped out of line and yelled, “Take my picture Roberta.” I couldn’t resist. As you can imagine the pre-school teachers lost control at that point and I am not very popular with them at the moment.
This child is certainly not undernourished as you can see. His mother began using Moringa early in her pregnancy and is continuing to use it in the family’s diet at home. He is such a happy, healthy little boy and is rarely sick. He is such a busy little boy and very outgoing. I really get a lift when I see him.
Yesterday, May 31, some of the HCOC staff and community members and some of the Headmasters as well as one of the Pastors came at 5:00pm for a time of joint prayer. I hope some of the ZMP members were able to gather in prayer at 9:00 am Denver time. This is an effort to join in prayer in unison lifting up the work of HCOC across the distance. The goal is to gather at the same time the last day of every month. Anyone who is interested can join as well wherever you are. God will hear all the prayers lifted up for HCOC and its work with the orphans here in Zimbabwe. This one time it was also a time of remembering Ralph and all he did for this community.
On Monday, we set aside the day for visiting Inyagui and Guzha Primary Schools. Our task was to distribute pens, pencils, tooth brushes and tooth paste to the Orphans at the two schools. There were also Soccer Balls in the bag that the schools were in desperate need of. This is the beginning of the Sports Season. A group of Girl Scouts in Castle Rock had been collecting these items to send with me to the children here in Zimbabwe. The response to their efforts was beyond anything they could have expected. They collected more than I could bring with me. So Deanna will be bringing another bag with her when she comes. That will be distributed to orphans at some of the other schools in the area.
Kalsvairo Paradzai is an orphan that has recently completed his A-levels. He came to see Albert recently about a job. Albert explained that at the moment there were no openings. Albert introduced the idea of further education. He told Kalsvairo that in the future we would need a lab technician in the Moringa Processing. He suggested that he think about it and decide if that was something he would like to do. Since then Albert has met with Kalsvairo and a couple of older brothers. They are agreeing to help him get the training needed so that he can fill the position in the future. Albert has talked at some length about employing orphans at HCOC who do advanced education. This will give hope to some of the younger orphans and something to work toward.
Thursday, I went to Marondera with Albert. I had an opportunity to visit with Basil and Barbara Green while Alberta attended a meeting. While with Basil, Albert and I visited a Hardware Store that had just about anything you could want. We were lucky enough to find a small mill for processing the Moringa. As the project expands, we will need a larger unit but for now this will work. This has the capability of milling 700 lbs. of product per hour. So it appears to be very efficient.
Today, Albert and I paid a visit to Cheunje High School. We have three orphans attending Cheunje Boarding School. This young lady lost both her parents when she was in first grade. We presented her with the blazer that had been donated recently by a former student, who is now employed as a seamstress. As you can see, she was very pleased to receive the jacket. We encouraged all three students to do their very best.
Tomorrow, Albert and I will be going to Harare to meet Deanna and travelers from Denver. We will be spending some time trying to catch up on all that has happened. I have a long list of things for Deanna to follow up on while she is in Zimbabwe.
In closing, please keep in your prayers all these children who have lost their parents. HCOC has a big task in helping these children adjust.
Roberta