THE DATES & MISSION NEEDS
The 411
So you want to know when its all going down!? Well if you have ever had someone close to you in the military, you know they can get drafted to leave in 2 weeks when they weren't supposed to leave for another 6 months. And in that way missionary work can be the same. There may be a leaving date and a time span for being overseas but when God calls on a missionary, it is our joy to answer! Whether it causes us to miss our family and friends at home longer or our adopted bunch of orphans overseas longer, we consider it pure joy to be challenged and grow stronger in the name of Jesus.
Summary of Upcoming Exploratory Trip
The founder of a Zimbabwean orphanage has suddenly died. Food flow to the children at the orphanage has stopped, and the only financial sponsor from the U.S. is considering stepping down. There are precious few who remain in efforts to keep the orphanage up and running. It is possible that soon all of the orphans, approximately just over one hundred, will have to go back out into homelessness. Those who are still at the orphanage, kids and adults alike, do not know how generate income for themselves individually let alone for a large group. They have never encountered self-sufficiency or team leadership. Many of those who have “aged out” have either completely disappeared or started into the only option they can see which is prostitution, drug dealing, and more along those lines. There is one and only one food available to them in this time of crisis, corn. Their emergency supply is going to run out in September. By then the kids, cooks and anyone else who hasn’t bowed out will be weakened by their non-diverse diet.
The late founder was given a farm by a government grant in a special situation. In order to get this farm producing again, leadership will need to be in place to determine what will be required to maintain the farm because of what it is capable of providing the orphanage. For over 10 years all the workers and children of this orphanage have functioned off of donations and the food the farm yielded each season. Farming is our number one key to success with this situation. Networking is number two. We want to go and find out what is left of the farm, if it will or can continue supplying food to the orphanage, and the ownership/control details. Gethsemane Hillman and Gabriel Smith will be flying out July 27th. Gethsemane has called together a group of young adults who grew up in the orphanage and is planning to meet with them as soon as she and her missionary colleague arrive in Zimbabwe. They will be finding out how many of these aged out orphans are willing to make any kind of long-term commitment to keeping the orphanage fed first and foremost and secondarily see it through to self-sufficiency. These young adults know this is a learning process as well as a lot of work but we believe we will find a select few who will live and die for this cause. They would not have survived their childhoods without this place. Once this meeting is finished they will move forward to call a meeting with Shylet, the founder's widow. The purpose of this meeting to discover her financial state since her husband’s passing as well as her state of health. At this time they will also begin looking for new avenues for a farm and trades program to develop the orphanage situation into self-sufficiency. Training the mindset out of poverty. A program with the effect of teaching the orphans how to fish instead of handing them the fish and then immediately paying it forward. There is a house in a city 3 hours away from the orphanage that may be able to be used by these young adults to starts small businesses. This house was also under the late founder’s control and whether or not we will be able to maintain control and use of it is something that they will investigate. The intention is to create a domino effect with those young adults that are being taught also being assigned to a younger child or two in the orphanage to start teaching them at a younger more impressionable stage. Gethsemane especially will be making investigative records in depth of the way that most natives survive and calculate the cost of the initial starting project. The starting functionality of the project will rely on as little as possible support. Targeting self-sufficiency from the get go. Testing what they do with 5 fish before I give them the fishing boat. Both Gethsemane and Gabriel will also be making visits to two different missionary establishments already in Zimbabwe with the intention of seeing what they can learn from the experiences these other missionaries have gained over time. After coming back from these visits there will be a regrouping with the young adults who have made long-term commitments. They will be deciding more in detail what that commitment is for each one of them and form a plan to move forward. |
Leaving and Returning
Trip Dates:
Tentatively planning for a Summer of 2016 trip. Leave date in early JUNE and a return in SEPTEMBER. Most recent trips: Fall of 2015 July 27th - October 21st |
Mission Need Lists
The list for our current food crisis needs:
Vitamins Protein supplements Fat supplements Natural Antibiotics: 1.Thieves oil by Young Living 2.Garlic capsules Prayer ----------------------------------------------------- IN THE FUTURE: The list for setting up a small in house clinic in Zimbabwe we have a list of things we are trying to get together. If anyone would like to help then bless you! Here are a few: Protein Supplements Vitamins Thermometers Pre Natal Vitamins Mosquito Repellent Ibuprofen (Adult and Childrens) Antibiotic Ointment Anti Diarheal tablets Anti Constipation/Stool softener tablets Pepto Bismol Chest Vapor Rub Ointment Disposable rubber gloves BandAids large and small Baby Formula Burn Treatments(Salves/sprays/etc) Fever reducer for infants |