Partnership Ref.:	ZIM02i
Commenced:	25/10/2025
Funding Status:	No Current Donor
Partnership Type:	Orphans & Vulnerable Children, Training / Education, Community / Agriculture Development
Funding Size:	$3,000 - $7,999
Annual Budget:	US$ 4,290

Partnership Overview

Fountain of Hope has developed many networks and key relationships which has enabled them to have a significant impact in various remote villages in Zimbabwe. The community of Majiji is perched in the dry region of Matabeleland, where the soils are poor, sandy, and unable to hold moisture after each rainy season. This region is marked by hunger, poor rainfall, and sandy soils that cannot sustain crops. Literacy levels are extremely low, and tragically, many parents do not see the need to send their children to school. For orphans and vulnerable children, the situation is even worse — they are often left without identity documents, without education, and without hope.

In Majiji, survival has always been the priority. Families spend their days searching for food, and children grow up in homes where education is not valued because hunger overshadows everything. Many people leave for South Africa or Botswana in search of survival. Many end up working on farms in neighbouring countries or engaging in risky activities just to provide for their families.

Yet Fountain of Hope has chosen to step into this difficult place, believing that God’s love can restore dignity and ignite hope even in the hardest circumstances.

Fountain of Hope's desire in this community is to improve the quality of life through increasing food security, provision of psycho-social support interventions to orphans and vulnerable children, increasing individual and household incomes, and increasing the number of children who attend school on a daily basis. 

The Transformation Centre began by providing food to children on weekends. Currently, 65 children from challenging backgrounds are fed every Saturday and Sunday. For many of them, this is the only reliable meal they receive. Alongside food, the Centre is slowly opening minds — helping parents and children to see the value of education, encouraging families to obtain identity documents, and laying the foundation for a brighter future. Their mission in Majiji is clear: to ensure that children are healed physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially, and that they grow up with high self-esteem and a vision for their lives. 

History of Partnership

In 2001 Rob Purdue, BHW Executive Chairman, travelled to visit Gideon and Jennifer in Mthombothemba as his nephew was living there. Rob was impressed by them and BHW's New Partnership Director continued to dialogue with them. In December 2012 funds were sent to assist with training some of their people in Foundations for Farming and then late in 2013 BHW commenced partnering with Gideon and Jennifer at a greater level, providing financial support for the Peniel children's home (ZIM02), Mthombothemba community development (ZIM02a), and personal support for Gideon and Jennifer (ZIM02b). Following on from this, in 2015 a community development project in Makamure was commenced (ZIM02c), in 2016 a community development project in Mandiva village commenced (ZIM02d) and then in 2017 two more villages were added - Chirogwe (ZIM02f) and Mtshazo (ZIM02g). As Fountain of Hope continues to reach out into new communities, they present these opportunities to us and in September 2020 the BHW Executive approved financially assisting them to get involved in Nemauzhe (ZIM02h) and then in 2023 we initially commenced Foundations for Farming training in Majiji followed by the opening of a transformation centre in 2026.    

Beneficiaries

There are many beneficiaries here as the whole community benefits from gardens being grown, children being fed and educated, and families becoming self-sustaining. This type of community development lifts the morale of everyone in the community.    

What We Like About The Partnership

Gideon and Jennifer/Fountain of Hope understand that transformation requires a broad-based holistic approach to solving the issues and the starting point has been building relationships with the community. We continue to be incredibly encouraged by the commitment of Gideon and Jennifer to the communities they are involved in. Their love for these people and their desire to transform these communities is inspiring. 

  

Key People

Gideon & Jennifer 

Gideon was raised up in a very remote and poor community. His father died while he was still very young which eventually meant he had to stop going to school while doing Form 2. He hated God then for making his family poor, taking his father away when he was still young, and allowing the school authorities to chase him away from school when he really wanted to proceed with education. However, his friends from school helped him to study from home by bringing their books to him and eventually, although he did not go to school formally like other children, he was able to write his ‘O’ Level exams and pass all the six subjects. 

He wanted to be a teacher, but the colleges also wouldn’t take him because he had no money. So, he again stayed home still with his hatred for God whom he blamed for causing all this. Gideon and his brothers went through very difficult times and one night, Gideon says, “He met me and told me that He died for me out of His Love for me.” That night he cried the whole night for it was the first time that he sensed that there was someone greater who loved him. The following day he went to see a Christian friend who helped him to accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. “That was the same day I realized that God had called me to communicate His love to orphans, vulnerable children and the poor.” 

He then later joined YWAM where he met Jennifer whom he later married and adopted her five children. They live in a rented house outside Bulawayo.

 

Vision And Annual Strategy

The vision of Fountain of Hope is to communicate the love of Christ to orphans, vulnerable children, downtrodden communities, widows and families affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty by meeting their physical, emotional, social and material needs. They do all that they do to point the poor to Christ, the true Fountain of Hope which never dries up.

In Majiji village this is done by:
• Running a feeding programme for 65 orphans and vulnerable children and providing education assistance for these children
• Providing Foundations for Farming training and farming inputs to families in this community 

Objectives of the Transformation Centre
1) Restore dignity through education: To open the minds of parents and children to the value of schooling, ensuring that orphans and vulnerable children are enrolled in education and provided with identity documents.

2) Break the cycle of hunger: To provide consistent nutrition and support, enabling children to learn and grow without the distraction of starvation, and to introduce sustainable livelihood projects in the future.

3) Nurture holistic transformation: To heal children physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially, raising a generation with high self-esteem, strong faith, and the ability to lead their community into lasting change.

Majiji is a place where hunger and hopelessness once defined every child’s future. Through the Transformation Centre, children are being fed, families are being challenged to value education, and a new vision is being planted in the hearts of the community.

Objectives of Foundations for Farming Training 
1) Food Security: Families are beginning to harvest small grains, ensuring survival in dry conditions.

2) Hope Restored: Parents testify that their children no longer face the shame of begging for food.

3) Spiritual Growth: Farming clubs are spreading the Word of God, leading many to Christ.

4) Community Resilience: Farmers are learning to adapt to climate challenges, building long-term sustainability.

Majiji community was once defined by hunger and despair. Through Foundations for Farming, families are learning to grow sorghum and cowpeas, children are guaranteed food, and households are discovering faith in Christ.