Fountain of Hope Progress Report August 2018

Fountain of Hope and the leaders of all the communities that are being transformed would like to hereby extend our heartfelt gratitude to Bright Hope World for all the unwavering support being rendered to community projects. We are grateful together with communities that are showing great signs of change even in the midst of challenges that Zimbabwe is going through. Your support is unreservedly lifting up communities out of the doldrums of hunger and poverty and is bringing a ray of hope to orphans and vulnerable children from these communities. There is great improvement of food security in some of the communities that we have been working in for the past three years, an increase of orphans and vulnerable children who are now attending school and also an increase of health deliveries in some of the communities in region 5 of Zimbabwe which we are working in.

Thank you so much Bright Hope World that you are partnering with us in improving the quality of life in these communities. Please find herein below the report on Chirogwe.  

Recent Events

Situation in Zimbabwe

On the 30th of July Zimbabweans held parliamentary and presidential elections and the ruling party was declared winner but the main opposition party has contested the results. Following this announcement tension arose in the capital city that resulted in the death of six people and hundreds more were left injured when the army fired live ammunition on fleeing unarmed civilians. The irony of it is that in November last year when the army ousted Robert Mugabe who ruled Zimbabwe for almost four decades people went on to the streets and hugged the soldiers in celebrations. A few months down the road the army has returned shooting at the very citizens who hugged them! Zimbabweans are yearning for real, tangible, long lasting, positive change not the piecemeal we have seen so far. The church in Zimbabwe is getting united to pray for this great nation to receive its salvation.

All these happenings in the country have affected the economy of the country and we have seen inflation rising up again, goods and services are now very expensive and our bond dollar which is supposed to be equivalent to a US$ has been devalued by over 50%. This has prompted many organisations to decide to open bank accounts outside the country and Fountain of Hope is also doing the same thing.  

Community Leaders Training

Fountain of Hope spent the months of June and July training 25 community leaders and church leaders on how to facilitate a church and community transformation process. These leaders were pulled from all the communities that Fountain of Hope works with. The training took place in the community of Makamure and all these leaders are expected to go back to their communities and work with their communities on how to come up with a 5 year action plan for their communities. The 25 were awarded with certificates after the training and the graduation was attended by the chief and the councillors of the area.  

Chirogwe Community

This is a community in a mountainous area of Chivi district of Masvingo province. The place is very dry such that it has been difficult for many companies to drill boreholes in this community. The soils are very good although the rainy pattern is the same as the other communities that Fountain of Hope works in.

There are so many orphans in this community and Fountain of Hope established one of the best and committed Child Protection Committees in this community. They really do care for orphans and vulnerable children and most of these children do not even feel like they do not have parents. Fountain of Hope would like to continue doing more in this community so that these children get assistance. The nearest high school is about 12 km away from the community so these children walk for 24 km a day to and from school. The clinic is close to the community and Fountain of Hope helped this clinic to have a water source so they have qualified nurses now and this will go a long way in improving the quality of life in the community.  

Foundations for Farming

The fact that this place is mountainous means it receives better rainfall than Mandiva and Makamure communities. The soil is also not as bad as that of the other two communities and there is great hope that these people will do well in farming if they are able to grasp the principles of farming God's way. 30 people were so far trained and equipped with maize seed to do farming. The people who were trained in Chirogwe community are mostly Christians and are really leading by example. Many of them did very well in their fields such that the councillor of the area phoned Fountain of Hope to appreciate this program. He asked Fountain of Hope to consider extending the program to other villages of the community. 

Impact of the Program
• All our 30 farmers in Chirogwe community did very well in their fields even though this was their first time to be part of this program.
• The impact of this program in this community is great and this is because most of the people who are part of this program are men and some of them are community leaders hence many people want to be part of it.
• The rainfall received in this area of Chivi is different from other areas because this is a mountainous area hence the program went very well.

Challenges
• Baboons are the only challenges that these people are facing especially those with fields 

Recommendations
• The councillor recommended the farming program to be taught in all his area since he realised that it conserves soil and the environment
• People to be encouraged to grow trees to compliment the farming program
• Since this place is in region 5 of Zimbabwe the community should be encouraged to build small dams which will harvest rain water for small to medium gardens which shall take people out of hunger
• The water sources are very few, Fountain of Hope and Bright Hope are therefore requested to consider assisting people of this community to have access to clean and safe drinking water
• Foundations for Farming should also be taught at schools so that children may grow up knowing and loving farming
• Those trained should be awarded with a farming certificate as a way of encouraging them   

Livestock Project

20 orphan families were given 10 road runners each which are to revolve after eight months. The end of the eighth month is August this year and this evaluation was done in July so the road runners project was not evaluated because it is within its brooding stages.  

Dam Building for Productive Purposes

The community of Chirogwe is working on building up a community dam that will provide water for productive purposes like running irrigation for the community. Their councillor is at the forefront of work on building up a dam that will also be used to provide water to the livestock that the people have in the community. The dam is going to have a very big impact on the community as they will be able to grow crops throughout the year once it has been established. 

Comments

Fountain of Hope staff members and the Chirogwe community are very much grateful for the support that we are getting from Bright Hope World. 

With much gratitude
Gideon & Jennifer Chishamba (for FHF team)