Two years ago, my family made a commitment to sponsor an orphan through the Home of Hope Outreach program of The Nyadire Connection (TNC), a Western PA group that works with United Methodists in Zimbabwe. We gave just $60 and sent a backpack full of school supplies to a boy, unknown to us, in a remote place on the African continent. We had received a picture of the boy and his name (Blessing), grade and school. We also received letters from him and his "mother", a schoolteacher who has taken him in to live with her and two younger girls. Blessing thanked us and explained that he had already missed two years of schooling due to financial difficulties after the death of his father. The government in Zimbabwe does not pay for schooling. The students' families must provide for school tuition and uniforms. Given the 80% unemployment in the country, this fee is a huge obstacle. Blessing is one of the estimated 1 million children in Zimbabwe who have lost one or both parents, primarily due to the HIV/AIDs epidemic. The letter my husband, Gary, my daughters and I received from Moleena Chimbwanda, Blessing's "mother", brought tears to my eyes. It read, in part:

Thank you very much for the back pack we have received from your family. Surely you did something more important than the word itself. Blessing was extremely excited that he didn't eat supper.  In fact, all my children were yelling at the top of their voices, seeing wonderful things prepared by you…I am happy to hear that you are prepared to sponsor my child for his schooling. May God bless you for that. Thank Father Gary for me for his love and tell him that Blessing is no longer an orphan since you are there to act in locoparentis….

We were hooked! We have since signed on to sponsor Blessing for another year, as well as two other orphans. We were provided the name of another boy, Tafadzwa and are waiting to find out the name of our third orphan. After attending a couple of meetings about The Nyadire Mission in Zimbabwe, I found myself signing up for one of the four VIM (Volunteers in Mission) trips to visit Nyadire in 2010. It was on this trip that I was able to see first-hand how God has been working through individuals in Zimbabwe and their partners here at The Nyadire Connection.  The Home of Hope (HOH) orphanage is situated on the mission. It consists of a concrete building that houses 25 boys and girls.

There is a small office, pens for goats and rabbits, and an outdoor cooking fire. What makes the orphanage a home is the presence and love of the director, Emmanuel Chiimba, his assistant, Elina Naybote, several "aunties" who care for the children around the clock, and the two men who also provide security and labor 24 hours a day. The orphanage program was extended just a few years ago into the Home of Hope Outreach after one of the VIM teams traveling to Nyadire recognized the great number of orphans living in the rural areas surrounding the mission. Although many had been taken in by caring families, those families did not have the financial means to pay school fees for the orphans. Emmanuel Chiiimba identifies orphans in need and VIM team members take photographs and gather what information they can about each child's circumstance. Once back in the United States, team members locate sponsors for these orphans.  Providing school sponsorship is an incredible gift, as education in Zimbabwe is highly valued. In fact, a high school  education is necessary to obtain even the most basic jobs. Blessing wrote that he hopes to become a truck driver.  I was blessed while in Zimbabwe to meet Blessing, his caregiver Moleena, and also Tafadzwa. They each traveled several miles on foot through the bush on dirt paths to see me.  While I was used to the fluent English spoken on the mission, I soon learned that English is more difficult for those in the rural areas to master. Most families speak their native language, Shona or Ndbele, at home. Children begin to learn English when they start school at age 5 or 6. Despite the language difficulties, with some help from Emmanuel, we were able to make a wonderful connection. My family and I look forward to continuing our relationships with these beautiful people in such a place that no longer seems so far away. For more information, or to sponsor an orphan through the Home of Hope Outreach program, e-mail sandy_mcknight@hotmail.com.

7/27/10

7/24/10

Greetings!

We have had an unbelievable week of power!  It stops now and then,
however, not for days!  Those who have been here often wonder what
next week will be like!   We may have none!  Actually, the living
conditions are pleasant.  My house that I live in has three bedrooms,
a bathroom with running water ( when the power is on  for the pump), a
kitchen and a large living room.  There is only a little furniture,
but we really don't need it.

Our food has been cooked by four dedicated women who also work at the
hospital as nurses.  We have hot breakfast every morning, "tea" around
10:30 which includes bread, an egg, and often beans, a hot lunch with
dessert and a full supper.  I'm not sure it would pass all the
requirements of the South Beach folks, but it is very filling and
always tastes good!

WE had some sad news yesterday morning.  Nyshrom, the young man with
AIDS died.  Stephanie and i went to visit his family at the hospital
but only his father was there.  His dad is the head maintenance
manager for the hospital.  We could hardly do anything but cry with
him.  He was so sad.   I told him we had prayed with him at 5:30 and
his eyes were open for a few moments.  He was worried about purchasing
a coffin.  ( They bury them the next day so that they do not need to
embalm the bodies.)  When he told us it was $70-80 we could not imagine
where he would have the money.  (They are paid $100 a month.)  so
Stephanie and I went and got $80 to give to him from the group.

Their funeral customs are more elaborate than ours.  Families come and
stay at the home of the deceased for 2-3 days.  The women stay inside
the house and tell stories and cook while the men stay outside the
house and build a fire to chat around.   The body is picked up at the
hospital and taken to the home after a report is made to the district
.  The grave is dug the next morning and the funeral is said and
everyone goes and helps bury the coffin.  Then they come back to the
house and eat, sing and dance.  Friends bring food ( they are
Methodist!) and help share in the cost of feeding all the neighbors
for a couple days!

Today we went to the nearby ruins by land rover.  After driving for
about 35 minutes we hiked to the top of a fairly steep hill to view
the amazing farms in the valley.  The ruins were built in the 13 and
1400's.  The rocks are cut and piled on top of each other with no
mortar in between them!  They had an amazing set of walls and gates to
protect them from their enemies.

After coming down the hill we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
that we packed and had an apple in a beautiful little thatched hut
with a stone table in the middle.  The bread we have is very dry so we
make a lot of crumbs.  The tour guide said not to worry about it that
the baboons would come in and clean it up in the morning!    I guess
the roam regularly through the area each morning  a bit like our
deer.)   I hope to see one some time....would that be amazing!

After that set of ruins we went to a place that had wall paintings
that were thousands of years old.  The steep climb to see it was full
of rocks.  Once at the top, it was worth the risk....awesome view of
the valley below and all the mountains in the distance.  We could see
Mozambique from the one site.  The sky was clear blue...like one of
our great autumn days.

On the way back to the mission we stopped at the little town of Motuko
to shop for groceries and visit the market.  It was like the Wildwood
flea market.  people were everywhere.  Stephanie played checkers with
a fella and beat him.  All his friends laughed, so the next time they
brought in a wringer that beat her in about 10 moves. He played by a
different set of rules...fortunately no money exchanged hands:)

This evening after dinner and devotions we were visited by the art
teacher at the teacher's college.  He brought beautiful pieces of carved
cattle horns, necklaces, bracelets, stone carvings and mini baskets.
Many of his friends gave him the items to sell...it was fun to shop
around he table!

Natalie and Maddie have made many friends in the orphanage.  They play
daily with them making up games and just running around!   Several of
the high school students come and play card games in the evening.
They really have a grand time exchanging games!

Tomorrow we are off to churches around the area.  It is their harvest
service when they do their stewardship campaign.  I'm going to go to
Noah's church near the primary school where we have orphans.  It will
be fun to visit and see how similar our worship services are!

Take care,
Faith and Natalie

7/22/10

Hi

What a great day we had today!  We went to the rural area just outside
of Nyadire Mission to visit the orphans that we sponsor.  We got to
the Musanhi Primary School.  Many of our St. Paul's orphans are at
this school.   I was busy taking pictures of the 70 children that TNC
sponsors, so we will have a new picture of all the orphans.  The
children opened their letters from you and enjoyed the pictures and
stickers.  Each one beamed with joy as they opened your notes!  It is
truly amazing to watch them get a special envelope from someone.

I was able to meet Sheila and Harry Hanley's orphan as well as
Natalie's and mine.  They are quiet and reserved/shy. The Hanley's is
a very small second grader that knew very little English...they just
start English in second grade.  Our sixth grader was small and didn't
want to say much, but was thrilled to get the basketball Natalie gave
to him.

The school has about 500 students in it.  They were in the middle of
final exams.  When our truck pulled up and 10 white people jumped out,
they started to stare out the door, then finally could not contain
themselves and ran out to greet us....the poor teacher.  She was
gracious about having them say hello, however, I'm sure she was not
pleased!

By the time we finished taking their pictures, they were all out in
the fields behind the school playing soccer.  We were getting ready to
go so I went over to find Tinedundo and of course, could not tell
where he was.  Many of the boys wear tan uniforms but I remembered
that  he had red and black shoes so I looked for them...however, they
play soccer barefooted:(  I was surrounded by children just wanting a
hug or to touch my hand,,, it really was a bit overwhelming.  Kim calls
it the Roc Star syndrome, but it is really very humbling. Just to see
all these kids with so little and yet trying so hard to learn...

After a bumpy ride home, we had lunch and then started hiking to a
local sculpture's house. We walked for about 25 minutes through fields
and along the dirt road.  We would pass by houses with cooking huts in
the back and satellite dishes in the front...quite a paradox!  The
goats and cattle run free though the streets so that at one point you
wait on the cattle to cross and then a big bus comes by the next
minute!

At the sculpture's home we saw a complete homestead.  He had a garden,
a patio of flowers and scrubs,  a wash area...rock table and scrub
brush, a "bath room"  outside the house, chickens and guinea hens in a
huge field, a cemetery ( four graves) and a thatched roof porch that
looked up into the mountains in the distance.  It was amazing.  Inside
the house were four small chairs, a sofa, and a dining table.  We
didn't see the bedroom area. It was a lovely place.

The items that he carved from soap stone were beautiful.  The gorgeous
monkey I got for the meditative garden will take a couple months to to
arrive...it is so cute.. just kidding.  I didn't get anything...this
time...I controlled myself.  Yet, this stuff was really pretty!

On the way home we walked by a "growth point," a place where several
stores cluster together to sell pop, groceries and assorted items.  I
was able to purchase some beautiful material for the altar.  Perhaps
It can be used for special services when we celebrate world wide
communion.

We are off to the Primary School tomorrow and will continue to play
with the orphans any chance we get.  Flashlight tag last night was so
much fun under the starry sky!  They love such simple things!

Please pray for Nyshrom, a 22 year old man dying of AIDS.  Stephanie
and I visit him everyday and get to talk with his mother and sisters.
They walk in about 6-8km to stay with him.  He was very quiet today
and hasn't eaten much.   Also, Brian is a 15 year old who is waiting
since Monday to see the doctor to take care of a boil.  However, the
doctor will not be here until at least Monday.  It is so difficult
here.

My time is up...this place is full of joyful, simplistic living.
Thanks for your support and prayers!

Faith and Natalie

7/20/20

Hi

We are continuing to have a wonderful experience.  The weather is
warm, light jacket weather and there is no humidity.  The night skies
are full of beautiful stars...Disney's Lion King illustrators really
captured it:)

We just finished two of three day conference with 25 pastors from
around the area.  The church is the church is the  church!   The
saddest part is that they are doing everything we try to do but
without any resources.  There is one fellow who has six churches along
the border...four meet under trees and two others are meeting in a
building that does not have a roof, windows or doors.  The "learned"
people like to come to the UMC, however they do not want to come to a
church without a roof!    How much could a roof cost?   Amazing!

Our summer intern from Allegheny College, Ben, is working on micro
loans for folks who want to start sewing shirts to sell to chicken
farms to a fellow who wants to go buy a cow, slaughter it, sell the meat
and then go get another one....most are  $250 -$350 .  The poverty is
great.   Ben was crushed today because he had to tell 12 people he
cannot do their project.  He only has $500 to loan....

The orphans at the Home of Hope steal your heart everyday.  I will
have to double check Natalie's suitcase to be sure she is not
smuggling a child home!  They are precious. They made bracelets with
them today and they loved it.

After he conference I made a hospital call with Stephanie to a 22 year
old who has AIDS.  His mother and two sisters were there.  The had to
walk home tonight about 5km and will come back tomorrow.  Her elderly
mother has to sit with the other children.  We told her to bring the 5
year old so that Natalie and Maddie could watch him for her while at
the hospital.

Tomorrow we are going to design a recycling program for the
mission...trash is everywhere and there is always a bit of smoke in
the air from the open fires.  Although there is no place to recycle
the plastic...one step at a time.

Thanks for your prayers...we will be needing all of them.  Thursday we
go to see a sculpture, and Friday we will go to the ruins.  I plan to
go to a pastor's church on Sunday to visit.  It's about 5 km from here
 but he thought he could get me a ride!

Take care....

Faith

7/18/10

Greetings!

All is well!   This is an awesome place and we are so grateful to be
here.  It is so simple to be here.  We have all the basics:  a clean
place to sleep, good food, water and  occasionally electricity :)
The people are amazing...friendly, caring, and happy!  The children
are the best.  They start playing at 7 AM and don't stop until it is
dark.  They run up and smile at me, waiting for a hug.  Everyone waves
to us as we walk though the street...amazing!  ( I'll try and think of
another adjective...just overwhelmed at the moment:)

We arrived after an amazing set of flights.  On our Trip to Rome and
then to Addis Abba the plane was filled with other mission groups
going to  Nairobi, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.  It was such a friendly group!
 All excited and ready to serve!

When we landed in Harare we rode in vans through the city...it's a
thriving city of cars, trucks and lots of people walking around!
There were many clusters of apostolic worshippers sitting under the
trees in the open areas.  They are very obvious because of their white
robes.  The streets just bustle with activity.  For those of you who
know how much I love to "help" the driver, I just turn my head...this
driving on the left is crazy!

We then went to the Conference Office to meet with the Bishop of
Zimbabwe.  He was in  WPA for our Annual Conference and the signing of
the agreement or the two Conferences for our partnership.  It was fun
to see "the connection" at work...he even had a mission and vision
statement posted on the wall.

When we went to the store it was like being at Shopper's Choice.  The
shelves were stocked with items and we were able to get all the
supplies we needed...even chocolate bars.  Natalie and Mattie ( the
other 17 year old with us) have become great friends and enjoyed
running through the aisles getting supplies...their last stop was the
bakery.  Ben, the intern form Allegheny College, met us at the airport
and has taught us many customs.

Our ride to Nyadire Mission was about two hours most of it in the
dark...don't tell my mom:)  Half of the trip was on a dirt road but
when we saw their sign it was a most welcomed sight!  The mission is
full of small brick houses and dirt streets.

Yesterday we took a walking tour of the mission.  We walked to the
Primary School and met a man who teaches art there.  Kim chatted with
him and we changed our path to go visit a friend of his.  After
realizing it was a longer walk than we thought, we turned around and
ran into a farmer , his children, and his mother.  He kept a very small
plot of chilies, tomatoes and some green leafy plants.  They had a
very small water hole that helped them keep it watered.  His mentally
challenged son was in charge of the green leafy plants.  He could smile
and say hello.  (imagine how difficult it is to have a disability in
this environment!)  After a friendly chat and some time to pick
chilies ( chabadza...helping "hoe" a while when you see someone
working) as we left, he offered us water from his small hole.  It was
so kind and generous...he obviously did not know what 13 American
could do to that little bit of water:)  They know what is is to be
without and will share anything...amazing!

I'kk be briefer...we saw the schools, library and hospital, too.  The
school's library is adequate.  The hospital had only a few patients
for the weekend.  The maternity area was full of babies...the most
joyful area!

We are off to church...we are anticipating a two-hour service of
praise and singing.

Please continue to pray for us.  Our team is talented and getting
ready  for the pastor's conference, work in the dental clinic, and the
schools.  Love to all of you... Faith and Natalie
 

7/17/10

Hello All!

The Team arrived safely in Nyadire after traveling through Washington DC, Rome, Addis Ababa and on to Harare.  After some quick connections, we arrived in Harare with 47 of 48 bags.  We went directly to the Bishop's Office and were able to meet with him for a time to introduce the team.  We then went shopping for the groceries that we will need for two weeks.  Then we traveled to Nyadire and arrived around 7:30pm.

 We all moved into our rooms in the four neighboring houses that we will live in and then all shared dinner with our friends and drivers.

 Saturday will be a planning day and we will tour Nyadire mission.  On Sunday we will go to church and do some small projects.  On Sunday night the pastors will begin arriving for the Monday-Tuesday Pastors Conference (the dates have changed from our original plan).  The Conference will be Monday, Tuesday, and the following Monday as well.

All of the team is already in bed, but I wanted to get an email off to all of you so that you will know that we arrived safely.

Dear ALL,

Many wonderful greetings from Zimbabwe! It's hard to believe that we have arrived and switched worlds within a matter of 25 hours. We spent the afternoon with the Bishop, at the grocery store, and enjoying the beautiful drive to Nyadire as the sun went down. Joyce and Julius are once again the perfect hosts and have made everything work out. Only one bag did not make it, but will surely arrive tomorrow with the next Ethiopian flight.

The children screamed and hugged us with reckless abandon and made us feel at home instantly. Ben has been educating us in new tastes and new vocabulary. Duane is a sport and is already cracking jokes. Julius already played a trick on me. We woke Beauty up to get into the internet cafe. And all the cooks wish GoGo Elsa were here.

 I had a million things to tell you, but am fading. Stay tuned for more news!

 Much love to you all,

 MB

 P.S. There is now a toll on the roads in and out of Harare. Seems OK if the money is truly going to road repair...however, who knows!