Update: December Children's Camp

Compliments of the new year. We are so much excited to let you know that we had a very wonderful Christmas holidays with the children. We held one of the largest and longest children`s camps of the year as from the 24^th of December up until the 1^st of January. 

The holiday was full of activities with the children that left us very much tired and have since given ourselves this week to rest up until Monday morning. Although it was very tiresome, we are so much fulfilled that we managed to minister hope to the children and also the children themselves managed to minister to the community on the 28^th of December. We invited the community to come and listen to children speaking about the importance of the birth of Jesus and what it really means to us as the world. It was so encouraging to see the community leaders and some politicians from the community coming to listen to the children ministering to them.

We also had a very wonderful time of taking out the children from Peniel Centre for different games at Matopos national park which were all meant to boost their confidence and to challenge them to work as a team.

We are going to write more next week and send pictures of the camp and all the activities that we undertook with the children during the holidays. All of us including Justice and his team are currently resting, up until next week.

Thank you very much for the support, we wish you a very blessed 2013.

We are looking forward to be with you soon.

Blessings,

Gideon & Jennifer    

Update on Hope Fountain Children's Ministry

It’s a blessing to know that you are about to come again to Zim. We are very much excited about it and are also getting ready for your coming. Today Pastor Joseph`s wife phoned me to find out whether you are coming and she felt so much encouraged to hear that you are coming again early next year.

Our mid week children`s ministry has been going on very well, and Justice has been running it three times a week i.e. every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. We are so much grateful to you because this ministry is having a great impact on the lives of children. Last week all these children together with Justice had a wonderful party of praising and thanking God for taking them throughout the whole year. Thank you very much for being part of what God is doing in the lives of these children.

Blessings

Gideon

December 2012 Children's Camp

Warm greeting to you from the hot weather of Bulawayo, how are you and your family. I would like to let you know that Justice and our Children`s Church team has come up with the dates for the December children`s camp which is going to be bigger than the other two camps we held this year. We are going to have the camp as from the 23rd  up to the 28th  of December at Peniel Centre and we are looking forward to have between 50 and 60 children all from Hope fountain area coming to attend this camp. We are also planning to invite child psychologists who would help us by providing counselling to some of the children especially those that come from abusive families.

Our desire is to bring total healing to orphans and vulnerable children through these camps, so would you please join us by praying for enough finances for the camp, divine wisdom as we meet children from different backgrounds, creative ways of ministering to these children.  Pray also that we will see a number of them making a decision to follow Jesus. 

We are planning also to have an “Everyone`s banquet” where we will give these children an opportunity to celebrate their birthdays together, with a cake for each month of the year. Please pray with us for God`s provision as we plan to celebrate Christmas with these children. We are also going to invite the whole community on the 28th of December and give the children an opportunity to minister to adults from the community, so please pray also for boldness and courage on the part of the children who are going to present something to the community. 

Thank you very much for partnering with us in brightening the future of the children. 

Blessings

Gideon  

Summer Children's Camp: August 2012

CHILDREN`S  CAMP  August  2012  

Venue:  Peniel  Centre   #  of  Children  who  participated:  35:  14  boys  and  21  girls   Age  group:  8-­‐  15years.  

The  camp  was  attended  by  35  children  between  the  ages,  8-­‐  15,  from  the  community  of   Mthombothemba.  The  main  aim  of  this  camp  was  to  make   these  children  know  God  as  well  as  to  provide  comfort  and  

counsel  to  some  of  them  who  are  living  positively  with  the   HIV  virus.  We  had  a  number  of  children  who  are  HIV  positive   who  attended  this  camp,  who  had  a  lot  of  questions  about   their  status.  With  the  grace  of  God  we  managed  to  talk  and   provide  counsel  and  hope  to  these  children.  One  boy  Prince   who  is  14  years  old  was  at  one  time  on  tears  when  he  could   not  play  with  others  because  his  body  was  very  much  weak  ,   he  blamed  everyone  for  this  condition  ,  his  parents,  his   grandmother  who  is  staying  with  him  and  as  well  as  God.  Our

team  managed  to  minister  to  him  and  at  the  end  of  the  camp  he  was  able  to  understand  and  accept   God`s  love  for  him.  We  also  realized  that  this  is  going  to  be  a  process  for  him  to  fully  understand  God`s   love,  so  we  made  a  commitment  that  we  will  keep  on  following  him  and  some  of  these  children  to  give   further  explanation  on  God`s  love  for  mankind.  We  are  however  so  much  grateful  that  all  these  children  

made  a  decision  to  follow  Jesus.    

Games  

We  had  a  very  amazing  moment  of  playing  games  with  these  children   with  the  aim  of  uniting,  motivating,  inspiring  and  educating  them.   Apart  from  that  the  games  were  to  encourage  them  find  peaceful   solutions  to  their  problems  as  well  as  to  teach  them  essential  values   such  as  cooperation  and  respect  for  one  another.  Games  were  also   used  to  help  them  to  open  up  concerning  the  difficulties  they   encounter  in  life  and  were  the  door  way  to  counselling  sessions.  Most   of  the  children  were  assisted  through  the  time  of  playing  games.    

  

WHAT  DO  THEY  HOPE  FOR?  

We  had  a  wonderful  time  of  brainstorming  with  these  children  on   their  specific  needs,  other  than  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  school   fees,  they  expressed  the  following  needs: To  be  accepted  and  loved  like  other  children   To  be  given    opportunities    to  play  and  recreate     To  be  able  to  attend  Church  every  Sunday  and  be  given  an  opportunity  to  encourage  one   another    

To  go  to  school  like  other  children     Not  to  be  laughed  at  or  discriminated  because  of  their  condition   To  be  protected  by  guardians  and  members  of  the  community     To  be  listened  to  and  for    the  guardians  to  respond  to  their  concerns  and  to  involve  them  in   decisions  that  affect  their  lives     To  be  called  by  their  names  and  not  be  called  an  orphan  child  etc.   To  be  given  the  opportunity  to  choose  and  buy  clothes  they  want  to  wear     Not  to  be  robbed  of  their  belongings  by  aunts,  uncles  etc.   To  be  taken  to  hospital  and  cared  for  when  they  are  sick  

  

This  camp  did  not  only  provide  a  learning  curve  to  the   children  but  also  assisted  us  to  understand  the  needs  of   children.  Due  to  the  needs  and  the  plight  of  children  we   decided  to  come  up  with  community  based  Fathers  and   Mothers  support  groups  which  will  help  our  volunteers  to   provide    care,  life-­‐skills    and  guidance  to  these  children.   We  have  already  started  meeting  with  boys  to  talk  about   different  issues  that  affect  them  and  on  this  picture   Gideon  met  with  the  boys  who  were  recently  circumcised   to  talk  about  life  after  circumcision.    

We  are  so  much  grateful  to  you  for  partnering  with  us  in  brightening  the  future  of  orphans  and   vulnerable  children.  

Blessings,

Gideon  &  Jennifer  Chishamba 

Update: Mind the Gap & Tina Motsi

Thank you so much for the money and the gift for Tinashe.  We are so grateful for this support.  It always comes at such a great time when we are short of food for the children.

Tinashe came home a week last Friday and we had managed to get her bedroom decorated and it looks fabulous.  She is doing well but is in a fair amount of pain especially when she is carried to the toilet. 

The doctors have said there is nothing more that can be done so she is totally in God's hands.  She believes God is going to heal her but not immediately so we keep praying to that end and hope.

Her spirits are very high and her positive attitude to it all has been quite remarkable.  She is quite a special lass.

As for the farm we still haven't taken possession.  It certainly is taking much longer than I thought so I have to be patient which isn't easy!!

Oh we got the birthday cards too, thank you so much they are lovely.

Take care, with love Jenny

Africa Day Update!

Hi Robin

We are happy to let you know that the sports day was very well attended by children as well as by  some adults. We played soccer ,netball etc with the children and had really fun together with the kids. The adult  women`s netball team was beaten 16 to 2 by the young girls team while the men and the boys played for a draw, 2-2. We had  four Bibles to give to the winning team and one for the sports person of the day. The girls’ netball team won the Bibles while Pellargia who is one of the orphans who live at Peniel centre was the sportsperson of the day and was given a Bible for that.  

We managed to launch the Bible kids clubs on the same day which will be in full swing in the next month. Justice is going to lead these kids clubs. The desire of our hearts is to make sure that every child in this community grow in the knowledge of God. Please keep on praying for us ,Justice and the team that he is going to work with that through the grace of God we raise up God fearing kids in this community. Pray also that their parents and guardians will allow them to keep on participating in these clubs. I have attached some of the photos of the sports day.

Thank you again for praying for us.

Blessings,

Gideon

Africa Day & Community Garden!

Dear friends,

Greetings to you from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. We would like to let you know that tomorrow, which is Africa day, our Church will have sports day by the school playground to promote unity between parents and children. So please pray that we will have fun with our children in Church and that the games that we will play will enable parents and children to bond together . This is really a new thing in the community for its normally taboo for a parent to play with his/her child but we have realized that this has enlarged the gap between parents and children. We so much believe that united families have got power to transform communities, so tomorrow is our  first day of transforming people`s worldview through sport. 

We are going to launch our Bible kids clubs after the games and we want to do this with the parents so that they will be able to allow their children to be part of these clubs. Please pray with us as we sow the seed of the word of God into the lives of these children.

We are also glad to let you know that as a Church we established a nutrition garden at Mthombothemba primary school with the aim of providing school students with fresh veggies to enhance their participation in school activities and this week we managed to harvest our first fruits from this garden . This is part of our mission to preach Christ through practical ways and we believe that this garden will go a long way in reducing malnutrition ,hunger and starvation at the school and eventually the children will know that there is God who loves them. The desire of our hearts is to see all children in this community grow in the knowledge of Christ . Thank you friends for all your prayers and support. Please find here-in below the pictures of  children ,teachers  and some members of our congregation harvesting the veggies.

Blessings,

Gideon

Mind the Gap Orphan Care

Mind the Gap – Africa

UK office – Mrs. Sheila Stunell, Peckham Park Road Baptist Church, 121 Peckham Park Road, 

London, SE15 6SX phone 0207 639 0836 jennyhensman@gmail.com 

May 2012

Hi Everyone,

The amazing news is that we are within days of owning our own farm on which to build ‘Harvest Family Village’.  We have been blown away as we have seen the Lord’s provision for this project.  We have sold our ‘Ebenezer’ home which gave less than half of the needed amount.  The rest has come in through your kindness and we are left with a shortfall of only £8,000 which has been lent to us as an interest free loan.  One church in America gave us a gift of 39,000 US dollars when they heard the name ‘Harvest Family Village’.  They are a church which had recently amalgamated, with one church having been called ‘Harvest Church’ and the other ‘The Village Church’.  What a confirmation of the vision!

Tinashe Motsi

Tinashe is the 12 year old daughter of Ray and Angela.  Angela has been our manager at ‘Mind the Gap’ for the past five years and an invaluable member of the team.   The Motsi’s are more than friends to me, they are my Zimbabwean family.   Sadly Tinashe has been diagnosed with leukaemia and they are now in Johannesburg where she has begun a 6 month course of chemotherapy.  It has been a difficult time for us all as we have seen the intense pain she has experienced and shared the distress of the family.  Please pray for Tinashe and for all the family, Ray, Angela, Hannah, Shaun and Rudo, that they may know ‘the peace that passes all understanding’.  Please pray for the money that is needed for this life saving treatment.  The amount needed is around £50,000 of which £16,000 has already been raised.  

All our children at MTG are very concerned about Tinashe as we are a big family.  They want to help, so we discussed it and agreed if they were willing to walk 10km’s (including Primrose in her wheelchair!) then I would ask my friends to sponsor them – that’s you!!  We have our sponsored walk on 9^th June and need sponsors!  I am enclosing a sponsorship slip so if you felt able to sponsor one of our children please fill it in and return with your cheque made payable to ‘Mind the Gap-Africa’ to Mrs Sheila Stunell at the above address.  Or deposit your sponsor money into our Mind the Gap account (details at the end of the letter) and write ‘Sponsor Tinashe’ as a reference.  Thank you.

My family are all fine, and I am grateful for all your prayer, especially for Mary.  There has been an improvement in her behaviour so don’t stop praying!  It has been good to have mum over here for the past six months, she loves it here and has been kept busy with writing, crocheting blankets and seeing friends, in fact she has a better social life than I do!   I have asked her to share her thoughts on life here so read on. . . 

With love and gratitude for your kindness, love and support, Jenny

Dear Friends, 

Greetings to you all as I return to England after my third trip to Zimbabwe.  I have been most grateful for the response that has been given to my book ‘Joy’s Journal’ which was published in Sept 2011.  This is something I never thought possible (even in my wildest dreams).  This has brought in quite a few pounds towards the purchase of ‘The Harvest Family Village’, the vision that Jenny was given as she sees the ever increasing needs of the countless numbers of orphans in the land of Zimbabwe.  This vision is now in the process of being fulfilled, but it will take time before the children are living on the farm as there are still obstacles to be overcome.

It has brought much pleasure and joy to see the small children at ‘The Ebenezer Home’ that opened during my stay there last year.  They all look so happy and healthy and have obviously benefitted from the loving care they have received from their mother and aunties.

The children at ‘The Windles’ have all grown, they are well looked after and cared for.  These are older children but we all realise that none of them have had an ideal start in life, and as a consequence they have more issues to face.  We trust God to bring His wisdom and help into their lives.  Please continue to pray for all these children and for the staff at the homes.

I am thrilled to share the news that the church roof, to which many of you have contributed, is in the process of being completed.  Since this picture the roof tiles have now been put on.  

It has been good to meet the many visitors who have been to see the work of Mind the Gap.  It was a special blessing to have Christina & Jeff, and Maureen & Arthur here, who are friends from my home church in Bridlington.

At the end of my third visit to Zimbabwe – conditions are not much different from my first visit. There are many unforeseen obstacles, always unexpected demands, frequent electricity cuts and an abundance of flies!!  The country is still in crisis with no pensions or no free health care.  Many people have impressed me by their lives as they have overcome problems and poverty, and in spite of their conditions, are living lives fully committed to the Lord and His work.

There is also the inevitable turmoil resultant from living alternately in two different worlds.  This has been an interesting process and a steep learning curve for me (even at my age!).  I thank God for the vastness of His love and for the privilege and richness that my times in Zimbabwe have brought into my life.   Hopefully you may be able to share more in these events in a further publication.   

Thank you for your love, support and prayers. Joy 

(Please note I have a new phone number - 01262 228296)

Bank: HSBC    Name of account: Mind the Gap-Africa   Sort code: 40 02 16    Account No: 11507508

I would like to sponsor one of Mind the Gap’s children to walk 10 km’s to raise money for Tinashe’s treatment for Leukemia.

Name __________________________________________ Address _________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

Email _______________________________________________ Phone ______________________________

I am sponsoring a child _________ per km (10 km’s max).  The total sponsored is £___________ for the walk.

I enclose a cheque for £_________.  Or, I have made a deposit into Mind the Gap-Account for £_________.

Children's Camp Update

Dear Robin

Happy Easter season to you!  We had a very wonderful camp with about 43 children attending and all from Mthombothemba community. Our camp was only targeting orphans and vulnerable children for we wanted to let them know God and help them to deal with the fears , difficulties and the worries they have in life. It was a time of pointing them to Jesus and help them to grow in the knowledge of God. We would like to thank you very much for training our people and igniting the fire in them to see children coming to the kingdom. If you had not trained them I don’t think we were going to achieve what we have achieved so far.

Justice, Khumbu and Nobesuthu who all were trained by you did extremely well in ministering to children, please be assured that the seed of the word of God you  brought to us did not fall on rocky ground but right on the fertile  soil ,as we are all seeing the fruits of this. Its not just us but even the community is already experiencing the fruit of what you planted and they are already asking us to keep on running these camps on every school holiday. My prayer is that these children will be able to hold unto Christ forever and that they shine His glory at school so that every child in the community be able to  come to the  knowledge of God. We have decided to keep on running these camps every school holiday and if there is anything in terms advice that you would want to give to us please be free to do so, for heart`s desire is to see Christ formed in the lives of these children.

Justice got very much tired as he is the one who did most of the running and we have encouraged to just take his time off and rest and please pray for him that he will be able to rest fully. Please find here-in some of the pictures of the children who attended the camp .

Do have a blessed Easter.

Blessings,

Gideon & Jennifer Chishamba

  

       

Children's Camp in Hope Fountain

Greetings from Zim,

I hope you managed to rest after your visit to this
country. We would like to hereby inform you and ask you to pray for our
Children`s Church leaders who have organized to run a mini-camp for
children as from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon next week at
Peniel centre. Please pray for Justice who is leading it especially that he
will remain strong as he has been running around trying to put things
together. The theme of the camp comes from Luke 2:52, that Jesus grew in
wisdom ,stature, favor with God and man and the aim is to point these

children to Christ who is their model for growth.

Pray that we will be able to minister effectively to the children since we
are going to have some children who have never been to Church before. Thank
you very much for training and igniting the zeal in some of our
people like Khumbu to reach out to children and we are now targeting all

the children from the community to be touched by the word of God.

Blessings,

Gideon