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Andrea’s Journal Sunday 26^th February

Hello again, Another week has passed very quickly. All is well at CoG; the children off sick last week were both back and well again. Memory and the “learning to read” group moved into the new classroom in the Learning Centre with great excitement. They have very little furniture and as yet nothing on the walls, but are none the less very happy. We are hoping that Eugene will come on Monday and finish the worked he has agreed to do, which includes the worktops in the kitchen.

On Wednesday morning we signed the contract for the sale of our house and should receive payment next week. We have also got buyers for a lot of our furniture. That evening we had our first Trustee’s meeting for CoG; it went well and everyone is very committed to the project and we feel we will be leaving it in safe hands.

On Saturday morning there was a womans’ meeting at church where Peter McKenzie spoke . He talked about a key to finding our place so we can serve the Lord, which is put simply, submission. Today our service lasted nearly 4 hours; Eugene, a Pastor from Harare led a wonderful praise and worship session; Peter McKenzie again gave a good message. There were about 800 people in church and at the close, we prayed-in a new Elder (with the very appropriate name of Witness!) and 3 new Deacons.

We had quite a bit of rain earlier in the week which has brought the temperature down a few degrees. Our maize crop in Trenance is looking pretty good – a fine example of the practice of Farming God’s Way.

More next week.

Love, Andrea

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Andrea’s Journal Sunday 19th February

Hello again dear friends,

It’s been a week of ups and downs. We received an offer on our house, which we have accepted and hope to sign the contract of sale tomorrow and complete at the end of the month, remaining here until the transfer goes through at the end of March. On Tuesday David had his bag stolen from the car; someone had let the air out of a rear tyre and then a person sitting in a nearby truck pointed to the back of the vehicle as he was parking. When he got out to inspect it, his bag was pinched in a matter of seconds. This is really upsetting, apart from the financial value of phone, cash, his kindle and a few other things, it means the loss of bank cards (which we rely on for getting money from ATMs here) health card and most importantly his driving licence. The bank cards we have cancelled and can be replaced when we are back in the UK and Spain, but the driving license is a dilemma, as it was issued in France. (Please pray that this will be handed in?)The other major problem is losing all the phone numbers stored in his phone and also UK and Spanish sim cards. At least we must be thankful that David wasn’t bashed over the head or anything.

Two of the students have been off sick for most of the week. We have a half-term holiday, last Friday and tomorrow, so hopefully all will be well again by Tuesday. We were very relieved that the HIV test results for all 3 of Miriam’s children proved negative. The other two we hope to have tested soon; one of them we are particularly concerned about. There has been some rain this week and the maize field at CoG is actually looking quite good. We really could do with more prolonged and steady rain everywhere.

We had a very interesting lunch meeting with Peter McKenzie last Monday and got to know him better. He took two evening meetings at church on Wednesday and Thursday, which were very challenging. One message was about submitting to the hand of God in your life and the other about understanding the work of the cross in your life. At the closing of the Wednesday meeting, Peter made an altar call for prayer, with a hundred or more people going forward, but then from the auditorium, he named us both to go forward to pray and speak into our lives. It was a special time and gave us great encouragement and a sense of peace.

Our inaugural Trustees’ meeting has been set for next Wednesday evening, being a convenient date for all and I will tell you how that goes next week.

More news next week.

Love, Andrea

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Andrea’s Journal, Sunday 12^th February

Hello again to all our friends,

The week has passed incredibly quickly; I can’t believe it’s Sunday again. Last Monday we met with Godfrey, the director of ACET and Marks from Help Age. Marks is keen to help us with a community and family based project at CoG and so he is now going to liaise with Godfrey. Godfrey is booked on an ACE training course in April and is looking forward to getting more insight into the curriculum and its administration. We have now finalized the list of trustees and we will hold an inaugural meeting next week to plan the way forward. Godfrey and his wife have just been over for tea to discuss the details of this meeting and for us to meet Sibongile, who seems a lovely lady and very supportive of her husband and his involvement with CoG.

In school the children are making great progress with their English and they are all growing in confidence. The 9 children on the reading programme are doing well; I can’t wait for them to start working individually, as I know some of them are going to fly along. On Thursday, Miriam took three of the children to a local City hospital for HIV testing. We hope and pray that the results will come back negative!

We have had a couple of offers for our house in the last few days. Nothing has been decided yet, but we are hopeful to secure a sale and that it be all resolved very soon. In church today, we had a surprise visit from Peter McKenzie, who is the pastor of our sister church in the UK. He gave a very good message on seeking God through the gospel of the cross and is going to be talking to the church on Wednesday and Thursday also. He is coming for lunch tomorrow to talk about the UK church (in Ringwood) as we hope to be visiting it when we stay in Christchurch in April and May. This week we have started sorting out our belongings ready to leave, as time is moving very quickly. It’s surprising how much you accumulate in two and a half years! More news next week.

Lots of love to you all, Andrea

 

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Andrea’s Journal Sunday 5th February

Hello to all our friends,

Sorry there was no journal entry last week. We went out to lunch with friends and when we came home I was tired and starting a cold and forgot all about writing my journal. On Monday, I remembered, but decided to give it a miss; did any one notice? Anyway, I’ll bring you up to date now.

Everything is progressing well in our negotiations with A.C.E.T. and their local director Godfrey, being the organization based in Bulawayo, which we feel has the desire and the pedigree to take Children of Grace forward in our absence. A.C.E.T. was birthed in the UK back in 1988 with a vision to combat the AIDS problem. They have since established a presence in 23 countries worldwide. Here in Zimbabwe they are seeking to diversify into education and the care of orphan children. Please check out their website for further information. Tomorrow we have a further meeting with Godfrey and his team as well as a representative from Help Age, who are also keen to assist in a project which will benefit “our community”. We are now at the stage where we need to finalise the list of local trustees and the terms of reference, denoting our relationship with ACET, other stakeholders and their responsibilities to CoG.

Last week Memory was off sick for 2 days and was greatly missed. 9 students have now started the reading programme and all are progressing well with their English. There was a problem with the water supply; a major leak where a stop-cock had rusted away and so poor Miriam has had no water in the home for a week. Hopefully, Bulawayo City Council will have fixed it this weekend as promised? The maize is growing well, with cobs forming, but we desperately need rain now or it could be a disastrous harvest for all. (Prayer pointer here for sure!)

We have had quite a bit of interest in our house and maybe something more definite to tell you next week. There are also some possible homes for Ngwenya which are under consideration. More substantial news, hopefully next week. Until then lots of love, Andrea

Prayer Requests

1) Please lift up the essence of our meeting on Tuesday morning at 9.oo with ACET, in prayer and that this organisation, if it is God’s will, would be the answer to supporting the continuation and growth of the Children of Grace project. Please ask for God’s blessings on our meetings with other potential partners.

2) Please pray that a suitable buyer will come forward to purchase our house.

3) Please pray that we are able to find a new owner who will love and appreciate Ngwenya.

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Andrea’s Journal Sunday 22nd January

Hi everyone, another hectic week has gone by. As mentioned last week, we have undertaken to seek a local partnership to support our work in Trenance. So firstly, on Monday, Pastor Kilton Moyo, from Word of Life church came out to CoG to visit us. He was very interested in all we were doing and has gone back to talk with his senior pastor about our project. Tuesday we had to stay at home to keep a “skype appointment” with Megan & Jamie who are one of our sponsors in Australia. That was a very productive call as they have offered to fund future ACE material (PACES) for all of the students.

On Wednesday morning we had 2 lots of interested visitors – a small trust group from Harare and another pastor, this time from our teacher, Themba’s church in town, Godfrey Mhlanga who also works for an NGO called ACET. This is an International Group of independent organisations established in the UK to fight the problem of HIV/AIDS in 23 countries. www.acet-international.org Godfrey particularly felt he may be in a position to assist us and consequently we have a follow-up meeting with him and his colleagues on Tuesday at their offices in town. We are praying that something comes of this.

We have also had a visiting pastor staying with us for a few nights earlier in the week and he too was very encouraging about our work. This week, between visitors, I have been testing the children for “reading readiness”. We have 8 children who passed and will be starting on the reading programme next week, which is very exciting. Meanwhile David has been engaged in damage limitation at the Learning Centre and planning where our priorities lie in order to apply our limited financial resources, to be in a position to use 2 classrooms by March.
We have just had a weekend of social events and so have enjoyed meeting up with old friends and making new ones. Tomorrow there is another NGO representative visiting us from Help Age, who we first met some time ago. One of the ways his organisation assists the elderly is where they may have assumed responsibility for orphaned or abandoned children, which criteria matches several of our students.

Last week we made a start on putting our house on the market and have also been putting out feelers for a new home for Ngwenya. More news next week. Love, Andrea

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Andrea’s Journal Sunday 15^th January 2012

Hello everyone, It’s been a busy week here. On Monday we went over to CoG to see Miriam and the children and to have a staff meeting with Memory and Themba. Miriam’s niece Beauler has joined Miriam at the home; she is an orphan, 10 years old and is probably going to join the class, to give us a total of 20 students. Although she can read a little, her spoken English is very poor for her age.

Our staff meeting went well and we learned that Memory and Themba had organized a Christmas party for the children on 20^th December and purchased the food themselves. They had visited all of the families over the holiday period and reported back comments that were made. Most of the families felt their child’s health had improved and all said their behaviour was better and believed they were making substantial progress in English and number work. All credit due to Themba and Memory for their hard work.

Unfortunately, the man we had asked to oversee things and do some work for us had not done so well! We had asked him to spray the weeds in the maize field before the seedlings emerged, but he left it too late and the seed had already germinated when he then irresponsibly told Philemon to spray. Luckily Philemon realized that there was a problem and stopped, although a small amount of maize was damaged. This of course still left the challenge of the weeds. Because the families didn’t come to work on the field while we were away Phil, Miriam and the 2 older boys worked instead, starting at 5.00am and continuing until 9.30am, when they stopped for breakfast and then back again until lunchtime. Meanwhile the 2 younger children cleaned the house. Heroes all?

The other (paid) task we had asked our “white Zimbabwean” overseer to do was painting the classroom and toilets in the Learning Centre. This turned out to be a bigger disaster than the maize, as not only was their paint on the walls and window frames, but all over the floors, windows, new toilets and washbasins. We couldn’t believe the mess. It has taken Miriam, Phil and myself hours of scraping and scrubbing to clean up. We feel very let down by someone from our church we trusted. He has also caused other problems that I don’t want to go into here, but at least we can now be certain of the dedication, faithfulness and support of Miriam and Philemon. This has really been a big lesson learned for us!

On a happier note, the children are all settling back into routine. Memory and I have started testing some of the more advanced students for “reading readiness” and we hope to start introducing the ABC’s reading programme very soon. Tomorrow we have Pastor Moyo from a local church coming to visit to see how he can assist us and also our Pastor, Richard, has made a good contact with another nearby church for us. More news next week.

Love, Andrea