THE HAPPENINGS OF MRS VIOLET KIMAMBO DURING HER STAY IN NEW ZEALAND Mrs Violet, Kimambo, Headmistress of the Fountain of Hope orphanage school, has arrived in New Zealand and is ready to spend time at Hebron Christian College exploring aspects of Christian Education and New Zealand teaching techniques and programme. She will be staying at the home of Geoff and Sue Matthews but will visit many homes and churches of Hebron Christian College staff and families and also trustees of the Hope Foundation Hebron Trust.
PREVIOUS MISSIONS
You can view reports and photos of all the previous Hebron Christian College overseas missions since 1994 by clicking the buttons to the left.
PRINCIPAL'S VISIT TO AFRICA CONFERENCE
Daily reports and photos/videos) may be included below depending on the availability of an internet connection.
MONDAY 27th FEBRUARY
The day has arrived for me to depart Africa and return to New Zealand. My plane to nairobi leaves Kilimanjaro Airport in 3 hours so I write a short departing message to you all. I have not been able to download any website reports this weekend because of constant and widespread power cuts which either knock out the computer at the mission house or knock out the internet provider in another part of Moshi. However, the weekend was full of activity mainly centred around setting up the programme to sponsor orphans and needy children. On Sunday I was invited to preach at the El Shaddai Church and the message seemed to be well appreciated to all those attending. Over half the church came forward for prayer in response to the message.
I leave Tanzania with much sadness but also with the joy of returning home to my wife and children and Hebron Christian College. You can't help but love the African people and especially their children...they are so friendly, hospitable, relaxed and fun-loving. There are no stragers in this country..one wave or "Jambo" welcome wins them over as friends for life! So I say "Kwahere" to my Tanzanian brothers and sisters and sign off until we meet again.
FRIDAY 24th FEBRUARY
The weather in Tanzania has been hot and humid but rain is on the way. There have been spectacular shows of lightning in the far distance as I type up this report. March and April typically bring the rainy season so we might be in for some rain and muddy roads before we leave. We spent the morning at the Fountain of Zoe photographing the babies so that we can gain sponsors for them. There are now 11 babies, one just a few days old badly malnourished and listless. Within days this baby has regained lost weight, developed a good sleeping pattern and is becoming alert and responsive. The staff are doing an amazing job bringing love and joy to these abandoned and orphaned wee ones. We then went and surveyed 8 acres of land that has just been offered to the Foundation and it is already been suggested the secondary school should be built on this plot. We traveled further up the dirt road to visit the 20 acres of land that was purchased through the generous donation of 1 lady in the South Island who read a magazine article on our 2005 mission. Surveyors have already been along and pegged out the boundaries and a fence is about to be erected. This evening we enjoyed a lovely meal at the home of Glorious and Josephine and their daughter Prudence. We plan to meet their 15 year old son Princely at his boarding school tomorrow morning before traveling up to visit our friends at the Joshua Foundation in Arusha.
THURSDAY 23rd FEBRUARY
Much of today was given over to photgraphing and videoing sponsored and yet-to-be-sponsored children in the primary school and nursery. The little children were gorgeous and once we get the sponsorship scheme running in NZ, I'm sure the children will be sponsored by NZ families. Our USA delegate, Chuck Carlson, gave each of the children in the nursery, a plastic mirror and they just loved looking at their faces in their mirrors. In the afternoon, Glorious Shoo, John Blaiklock and John Buchan visited the local Lutheran bishop to gain his support for the university. He was very keen to hear about the project and wants to be involved. In the early evening, I set up my laptop and data projector and showed all the children the two 2005 Mission DVDs. They absolutely loved every minute of the presentations and chuckled away when they saw themselves or their friends on the big screen. The staff were very appreciative of the evening's entertainment.
WEDNESDAY 22nd FEBRUARY
Today, was an electricity free day...national power cuts are rolling across the nation as the drought has meant that lower river and dam levels have severely reduced hydro electric power generation. The power went off at 8am and has not yet returned and its now 9.45pm. We were still able to visit the New Life Foundation Nursery Department where the younger orphans are educated. Ages range from 3 years to 6 years. The Hebron teams did not visit the Nursery during the 2005 mission except for visits by the medical teams. The 40 or so children were extremely excited to see us and spontaneously broke out into a haka, just like the older children at the main school site. What a sight…40+ 3-6 year olds attempting a haka! Click here to play a video of the children's haka(approx.3Mb) It has to be seen to be believed. The rest of the day was spent discussing two major developments…refining the orphan sponsoring programme and planning for the building of the tertiary/university on the newly acquired 20 acres of land. On Friday, we are planning to drive up to Arusha and visit the Joshua Foundation where we can sit down with the Stephensons and Scoullars and plan the 2006 mission.
TUESDAY 21st FEBRUARY
Today we visited two very destitute families that have children in the Fountain of Hope school. Two small children had lost both parents to HIV/Aids and were being look after by a grandmother living on her own in a one room house. She spoke of her deprivation then burst into tears, not from sadness or depression, but from the joy in knowing we were there to support her. The five delegates attending each gave her $US20 and this was greatly appreciated by her. We then visited another family living in the middle of a banana plantation in a stick and mud hut. They had no electricity, no running water and a very basic longdrop toilet. I'll post a photo of them next time.
TUESDAY 21st FEBRUARY - VISIT TO THE ORPHANAGE
Another highlight of the day's activities was to visit the orphanage as all the conference meetings have been held at the Mission House and the Lutheran Mission Centre. As soon as I got out of the van, the children came running to greet me, remembering me from our 2005 mission trip. They were full of smiles and laughter and asked me lots of questions about variostudents who were on the 2005 trip. Some gave me notes to pass onto teachers and students.I was thrilkled to give a A4 colour photograph to two girls phtographed with Melita Woodfield...Esther and Esther. They were absolutely thrilled to see and receive the photo. The boys then performed their 'Swahili' haka, learnt when team visited them in 2005. It was very impressive and I'm already thinking how we can get them to NZ for a tour. Have it all on video which I'll show at Assembly. I will be returning to the orphanage to show them the Mission DVDs one night...they'll really enjoy that. The school is now building 2 new classrooms
FOUNTAIN OF ZOE BABY HOSPITAL
As mentioned in an earlier report, the Fountain of Zoe baby hospital was officially opened on Saturday evem though it is still being finished. I have included some photos of this amazing facilities for your interest. It will be able to accommodate up to 50 abandoned and orphaned babies.
MONDAY 20th FEBRUARY
The conference continued today with reports from New Zealand (John Blaiklock), Norway and the USA. Each delegate spoke of their link to the New Life Foundation and the way(s) their country is raising funds for the orphanage. The US representative has 90 people in his church and neighbourhood each sponsoring an orphan...Wow!
Each day we have had two or three orphans or young girls from the Fountain of Joy (Department for unwed teenage mothers or at risk/un-schooled teenage girls) giving their testimony of their upbringing and change of fortune upon attending the New Life Foundation. Many of the delegates and I were weeping when we hear these children speak of horrendous abuse, abandonment and even starvation. In most cases, there was no father on the scene and many had no mothers due to HIV/Aids, prostitution, etc. It was a great joy, however, to hear of their new life, newfound friends and love they have found at the NLF. Those of you who have donated money to the orphanage can know full well that your generosity is literally saving lives and turning wasted lives into fruitful and successful young men and women. I will give actual testimonies tomorrow once we get our guest house internet working.
Tomorrow we visit the orphanage wher I hope to video the children and especially the boys doing a swahili haka. We will then visit two families which the orphanage supports. We may also drive up the slopes of Mt.Kilimanjaro.
SUNDAY 19th FEBRUARY I have finally got onto the internet after 2 days in Tanzania. Unfortunately, the orphanage internet connection is not working but may be repaired on Monday. So I'm typing this update at a hotel internet cafe and it closes in 15mins so this will be a brief update.
The Conference on orphaned, abandoned and destitute children in Africa has been absolutley amazing and a great blessing. On Saturday, the President was called away to some urgent matter and could not attend the opening of the Fountain of Zoe baby orphanage. Work was still been done on the finishing touches but work has progressed greatly since we saw the building in July 2005 when it was only a shell. They hope to have the babies in it in 3 or 4 weeks time.
We have guest speakers (see photo) from all the major aid agency throughout Africa such as Compassion International and World Vision. The news is not good...poverty is growing at an alarming rate throughout most African countries and sadly, these agencies don't have the answers. They are trying their best but without a change of heart of the general population and even a spiritual revivial in the land, there is not much chance of things getting better. The good news is that institutions such as the New Life Foundation ARE having a major impact in their local areas and positively changing the lives of hundreds of children that would be now in slave labour, prostitution or even dead.
The reports from delegates from Canada, Norway, USA and South Korea have been most encouraging and they, like Hebron Christian College have helped the orphanage to expand and save more orphans in the local and wider area. I gane my presentation today about our heart for missions and a report on our last trip to Tanzania. I showed the 6min film that I showed at Prizegiving last year and they were visibly touched by this. John Blaiklock and John Buchan arrived this evening and will be giving a rport on the Hope Foundation and fundraising plans for the future. I'll leave it at that as the place is about to shut down. God bless you all. I'll try and get another update out tomorrow night.
FRIDAY 17th FEBRUARY
Trip from Auckland to Melbourne to Dubai has taken 17 hours but enjoyed the blessings that went with a Business upgrade...crayfish..prawns..eye fillet steak, etc. Now typing this update in Dubai Airport awaiting my next flight to Kenya, a 6 hour wait for the final flight into Tanzania.