Wednesday, October 24, 2012

One month later...


Dear friends,

In the past few days dark clouds have been hovering over the Goromonzi District as students, parents, farmers and the like keep their fingers crossed for a start to the rainy season. Though officially the rains are expected to start falling continuously on the 15th of November any rain drops right now will bring in some respite to the dry and parched lands.

Earlier this month the beautiful Jacaranda trees started blooming and with it the thought of writing exams struck the children. The children have been in the middle of writing their exams and we are hopeful that those that put in time to study will do well. As the year is slowly drawing to an end Team Nhaka has been working hard to ensure that the plans for the next year are firmly in place and that we are able to deliver service, support and work with the communities to create sustainable mechanisms for orphan care.

We visited one school that benefitted from the Preschool renovation program a month after the official opening of the two block classroom and we were excited by how the children and teachers have embraced their new class and are learning in a clean, spacious and health environment. The different creativity corners, science and discovery areas and the drawings by the children that have been put on the walls melted our hearts as children chanted different rhymes.

My heart aches when certain communities fail to embrace the issues of ownership and sustainability. When parents and caregivers feel that they will always be recipients of donor aid in the form of cash handouts, food packs and school fees assistance whilst they are not doing anything. Team Nhaka has for the past 4 months been working in one such community that has been slow to embrace the fact that they have to work hard in order to provide the best for their children and community. At times when the team reports back in meetings, the easiest option is to simply to write to donors for a particular project and tell them we are dropping the project. However because in Romans 5:5 we read that “because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” we then have a renewed conviction of working with everyone and leaving no child behind. Nhaka Foundation aims to “leave a lasting legacy” and the team has realized that this is not going to be easy and we need to continue moving forward and providing guidance and direction to the communities.

Love is the utmost virtue in life! “Love is patient, kind, not jealous, not proud, not rude, not selfish, not irritable, not unforgiving,not glad about injustices, but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails”

As we move forward we thank God for the people and organizations who have blessed us in so many ways and opened up the way for the work we are doing. Without love and a gentle spirit, as human beings we end up not fulfilling the will of God for our lives. My challenge to you friends today is to ask you: what legacy are you going to leave behind?

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Until next time,

Patrick


Love is the greatest power in life! 1 Cor. 13:13