Welcoming Team 2SOL to Zimbabwe

Dear Friends,

I pray this finds you all well. Just a quick update on our work. We are grateful that we recently signed a grant with the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa and will in the next few days beginning a preschool program at an identified school in Goromonzi. Nhaka Foundation is also hosting Team 2 Seconds or Less  (2SOL) from the US who began a month long tour of duty this past Monday and are busy at work, establishing community gardens, drilling wells for water at schools and working at one preschool. I am happy that all the plans we had set for the first half of the year were met and accomplished and as we go into the last half it is my hope that we will be able to fulfil the commitments we set out to accomplish this year.

The feeding program is going on very well with generous funding support from ZoomAID UK. On a daily basis a little over 500 children are receiving piping hot meals. As the children patiently stand in line for their turn to be served we really remain grateful of this feeding program. Many of the children are coming from very vulnerable families who are failing to provide consistent meals for their children and additionally a high percentage of the children are orphans.

As always I am always on the lookout for partnership opportunities and new funding partners to enhance the work we are doing and to reach out to new schools and communities. I have found that our appreciative inquiry work in the early learning centres with these communities always reveals hidden interesting initiatives and thoughts focused on improving the lives of the orphans and children under their care. This has always been exciting community meetings for me to participate in. The limiting factor however remains the issue of the funding we need to support their own initiatives. In most cases this does not run into mega amounts but just small enough to get them off an a path to sustainability.

Nhaka Foundation has really done well in being a lean mean machine, if I may call it that, with very low overheads and administrative costs that have to be met. The output of this small team of committed and dedicated individuals is always amazing to me and for that I am very grateful.

This July has been very cold indeed for us here and we are looking forward to some warmer weather in the coming months.

To God be the glory!

Blessings,

Patrick

It isn't where you came from, it's where you're going that counts.
-Ella Fitzgerald

Joining forces

Dear Friends,

I pray this finds you all well. It certainly has been a while since I managed to get time to sit down and blog. All as been going on well. Team Nhaka has been busy as always working with communities to bring about sustainable change and development in impoverished communities.

One of my close friends was asking me a few days ago when I was going to stop working like this. My simple reply to this question has always been, we will not stay any day longer after communities have harnessed their strengths, capabilities and are working well looking after their own orphaned, abandoned and neglected children. Not a day longer!

In the past few weeks I have come across some strong willed men and women who are determined to eliminate poverty and provide access to basic education to the children from poor families. This has truly been heart warming and I am very grateful that I have been granted access into the lives of these people and work with them to identify their own strengths that they can utilize to support the children in their care. This has never been easy but they are willing to trying out new approaches as long as they ensure that their children are fed and secure access to education.

As an organization, Nhaka Foundation partners with any organization that has children at heart and that wants to bring about sustainable change and development. All the programs we are managing are going on very well and the Team is very engaged in ensuring that we are not just fire fighting but w are working with the communities to ensure that they continue thriving and providing care to the children long after we have left their communities.

Im going to be writing in a little while about some exciting partnerships that we have been involved in recently. I thank God for the new people and organizations we meet on a daily basis that form interest in joining forces with us in the work being done. As long as it leaves communities with the capacity to revitalize the community safety net, we are up for it!

In the mean time God bless you and thanks for all the support.

Kind regards,

Patrick

We do not quit playing because we grow old. We grow old because we quit playing.
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

Busy bumble bees

Dear friends, It has been nearly two weeks since my last post. The whole team has been very busy running with different programs. Where do I start today... Well we were so excited to be a part of the Harare International Festival of Arts, HIFA. 350 children had a fantastic time in shows, meeting artists and being part of the exuberant crowd. I was also excited to see the kids enjoying themselves and how some of them narrated that this brought some respite to them as opposed to being in the orphanages or group homes. We also had vulnerable children being part of the groups the entire week and these are children who were drawn from different communities. Some of the kids were looking after their chronically ill parents and or staying with very aged grandparents. The opportunity to spend one day being pampered was very welcoming to them and brought also relief as these kids are really young to be looking after sick and dying parents. Kudos to the whole team at HIFA for being hospitable and for tickets, food etc. The following week after HIFA schools reopened from the holiday break and Team Nhaka was caught up with the launch of the feeding program at one of the schools we are working with. In the run up to the opening of schools, the Team dealt with a variety of challenges associated with the feeding program. I thank God that everything has gone according to plan thus far and happy to report that Nhaka Foundation has been feeding over 500 children each day since the 11th of May. Our partners at Zoomaid have been very consistent with the funding support to enable this to happen. Happy with the work done so far they have requested Team Nhaka to identify 2 additional schools to add onto the feeding program and by the end of June we should be reaching out to 2000 children many of whom are orphaned or living in vulnerability. It is important to note dear friends, that for myself and the team at Nhaka Foundation it is not about numbers! We are really motivated by the desire to serve these children, give them some sense of food security, make sure that at least they have something in the tummy before they go home to do some work and additionally be able to minister to them. In case you thought it was about the numbers of children being fed, it really is not about that. As we move forward with the feeding I intend to work with the team in forming kids clubs. In these clubs our work will be centred around life skills coaching provision of psycho social support as well as getting the kids connected to the Word of God. I have also been busy working on securing long term sponsorship for our different program's particularly the school fees payments for orphans as well as the preschool or Early Childhood Development program. As I send proposals out and meet interesting people in and out of Zimbabwe I continue to get the sense that God is on top of the situation and that we will secure the funding needed to support the children and communities sustainably. I have received several not so good responses to our funding proposals but the few that have been positive have been very positive! So that spurs us on and our combined faith and hope in the promise from God motivates us to work harder each day. Looking ahead we have exciting stuff to look forward to. We have friends from ZoomAid UK visiting us in June and our family from 2SecondsorLess.org spending an entire month with us from mid July to August amongst other things on our diaries. We thank God for the work He is doing in us and the relationships that are being created around the world. Amazing conversations are happening about our work and impact on communities as we aim to assist communities solve their own unique problems, feed their own children using community generated resources and send their kids to school. In order to get to that stage your help is needed. We need to reach out to them, teach them how to fish and walk alongside them as true friends showing them all the time how to go back to the traditional methods of community based child care. Well friends, this is just a tiny glimpse of what we have been up to the past few weeks. Thank you very much for your encouraging emails, love and prayers. Until next time, Patrick Makokoro patrick@nhakafoundation.org

Joyful noise...

Dear friends, Team Nhaka in the past week has been going round to schools within our operational area, looking at the infrastructure at schools e.g the state of the buildings, availability of desks, chairs and other learning materials and we saw a lot of differences between the six schools that we visited. Some schools have done well to mobilize local resources that they have then used to spruce up their schools whilst some have continued to fall into dilapidation because the surrounding communities are composed of poor people who even struggle to pay fees for the children. What was remarkable though in theses schools was the fact that the teaching staff are very excited about their work annd are keen to enrol more children in this new term, that has begun today, whilst providing the best service to the children. I am amazed by their professionalism, zeal and desire to continue teaching against the background of very low salaries and absence of appropriate teaching materials. I personally managed to visit two of the six schools and the reports I got from our team corroborate with what I also saw. This goes to demonstrate how Zimbabweans value education and how they continue believing in the educational institutions even though the past twelve or so years have wrecked havoc within that system. I believe working with the communities, we can restore some of the confidence in the education system that was lost during the political and economic turmoil of the past twelve years. With our partners we can harness the community energy towards creating vibrant and self sustaining program's that support the school system. This could be through community school feeding schemes that feed the poor hungry children, community gardening projects to boost vegetable availability and also infrastructural development projects that are aimed at rehabilitating the school classrooms and buildings so that the children are learning in a safe environment. My family lives close to a primary school and this morning at 6:15am the giggling,laughter and voices of excited young children heading to school filled our ears again. Coming back from school break, the kids are headed for another term, this time in winter, to learn, play sport and have fun with their peers. Hearing all this laughter and voices this morning felt like listening to a joyful noise being made as the kids celebrated the return to school. In weeks to come we will be noticing those kids who will be dropping out of class because of fees that will be demanded from them by the teachers. We pray that Nhaka Foundation will have resources to support the vulnerable children who will be affected by this exercise, many of whom are on our lists of children who need support. Until next time, thanks for reading. Patrick Makokoro " Be the change you wish to be"

Seasons are changing...

Dear Friends,

Our Jan-April 2012 newsletter was sent out by the team last week and as always was very excited to see how God has brought us this far. If you have not received a copy in your email box please send me an email at patrick@nhakafoundation.org and I will send it to you. Additionally please sign on the Periodic Updates box on the homepage of our website. Do not be left out on what God is doing in this season. 

Nhaka Foundation is proud to be working again with the Harare International Festival of Arts, HIFA to bring the shows, workshops and fun to the vulnerable children in Harare. During the weeklong HIFA, Nhaka Foundation will coordinate over 400 children being brought to attend shows and participate in workshops with artists. We hope this will stimulate the lives of the vulnerable children, bring about awareness and appreciation of the arts industry and also bring out the hidden artist that is in the children. Hopefully children who are artistically gifted will come out and we can link them to people who can groom them and work with them to develop their talents.

The Team has been busy working on the feeding program that is being launched next Thursday 10 May 2012 at Mapfeni Primary school in Goromonzi. The lists of the children selected to be part of this program are being carefully vetted by the Team as they seek to ensure that only the vulnerable children have been targetted. Support from the school has been overwhelming as they have been already bringing in firewood, bricks, sand and labour during the construction of the schools "culture hut" that is also going to be used as a kitchen to prepare the meals. I am happy to say we are about 85% ready to launch the feeding program.

This morning, one team member has started engaging other surrounding schools, carrying out a needs analysis to identify new schools that will benefit from an expanded feeding and preschool programs. The need is high for additional feeding as well as increasing access to early education. We are determined to provide the best service to the children and making sure that their beautiful voices are heard. Nhaka Foundation will continue making noise until the case for early education is appreciated and access levels have improved significantly.

Nhaka Foundation is the Focal Point for the Zimbabwe Network for Early Childhood Development Actors, ZINECDA, and through this network, we aim to advocate for increased investment by the government, parents and civil society actors. We need to stamp out donor dependency in Zimbabwe and by making such investments the future generations will have the requisite knowledge and training to do things for themselves. The case for investment in ECD is stronger than we may think. Nhaka Foundation is truly engaged in these efforts and initiatives through partnerships and working with like minded organizations and individuals.

Lastly, it is such a blessing to be working with people in Zimbabwe and from around the world who love God, have selfless love and a servant attitude. We are all called to make a mark in the world and to serve others in the ways best known to us.I believe that in serving and helping vulnerable communities find solutions to their problems, God will grow us and bless us. Again to whom much is given, much is expected. Find an excuse to be a blessing in someones life!

God bless you friends, thanks for reading!

Patrick

Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.
-Marian Wright Edelman

its getting colder in Zim

Dear Friends,

This week has been very busy for Team Nhaka as we work to make sure that we are ready to roll out the feeding program at the schools once schools reopen next month. Construction of a kitchen has started at one of the schools and the progress is exciting. The Team has been putting in long hours developing systems to make sure the feeding goes well and that the beneficiaries are carefully selected. As I write this the Team is out in Goromonzi conducting a training with the School Development Committee.

As we go ahead with this work we are really excited by what God is doing in all our lives as Team Nhaka and how we are drawing a lot of inspiration from our Lord Jesus. Servant leadership being modeled throughout the organization and this makes me very happy and in awe of God.

We are in the process of finalizing my travel itinerary to the US and UK in late May and I am looking forward to connecting with our friends and supporters of the work we are doing in Zimbabwe.

If you need to get in touch with me about this trip please do email me at patrick@nhakafoundation.org copying makokoro@mweb.co.zw.

Until next time!

Patrick

There are forty kinds of lunacy, but only one kind of common sense.-West African proverb

Easter bunnies, chocolates and more....

Dear Friends,

The past week has been filled with fun and lots of opportunities to learn new things. Team Nhaka was involved in community consultation meetings, visiting schools and meeting with different community structures before the school closed for the holiday break. A major highlight of the week was a meeting we had at one of the schools. During discussions, Team Nhaka was negotiating for favorable operational and implementation agreements and the team had put together a strategy that it was hoping to sell to the community leaders. As deliberations moved forward most of the strategy points noted by Team Nhaka became irrelevant as the communities were taking their leadership roles very seriously leaving Nhaka Foundation with little to say but follow the proceedings. Community leaders had frank discussions about the situation of children in their communities and how they as leaders should rise up and defend the defence less children. We were in awe of the fact that this community actually knew the problems and issues affecting the vulnerable children and our opening up to them made them realize that the solution lay within them as opposed to us coming in with the answers!

Towards the end of the meeting one elderly woman stood up and said, " we want to thank Nhaka Foundation for coming to open up this important discussion on the welfare of our children. as mothers we burn inside because traditionally we have not been allowed to speak, but today we found our voices and this community is never going to be the same again!" Very heart warming and exciting stuff to hear. A follow up meeting with this particular community is scheduled for the end of this month.

We are also very excited that Nhaka Foundation got featured on the Kabissa Network this week. View our profile on http://www.kabissa.org/nhaka-foundation.

It is that time of the year again when we celebrate Easter. As we reflect on how our Lord Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, I would urge us all to look at the less privileged members of our societies and think of how we can be of assistance and relief to them. I am proud to having been saved through the compassion and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Attend church this Sunday, partake of the Holy Communion and fellowship with other believers in joy and celebration of the fact that Jesus died for our sins and our ultimate redemption.

Friends, have a blessed holiday weekend and remember, Jesus died for you and me!

Blessings,

Patrick

"When we put our problems in God’s hands, He puts His peace in our hearts."