RENEWED HOPE CHARITABLE FOUNDATION, INC.

Working Together For Zimbabwe's Future

Dear Readers,

It has been so long since I last had time to write that I hardly know where to begin. 

Ralph and Mr. Bondeponde left for Harare this morning at 6:00am in the Orphan Care truck.  They have a long list of things to do and are to bring back two 200-liter storage tanks and stands.  One will be used for the new house that is under construction.  It will replace the house torn down last year that was infested with termites.  The other tank will supply water to the dispensary that is being set up in the preschool building.  Ralph finished installing a sink in the dispensary yesterday and has tiled a back splash for the sink to help keep the wall clean.  The vinyl cove base is all finished.  We are hoping to get a bed from the clinic to use as an examining table.  We found a metal cabinet in the Administration block that will serve well for a drug cabinet.  It already has two bars across the doors that can be fitted with padlocks.  Ralph plans to anchor the cabinet to the wall.

The Jacaranda tree in front of our house is in full bloom.  Early in the morning the ground is covered with purple blossoms that have fallen during the night.  Of course when the wind comes up as the day starts to heat up the blossoms all blow away.  Bees are thick in the tree and the sound of their buzzing is deafening.  

Just after I began teaching in the preschool class this morning, I was summoned to the office.  A head master, Mr. Kanyemba, from Bunhu Primary School had come to see us.  This school is some distance away and not within our designated area.  He always seems to arrive the day Ralph is away.  This is the third time that he has come to see us pleading with us to come and see his school.  It has all but been condemned.  In fact they were ordered to knock down one building this week.  Thirty children in one-class share two desks, the only furniture they have.  Many children are attending other schools.  The only children left, about 340, are very local and from the poorest families.  These families are unable to pay school fees because they are out searching for food to feed their families.  They have nothing.  He explained that the school had raised two tons of maize and instead of selling it for cash distributed it to the neediest families and one teacher who is caring for several orphans.  But now, even that is gone.  We are running out of funds on budgeted projects and are unable to build one building that we had budgeted for.  Materials alone for one two-classroom block are costing about $12,500.00 USD.  I don’t see that we can do anything, even in this extreme case.

Mr. Kanyemba explained that his best teachers are leaving.  I think this is one of what Franklin Graham calls a God room situation.  We have encountered a need that is bigger than our human abilities to meet.  We will accept the challenge and then trust God to bring in the finances and the materials to meet the need.  So my challenge to all of you out there is to pray for us and for Bunhu School.  Pray that funds and materials will be made available.  Let’s watch and see God work.  I’ll keep you updated.  We will probably try to visit the school next week as the Headmaster has requested for the third time.  I can visualize the condition and I know that I will cry.  Just witnessing children who are starving will be heartbreaking.  I’ll try to take pictures but I find that pictures tell only part of the story.

Mr. Kayemba says that he has visited many Embassies and had representatives visit but no help has been forthcoming.  I must say the Headmaster is persistent and is doing his best under extreme conditions. This time he arrived by car, other times he has walked five to six hours cross country to come here.

I was interrupted at this point to do something; I doubt any of you have done.  There are 15 children who have bad cases of ringworm in their heads.  They have had their hair all cut off, the only way I will agree to treat them.  However, today I decided to wash their heads before treating.  I had 15 children lined up in front of the house.  Mrs. Bondeponde and I put shampoo in their hands and poured water over their heads while they leaned over the grass and scrubbed.  We rinsed the same way.  I know now why they have ringworm.  It was a waste of medicine to put it on dirty heads.  Anyone want to come help me?  There are hundreds more that need the same treatment but until they shave their heads, I won’t waste the medicine.   

At 2:00 there are five boys and girls that are to come to me to be treated for scabies.  However, they are going to bathe first.  So we have buckets of water warming in the sun and they will have to go into one of the bathing areas and get clean before I treat the infected areas.  I found some towels in the storeroom that came on the last shipment for the children to use.

We have had reports of a number of orphans who are ill for one reason or another.  So the Executive Committee decided it was best to put them in the Orphan Care truck and take them to the hospital in Murewa to see the Doctor.  Two of the board members and two or three of the orphan caregivers went on Tuesday with 14 orphans.  The hospital was so impressed by the organization that they made other people who were waiting step aside while they took care of the children.  The hospital charged the Orphan Care Center for medication only and nothing for the visit.  It was a very long day but all those involved said that it was an enriching experience.  So many community members have come by to thank us for what we did.  This was another of those unbudgeted expenses.  But it is worth it when a child brings his teacher to us to help them tell us thank you for purchasing the medicine that was prescribed.

Last Saturday night we were awakened by a knock on the door at 1:00 am.  Mr. Bondeponde said a young man was at the clinic and needed transportation to the hospital in Murewa.  The young man had been in an auto accident and had a huge knot on the back of his head.  He was also spitting blood.  So Ralph dressed and took him to the hospital.  It was 4:00 a.m. before he got back to bed.  What alarmed us was that no Doctor saw him until Monday.  He is apparently going to be ok with time.  Right now he is in a lot of pain.

I wrote in my last journal about three children that had walked a long distance to come here for help.  The police have located relatives of the late mother.  The children are being turned over to the relatives.  Hopefully they will receive better care now.

I am happy to report that progress is taking place at Elizabeth’s home.  She is the child that has rheumatic fever.  The community has really come together to help.  Most of what we provided was left over supplies from other projects except the cement.  The aunt that I also wrote about passed away last week.  For the aunt, it is a blessing as she was truly suffering.

The bricking on the two feeding centers at Inyagui and Guzha are progressing.  I predict that they will be ready for roof by the end of October.  The building should be nearly complete by the time we are scheduled to leave.  The teacher’s house here at Nyamashato should be completed by early November.  It will be fun to see the teacher, which had to move out of the old house in the middle of the night last year, move into a brand new house.

Bible study this year has been rather hit and miss I am afraid.  It seems that there are always things getting in the way.  We are trying to study the book of Romans.  The local Councilor, Coordinator and Party Representative visited us on Wednesday evening.  They came to thank us for the medical care given to orphans earlier in the week.  They arrived just as we were ready to eat our dinner.  Needless to say it was too late to have Bible Study after that.

A seven-year old boy was brought to us a couple of weeks ago. The parents brought him in an ox cart.  The child is handicapped and has been so since birth.  He apparently has no muscle control.  He is unable to talk and is unable to stand or walk. His arms just hang at his sides.  They explained that they had been to many agencies but no one could help.  They were asking us for a wheel chair since the child has become too big for the mother to carry on her back.  Ralph and I decided to approach Mrs. Mundohni and ask if she would allow us to give this family one of the wheel chairs we had shipped several years ago.  Her children have since passed away.  She agreed and so we took the wheel chair to the family last weekend.  What a trip!  I know why our vehicle is showing signs of abuse when we have to travel over such backcountry terrain.  Anyway the family was very appreciative and the child even smiled when he was placed in the wheel chair. 

Again, I ask for your prayers that we be given the strength to cope with the many problems facing us.  Pray also for funds and resources that are so desperately needed to meet the demands placed before us.

In His Service,

Ralph and Roberta 

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Renewed Hope Charitable Foundation, Inc. | a 501(c)(3) charity | P.O. Box 1476 | Castle Rock, Colorado | 80104-1476

2004 Journal 06