As Trustees we were moved by the recent news of two little boys from the Mount Darwin area where James Kambudzi ministers.
Munashe is eight and has thrilled his family by taking his first steps by himself. With good nutrition, although clearly developmentally delayed, he is now catching up. It is heart-warming to see tangible evidence of the difference that can be made by investing in helping needy families.
Sadly, a second little boy from this community named Private, who is now 11, will probably never walk and his family will have the added burden of caring for this very dependent son for the rest of his life. This underlines the nature of ZPT’s work that we and the many other Christian charities face in Zimbabwe, that is, the joy and privilege of being able to make a difference in the lives of some, against a backdrop of overwhelming need across the country.
James Kambudzi reports that the goats are continuing to increase in spite of battling outbreaks of disease, along with progress in growing tomatoes and greens for their own consumption with enough to sell to supplement incomes.
Trymore Mateyanganga continues his work at the Community Development Centre also at Mount Darwin. His latest report tells us they have started building a new (brick) classroom for nursery age children. This is a natural development from their initial orphan work. The older children are given livelihood training so that they will be able to support themselves in work. A recent donation from Tools With A Mission has arrived and will assist them in this area.
Gideon Chishamba—Fountain of Hope
Gideon oversees a huge range of projects and keeps us updated on the new health Centre at Rungai, Training for young people, and a new poly
tunnel producing good crops of tomatoes.
On the spiritual side, Gideon speaks enthusiastically of on-line training sessions we have provided and sent us a picture of a group crossing a river to take the gospel to an unreached area.
He writes, “Most of these Pastors are from different denominations and these trainings which they have been receiving from ZPT amazingly brought unity amongst the body of Christ and created the zeal to preach the word of God without fear even in a nation where people are engulfed by fear. In areas like Chivi these wonderful people of God are able to do things together, thereby bringing multiplication to the Kingdom of God. Thank you so much”.
In the Bulawayo area, Robert Chatindo carries on in his father Albert’s work, Famine relief, and Care of orphans. Planting and developing churches amongst marginalised outcast groups living in squatter camps or in the bush.
Albert had always had plans to make use of a large area the Christian Community own at a place called Springs Farm where ZPT helped install a borehole. Robert would like to start to bring those plans to fruition by building a meeting room, which could be used for a nursery school room during the week and a meeting place for ministry, at evenings and weekends. This will need a considerable investment, which at the moment we are not in a position to help with.
In January we sent money to purchase black plastic sheeting for the many huts at Killarney that needed protection in the rainy season.
The Indigenous Preachers Workshops continue, led by William Danyere and assisted by Matthew and Upward. They have a program of 10 workshops throughout 2023 to be held at strategic venues all across Zimbabwe.
We are planning to hold a Training of Trainers week, God willing, in November at the Lasting Impressions conference centre we
have used before. We are hoping this will be led by Mark, Derek, and Ollie. Chris is hoping to join this group from the UK but more with a view to visiting mission partners around the country.
Support of Widows
We continue with the support of our Sisters Loveness, Agnes, and Chipo. It is an ongoing struggle for them to pay for their children’s education, healthcare costs, and basic food and living costs. The issue of school fees and tertiary education costs after they leave school is particularly hard as we don’t feel at liberty to allocate Trust funds specifically to this. If anyone felt it on their hearts to designate giving for this purpose it would be a real help to them.
There is some good news to report from Agnes. She has at last been able to move into her small new house at the end of January, which has been a long running building project. This will save her having to find rent every month and gives her a bit of security. The cottage has four rooms – 2 bedrooms, kitchen, dining room; also, a shower and toilet area. (you may just be able to see her tiny solar charger in the porch area which just provides enough power to charge her phone as there is no power supply) The cost of building the accommodation amounted to around $5000. Agnes has requested help in purchasing a solar powered system to provide electricity at a cost of $1120.
Both of these costs have been covered by the Trust.
New Trustee
We are pleased to welcome as a new Trustee Shaun Hexter. Shaun formally joined us at our recent Trustees meeting but has already been working closely with Roger for several months with a view to taking over as secretary prior to Roger’s retirement in October 2024. He brings lots of relevant experience from his previous employment and has already suggested ways to improve our working practices. This is a real answer to prayer that we hardly dared hope would be possible.
Please pray that as Gill also lays down her role as minute secretary and overseeing the care of our widows that a new volunteer will be found to take on these important tasks.
Please pray also that funds will continue to come in to support all the various areas of our work, as sadly, it was necessary to trim budgets down at the recent trustees meeting because we had insufficient funds to meet all the requests for help.
Forthcoming Elections
Please pray particularly for the forthcoming election season in Zimbabwe. God is sovereign over the nations and their rulers.
We thank all our supporters for your prayers and generous giving to the of the work of the Trust.
Donations can be made to our Account with CAF Bank
Online donations can also be made at give.net/20174075
Roger Prime,
Secretary for ZPT, 3 Guildhall Road, Worlingham, Beccles, NR34 7SE
rogerprime@btinternet.com – Tel. 01502 714793 – www.zpt.org.uk