Zambia

I praise and THANK GOD for His servants that sacrificed much to come on this trip:

Dave Wilder – Gavin Kauffman – Gary Hapken – Nita Hapken

Thank you for touching lives and making a difference, in the name of Jesus, at The Village of Hope.

Pray for the final legs of our journey as, Lord willing, we are back early on Sunday morning.

Madolliso (blessings) to all of you for supporting this trip in many ways!

Mark DeNooy

If the orphanage is the first ring of the concentric circle, the school would be the second ring, and the third ring would be the businesses to make this all happen. The Village of Hope is an orphanage, a school, and a farm/business opportunity, with nearly a 1/2 mile of frontage property along The Great North Road. They have a small “take away” (restaurant), a “bakery” (wheat bread only), a secure semi truck over-night parking lot, and a farm (maize, wheat, cabbage, tomatoes, pigs, goats, and cows). The farm and businesses employ many locals, providing a job and income for those who want to work (remember – 80% unemployment rate). As these individuals are paid, the trickle down economics will affect nearly 1000 individuals in the rural/bush of Zambia.

The food that the farm produces is used daily to feed the orphans, workers, and all involved. It is all prepared in the way of Zambia – over an open fire. There is no refrigeration, stoves, ovens, or microwaves. “Give us this day our daily bread…” takes on an entire new reality here. There are no left-overs. The businesses are a key to providing much of the food as well as providing income to keep the orphanage up and running. They don’t want to depend on American Dollars to keep the orphanage going. God, truly, is doing some amazing things at the Village of Hope.

Keep praying! We will be traveling the next two days.

Much of our work over the past few days has been at The School of Hope. The School of Hope was started with just 5 orphans being taught under a tree. Gradually, as the orphanage grew, the school grew as well. Soon neighbors from nearby villages began to want to have their children enrolled in a school that had caring teachers, supplies for the students, a Christ-centered education and that did well in the national exams.

In Zambia every 7th, 9th, and 12th grade student must take required exams issued by the Zambian Dept. of Education. The national passing percentage is 33%. If you don’t pass, you must drop out of school. That creates a very high unemployment rate of 80%!! The passing percentage from the School of Hope is 98%! Praise God!!

Over the years, The School of Hope has grown from 5 students to 650+/- enrolled currently. Supplies are sent from the U.S. by teams like ours, as well as by shipping containers sent from the U.S.

One of the main goals of The Village of Hope is to be 100% self sustaining and not depend on U.S. dollars being sent over. To accomplish this, The Village of Hope has nearly 1/2 mile of frontage property along The Great North Road (a very busy trucking road). To create operating money, several businesses have been started along The Great North Road. One of our team members has been working specifically on the business end of things. More about the businesses and what Uncle Gary has been doing tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers! We all remain healthy! We remain strong (but tired) and will start the journey back tomorrow night.

Madolliso! (Blessings!)

(Don’t forget to click on the photos to see them full size and scroll through the other photos.)

Think of The Village of Hope as a calm lake, with a stone dropped in the water. Concentric circles are formed. In the center of the circle is the Orphan/Vulnerable children care. The children live in “homes” with 4-6 other children and a house parent. Siblings are kept together whenever possible. The children are raised in the way of Zambia. All meals are cooked over an open fire. Clothes are washed in tubs and hung to dry. The children have chores before school, after school and in the evenings. In fact, another child was brought in to The Village by the government just today. The pictures included today give a glimpse of life for the children in The Village of Hope. The next ring in the circle is The School of Hope. More on that tomorrow.

Mocha Brunji!

Today I want you to meet the team:

Aunt Nita: amazing servant heart and library specialist helping in the library at The School of Hope. She brought her friend “Gertrude” to help her read stories to the children.

Uncle Dave: amazing servant heart and the master of all things “facilities related”. He is helping the building look nicer and making our living quarters more comfortable. 

Uncle Gavin: amazing servant heart, facilities helper and very intentional about learning names and playing games with the children.

Uncle Gary: amazing servant heart and business, strategy, and finance specialist. A true blessing to Ben (the orphanage director), and the entire Village of Hope team. 

Final team member introduction: Roosty! He is an uninvited team member, who shows up regularly, every night at about 2:30 am. He usually starts crowing then and continues through the night. He roosts in a tree about 10 feet from our house. We sleep well at night until he decides to make himself known. Feel free to pray that he might be silent a little longer in the upcoming nights😁😬

Mocha Brunji (Good Day) from Zambia.

Yesterday we gathered with about 75 individuals from The Village of Hope for church. It was a true representation of Revelation 7 (take a moment to read this passage). It was beautiful to worship with those from other tribes, nations and other languages….all praising one God! It was a beautiful and emotional experience for the team.

The Village has several small businesses that help support it financially. One of those is a “Take Away” (Hope Restaurant). Hope Restaurant provides skill training for some of the older members of The Village as well as provide food and services for the many truckers that drive up and down The Great North Road – where VOH is located.

After church, we joined “the olders” for a meal and a time of games with them. It was so fun to hear the laughter, the jeering, and experience pure joy.

At the core of The Village of Hope are the orphans. 10% of the population of Zambia are orphans (out of the AIDS crisis). The Village is a home to both orphans and vulnerable children (children from abusive situations). As you can see from the pictures, Uncle Gavin, Uncle Dave, Uncle Gary, and Aunt Nita are all doing well, getting to know some of the older children (young adults – as they never age out of The Village of Hope).

True Hope, in the name of Jesus Christ is given here. We are seeing it and experiencing it first hand. God is at work. The name of Jesus is being lifted high and celebrated here.

Zee Como (Thank You) for your prayers as we continue to do God’s work at The Village of Hope. We are off to a wonderful start.

(Don’t forget to click on the images to see them full-size and scroll through.)

We apologize about the lack of updates. There are internet and communication issues here in Zambia. We will update you as often as we can.

We arrived Thursday afternoon after about 2 days of travel. We were tired but arrived safe and sound. Thanks for your prayers!

Friday and Saturday have been spent getting the lay of the land and understanding the layout of the Village and getting ready for our work next week.

We are excited to see what God will continue to do and how He will continue to use us.

At the core of The Village of Hope are the orphaned and vulnerable children. By American standards they have very little, but in spiritual standards they do have JOY. The laughter and smiles abound.

Photos – Chores are done on Saturday – washing clothes, working a garden plot and preparing (and eating) a meal. The last photo shows Gary Hapken playing “Drafts” – a fast variation of checkers that the children love to play. (If you click on the photos, you can see a larger version and scroll through all the photos in this post.)

The team will be traveling to The Village of Hope, which is located in “the bush,”  about 70km north of Lusaka. The Village of Hope originally started as an orphanage for double AIDS orphans (both parents died from AIDS) and has expanded over the years to include a preK-12^th grade Christian school, a farm, a doctor’s office, and several roadside businesses.

The team will spend time doing the following:

• Engaging with the children who live at the Village and sharing Jesus with them daily
• Working with groups of students in the school
• Helping with business efficiency
• Repairing machinery and/or any other building repairs that are needed
• Helping lead the community church service on Sunday

We are very excited to see what the Lord has in store for our team and how He will use us. You can support us by praying for our safety, our health, for the children of the orphanage and school to be open to hearing and advancing the Gospel, that heart and minds would be open to work with us in the school, and that our team is unified and lifts high the name of Jesus along the entire trip. Please pray for us daily. We certainly will need them.

To learn more about The Village of Hope and how it serves the vulnerable Zambian Children, you can visit their website at www.akclivillageofhope.com

To give to the Zambia team, please click here and select Short Term Missions Teams and put “Zambia Team” in the note field.