– 2015 HIGHLIGHTS –

“We are transforming lives. I am glad to be partnering with ZMP and Renewed Hope in building an organization that is now visible nationally in Zimbabwe. Failure is not in our minds and imaginations but, with faith in God, mountains can be moved and every deserving orphan fed.”

- Albert Mukondwa, Executive Director of Heather Chimhoga Orphan Care

Nutrition and Education

• The feeding centers require 10 tons of maize from harvest to harvest. Due to the dedicated efforts of HCOC, nearly all the maize is now harvested on site. Additionally, gardens raise crops from greens to butternut squash, beans, onions, tomatoes and more. HCOC has also become a training ground for the community and shining example of sustainable agriculture.
• Nearly 1,000 orphans and preschool children received at least one meal per day at one of three feeding centers that make up Heather Chimhoga Orphan Care (HCOC). Proven benefits from this program include no deaths from malnutrition in 2015, improved recovery from illness, reduced school drop-out rates and notable improvement of school pass rates.
• An average of 402 orphans were able to attend school with the help of the Zimbabwe Mission Partnership in 2015, including 183 girls attending “primary” (elementary) and “secondary” (middle/high) school. 234 of those students in the most desperate situations received school fees paid in full from the ZMP.
• The opening of a new secondary school, Chenhuta Satellite, has reduced the long walking distances required to the previous secondary school.

Child-Headed Households

• Dozens of orphans live in the villages surrounding HCOC without any adult supervision or care, and often the eldest teenagers are struggling to care for younger siblings. In 2015, significant progress was made assisting these children with structural improvements to their sleeping or cooking structures, and in constructing of toilets where none previously existed. As was reported by one orphan, “Life without a toilet is both a health hazard and embarrassing.”
• Great effort has been made to find homes with surviving relatives for these children. In 2015, working with the community, the quality of life for some of these children has improved. However, there are still many desperate cases that need immediate attention.
• From donations to the ZMP, all child-headed households have received monthly hygiene supplies and food and medical care.

Medical, Social & Spiritual

• An on-site, full-time nurse promotes early detection and prompt management of opportunistic infections and HIV / AIDS. However, a larger and better-equipped clinic is greatly needed.
• There has been a marked improvement in drug adherence evidenced by a reduction in school dropouts related to poor health.
• Routine home visits are being done to detect and address living conditions that interfere with the positive health, social and spiritual development of the orphans. Local pastors are visiting the orphans weekly at school.