There we stood in a small sea of shining, smiling children’s faces! “What could they possibly have to be happy about?” Each of the 80 or so kids had lost both of their parents to the terrible tragedy of AIDS—16 were themselves HIV positive! Yet here they were joyful in the midst of tragic circumstance, excited about our 4 man team who had come to visit from America—and YES maybe the expectation of a toy, a piece of candy, new shoes or maybe even a warm coat for the cold nights. This small place in time and space is the children’s Village (orphanage) of Tanyaradzwa (pronounced Tan-ya-nod-zwa) near the Zimbabwean village of Kadenge about 50 miles east of the capital city of Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa.
“Tanyaradzwa” in the local Shona language means “the place where my tears were wiped away”.

Tanyaradzwa “Operation Orphan Rescue” Village is operated by a godly couple, Priscilla and Brian. Brian runs a small import/export business in Harare, and gives most of his profits to keep the children’s village operational. Priscilla is the “MOTHER” to all! She is the Director, nurturer, cook, counselor, nurse—-all the things any mother is, just her family is 80 kids LARGE! Don Wooden Founder of Change a Life Foundation has been gracious enough to invite me to see the ministry his organization has been doing in Zimbabwe Africa. We met by e-mail several years ago but it has taken till now, September 2011 for our God to arrange all of the circumstances that we could join together to be at Tanyaradzwa Children’s Village.

Future Leader of Zimbabwe

Your heart cannot help but be touched deeply when you stand among children (new babies to 18 years) who have lost everything, not just some things but EVERYTHING! It is late afternoon and I am wearing a jacket because of the chill, but many of the kids don’t have shoes, some have sweaters or jackets, all are in tatters. Don asks me to guess the age of the child pictured here in the photo. Having spent 9 years in Togo and Ghana I understand the ravages of malnutrition, so I guess 5 years old and am shocked to hear 12!

Yet since coming to Tanyaradzwa, “Mama” Priscilla feeds these kids the best diet she can afford—usually cornmeal mush with a few greens and beans. Meat or eggs here are an unaffordable luxuries at present.
Over the next few days “the team” Don Wooden, John Domm, Pastor Victor Walker, and myself see the three new sleeping houses, outside kitchen, VIP latrines/showers, the village borehole and pump, water tower, winter gardens, and small church. All are under going some phase of construction, but the children now have clean water to drink. During our time in the Village the church nears competition, so we were able to attend its dedication to the Lord. Pastor Victor brought a powerful message of hope to us all, and PRAISE THE LORD, as pictured here 15 people came forward to receive Jesus as their personal Savior!
HOPE plays a BIG part at Tanyaradzwa Children‘s Village. The Biblical HOPE spoken of in the Book of Hebrews of “things unseen”. Where will funds come from to obtain food for the next meal, will there be funds enough for the kids to attend the local public school, what about when the kids get sick and need medical attention from the local public clinic, shoes, jackets, medicines, school books—-though there are blankets for sleeping under at night, the kids sleep on a cold cement floor and are happy it is no longer a dirt floor.
The goal is to help Tanyaradzwa Children’s Village to become “self-sufficient” through the development of the 100 acre site, given by the local Headman. The goal is to see the sleeping houses completed, the winter gardens and dedicated farm land producing, a poultry project operational, some fish ponds created, a small forest of food producing trees planted, like Mango, orange, Moringa, and papaya. The HOPE is that through these plans the Village will be able to produce enough food to feed itself and to sell for school funds and all of the other Village needs.
So Don Wooden Founder of Change a Life Foundation is partnering closely with several Zimbabwean organizations to make all of the goals a reality (see www.changealife.net). It is understood that nothing good comes about fast in Africa, so realistic short term needs and long term goals are the focus and PRAYER!

Church Dedication Service

How can you get involved and help bring HOPE to these precious children of our God? As I write, Sally my dear sweet wife and I are praying about being a part of the Tanyaradzwa Children’s Village to help develop the projects that are needed to make it self-sufficient. To come along side of Priscilla and Brian to help facilitate and expedite the Villages development. “Could our new marriage’s Honeymoon be two or three years ministering the love of Jesus through the gifts He has given us to share?” (see Matthew 25:14-46 and 1 John 3:16,17).
The Pastors, Elders and People of Christ Church of Kirkland Washington State gave me $500. US Dollars to invest for them in the ministry at Tanyaradzwa Children’s Village. I am delighted to report that the funds were used to purchase materials to construct 3 STRONG barbwire garden enclosures to keep the local village’s cattle that wander everywhere from destroying the gardens and to start a small ’free range’ chicken project so the children can have an egg a day to increase their daily dietary protein intake to reduce the incident of Kwashiorkor (Protein Energy Malnutrition)