Stories of Hope: Edgar
Edgar, far right, stands in front of his repaired kitchen with members of his Working Group in Zimbabwe.
When ZOE Ministry began in 2004 our work was launched as a relief effort in Zimbabwe. This year we are thrilled to have transitioned our work in Zimbabwe to empowerment. I visited our new project there in September and came away very encouraged. With over 1,300 orphans enrolled in the project, we look forward to having a significant impact in this pilot effort near Rusape.
One of the orphans I met is 16-year-old Edgar. He has been orphaned for so long that he said he can’t even remember when his parents died. For a time, he lived with his aunt. Poverty, however, forces people to make hard choices, and he was forced out of her home a year and a half ago.
He returned to the home his parents had lived in. He had no food, little clothing, and not even a blanket to sleep under. To survive he worked in neighbors fields for food and was underpaid and exploited. Not long after moving “home,” his house collapsed and Edgar had to take refuge in the small building used as the family kitchen. Without an adequate roof, rain freely poured in making life very difficult during the rainy season. Life had left Edgar without hope.
Things began to change in March of this year when ZOE Ministry’s Orphan Empowerment Program opened in his area. Now a part of a Working Group of orphans, he has found a family atmosphere that he had lacked for so long. The orphans in his group, concerned about his struggles, have assisted in building Edgar a new home. They collected grasses and had a community member repair the roof to the kitchen where Edgar sleeps as he awaits the completion of his new home.
Edgar now also has dreams. Studying carpentry in a vocational training school opened by ZOE, Edgar dreams of owning a workshop and employing others.
Edgar and the other 53 children in his group are sponsored by a coalition of churches in Southern Alamance County, NC. To learn more about our “Hope Companions” sponsorship project please visit http://www.zoeministry.org/get-involved/hope-companions/.
As always, thank you for your faithful support of ZOE Ministry. Truly, you are helping to make dreams come true for some of the most vulnerable children on the face of the earth.
— Greg Jenks, Executive Director, ZOE Ministry