Kevin's Zimbabwe Fundraiser

Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe

$4,050

Amount Raised

About this Fundraiser

HEY FAM!

I have some exciting news to share with you. This August I get to go to Zimbabwe for 3 weeks with some friends from churches all over Portland to love and serve orphans. This is a special trip for me because 5 years ago I travelled to Zimbabwe to serve the same orphans I will be serving this time around — these aren't just any orphans, they're my friends! :) I am so thankful for this opportunity to continue my relationships with these friends of mine! I am so excited!

What will we be doing? Zimbabwe is very different than America. One of the ways you can see this is in what the locals value. To the Shona people, the primary ethnic group in Harare, people are the most important thing — they value relationship over everything. That said, the most important thing we can do for these orphans is to simply spend time with them, be their friend, establish and invest in relationship with them. So, our primary purpose is to build relationships with the orphans and "aunties" (aka widows who are the "moms" of each orphanage — so cool!), as well as other locals we get to visit. Other things we will be doing include providing skills training camps, hosting Vacation Bible School and other fun activities for orphans, and more. During our third and final week, we will be exploring the country and spending more focused individual time with the older children in the Hands of Hope homes as well as those who have aged out of the homes.

If you would like to know more about Zimbabwe, check this out:

It has the most orphans per capita in the world with 1.8 million of the 14 million population orphaned — i.e., about 1 in every 7 people is an orphan
Harare is the capital of Zimbabwe, and is where we will be spending the majority of our time
Zimbabwe used to be a British colony called Rhodesia — you can see remnants of the British Empire in everything from buildings and structures to sports and religion
The organization my church family, A Jesus Church, partners with in Zim is called Hands of Hope
There are several homes of orphans that my church family supports — these are the orphans we will be spending almost all of our time with
Each home has 1-2 "aunties" — widows who are the "moms" of the home — and about 12 boys and girls, ages 2 to 18
For more info about Zim, check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe.
For more info about Hands of Hope, check out http://www.hearthecry.org/countries/zimbabwe.

Would you like to partner with me? There's a couple of ways you can do this — by donating and / or praying. In order for this to become a reality, I need to raise a large chunk of money — traveling half way across the world is kinda expensive, haha. If you would like to donate to help send me to Zim, then I invite you to do so by clicking the "Donate to this Fundraiser" button at the top of this page! And I want to make sure this is clearly communicated, I am honestly grateful for any amount of money you donate — every dollar is extremely helpful! If you would partner with me through prayer, then you are absolutely welcome to do so! :)

THANK YOU so much for taking the time to read this note!

You matter! You are appreciated! You are cared for! You are loved!