Report on Activities of Mabvuku Life Centre.

Issue One November 2016

The Mabvuku Life Centre is situated in the Mabvuku Tafara high density
township which is approximately 18 kilometres from the centre of Zimbabwes
capital city of Harare.
It was started in 2004 by Pastor Victor Chembela and his wife, Violet. They
have been married for 23 years and have 3 children, 2 boys and a girl.

Victor pastors a Baptist church in Harare whose

congregants are made up of mainly domestic workers.
Victor and Violet saw an overwhelming need to care
for orphans and disadvantaged children in Mabvuku,
to be physically cared for and to have access to the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Hands of Hope stepped in and
purchased a house there in 2004. Hands of Hope is an outreach ministry
established by a church based in Silicon Valley in the USA. Their vision and
ambition is to provide infrastructure that can then be operated and developed by
the local church. They do not provide ongoing support to cover daily operating
needs and expenses. This becomes the responsibility of the local team. From
this home the Chembelas have organised and funded a feeding programme for
the children.

The daily affairs of the home is overseen and run by Pastor Mateo and his wife,
Mary, who live on the property and also do all the cooking for the children.

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Report on Activities of Mabvuku Life Centre.
Issue One November 2016

The number of needy children

has grown over the last 12 years
and at present, the Life Centre
feeds 126 children, one meal a
day, at dinner time.

Pastor Mateo and wife Mary

At this time, they also sing

choruses, are taught lessons
from the Word, by Pastors
Victor or Mateo, and learn
memory verses.

Life Centre Cooking Area

All these children live elsewhere in Mabvuku, with extended family such as
grandparents, or aunts and uncles, who are very poor and needy themselves, and
have no means with which to support or even feed these children who have been
orphaned.

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Report on Activities of Mabvuku Life Centre.
Issue One November 2016

SCHOOLING
Only a few families can afford to send their children to school. A few others are
supported and funded by outside individuals. That leaves most of these children
with no access to any form of education at all. With this in mind, Pastor Victor
is setting up a Transformation Centre in the yard of a home across the road from
the Life Centre.

Before

Donations from Belmont Baptist

Church in New Zealand, have enabled
Victor to erect a shelter, purchase
benches, and they are in the process of
putting up a wall to protect this little

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Report on Activities of Mabvuku Life Centre.
Issue One November 2016

After

Classroom from the rain. They have

organised a teacher to come and teach
lessons every Saturday throughout the
year, to give these children a very
basic, but extremely needed,
education. This venture will start in
January 2017. Their vision is to one day have a proper school built and set up,

with several classes and teachers. Victor also has a vision to teach life skills to
the older, teenaged orphans so that they can earn a living for themselves, and
not end up on the streets. This would entail skills such as carpentry, metal work,
sewing, hair dressing and the need for missions and missionaries etc. This is
still in the "Vision" stage at the moment.

Further support is given by a group of counsellors from Victors church in

Chisipite who run a 10 week course targeted at the kids to help them deal with
psychological issues that arise from their predicament. This course is based on
Biblical principles and deals with things like individual self-worth and conveys
Gods love for his people. So far more than 120 kids have been through the
course. Each Friday the team goes out and teaches and fellowships with the
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Report on Activities of Mabvuku Life Centre.
Issue One November 2016

children. Practical clothing items, blankets and shoes are also provided to
facilitate a better connection with the children. This course compliments what
Pastor Victor and Mateo do on a daily basis feeding and showing care for the
children.

Children
giving their
lives to our
Lord at one of
the courses.

Victor and Violets income is around US $600 per month. $300 from their own
church and $300 from other churches. This however has been dwindling over
the last few months due to the failing economy in Zimbabwe.
Their monthly expenditure is as follows in US dollars:
Living expenses for Chembelas. $300
Costs for running Life Centre. $100
Fuel costs. $60
Feeding programme. $100
Cost to run school. $200
(This includes cost of teacher and stationery).

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Report on Activities of Mabvuku Life Centre.
Issue One November 2016

Pastor Victor and Mateo would like to thank everyone who has supported the
vision that God has laid on their hearts. Especially those in New Zealand who
are far from the ministry but have generously contributed. So far US$800 has
been used to build the roof structure and buy benches. By the first week of
December the structure will be surrounded by a precast wall (Durawall).