Firstly our apologies for the lack of updates over the last few months, however with the Christmas season and our ‘Night to Remember’ in early January, closely followed by our latest container shipment, it has made the last few months extremely busy. It has been an extremely busy time for Caroline and myself and we thank God for his support and strength through this and for faithful friends to help with all the hard work. We hope you will be encouraged by this update

Container Shipment

We sent our latest container to Zimbabwe just last Saturday (20th Feb) and were once again overwhelmed by the exceeding generosity of friends and supporters from local churches, too many to mention. This shipment contained many necessities not available in Harare including food, clothes, furniture, prams and toys for the babies and children. Thanks to the team who came to load and pack the goods. We anticipate this will be our last shipment for some time as shipping costs have escalated so we are going to source via other routes. We want to thank everyone for their giving to this ministry over the last 2 years.

Merchandise

Our ZOC merchandise continues to sell well and we have only a limited number of hoodie’s (sweatshirts) for the 2009/10 season left. If you would like one please do contact me ASAP. We also now have large quantities of T-shirts and Golf (Polo) Shirts available. Pictures of these are on the website. Please do contact me if you would like to purchase any of these items.

Accounts

As we mentioned at our ‘Night to Remember’, we are about the publish our first set of annual accounts which will be available on the website once they have been audited. Our thanks to David Watson and Ruth for their great help in getting these completed and their work on our gift aid reclaim as well.

Update direct from Alan & Dorothy in Zimbabwe

Dear Friends, we greet you from a very hot summer here in Harare, the temps are up in the 90f range all day and night, its very tiring and sticky but we are not complaining.

These past few weeks have seen lots of work and development around Jabulani and we want to bring you up to date and see how God is answering your prayers! The new family units are progressing very well and we hope to have the buildings finished by Easter. The latest pictures of these can be viewed on www.zimorphancare.org. The houses are great, roomy and spacious and the bedrooms will be wonderful for the children, we hope to have 2 ladies living on the premises full time and then children in the other 2 bedrooms, Praise God the workmanship is very good and the builders are enjoying getting the units ready for the children yet to be born! Please pray we will be able to source all the necessary beds, suites and all the associated stuff we need to make these units HOMES! We want as you know to provide a hope, a home and a future for these precious children and desire to give them a home for life, to live in peace and safety in Jabulani and enjoy family life in all its fulness.

We have employed another staff member, a young lady called Mel, she is 20 years old and is actually one of Dorothy’s girls who she helped through school years with fees etc, she and Shelter another of our carers are a real blessing to the children and us, we met these girls 10 years ago and its wonderful to have them serving the children with us at Jabulani. Bibianna and Florence along with Shelter are our senior key workers and have great love and ability with the children, we also have Violet, Naomi, Kuda and Summery , Tellmore and Itai who has just had a baby girl herself! who do a wonderful job. We are blessed to have Christine our friend from Rotherham, England here as the Jabulani manager, she is highly qualified and has tremendous ability and love for the children and staff, she has been training the staff in all areas of childcare and development and equipping them for the next batch of children we hope to get this year. Pray for unity and the blessing and love of God to fill all their hearts, they are great servants.

We have been continually visiting Social Welfare re our registration and Private Voluntary Organisation status, this process takes forever with millions of forms and meetings to attend, fingerprints taken for all the board members and a multitude of other things which are very wearying BUT we press on! We believe God has called us to do this great venture of faith and know He will go before us and make the way straight, pray for favour with all the relevant authorities and that they will grant us more children, there are many other people waiting on these certificates and registration also, so it is not only us waiting, pray God will open the door for us in Jesus name. We are ready and equipped for more children to come and in Gods time they will.

Now to update you on the babies…the reason for all of the above!

Kuda is now 2 years and 3 months, is gaining weight and has grown hugely these past few months, as you know she has cerebral palsy and has lots of health issues but is a very happy and contented young lady, she loves to hear music and singing and is always smiling and laughing out loud, what a joy and privelage to have Kuda with us.

Grace is now 19 months old she is walking and talking, she is extremely clever and has a ready smile for everyone, she thinks a lot and is just a treasure to have around, she loves to sing and dance… a real wee groover!

Hope is 15 months old and is also walkng and talking, she is a happy little girl but has got very clingy and gets upset when outsiders and visitors come to Jabulani, she screams very loudly! we have been praying very much for Hope and she is settling down, please pray for her that she will enjoy the company and be an open and friendly child, once she knows you all is well but at the start she is very dubious!! She has a great appetite and eats well.

Blessing is a miracle, almost dead when we found her she had her 1st birthday party in January and has gained lots of weight, she is crawling, standing and trying to walk although she is still unsteady and a little weak, she calls dada all day long and is a light to everyone she meets, what a Blessing God has given us with her!

Daniel continues to get bigger by the day, he is 8 months now and a big boy! A great eater he is never happier than when his mouth is filled! He is crawling everywhere and is not adverse to pushing the girls away to get what he wants, he has a lovely smile and a welcome for everyone.

Joseph is 6 months now and a little treasure, he can sit up and loves to shout to everyone, a gentle spirit he is a little charmer, he also is a good eater and loves yoghurt!

So we praise and thank God for all he has done and is doing in the lives of these dear children and all at Jabulani, you have also been a real blessing to us, we thank God for your financial gifts and prayers for us all here, we do not take you for granted, you are a great joy and encouragement to us all. Please keep praying, keep giving, the cost of living is rising here every month but we are trusting the God who started this venture to help us and provide all we need, you are part of this great work, we pray you have been encouraged and blessed as you have read this update, God bless you in every way.

Your Servants for the Children,

The JABULANI TEAM and all at Zimbabwe Orphan Care

Help Us To Help You

We are always keen to help when people want to run events for fund raising – please let us know if we can help your event in any way, or publish it on the website.

Best Regards,

Alan Lowry
Chairman
Zimbabwe Orphan Care
+44 (0) 7711 771 563
Email: alanl@zimorphancare.org
Website: www.zimorphancare.org

A Night to Remember

Plans are still well underway for our ‘Night to Remember’ on the 8th January in Bangor Elim. We now have posters and flyers printed to advertise this event and if you would like them to pass on to your friends and colleagues please email me at alanl@zimorphancare.org and I will send them to you.

Babies Update

The ‘Jabulani 6’, Kuda, Grace, Hope, Blessing, Daniel and Joseph are all are doing really well and thriving in Jabulani, and in good health. Kuda continues to get daily physiotherapy and recently Daniel had his legs in plaster to help correct a problem. Blessing, who was in hospital during October is making a great recovery thanks to your prayers. Now they are starting to crawl and walk keeping up with them is keeping the workers all very fit.

Bag Packing – STOP PRESS

we urgently need help from 70 volunteers to ‘bag pack’ at Tesco Newtownabbey anytime from 9am until 5pm on Saturday 12th December 2009 (obviously only for those who live in Northern Ireland) – can you please contact Darren & Mandy Irwin on darren.irwin@sky.com to book in – we are planning to operate in 2 hour slots so you will only be there for 2 hours maximum.

Jabulani Phase 2

You will have read from last months update that we started work on Phase 2 to build 2 more houses on our site in Harare. The cost of this phase is estimated at $170K but we feel it is God’s will for us to proceed with this work. I hope you have been able to see the drawings and site plans on the website. The houses are now both up to roof level and will be completed early in 2010. Please continue to pray as we seek to pay for all the work.

Container Shipments

The latest container has arrived into Africa and we are awaiting word that it has cleared customs and will be ready for us to collect all our boxes in the next week or so.

Zimbabwe Orphan Care Merchandise

We are still getting a lot of requests for t-shirts and polo shirts and now have ‘hoodies’ on the way. Please contact me if you need more details on these. We have new stocks now in and plan to make these available to purchase online early in 2010.

Help Us To Help You

We are always keen to help when people want to run events for fund raising – please let us know if we can help your event in any way, or publish it on the website.

Best Regards,

Alan Lowry
Chairman
Zimbabwe Orphan Care
+44 (0) 7711 771 563
Email: alanl@zimorphancare.org
Website: www.zimorphancare.org

this is the first of our direct updates from our new websit:

Babies Update

All the babies are doing really well and thriving in Jabulani. Kuda, Grace, Hope, Blessing, Daniel and Joseph are all growing well, and in good health. Blessing was taken into hospital during October however has made a great recovery thanks to your prayers. Recent photos of all the babies will be on the website over the coming days.

A Night to Remember

Please be sure to keep Friday 8th January 2010 free as we will be holding a night with Alan & Dorothy in Bangor Elim Church as we look back over the ‘Jabulani’ journey we have been on, and look forward to God’s plans for the future – more details in next months update. We will be sending out flyers and posters to help you in advertising this great event.

Official Registration Paperwork

We are still awaiting news regarding all the necessary papers for Jabulani government registration and PVO License (Private Voluntary Organisation) which will assist us in transportation and importing goods into Zimbabwe. These have all been deposited with social welfare and the local government and we eagerly await their response as we cant get any more babies until we get registered.

Jabulani Phase 2

You will have read from our recent update that we have started work on Phase 2 to build 2 more houses on our site in Harare. The cost of this phase is $170K but we feel it is God’s will for us to proceed with this work. There are drawings of the houses and site plans on the website as well as the new flyer we have had designed in Zimbabwe for distribution.

Container Shipments

Please continue to pray for the safe arrival to Harare of the shipment which left in September and for the blessing these goods will be when they arrive in December.

Zimbabwe Orphan Care Merchandise

Our newly designed T-shirts and PoloShirts with ZOC logo and the ‘What Disturbs You?’ message on them are continuing to sell well. These are helping to spread the word about the work of ZOC and also to raise funds. STOP PRESS – For those residing in Ireland we will have ‘Hoodies’ arriving later in November (its very cold there).

ZOC Website

Work continues to upgrade our ZOC website over the next month with new functionality and also a merchandiseShop for our new T-shirts etc. Keep checking in on www.zimorphancare.org to see the changes as they happen and bear with us during our ‘down time’.

We are always keen to help when people want to run events for fund raising – please let us know if we can help your event in any way, or publish it on the website.

Best Regards,

Alan Lowry
Chairman
Zimbabwe Orphan Care
+44 (0) 7711 771 563
Email: alanl@zimorphancare.org
Website: www.zimorphancare.org

Due to the continuing success of the orphanage, we plan to build 2 new homes on the Jabulani site. This is part of our plans to house an additional 12 babies over the next year.

Download the flyer below to find out more:

Download flyer (2mb PDF)

Click here to see plans for the buildings:

building 1 | building 2

As always we really need your help to make this project a reality. Any donations or assistance you can give us is most welcome.

Work has already started, see the photos below.

Dear Friends and Partners,

Greetings with this months update on the work of Zimbabwe Orphan Care (ZOC) during September 2009.

Container Shipments – Please continue to pray for the safe arrival to Harare of the shipment which left last month, and for the blessing these goods will be when they arrive.

Official Paperwork – We have been busy this month with all the necessary papers for Jabulani government registration and PVO License (Private Voluntary Organisation) which will assist us in transportation and importing goods into Zimbabwe. These have all been deposited with social welfare and we eagerly await their response as we cant get any more babies until we get registered. Please pray for this urgently.

Treasure Hunt & BBQ – We held our annual car treasure hunt and BBQ on Saturday 12th September in Bangor Co Down, and were truly blessed with the sunshine and awesome weather. Over 100 people attended, we didn’t lose anyone on the way, and pictures can be viewed at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alandlowry/ZOCCarTresureHuntBBQ2009#

ZOC Website – Work continues to upgrade our ZOC website over the next month with new functionality and also a merchandise shop for our new T-shirts etc. Keep checking in on www.zimorphancare.org to see the changes as they happen and bear with us during our ‘down time’ !!

Escalating Costs – The cost of goods in Zimbabwe continues to escalate, and our recent electricity bill for Jabulani was over $480. This is more than many people earn in a year! We have also recently had to have annual health checks for all the staff and workers which are very expensive. We thank God for your faithful giving and ask that you prayerfully consider helping us with these massive costs in running Jabulani and the ongoing work of ZOC.

Child Sponsorship – With our registration papers now approved and change or usage agreed we are hoping to establish a programme for child / baby sponsorship. Many of you have been asking me about this and we hope to be able send more details in the next few weeks. If you are keen to get involved can you please email me at alanl@zimorphancare.org and I will forward you more details.

Zimbabwe Orphan Care Merchandise – Our newly designed T-shirts and Polo Shirts with ZOC logo and the ‘What Disturbs You?’ message on them are continuing to sell well with orders this month to California. These are helping to spread the word about the work of ZOC and also to raise funds. Check out the website for the ZOC Golfers wearing them at a recent outing

Account Details – many people have contacted me recently asking about our bank account details to set up monthly direct debits etc. The details are enclosed, however if you need any help please get back to me.

Bank – Northern Bank, Saintfield / Sort Code 95-04-34 / Account 6003 5203

We are always keen to help when people want to run events for fund raising – please let us know if we can help your event in any way, or publish it on the website.

May God continue to richly bless you as you support this ministry in your giving and prayers

Best Regards

Alan Lowry
Chairman

Hello our friends, here are the latest pics of our beautiful babies, they are all well and in good health, because of their backgrounds they are still developing skills and playing catch up but God is helping each child and our care workers are doing a wonderful job.

Kuda is now 21 months and receiving daily physio to help her with her cerebral palsy, she is very contented and developing slowly.

Grace is now 15 months and a bright happy little girl, she has gained good weight and is trying to walk and talk now.

Hope is now 10 months old and is always smiling and is now crawling all over the place.

Blessing is now 8 months and has gained weight after being severely malnourished and uncared for, she is trying to roll over and sit up at the moment, she is a quiet little girl who is receiving lots of exercises and stimulation from the staff.

Daniel is now 6 weeks and growing every day, he is a big boy very contented with a very loud voice when its food time!

Please continue to pray for the children and staff at Jabulani and for little Joseph well of course, its not an easy place to live here in Zimbabwe at this time, it has become the most expensive place to live in Africa with prices of everything rising every other day, we thought with the introduction of the US$ that inflation would go away but it is still with us causing untold heartache throughout the nation. Pray that we will see god touch all our childrens lives, that he would touch dear Kudas life and do a miracle for her, our hope and trust is in Him alone.

On a sunny day at the end of August (one of very few when the sun actually shone) a few fearless men braved Clandeboye Golf Club in Bangor Co Down for the ‘Bangor Elim Open’ sporting the new Zimbabwe Orphan Care Golf Shirts. It was a great day of fun and fellowship (but not very good golf) and all profits from the shirt sales go directly to the work of ZOC.

These shirts are available to purchase by emailing us at alanl@zimorphancare.org

Dear Friends and Partners,

Greetings with this months update on the work of Zimbabwe Orphan Care (ZOC) during July 2009. Another busy month for ZOC has gone by with lots happening in support of the work.

New Babies – New Babies ‘Blessing’, and our first boy ‘Daniel’ both arrived into Jabulani in July. Their pictures and details are on the website. These babies where brought to us by the local police and social services which shows the excellent relationship we are forging with them.

Container Shipments – As you know we were due to send the next container from Northern Ireland in July this year, we were overwhelmed by the response from our request. We have packed tins of food which included everything from beans, peas, carrots, fruit, soup, tuna etc etc. These are very hard to source and extremely expensive to buy in Zim. There was a shipping problem which now means this container will be leaving in August time. Our thanks to Ray in Elim Missions for his ongoing help in this matter.

Cannonball Run Europe – A team from England completed the Cannonball Run Europe in July to raise funds for ZOC. They drove 2700 miles to Croatia and back in 4 days in a VW camper van. To date they have already raised over £1500 so many thanks to Jason and the guys for their support. You can still sponsor them at www.justgiving.com/jasoncole

Grace’s First Birthday – Baby Grace celebrated her first birthday in July and there was a party in Jabulani to help her mark this special occasion. If it wasn’t for Jabulani none of these precious babies would ever see their first birthday’s at all. We thank God for being able to help in these precious lives.

Football 4 Africa – Following on from the football kits sent in our last shipment, we were delighted to once again partner with Football 4 Africa to source 600 new footballs, complete with nets and pumps to Zimbabwe. Alan & Dorothy will be able to distribute these later this year when they arrive as the nation gets ready for its neighbour South Africa, to host the 2010 Football World Cup.

Zimbabwe Orphan Care Merchandise – We have designed some T-shirts and Polo Shirts with ZOC logo and the ‘What Disturbs You?’ message on them to help spread the word about the work of ZOC and also to raise funds. These will be available in the next month to purchase from the website. They look great and are in bright vibrant colours so they get noticed. Our thanks to Nigel and Alison Crosbie in K & M Custom in Florida for their help in designing and printing these.

Worldwide Missionary Convention 09 – ZOC will be taking part in the WWMC to be held in Bangor Co Down on the last week of August 2009. Missionary organisations from all over the world take part and it is a great opportunity to meet with others and see how best we can work together.

ZOC Website – We are planning to upgrade our ZOC website over the next month with new functionality and also merchandise shop for our new T-shirts etc. Keep checking in on www.zimorphancare.org to see the changes as they happen.

Account Details – many people have contacted me recently asking about our bank account details to set up monthly direct debits etc. The details are enclosed, however if you need any help please get back to me.
Bank – Northern Bank, Saintfield / Sort Code 95-04-34 / Account 6003 5203

Just Giving – This website makes it easy to give money to help in the work of ZOC. You can log on at http://www.justgiving.com/zimbabweorphancare/donate/ where you can set up one-off or monthly payment to any value. School fees in many of the farm schools in Zim are only $5 a term, so even the smallest amount can help send these orphans to school. You can also set up fund raising pages and information for any events in support of ZOC. We have already successfully used this for the London Marathon sponsorship. The site makes administration easy, and will even claim the gift aid for all UK tax payers which adds 28% to every gift

Daniel - Jabulani

Hello dear Friends, here is Daniel our 1st boy, he was dumped by his mother in the toilet where she delivered him at 6am today (16th July), the police found him and brought him to us at Jabulani. Daniel is just 10 hours old in this photo! He is now sleeping soundly after a good feed and a bath, pray Daniel will be a man after Gods own heart, that he will be a blessing to the world, that he will be strong and healthy and as his name declares that God will be his judge!