The Long Journey
How do I know the backpack will actually get to the child I sponsor?
How can I be assured the backpacks won’t be confiscated, lost or, worse, get into the wrong hands?
How can I be assured the backpacks won’t be confiscated, lost or, worse, get into the wrong hands?
These are some of the questions asked by Home of Hope Outreach School sponsors who provide school fees and a backpack full of school supplies for orphans in rural schools neighboring the UM Mission at Nyadire in Zimbabwe.
Be assured. TNC partners with Brothers’ Brother Foundation (BBF). Brothers’ Brother is a Pittsburgh, PA, based charity recently listed by Forbes as one of only two charities with a 100% rating for both fundraising efficiency and charitable commitment of 50 charities reviewed. BBF and others make the 8,300 mile journey of the backpacks from Pittsburgh to Zimbabwe possible. Karen Dempsey, one of the BBF employees, laid out the flow path of the HOHO backpacks in a recent visit to Christ United Methodist Church.
The journey begins when you make a commitment to sponsor an orphan in one of the rural schools neighboring the mission. The application is submitted with payment of $75 or $100 covering school fees for one year and a backpack of school supplies. When a sponsor supplies the pack and school supplies the cost is $75; if TNC provides the backpack and supplies, $100.
All the backpacks are kept in a storeroom generously offered TNC by Dr. Victor Surma. The rooms are filled with packing boxes and all the supplies from soap and toothbrushes to markers and composition books.
Small stuffed animals and books also find their way into the backpacks that are topped off with a written prayer from the team who filled them. The backpacks are labeled with the recipient’s name and school and are packed in large cartons provided by Gardner Movers on to which a packing list is attached. Brother’s Brother picks up the load of backpacks and takes them to their North Side warehouse where they will be combined with medical supplies/equipment for shipment to Zimbabwe. The shipment is sealed and contains 26 pallets, stacked twice and is 40’ long and departs from the port of Baltimore.
Four to five months later, the shipment will disembark in Mozambique where ZACH takes possession. ZACH is an organization that assists church related hospitals in receiving goods. ZACH supervises the shipment from the ship to the truck that delivers the cargo, un-tampered, to the Nyadire Hospital. Once at the mission, the various departments pick up the goods indicated for them. Emmanuel Chiimba, administrator of the Home of Hope and the Outreach School Sponsorship programs will distribute the backpacks to the schools. The shipment includes wheelchairs and other items such as hospital beds, many of which will go to the newly refurbished Chikwizo Clinic. It is important to note that only the right stuff will be sent according to the need and know-how on how to operate equipment.
Where does BBF get its $10,000 - $15,000 funding to send this container to Zimbabwe as well as the shipments totaling over 102 tons of medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, seeds, books, and relief supplies to 60 countries? In addition to family foundations, BBF relies on corporate and government employees’ contributions where an amount is deducted from salaries. Karen Dempsey was quick to point add that Western PA’s $25.00 contributions are many and keep the work flowing. Christ UMC’s Christmas offering of $8,000 was greatly appreciated for immediate help in the Ebola Crisis. She added that 13 hospitals out of 60 in Sierra Leone and Liberia are Methodist so there was a ready-made path to the places where patients were being treated.
All these details can only make one wonder how the pieces and players fit together in a productive puzzle. Only one answer – God’s spirit working through people and organizations and all their skills to bring about HOPE.
That’s is what the backpack represents – HOPE – the opportunity to stay in school with the materials needed.
For more information, contact Mary Beth Zollars.
