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Pigs, Chickens, and Detergent

This beautiful little girl, whose legs are paralyzed, is benefiting from Heaven’s Family’s ministry to special needs children in Zimbabwe

One of the most precious ministries that Heaven’s Family serves in Zimbabwe is an outreach to a group of about 30 Christian families with special needs children. Most of the children have been afflicted with cerebral palsy to varying degrees. All families who have special needs children face plenty of challenges, but when you add extreme poverty into the mix, life can be very tough. Here in Zimbabwe, there are no social services or government programs to make things any easier.


Today we visited the weekly gathering of mostly mothers and their special needs children from among that group. They worship together and study the Word, then enjoy a shared meal with lots of fellowship and encouragement. The children also love their time out of their homes.


One way that Heaven’s Family is helping those 30 special families is through various income-generation projects. For example, we funded the purchase of two pigs of the opposite sex and the construction of a brick and concrete pig house in a corn field. The corn is used to feed the pigs. Three months ago, the mother pig had piglets, which will soon be sold, and the proceeds divided up among the women who regularly invest their time taking care of the pigs.


We’ve also seed-funded a chicken project. The chickens are “boilers” rather than “layers.” They are grown to be sold, and when they are, the profits are divided among the families who participate in the work.


Other mothers have a business of manufacturing and selling detergent. They buy the ingredients in bulk, then mix, bottle, market, and sell their product. And soon a jewelry-making business will be starting up.


Today, Jerry Jefferson and I received lots of appreciation from the mothers and fathers who had gathered, telling us how the extra income is making a difference in the quality of their simple lives.


Below are a few photos of mothers and fathers whom we met today with their special children, along with informative captions. As always, thank you for making this particular outreach possible through your investments in Heaven’s Family.

This is Lucia and Samson Mataruka, and their nine-year-old daughter, Silvia, who can’t walk or talk. They survive by Samson buying bulk wholesale items and selling them at retail prices at a street marketplace. He makes $3 to $5 per day. They are now also benefiting from the profits of the above-mentioned chicken project. Lucia told me that they are now better able to afford food, medicine and diapers for Silvia.
This is Pauline Zimbizi, with her 10-year-old son, Divine. Pauline’s husband is self-employed and manufactures metal pots with three legs for cooking over fires. He makes about $120 to $150 monthly. Now their family has started earning another $20 a month from the Heaven’s Family-seeded detergent manufacturing project, which helps buy food and pay school fees of about $240 per year for her two daughters.
This is Lenny Makosi, who was widowed 20 years ago, four years after her son, 24-year-old Kudakwashe, was born with cerebral palsy. He cannot walk, talk, or feed himself. Lenny has survived the last 20 years by raising chickens to sell, by which she earns about $150 a month. Her income is now supplemented with about $35 per month via the Heaven’s Family-seeded pig project. She said that she loves meeting with other mothers of disabled children every week.
This is 78-year-old Margaret Jembere, with her 42-year-old disabled daughter. Margaret told me that she was born a Catholic and will die a Catholic! I told her that I only hope that she doesn’t go to hell a Catholic as I continued to probe her spiritual life. She eventually persuaded me that she is on the right path. What cinched it for me was when I learned that her husband left her 30 years ago, but he recently became ill and in need of daily care. She took him back. When Jerry asked her why she ever took back her husband after he left her 30 years ago, she said that is what Jesus would want her to do.

Margaret has survived by subsistence farming, and since she began Farming God’s Way, her harvests have provided cash crops to sell. She has used those profits to purchase chickens and pigs which she also sells. She is now also receiving some supplemental income from the Heaven’s Family-seeded detergent project.
This 12-year-old girl I think remembered me from the last time I visited about two years ago. I certainly remembered her joy.