On June 13th, 2007 HPC sends out a short-term missions team to Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa to assist Gord and Anita Cooledge, our adopted missionaries, who are the Directors of the Village of Hope there.It is hard to believe the magnitude of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa. In the case of Zimbabwe, this means that 1 in 4 people is living with HIV/AIDS. In a country where 70% of the population lives below the poverty line and there is lack of medical treatment for endemic diseases, the social and economic impact has been devastating for the population.

The VILLAGE OF HOPE (VOH) in Harare under the direction of Gord and Anita Cooledge is developing a program that provides for the physical, educational, emotional and spiritual needs of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and the needs of the surrounding community.

The STM team is composed of various men in our church and when they are in Zimbabwe, they will assist in construction projects including building a home for these orphans. They will also participate in after school feeding programs, a farming project and other activities to support the Village of Hope in Harare. We go to help the Cooledges further their work in Zimbabwe and help the Village of Hope get further established. We go to strengthen our church partnership and relationship with the Cooledges. We go because we believe God has called us to go and we are going to share the love of Jesus Christ in practical tangible ways that will help the Cooledges impact this part of the world with His love.

The men will be returning to Canada on June 27th.

Here’s a short video (7-minutes) that gives a little bit of an idea for why we are going.

We want to extend a big thank you to all those who have supported us as we’ve planned and prepared for this project.  We also want to thank everyone who has given financially towards the project.  As you can see by the tracker in the sidebar we’ve exceeded our original target of $27,000 by a huge amount.  We are so excited that we will be able to give such a huge amount towards the needs of the Village of Hope!

Please continue to pray for us while we are in Zimbabwe!

Do you have any questions that aren’t answered here? Are there more specific details you would like to know? If so, please feel free to contact us.