In eight Primary Schools in Zimbabwe, volunteers enthusiastically engage with hundreds of eager children, sharing the message of Christ-centred HIV prevention.
School children sit riveted as peers perform unrehearsed sketches of everyday village life, portraying abuse and infidelity and its ruinous outcomes. The facial expressions of this young generation reveal an all-too-familiar understanding of the scenarios being enacted.
'Today for Tomorrow'
The Nhasi Zve Mangwana (Today for Tomorrow) programme is just one part of the growing HOPE for AIDS ministry in Zimbabwe. Carried out in partnership with the United Baptist Church (UBC), this ministry is working to meet some of the overwhelming needs brought on by the AIDS pandemic.
The programme is interactive and includes sports, games, drama, life skills and Bible teaching. The first arm of the program is church-based, encouraging children to live holy lives and to support their peers in the context of HIV. The second aspect of the program is community-based and aims to reach children with the love of Christ and encourage their development in all aspects of their lives.
HOPE for AIDS would like to expand the Today for Tomorrow programme into all 16 of the UBC districts. God has called Rev. Christopher Maphosa, a Zimbabwean pastor (pictured), to coordinate the ministry and help carry this vision further.
