In sub-Saharan Africa, millions of children have no access to education, or their parents don’t have the means to send them to school. Without proper education and essentials like nutrition and healthcare, little hope exists for many children in this region of the world.
In 1999, we helped start VOH, which at that time was only a preschool, with 43 children enrolled. Today, this ministry has grown to over 7,000 students annually at centres in Burundi, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Each centre operates a school, often the very heart of the community.
As the directors of VOH, our primary focus is to lead, guide, and mentor our incredible seven directors and approximately 450 staff who work tirelessly to care for children coming from often very challenging situations. We work closely with their families, caregivers, various levels of government, community leaders, and others in their communities. Our passion is to both disciple the children, to know how much Jesus loves them, and to keep them as safe as we possibly can through various safeguarding means.
In 1996, while visiting Zambia on a mission trip, we saw tens of thousands of children living in extreme poverty and experiencing widespread malnutrition, while they had no access to education. We decided to volunteer for one year. That quickly turned into us helping to officially launch the very first VOH centre, in 1999, in Kitwe, Zambia. We have continued ministering full-time ever since.
