•SOME of the children who received clothes and shoes from HHF.

By MIRIAM ZIMBA –
MANY are the times when Christians and others who have had the opportunity to read Biblical scriptures, come across Christ’s teachings in the Gospel of Mathew 25:31-46.
However, there are a lot of interpretations on what this scripture requires of Christians.
For others, this scripture has been a source of great inspiration to the point that the teachings have been put into practice.
Inonge Nawa was a teacher for 28 years and although she had been a Christian all her life, this scripture gave her a whole new dimension to life in 1995, when she read through it after a seemingly divine experience.
“It was on a Monday morning of January 25, 1995, when I was writing the date on the board for the learners to copy. However, instead of writing the date as it should have been, I wrote Mathew 25, 1995,” Mrs Nawa recounts.
She said when she got home that day, she was compelled to read her Bible so as to establish what God was trying to tell her, and she read the passage in which Christ talks about the need to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, and to shelter the homeless.
It was from that moment  that Mrs Nawa, gave up her lucrative job as a teacher to set up a charitable Christian non-governmental organisation (NGO) premised under the name-Mathew 25 Ministries.
Another organisation working with vulnerable communities is Heart to Heart Foundation (HHF) founded in 2012 by Edna Ngoma.
In fact, Heart to Heart is one of the organisations that support the works of Mathew 25 Ministries, by channeling material support to the most vulnerable and needy in society.
Recently, HHF, with the support of Children International, donated 500 pairs of shoes and clothes to Mathew 25 Ministries, and the immediate beneficiaries of these items being the vulnerable in Chief Bundabunda  area  of Chongwe District.
According to Ms Ngoma, the relationship between HHF and Mathew 25 Ministries spans as far back as 2013, adding that the proceeds realised from the first fund raising venture was channeled towards the purchase of food and other items for an orphanage run by Mathew 25 Ministries.
Ms Ngoma explained that after HHF made some donations to Mathew 25 Orphanage, she was deeply touched by the joy the donation brought to the hearts of the children.
She said the children do not know any other home apart from the orphanage, which made her realise that one good turn deserves another.
The first beneficiary of clothes and shoes during the recent donation by HHF is a mentally challenged man-Munjanje Musole who lives in a makeshift shelter situated on Chongwe Road, opposite the Hybrid Poultry Hatchery.
Part of what constitutes his daily routine is scavenging for food, water and firewood in order to make it through the day.
True to the Biblical teachings, HHF and Mathew 25 Ministries reached out to Mr Musole, who was only clad in tattered pieces of cloth, barely covering his body.
Mr Musole was not only clothed and given shoes, the two ladies took time to clean him up, feed him, and share with him words of encouragement before giving him a complete makeover.
Despite his mental instability, the expression on Mr Musole’s face after the complete makeover is that which spells nothing but gratitude from the depth of his heart.
Monica Sakala of Koto Village in Chongwe a newly-wed, with only one daughter Mavis, who is only  a year and ten months old, will stop at nothing to ensure that her daughter does not miss out of the donations.
Little Mavis has just received her first pair of shoes, and her mother Monica Sakala is elated.
Mrs Sakala, who is full of nothing but praises for the two NGOs’ is of the opinion that they should carry on with their community empowerment initiates, aimed at uplifting the lives of the vulnerable in rural areas.
Anna Chipyela also from Koto Village is another mother whose daughter has benefited from the donated shoes.
Mrs Chipyela, who is the headman’s wife, explains the community in Koto village has benefited from Mathew 25 Ministries for the past three years.
In fact, the headman has  given reasonable portion of land amounting to about four acres to Mathew 25 Ministries, to construct a community shelter.
“We were told to go around the village and announce to all villagers to come for this event,” she explains.
Mrs Chipyela has made a passionate appeal to other organisations to emulate the two NGO’s and consider helping the community in Koto to construct schools, and literacy centres for women, as a measure to enhance women’s income generating activities.
Mrs Ngoma is nothing short of overwhelmed by the responses she received from the beneficiary communities.
HHF whose slogan is dubbed ‘Their Hope, Our Vision’, is one such organisation that has not just sat back waiting for material and financial resources from donors in order to make a difference in people’s lives.
This is one such organisation which has decided to work within its means, and reach out to those in need through organisations like Mathew 25 Ministries.
Undoubtedly, the lives of Mr Musole, Mrs Sakala, Mrs Chipyela and many other beneficiaries of the charitable works of  HHF and Mathew 25 Ministries, will never be the same again.
It is acts like these that not only bring hope to the vulnerable, but those which directly minister to those in need, by putting action into practice.
After all, Christianity is centered on faith, and the Bible says-faith without works is dead- and this is exactly what faith entails.