Financial Independence for Partners:

A few of the partners that we support in Africa, to achieve AIDS Prevention and Character Development objectives, are local NGO organizations.  It has been our objective as part of this ministry to not only financially support our partners but also to try and guide and encourage them to develop their own local sources of income.  Also, to recruit their own supporters so that they are not completely dependent on Beacon of Hope for their livelihood.

Of our eight primary partners there are four already established NGOs, one in the process of registering and three are independent operators. Two of the four established NGOs are already financially independent of BOHI.

1. BOHIKZN-NPC (Beacon of Hope Kwa Zulu Natal Non Profit Corporation) is the NGO that we helped to establish in Richards Bay where we started this ministry. We have now turned over the management of the NGO to the local team leaders and they have been successful in seeking out their own funding through various grant opportunities.  Their primary source of funds has been President GW Bush 43's PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) fund.
2. PLAEP (Partners for Life Advancement and Education Promotion) is our partner in Zambia and they were already an independently operated NGO before their association with BOHI. We have been successful in securing a partnership for PLAEP with the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Los Alamitos, California for the funding of their AIDS Prevention and Character Development program and other projects at their Musonda School.
   This is a model that we would like to duplicate with some of our other partners.  So, if your church is mission minded and you consider they might be open to supporting an African mission that they would not need to manage, we would love an opportunity to speak to them about supporting one of our mission projects. 

We have a variety of projects besides the AIDS Education and Character Development that any sponsor can get support.

The following three projects will be detailed in separate blog posts and emails starting in January 2021 because they are potentially new projects for Beacon of Hope and not part of our "Financial Independence for Partners" plan: 

• Support some two hundred children, some of which are special needs kids in Uganda.
• Support and improve the Samaritans Community School in Kitwe, Zambia.  This could grow into a similar project to that undertaken on Musonda Community School by our current partner, PLAEP in Kitwe, Zambia.
• Build a church building for a new church plant in Soshanguve, South Africa.

Farm Project in Zimbabwe:

Abraham and Annah Mabhena from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe attended our Smart Choices training in  2011, and in 2014 we trained twenty Scripture Union volunteers.  Abraham is the leader who is establishing a new NGO to make his ministry more independent and self-sustaining.  In the face of the hunger crisis brought on by the 2020 Corona Virus pandemic and in support of the feeding program initiated by Beacon of Hope during the COVID 19 shutdown, Abraham has initiated a market gardening project.  Fortunately, the Mabhena family has been renting a home on a property of several acres, that has a strong borehole for water with a water tank for storage.  The pictures below show the cabbage field they grew during the lockdown. 

While marketing his produce and networking about the establishment of his NGO, Abraham has received three remarkable offers: 

1. An option on a 5-acre property on the outskirts of Bulawayo for just $1900. Normal market value for a property like this would be $20,000.
2. An offer from produce marketers to buy all the produce he can grow and also to provide some farming skills training.
3. An offer through a church connection for a loan to establish a water supply and irrigation system. This will include drilling a well, installing a pump and storage tank and running supply lines and a drip irrigation system.  This will cost about $2800.

Plot 4 here is the property selected by Abraham.

It is Abraham's goal once the market gardening operation is established, to build a house for the family to live in, with enough room to double as the ministry office.  This would relieve him of the burden of paying his current house rent and office rent in the city for the ministry office.  The $1900 for the property purchase has already been raised by Beacon of Hope and paid for. The pictures below show a depiction of the proposed building on the property, which will provide accommodation for a caretaker in one room and storage for equipment in the second room.  Once the main residence is built, this building might likely be used for the ministry offices.

The projected cost for this building is $2500.  If this sounds like a ministry project you would like to get behind, Click here to make an online donation through our secure web donations page for Abraham, or see instructions on the donation page for check donations.

Second Farm Project near Johannesburg South Africa.

This project will be detailed in a separate blog and email in 2021.  The initial need is to purchase a two-acre property for $1000.