The Story of Gobogobo Community
Within the rural community of Gobogobo, there are many challenges that make life extremely hard. There is a strong presence of witchcraft and a mix of belief in Jesus with ancestral worship. There are many early marriages and polygamy. Malnutrition and limited access to safe drinking water contribute to the overall decline in healthy living. Compounding all of these challenges is the lack of services like a clinic or higher education.
75 Children currently supported
14 Care Workers coordinated by Isaac
Basic Services Started in 2023
60 KM from the Chimoio Local Office
In October 2022, Farai Gunhe (African Volunteer, Zimbabwe) and the local Hands at Work team in Chimoio started walking in Gobogobo, discerning if it was the community God was calling them to. They connected with a church leader named Louis who then started introducing the team to other church leaders and community leaders. Initially, Farai and Audrey (the Chimoio team coordinator) felt discouraged: the homes were far apart and, from the outside, they weren’t convinced that there were many children living in this community.
But on the third day of visiting the community, Farai felt God saying to him, “If you leave this community, who is going to care for the children? They didn’t choose to have their community set up like this. Are you afraid of walking a long way?” At that moment Farai felt convicted and shared this with Audrey and the Chimoio team. As they continued walking and visiting families in their homes, it was clear that God was calling them to serve alongside the local church in Gobogobo. In one home, they met a young boy named Patrick* who lives in a small shack with his grandmother, who is very sick, and his grandfather, who is blind. At another home, they met a girl named Precious*, whose mother struggles with a mental disability and is often taken advantage of by men in the community – resulting in her having six children.
As they visited children and assessed the needs within the community, they continued meeting with the church and community leaders, sharing the fundamentals of who Hands at Work is and what God has called them to. As they continued connecting with churches, they met men and women who wanted to get involved as Care Workers.
In July 2023, with a newly-formed group of Care Workers, the Gobogobo Community Based Organisation (CBO) was formed and began officially serving 56 of the most vulnerable children.
The local Hands at Work team in Chimoio currently supports five Community Based Organisations, which exist to care for the most vulnerable in their communities. The office provides training, networking, and encouragement to those Community Based Organisations like Chigodole. It also gives administrative support, including helping with funding proposals, monitoring and evaluation, bookkeeping and reporting to donors.
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When Gertrude was 6 years old her father died, leaving her mother to care for her and her 4 year old brother, Alexandre. “It was sad for us to lose our father,” Germena says. “It was difficult. No one was helping us, and my mother worked very hard in the fields to provide food for us. We did not have any money and many times we went to bed hungry. Without a father in the house we did not feel safe and were scared of other people to abuse us.”
For the past four years, Chumai has suffered from epilepsy. His mother decided to return to her family because she could not deal with Chumai’s illness or those of the rest of the family, including Chumai’s father. A few months after leaving her children, Chumai’s mother remarried. Tragically Chumai’s father, Joaquim, died after falling from a platform used to dry maize cobs.