"This year VANA Ministries hopes to make an even greater impact on children living in poverty in Zimbabwe. Our newest initiative - called EMERGE - will see us working together with local teams to expand our child sponsorship program to make sure it has a very practical, tangible impact on the lives of Zimbabwe's teenagers."
Peter Staines, VANA Ministries Executive Director
With 2022 behind us, we are all looking towards a brighter future for the world in 2023.
In our world, a brighter future means bringing the basic human right of access to food, water and education to more children who desperately need it across Zimbabwe.
Our entire team is dedicated to helping communities in need across Zimbabwe and we want to help as many lives as we can this year.
The best part is that you can do so much to help us. Read on to learn how.
The new EMERGE Program supporting Zimbabwe’s young people
As part of our Child Sponsorship Program in 2023, VANA Ministries plans to offer a new program called EMERGE and we are thrilled to share with you what this program hopes to achieve.
EMERGE is closely aligned with one of VANA Ministries key objectives: to save one child at a time from poverty and help them become fully functioning adults in their families, churches, communities, and nations.
EMERGE will be offered to young people in the Child Sponsorship Program who are over 16 years old.
“Through the EMERGE Program, we will provide assistance to each student starting Year 10 through to Year 12, by equipping them with guidance, information, and resources to give them every opportunity for a better future.
“We believe that by helping these students take charge of their lives and develop healthy decision-making skills, we can empower them to break the cycle of poverty and achieve their full potential,” Peter Staines, VANA Ministries Executive Director said.
“One of the key features of the EMERGE Program is our focus on the "6 C's": character, competence, connection, contribution, confidence, and compassion. These six elements are crucial in helping students develop the skills and mindset they need to succeed in life.
“Another key aspect of the program is taking the students on an annual camp to encourage greater personal development and team building.”
When a child becomes a young person and reaches high school age, their needs change.
Beyond the necessities of food, water and shelter - which sadly hundreds of thousands of young people worldwide miss out on every day - their education and building essential life skills can be a matter of life and death.
This may sound sombre but the greater the life skills, training and education a young person receives in their late teens, the greater the opportunity to work and provide for their family.
“We believe that the EMERGE program will make a real difference in the lives of the youth we serve. And it is only because of the generosity of donors like you that we are able to provide this vital assistance to those who need it most,” Peter said.
The word emerge means to "move out of or away from something and become visible", to "become apparent or prominent".
As sponsored children move away from childhood to adulthood, the EMERGE program will enable VANA Ministries to give them focused time, appropriate training and increased resources to launch them into the next part of their lives.
Each young person in the EMERGE program will have access to a mentor for emotional and moral support and will receive support in helping them find a job, accommodation or further study.
“We hope that communities, as well as our donors and partners, will see the potential of a program like this and join us in making an impact on the lives of these teenagers.
“The ultimate outcome for this program would be a group of graduates who can give back to the mission and ministry of VANA to continue our work in their community,” Peter said.
While this is just one new initiative for VANA, we have several exciting plans for 2023.
We are incredibly grateful for your continued support and look forward to updating you on the progress of the EMERGE program in the coming months.
Do you want to support the EMERGE program? If you’d like to learn more about our Child Sponsorship Program and how you can support our work, please get in touch with us here.