Rejoice

Name:  Rejoice
Gender:  Girl
Reported birthdate:  July 26, 2017 (currently age 7)
Favorite food:  Rice and chicken
Favorite activity:  Playing with friends
Child is happy when…  She is watching cartoons
Child wants to be a…  Medical doctor
Home information:  Rejoice is growing up in the town of Luanshya in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia. Our ministry partners in Luanshya report: “Rejoice’s parents are divorced. Her father left her mother with three children and does not help support them. Rejoice has one brother and one sister. Their grandmother also lives with them. Rejoice’s mother does laundry for people in the community in order to sustain the family and feed them. However, it has been a big challenge for her to fend for her children and afford medications for their grandmother, who suffers from ulcers. They are faced with high levels of poverty, such that it is very hard to enroll the children in school. Rejoice’s primary needs are nutrition and education. She helps her family at home by washing plates and sweeping.”
School information:  Rejoice has not previously attended school. Through sponsorship, she will be able to start grade 1 at the Blooms of Grace primary school in January 2025. There, she will learn and play, be taught about God, and receive meals, medical care, and clothing. In Zambia, primary school lasts for seven years and is followed by five years of secondary school.
Community information:  Haven of Hope's students in Luanshya live in a number of compounds (densely populated communities). Rejoice’s family resides in Mwaiseni Compound. In the compounds, unemployment and poverty rates are high, and people primarily depend on menial jobs for survival—working, for example, as garden hands, maids, and small-scale farmers. Families tend to be large and live in small houses. The compounds have been greatly afflicted by HIV and AIDS, leaving many children without one or both of their biological parents. Orphaned children are often cared for by their grandparents, aunts, or uncles; other children live in child-headed homes. Living in poverty, most families struggle to meet their basic needs and afford school fees for their children.
Prayer requests:  Please pray that Rejoice’s family will be delivered from poverty.