On Aug 26, Dwankhozi Hope Director, Matt MacLean, will participate in the longest relay race in the United States to build awareness of poverty in Africa and raise money to continue Dwankhozi Hope’s support of a rural school in Zambia. He will join a team of 12 to run 200 miles from Mt. Hood in Oregon to the Pacific Ocean.
Support Dwankhozi Hope and our President by going to the following link: https://www.crowdrise.com/dhrunforhope/fundraiser/dwankhozi
Here’s Matt’s story…
In 2006, my wife and I helped start a non-profit called Dwankhozi Hope with the goal of supporting a school in rural Zambia, a country in Southern Africa. We were inspired by the capabilities, commitment, and dedication of the parents and the community leaders to provide a better life for their children. We were also moved by the tremendous needs of this community. Although they had the intrinsic values and required skills to forge ahead and start a school for their children, they did not have the necessary resources to sustain, much less grow the institution. With only 9 volunteer teachers and 500 students; no supplies or even a school building, learning was nearly impossible. Many of the children were orphaned and suffered from various illnesses caused by poverty but the school offered an opportunity and hope for a better life.
The underlying philosophy of Dwankhozi Hope is to empower the community to build this school for their children creating a partnership that leads to opportunity through education. The mission is fundamentally relational as we look to walk along side them in this endeavor. Since the beginning of this partnership, we have witnessed tremendous progress in the community and the school. In the past five years we have been able to support the construction of multiple school buildings and the provision of critical school supplies. We also led an effort to provide safe clean water to the community and improve sanitation systems to the school. We recently had a team return from a medical mission trip to the school as well. As next step, we look to provide continued support for the school through project for solar lighting and sponsoring some of our students to continue their education at higher educational institutions.
As indicated, the main objective of DH is to help the Dwankhozi community “break the cycle of poverty and reach their God-given potential”. I would be grateful if you would consider supporting me through this race either through your thoughts & prayers or your financial assistance in the form of a donation.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
The trip begins Aug 26th – next stop: making it to the ocean!
Sincerely,
Matt
We left Lusaka at around 8:30am to make the 8 hour drive to Chipata. Chipata is 550 km northeast of Lusaka and 15m from the border with Malawi. The road to Chipata is a paved two lane road that takes you through a series of villages. The terrain is up and down, the bushes and small trees are green, but the land is dry. After seeing some of the modernization of Lusaka, the contrast of the villages is startling. It is hard to tell where one village starts and another ends. Most of the small thached roof huts – with nothing in them – are only a few meters off the road. There is still lots of land relative to the number of people, but the road seems to be the anchor to all the villages. Everyone walks alongside the shoulder of the road with fast moving cars, even very young children by themselves. We see a funeral procession in progress, several overturned trucks on the side of the road, children herding goats and cows. We stop in one of the villages to visit one of Moses’ and Bertha’s nephews in a private boarding school and stop for lunch.
proceeded by the amazing orange sunsets we think of in Africa, and the sky turns pitch dark almost immediately. We arrived at the hotel in Chipata at around 6:30pm. The hotel is new, and very comfortable, and seems totally out of place here. It was built recently as Zambia’s new President is from the Eastern province and to service tourism to a game park that is about 3 hours from here.
