From Steve Evers, ITMI Director:
“Picture yourself as an elderly woman in Africa. You are in a brutal and totally barren African Communist country and your husband of many years passes away after a long struggle from multiple strokes. You go days without food…days!! You don’t know when you will be able to eat again. Not because you are on a diet, but there just isn’t any thing available to eat at your income level of…$0. You also have orphan children that depend on you and you have to tell them they will just have to drink more water again today so that they can feel a little full.Now you can taste a tiny bit of what Alice feels.
Alice is our…sister.
Then…because of a partnership of John Jere, ITMI and each one of you who are reading this, you get a call and you hear that the makings of a micro business is being delivered along with food to hold you over until you can sell some hand made clothes, made with your new sewing machine.
Please as you read the attached report, please don’t just read it, but transport yourself there and be with Alice or be with John as he gives the items that God provided because… Our God is a Father that hears our cries.
You have helped Alice Chuma. You have helped John Jere. You have helped ITMI help orphans that you will not meet here on this earth. You have been faithful and obedient to God’s charge in James 1:27 as Pastor John Jere so often and eloquently quotes, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress….”
Thank you, thank you for your part in making God’s word and God’s glory come alive in …Zimbabwe. Thank you for giving a new memory and a new meaning to Christmas in the life of a dear, faithful widow and her needy and dependent orphans.”
Alice Chuma Quote
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I have just arrived from Zimbabwe. It was very difficult to take the sewing machines, cotton, needles, Chitenge materials, food etc. Again, I sincerely thank you for offloading the burden from me and Mrs. Alice Chuma. This is an awesome and fulfilling ministry for us to practically help the widow and the fatherless. I am the happiest man on earth to see to it that the widow and the fatherless will not only have food on the Christmas day but there will always be food on the table. The investment is great blessing to Mrs. Alice Chuma and her children. Mrs. Alice Chuma and all her children ARE THANKFUL TO GOD and to YOU. It was not easy but God helped me to take all the things into Zimbabwe.
Mrs. Alice Chuma was widowed when Pastor Dennis Chuma, her late husband went to be with the Lord in November 2010. “Each morning, I prayed and cried to God for food and all the daily needs of the family. Some times, when we did not have any food, I run into my bedroom, closed the door and cried to my God,” says Alice.
On the 13th December 2011, I was extremely overjoyed to see what the Lord had done for Mrs. Alice Chuma. I bought three sewing machines, Chitenge materials, Cotton, needles etc and drove to Livingstone, Zambia. I phoned Mrs. Chuma and I told her about God’s divine provision for her and her children. She loudly screamed in excitement and joy and I could hear her feet dancing on the floor. She told me how grateful she was to see and know the goodness and faithfulness of God. She said that the Lord has REMEMBERED her.
The greatest challenge we always have is the customs and immigration officers in Zimbambwe. Sewing machines, Chitenge materials, cotton and food needed import and export license. We were at the Zimbabwean boarder for three to four hours, pleading with the officers if they could help the widow to start a small self sustaining business. For me to take things into Zimbabwe, I needed to pay some US Dollars.
I met Mrs. Alice Chuma, Wisdom Chuma (the only son) and her last born daughter, Loveness Chuma at the Zambian boarder. Immediately she saw me, she broke down in tears. We went together to Livingstone where I bought the groceries for her home.
Alice was overwhelmed with gratitude and said, “May God richly bless you all who contributed to this help. Who can give all these things and money to any one at this difficult financial crisis except God Himself?”
Alice has already started selling her products (Chitenge materials or dresses) to friends within the same suburb. This is so encouraging and also shows that she is now on her way to success in being self supportive and sustenance. I am overjoyed by her business. Thank you, partners for your prayers and financial support to Mrs. Alice Chuma.
