Jessca:
Jessca's Story inspired Heather Chimhoga Orphan Care Center
In 2001, Jessca was found in a north
Zimbabwe village where all the adults had died of AIDS.
She was living under the care of her 12-year-old cousin, Evelyn,
who was also trying to care for her own sister and three other
cousins. They were scavenging for food, near starvation.
Jessca was the youngest of them all and, though unaware, was HIV
positive.
Evelyn heard that some white people were distributing blankets in the Murewa District some ten miles away. Desperate, the 12-year-old girl walked those ten miles alone and found missionaries Ralph and Roberta Pippitt.
The missionaries saw that Evelyn could not carry six heavy blankets by herself for ten miles. So, they loaded her up with the blankets and drove her home. That's when they met Jessca and the rest of the little orphan family, and discovered they had no food. They also noted that Jessca was probably HIV positive.
Since then, much has happened. The Orphan Care Center has grown to the point where it is now feeding and helping to care for about a thousand children every day. For many of the years in between, however, doctors and medical supplies were very scarce. The hospital in Murewa was able to test Jessca and confirm that she was HIV positive. But they were unable to do much in the way of treating her or helping her. After medicine became available, she would walk to HCOC each day to receive her meds but had strength for little else. School, which was several more miles away, was out of the question.
Every year, when the missionaries returned to Zimbabwe, they found her worse. By their departure in 2008, even though HCOC was finally able to employ a full-time nurse who was caring for her daily, Ralph and Roberta had little hope they would find Jessca alive when they returned.
But God, in His mercy, had other ideas. Upon their return to Zimbabwe in the spring of 2009, Jessca was one of the first to greet them. Under the constant monitoring and care of Nurse Beauty at HCOC, she had grown healthier and heartier. Beauty makes sure Jessca always has the medicine she needs and that she gets to her doctor appointments at the hospital in Murewa much more regularly. The steady diet of healthy foods made possible by the HCOC vegetable garden and the Moringa trees cultivated there have also had a remarkable effect. Now Jessca is attending school again, and it is apparent that she can look forward to a brighter future, as long as she remains on AIDS medication.
Jessca's Story inspired Heather Chimhoga Orphan Care Center
In 2001, Jessca was found in a north
Zimbabwe village where all the adults had died of AIDS.
She was living under the care of her 12-year-old cousin, Evelyn,
who was also trying to care for her own sister and three other
cousins. They were scavenging for food, near starvation.
Jessca was the youngest of them all and, though unaware, was HIV
positive.Evelyn heard that some white people were distributing blankets in the Murewa District some ten miles away. Desperate, the 12-year-old girl walked those ten miles alone and found missionaries Ralph and Roberta Pippitt.
The missionaries saw that Evelyn could not carry six heavy blankets by herself for ten miles. So, they loaded her up with the blankets and drove her home. That's when they met Jessca and the rest of the little orphan family, and discovered they had no food. They also noted that Jessca was probably HIV positive.
Since then, much has happened. The Orphan Care Center has grown to the point where it is now feeding and helping to care for about a thousand children every day. For many of the years in between, however, doctors and medical supplies were very scarce. The hospital in Murewa was able to test Jessca and confirm that she was HIV positive. But they were unable to do much in the way of treating her or helping her. After medicine became available, she would walk to HCOC each day to receive her meds but had strength for little else. School, which was several more miles away, was out of the question.
Every year, when the missionaries returned to Zimbabwe, they found her worse. By their departure in 2008, even though HCOC was finally able to employ a full-time nurse who was caring for her daily, Ralph and Roberta had little hope they would find Jessca alive when they returned.
But God, in His mercy, had other ideas. Upon their return to Zimbabwe in the spring of 2009, Jessca was one of the first to greet them. Under the constant monitoring and care of Nurse Beauty at HCOC, she had grown healthier and heartier. Beauty makes sure Jessca always has the medicine she needs and that she gets to her doctor appointments at the hospital in Murewa much more regularly. The steady diet of healthy foods made possible by the HCOC vegetable garden and the Moringa trees cultivated there have also had a remarkable effect. Now Jessca is attending school again, and it is apparent that she can look forward to a brighter future, as long as she remains on AIDS medication.
Stories of Hope