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Mother of Peace Community
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Mother Of Peace Community, Private Bag 522
Mutoko, Zimbabwe Tel 072-2345
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THE NEED
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1. It has become very apparent here in Zimbabwe that, with the rapid progression of HIV and subsequent onset of AIDS, few households are being spared. Whilst strenuous efforts are being made through AIDS awareness campaigns to prevent this scourge, present medical facilities are being overwhelmed by those who already have it.
2. Of greatest concern is that increasing numbers of children, innocent victims of affected parents, are being isolated from family life, orphaned and often left to fend for themselves, as relatives cannot look after them. Those with AIDS sorely need a family to love and care for them before they die, and to support them both spiritually and physically.
3. At the same time there is a need for the restoration of simple family life and values, without which no nation can prosper. The family which prays together stays together, and its members are less likely to contract some of the worse ills of modern life styles.
THE AIM
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4. A praying and serving community has been established by a group of dedicated lay people who will provide spiritual needs, shelter and loving care without distinction of race or creed, for those dying of AIDS, especially abandoned children, in a homely atmosphere.
5. The group will also give courses and assistance to those who wish to take up the work of caring for the dying, and will cooperate with any organisation or person involved in similar work.
THE PLAN
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6. The Mother of Peace Trust has been drawn up and registered. Legal registration as a Welfare Organisation has been applied for and a tempory number has been given until the board sit again in April 1994. The number is 221679. Funds will be raised with this authority especially for the initial needs of the community. The intention is to become as self sufficient as possible as covered in item 10 hereunder.
7. The Community has been given 182 hectares of State Land by Government for the purpose here listed. It is the intention to draw on the experience gained by two couples in the community who were founder members along with the St. Anne's Sisters from St. Anne's Hospital in Harare. Zimbabwe of Mashambanson, ( the ex Chairman and Secretary of the Trust. and two members of the Working Comittee), along with the skills of a very experienced Matron who is also part of the Community.
8. Attached to each home will be a large, airy and pleasant room containing 4 or 5 beds for children and others suffering from AIDS. A separate entrance will be provided for those outside the Community who wish to offer professional help, such as nursing, teaching or visiting the children during the day.
9. All will be kept simple, without the appearance of a hospital and everything must be done with great love, so that patients may live and die in peace, comfort and surrounded by love.
10. The family breadwinner may still go out to work in order to provide for his or her family and to relieve the burden on Trust Funds. The Community will aim at self-sufficiency in farm produce, vegetables, a few livestock, bee keeping and fish farming, all on a small scale according to the size and scope of available land for feeding the patients and staff and by fund raising procure other essentials such as medical supplies etc.
11. A simple chapel will be built to be open night and day, available to all who wish to come for quiet prayer and worship and to review their spiritual strength for the tasks aheead. Indeed deep and fervent prayer will be needed to help the families who have dying patients to care for and to love, so the community will first be built up on prayer and then on service to others. Masses will be said regularly and the Angelus bell rung every day.
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Tent Chapel at the foot of Mutemwa Mountain with some adorers in prayer
12. The Trust will also welcome those who feel called to help but who would not be able to look after the dying. A block of single and double living quarters and a common meeting room where all members may gather and share together regularly the events of the day, both joyful and sorrowful will be built.
13. In conclusion, we consecrate this Project and ourselves to the following seven precepts, which have come to us through the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit and through Our Blessed Lady, to whom we dedicate our Community.
(1) CARE OF AIDS dying, children and others
(2) CARE OF FAMILIES who are nursing AIDS people
(3) CARE OF AGED AND HANDICAPPED
(4) CARE OF SPIRIUALLY ILL retreats
(5) CARE OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY farming and living off the land. God's Bounty
(6) CARE OF FINANCE running of a simple community
(7) CARE OF COMMUNITY teaching, forming of Community of Our Lady Moher of Peace
