The visionary for BOHJ was a vibrant and energetic 62-year-old widow, Mrs. Joyce Muchechetere. She was a pastor’s wife, who also worked as a Project Coordinator for Help Age International with Mozambique Refugees in Zimbabwe in the 80s. She trained in various life skills related to children at Domboshava Training Center in Harare, Zimbabwe.  She was a trailblazer of pre-schools in the area of Sanyati, Zimbabwe because she strongly believed in education and how it can transform minds beginning at the early stages of life.

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Her big heart and love for people led to the inaugural of BOHJ.  Her calling was to the many children who were being left behind as orphans when the country experienced a serious aids pandemic that robbed so many children of parents in the 90s and early 2000s and other deaths not related to aids.  Grandmothers and guardians who sometimes did not have much were left with the burden of looking after these children. This is where BOHJ came in to give hope and support to these vulnerable and marginalized children in the area of education and other support.  When Joyce visited USA in 2003, she met a lady who helped make her dream come true, Virginia and her late husband Winston Hatt, of Mansfield, Texas. Joyce was introduced to this couple’s friends from First United Methodist, Mansfield, Texas, USA who became sponsors of the first 10 children.  This first group of generous sponsors believed in Joyce’s dreams and opened doors and opportunities to hundreds of children who later became beneficiaries of the organization. She encouraged self help projects by sinking a borehole, fencing a vegetable garden and other projects at the Chiguvare Primary School where most of the orphaned children attended.

 

Joyce worked so hard from the moment the organization started just with 10 children. She witnessed many hundreds of children pass through this wonderful organization over the years. Joyce tragically passed away in 2013 after fulfilling her dream to start an organization that would continue to bring hope to the vulnerable and disadvantaged orphan children especially in Zimbabwe. The organization did not end with her passing on but continued with Joyce’s dream. Old and new sponsors continued her dream by supporting this great work.  Young lives who desperately want to change their lives and that of their communities are being witnessed year in year out.  BOHJ is now sponsoring 350 children in Elementary and High School in Harare and Chiguvare in Sanyati, Zimbabwe. Some of the first 10 children sponsored are now young adults.  We are proud of some of them who worked hard and went to Colleges/Universities. They are changing their lives and that of their extended families and communities.

Those who knew Joyce will testify that she was an inspiration to those around her, she was a firecracker; the world was never too big for her be an advocate for the needy and a world changer. The organization she started continues to light up the world and to give hope to those who need it.  The lives of these children/young adults will never be the same.