VISION COMPLEX ORPHANAGE, PRESCHOOL AND PRIMARY SCHOOL
(Registered charity: VCOP/SUNRISE/SCHOOL/IAE – Parliament Act No. 12 of 1975)
P.O. Box 180, Bunda, Tanzania – Contact: +255 612 532 146 or +255 747 943 024
Email: asimovision23@gmail.com – 30 African Saints

(video:) Vision Complex Orphanage and School in Tanzania now provides for over 70 orphans whose parents died from HIV/AIDS or other causes and kids with Sickle Cell Anemia (a genetic disorder that's most prevalent in East Africa) whose parents have died or can't afford to pay for medical care. Simon John, the director, met us in our online "Morning Prayers" a few years ago. See the photos below of the kids who need a sponsor.   Also, write to Simon about visiting Vision Complex in Tanzania.   Now, see the latest news:

Agape Restoration Society has helped Vision Complex Orphanage and School in Bunda, Tanzania with seed money for their rice crops to feed the kids, a well and pump to provide water for their vegetable gardens, solar panels to power the pump, a computer and large-screen TV so the kids can participate in our online "Morning Prayers" (go to Friday's recording to see Simon and some of the kids!), and funds to start building their own Agape Restoration Community (ARC). They now have over 70 orphans and village children to feed, clothe, provide medical care, shelter and education for.

Many of the 20 new kids are village children whose parents have witnessed and even helped with this "Expanding the Vision" project and now want their children to attend school there. A generous donor in Germany has provided enough money to complete the down payment for a "Bajaji" three-wheel electric vehicle so Vision Complex can transport these kids the four miles from the village to the school and back, with the parents paying for this transportation so the remaining balance for the Bajaji can be paid off. Simon needs $300 each month to pay the remaining $1,200.

Now they need sponsors to provide the funds for support of the additional orphans and school uniforms for these new students: here's a photo of the new group. Please go to "new kids" (starting with Isabella) to see their individual photos and support one of these new kids!

(click the pic!) Jan. 15, 2025 – Simon writes: VISION COMPLEX IS NOW IS A FULL SCHOOL THIS YEAR. Some parents in the town have been attracted by the environment here, especially the TV screen for the online Morning Prayers, and they are bringing their kids to school and paying for the education like other schools. So now we are receiving money from both the chickens and and the school. (Agape Restoration Society has helped him buy a computer and TV for Morning Prayers, and chickens to raise and sell their eggs.)

THE BIG CHALLENGE is these parents are coming from town and we are 6 km. (4 mi.) away from town, so we need some kind of transportation, like a three-wheel electric "Bajaji" (the Tanzanian word for a Tuk-Tuk or Rickshaw with a motor). The school is hiring a Bajaji, but this becomes very expensive. Simon has a teacher friend who wants to sell his 1-year-old Bajaji for $1500 so he can get more education, if Simon can come up with $200 more for the down payment. Then Vision Complex will earn money for taking the village kids to school and using the Bajaji as a taxi between school trips. Will You Help? Please go to https://Agape-Restoration-Society.org/donate.htm and designate "Vision Complex Bajaji" – thanks in advance!

(Click the photos to watch the two videos!) In the two weeks since our last update, Vision Complex's ARC (Agape Restoration Community) project in Tanzania has bought 16 hens and 4 roosters, so they'll not only have more eggs to sell, but also more chicks. They've already sold enough eggs to buy two loads of rocks for the foundation. Now they need $200 to feed the workers to carry the rocks and gravel to the trenches they've dug for the foundation, and mix and pour the cement... all by hand. And of course, the chickens need to be fed as well! We need your help! Can you donate for some people-food and chickenfeed? Please go to https://Agape-Restoration-Society.org/donate.htm and do what you can!

Several current challenges:
#1. BUILD THE FOUNDATION: "You can do something. You can't do everything, but that's not an excuse to do nothing!" So far, people have given almost nothing for Vision Complex's ARC (Agape Restoration Community) project in Tanzania. ARS, a small non-profit, has given over $10,000 to start laying the foundation for the ARC, but now they're almost broke. So ARS sent $100 for them to raise and sell chickens and eggs. We need your help! Can you donate some chicken feed? Please designate "Vision Complex – chicken feed" and do what you can!

Here's the (video:) land for the ARC in Tanzania! Agape Restoration Society (ARS) has started the project at Vision Complex to "Build the ARC" – an Agape Restoration Community, a wheelchair-accessible building for disabled kids and elderly people that includes a large community room/chapel, several apartments and classrooms.

ARS has provided funds for (3 videos:) sand, gravel, and large stones to start the foundation. Local officials have issued a building permit, but Simon needs about $5,000 for the remaining materials to start building the foundation plus...

...a fence and solar lights over the site (this is the first of many lights). Local volunteers are leveling the site and will dig the foundation... but they need to be fed – that's another $200/week for 3 weeks. So please designate "Vision Complex – build the foundation."

The volunteers at Vision Complex have made this huge pile of bricks to build the ARC. They have plenty of good clay soil to mix with water, place in forms, and bake them into bricks.

Here's some of the cement, reinforcing rods, and boards we've provided to use for the foundation. They will need more, but these are a start so you can see that they're pushing ahead with this project.

After starting to clear the land for the foundation, they realized that this pile of huge rocks was too big to break up by hand, so they moved the staked-out ground and cleared some more land.

(video:) Here they are, after clearing more land and marking where the foundation will be laid.

(video:) The volunteers are working for free: after all, it's the children of this town, Bunda, who are going to school and being cared for at Vision Complex. But digging, carrying rocks, gravel, sand, cement, and water is hard work, so the men have to be fed!

(video:) It's painful for me to imagine carrying such huge rocks, because I injured my back 46 years ago doing the same thing while building a retaining wall for our garden. So pray for the safety of these volunteers!

(video:) They're filling in the forms with cement to hold the rocks, gravel, and sand together. They have enough of these materials to build a part of the foundation to show you that this is the real deal, not a just pipe dream or a scam. So please designate "Vision Complex – build the foundation."

The 23rd chapter of Jeremiah is full of warnings to and judgment of false shepherds and false prophets. Frequently we come across such self-appointed "prophets" - people on the Internet who "command and declare" this or that as the word of the Lord. Here's what the real Prophet Jeremiah wrote about this:

"I haven't sent these prophets, yet they ran: I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says the Lord. Don't I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, 'I have dreamed, I have dreamed.' How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart" (Jer. 23:22-26).

The problem today, however, is there are so many of these false pastors and false bishops that we tend to generalize that they're all rotten apples, and thus discredit the good and genuine bishops, priests, pastors, and helpers. I have examined closely and tested Simon John's work at Vision Complex: as you see here, he's the real deal!

Simon and his volunteer workers have been working hard during the last few weeks, but now they're out of rocks... and funds. They have the cement, sand, gravel, and reinforcing rods, but need more rocks, and 20-liter and 80-liter water containers to carry water from the 1,000-liter tanks that we already provided to the construction site. Right now they need $5,000 to finish the foundation. Then they can use the bricks to start building the walls. Our small non-profit organization has provided much more than that, but now we don't have even that much in our account. So...

"You can do something. You can't do everything, but that's not an excuse to do nothing!" Now is the time to DO SOMETHING! Donate what you can: whether it's $5 or $50 or $500: every buck and brick helps Build the ARC! Please designate "Vision Complex – build the foundation."

#2. SICKLE CELL ANEMIA: There's an ongoing need of about $200 ($20 for each kid) each month for to take these kids to hospital for blood transfusions to treat those kids with this genetic disorder, so please designate "Vision Complex – blood transfusions."

#3. MONTHLY BUDGET: for the kids' schooling, teachers, and to pay our staff. Cost: $350. So please designate monthly budget.

THE PUMP IS WORKING! ARS provided Vision Complex with funds to buy the pump and two 1,000-liter storage tanks. Simon sent us these photos: here's the pump at the store where they bought it. The pump is now inside the well and brings the water up and into the storage tanks. There is a switch in each tank that turns on the pump when the water level is low, which prevents the pump from running constantly and burning out the motor.

You can see in this photo the small pipe that runs from the well to the top of a 1,000-liter tank that's sitting on a stand so that people can put a bucket under the faucet and turn it on to take the water where it's needed. This process provides the people at Vision Complex with enough water for drinking, washing, cooking, and watering their gardens.

Also, neighbors are coming to Vision Complex for water and are being invited to volunteer to make bricks from clay that Vision Complex can sell to pay for medical care for the kids who have Sickle Cell Anemia and need life-saving blood transfusions every month. On September 1, Simon must take ten of these kids to the hospital for blood transfusions, which will cost $270. Would you Donate $27 One-Time or Monthly to save a kid's life?

The bore-hole well at Vision Complex was only 20 feet deep, so during the rainy seasons it contained enough water, but during the dry seasons there was very little water or the water completely dries up. Buying bottled water is expensive, and river water can carry typhoid so it's not safe. Simon wrote us earlier – "We need to dig our well 60 to 70 feet deeper so we can have water in the dry season. We need $300 by August 10th before it starts raining: it will be very difficult if we wait until September when the rainy season begins. We need to dig the well another 60 to 70 feet deep right away. Then we will have water year-round for the kids to drink, and for the kids to learn how to grow spinach, cabbage, tomatoes and other vegetables around our buildings so we don't have to buy as much food, for making bricks to sell, and for further construction work." UPDATE: The funds have been provided and the well has been dug, but now they need to install an electric pump to draw up the water, instead of using a rope to lower buckets 90 feet down and haul it up, one bucket at a time. Please read more about this and help finish this project!

Simon also wrote – "This is our environment which promotes breeding of mosquitoes that carry malaria. We need 20 more mosquito nets at $6 each, so the total cost is $120: these nets will last for 2-3 years." These problems are connected because the Sickle Cell Anemia weakens the kids, making them more susceptible to Malaria. Agape Restoration Society helped provide $180 for the 30 mosquito nets needed. This was an urgent need that ARS met from its general fund, but now we need to replace those funds. There's also an ongoing need to replace more mosquito nets for the other 20 kids – just $6 each x 20 = $120 – as their old nets are wearing out. Please Designate Your Gift for "Vision Complex – mosquito nets." Thanks in advance!

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