Standard Style 25 May 2014 - 31 May 2014

Building People Building Dreams Building the Kingdom
Supplement to The Standard May 25 to 31 2014 27
“I was led to Christ by a fellow squatter”
PASTOR James Dongo is 73
years of age but he married
late because he spent
the youthful part of his
life as a squatter.
His eldest daughter recently
completed her A levels, second
born is also a girl in Form 4 and
the youngest son is in Grade 4.
The small built man who hails
from Chihota in Mashonaland
Central says he led a life that
was filled with sadness as he
was homeless.
“I picked food from the bins in
and around Avondale area and I
lived with many other squatters
at some shelter which is now a
flea market at Avondale shops.
“A fellow squatter, who is now
late, is the man who led me to
the church and the first time
I walked into the then Rhema
Church [now known as Celebration
Church], I felt something
inside me that said this is where
I belong,” Pastor Dongo said.
Pastor Dongo was trained to
become a pastor and was also
instrumental in training squatters
that were resettled at Mari
Mari about Zero Tillage, also
known as Farming God’s Way.
“We did this to enable these
people to become independent
and self-sufficient in as far as
food provision is concerned.
“I was lost but I was found
without a home, wife and whenever
it rained, I would sit in the
sunshine so that my clothes
could dry up. I experienced the
most horrendous times as a
street person…
“The friends and relatives
who shunned me when I was a
destitute now think I must have
used juju to uplift myself because
I now own a house in Kuwadzana,
a plot in Dotito where
my wife and I planted maize.
“I also drive a red 4x4, a thing
I never thought would happen to
me. But this is because the Word
I heard from pastors Bonnie and
Tom Deuchle totally brought
about full transformation to a
nobody,” Pastor Dongo said.
Pastor Dongo is also an evangelist
who travelled to refugee
camps at Nyamatikiti and Mazoe
Bridge spreading the Word
of God.
Pastor Dongo’s testimony is a
mind-blowing experience that
can best fit into a fiction book.
But he says he knows how life
on the street is, describing it as
rough and tough.
“The general public views
these people as a nuisance
but they are genuinely destitute
and I want to thank Celebration
Church International
for raising me from the pit of
hell. I sometimes can’t believe
that I am now happily married,
and sleep on a comfortable
bed. This is because pastors
Tom and Bonnie Deuchle
said that it was time that I
owned my own house and indeed
I received a house.
“That is what God does when
he transforms your life. He does
it in totality ,” Pastor Dongo said.
PASTOR James Dongo
Challenges facing Mari
Mari resettlement families
Everyone that The Standard spoke
to said although their lives have
been greatly transformed in as far
as accepting the word of God is concerned;
they still face a number of
teething problems which are evident
at the majority of the resettlement
schemes in Zimbabwe.
The area only has one primary
school, with the nearest secondary
school called Kwayedza, being
near Patchway mine and Nyamatani,
which is nearly 7km away and too
far for Mari Mari children.
Edison Ngirichi, pastor of the
church in the area said there is need
for construction of a clinic, high
school and establishment of shops
because they are a long way from
nearby amenities.
“Our church donated a grinding
mill so that we can grind maize for
maize meal. We do everything here
as a community.
“We pay for grinding maize and
proceeds from that initiative are
used to assist three elderly people in
our communities who have no families,”
Ngirichi said.
He said the long distances to
nearby schools were not safe for
children, especially girls, as there
were fears of rapists that roam the
area.
Cattle at Mari Mari Resettlement