GONDOLA, MOZAMBIQUE (ANS) -- A South African missionary working in Mozambique was attacked in his home on October 10 by a gang of machete-wielding robbers. Jimmy Meyer, 35, was admitted to a local hospital following the dreadful beating.

Jimmy Meyer

“Jimmy jumped out of bed to protect (his wife) Marlise when he was hit across the head and arm with the machete,” reports the Rev. Dewald van den Berg, leader of Evangelical Rural Mission, the ministry with whom the Meyers are working. “He was also beaten badly in the face.” There was reportedly so much blood on the floor from his wounds that the robbers slipped on it during the 2 A.M. attack.

Both husband and wife were tied up and left on their bed while the house was ransacked by the mob which numbered five.

Nearby South African farmers received the distress call and rushed to the aid of the Meyers. By late afternoon the day after the attack, three suspects had been arrested but none of the stolen goods have been recovered.

Among the items stolen were Rand 20,000 ($3,000) which had been withdrawn from the bank the day before to pay for building materials due to be delivered on October 11. Also taken were cellular phones, appliances, a camera, and more. When van de Berg heard about the robbery, he immediately called Marlise’s cell phone.

“Would you believe it was answered by one of the thieves,” said van de Berg. “The only reply he had after I laid into him, telling him what they had done to people who were helping their nation was simply, ‘I understand.’ ”
 

One of the widows in the Children Harvest program shows off some of the crops grown

Jimmy and Marlise Meyer have been working at the mission station near Gondola, Mozambique, for more than a year. He will be flown back to South Africa for medical treatment as soon as he can be moved.

The Meyers have dedicated themselves to uplifting the lives of Christian widows from the churches served by the ministry and orphans in central Mozambique. The Children Harvest program provides a house for a widow, who then takes up to six orphans into her care. This “substitute family” takes children off the streets and allows the ministry to break the downward spiral of poverty-induced violence and crime that street children commit simply to survive.

The program trains the widows to disciple the children in their care.

The program is bearing much fruit for the kingdom… widows and orphans who previously had no hope for the future, now have hope for eternity as new believers.

According to van de Berg, it costs $110 per month to provide the basic support – including schooling for the children – for these families.

One of the newest and most exciting projects is helping the “families” prepare, plant, tend, and harvest their own vegetable gardens. This provides life-giving food that might not otherwise be available. A one-time gift of $250 allows Children Harvest to provide a family with the needed hand implements, seed, fertilizer, and training to become self-sustaining farmers.

Contributions to help Children Harvest and/or Jimmy Meyer can be sent to Hope Builders International, P.O. Box 317, Greenwood, VA 22943 or visit www.Hope-Builders.org.

Bill Dolack is a freelance writer based in Waynesboro, VA, and the author of two books: Forgotten Foot-Soldiers on the Frontier of Independence (a local history book) and Destiny (a novel).