A PRIEST in the diocese of Norwich embarked on a 24-hour prayer vigil this week to elicit support for a family initiative in Zimbabwe, in August.
The Revd Benjamin Bradshaw, Rector of the St Benedict Benefice, said before the vigil began that he planned to take no breaks as he prayed for churches and communities in both Norfolk and Zimbabwe. He has been working with Tariro, a charity in Zimbabwe that supports poverty-stricken young people through education and into adulthood.
Fr Bradshaw, who spent time on placement in Zimbabwe during his ordination training, described these individuals as “needing someone simply to give them a chance in life”. His family is now seeking to raise funds to pay for school fees, and for the eye care that may follow the free eye tests that his wife, Danni, an optician, will be offering.
His children, Jorja, who is 14, and Bethany, who is seven, will be taking materials donated by their schools, and will seek to foster links between these and Zimbabwean schools. Jorja is also hoping to learn some Shona.
Fr Bradshaw started his vigil at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, at St Swithin’s, Ashmanhaugh, and has encouraged others to participate. The Bishop of Thetford, the Rt Revd Ian Bishop, joined him at the start, and the Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, was due to join him towards the end. The plan was to include the cycle of morning, evening, and night prayer.
“The most crucial part is that we simply offer some exclusive time to God. We find the time to reflect and to think; we hold others up to the Lord, and we ask him to bless them. One of my many prayers when I sit down for 24 hours at Ashmanhaugh will be that I can raise enough funds to ensure that, when a desperate parent approaches me and pleads for help to pay for their child to go to primary school, I can thankfully say, ‘Yes.’”
Regarding himself as blessed to have received formal training and theological education, Fr Bradshaw will also spend time working with church ministers in Zimbabwe. The family will also visit the leprosy settlement in Mutemwa, where John Bradburne, a Norfolk vicar’s son, became warden in 1960, and where he was kidnapped and killed during the war of independence (Faith, 18 June 2021, Books, 29 March 2018).
“The long-term plan is that my congregations will hopefully be keen to sponsor some young people so that we can get them all the way through school,” Fr Bradshaw said. “The wonderful thing about a small charity like Tariro, and with me going out there, is that we actually get to know the children we are supporting. It just makes it all much more personal.”
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