Norway Supports - Mavis Home

Mavis has made a very strong friendship with a  a lady named Birgitt Aarrestad from Norway.  We have been in correspondence with Birgitt and the others that  help support Mavis Hjem (Mavis Home).  The following are some of the correspondence that we have shared with Birgitt, along with a few of the newsletters that Birgitt has sent to us.

For the most part, I have retained Birgitt's original text.  As with many Scandinavians, Birgitt has excellent written English (and I presume also spoken.)  

For the two brochures, we have enlisted the help of Mr/Mrs Google Translate (Herr/Fru Google Oversette).  Hopefully our Norwegian friends will forgive any inaccuracies in the translations. 

 School Aims

To Promote Social Health Programmes As Well As Providing Support In Education, Training And Employable Skills. Support People Who Are Affected And Infected With Hiv/aids Including Children Orphaned By Aids. Relief Of Poverty And Advance Knowledge And Skills To Disadvantaged Communities. Engaging With Other Charitable Activities In The Community For The Advancement Of The Organisation.

Thank you for your interest in Mavis Home. I have a lot to tell you if you like to hear. From 1995 until now I have had Mavis as my close friend and African sister. My husband and I lived in Zimbabwe for some time. 

I had a year off from teaching in primary school. I met Mavis on a YWCA-meeting. She invited me to her village and I was amazed by her work with the children and women at her place. She was a very good leader and she fought for the small ones to have a better life. I could stay overnight in her small home and we talked and talked. 

He stayed there for two years and I for one. He was working on a hydro power project, connecting hydropower from South Africa and Mozambique to the main cities in Zimbabwe. 

Great memories!!

Then I came in contact with the local school there and this school became a friendship-school with my school for almost 20 years. Many things happened. Mavis had to leave her own children and her homeplace because of the political situation around 2001. In the year 2007 I visited Zimbabwe, and met many friends, the friendship-school and many orphans living by grandmothers. 

There were children without futures.  Many of them lived in bad conditions. I was called to do something. Mavis and I supported many of the grandmothers with money, but this was not easy. In 2009 together with friends here in Norway, we opened an organisation called Mavis Home, and started to collect money for orphans. 

Mavis in England decided to donate her home in Zimbabwe so her house became the first orphans home. One school in Ås where I live, wanted to support and other friends became donors. After some time, in 2014 we decided to construct a better house. 

It was not very easy. We started little by little. After some time the political situation became bad, prices were out of control and no authorities there we could lean on. Mavis had the contact between us and she managed to keep us going.  It is really a wonder we have come as far as we have today. We now have a beautiful home with a good mother to take care of the children. Now there are 7 orphans as far as I know. They are growing their own food, selling some of it and the children go to school. We have many stories to tell about happy children. This is the short story. I have made a PowerPoint-program with pictures if you are interested. Then I think Mavis has mostly all the photos. The brochure is not new as you see, but you can have it. Let me hear if there are more you want to know about us.

Best wishes

Birgitt Aarrestad Vedleggsområde 

Some Pictures from our friends in Norway 

Birgitt & the board from Ås, Norway		Mavis Home
		Location of - Ås, Norway

And some more

Hello and good morning.

Thank you for your two emails. I did receive both and I am happy with them. The story you have written is very good and in a way well known. Mavis is my close friend since 1995 and I know all about her effort to help others in need. She is a hard worker for others and you write so well about her. 

Now this is quite some years ago as I see she is 49 years old in the article. Now she is 60 and many things have happened since. 

As the authorities have been more and less absent, and in the last years we have to trust people as best as we could. Mavis knows everybody there and she knows what to do. 

As we started our organisation Mavis Home in Norway, we managed to construct a big and beautiful house in Bindura. 

Mavis has been monitoring this project with contacts and sending money. Without her we could do nothing. There have been some local contacts we could work with but it has been difficult. 

She is fantastic and wants to give the orphans a future. For me it is the same as I did learn to know many of her friends and neighbours in her village and the primary school. When I saw how many children suffered I had to do something. It was a calling from God. 

For me it has been a blessing to work with Mavis.

When we started the friendship between my school and Chiveso school, the most important was to let children learn to know each other and learn something from each other. I thought this was like working for peace. 

They started to exchange letters which was very good but did not last too long. Sending letters did not work. 

When I informed our Norwegian pupils about the Chiveso school without water, they wanted to do something and  started to collect money. 

Then more things came up and it continued for 20 years. I am happy to think of all these pupils through all this year. 

Hopefully they have learned how important it is to care for others in need. Well I have to end this writing now as when I start I never stop. 

I am happy for Mavis having such a nice church to go to and having fellowship with goo people there. I have been in your church once and even to a prayer meeting there. 

Good memories!

If there are more you want to now just contact me. 

Have a blessed day.

Best wishes

Birgitt