Jaiaen Beck – Ancient Ways

Field Report #3

April 16, 2026

by Jaiaen Beck Field Reports

Greetings from Oregon!

Returning last week has been reasonable, considering the long length of the flights! Very glad to be back home and very grateful for all the beautiful support, but under it all is that deep fondness for the ground there and being ready to return…what to do next time – making my list!

Please check out the Field Report #3 and share as you are able. Many people depend upon our willingness to reach out.

Your prayers and good thoughts for our Zimbabwean neighbors are much appreciated. I know that many of you are feeling the US burden like rocks in your knapsack, and that is fully understood…you and yours are in our prayers as well. I was really amazed at the number of Africans whom I met in airports along the way, that said they were praying for us (because we are Americans). It was very touching. The idea that people with so much less materially, can have such a large heart to think of praying for us, was quite moving (rather than any anti-US sentiment). We certainly need it. Their generous compassionate spirit was a wonderful complement to my travels and I remember it dearly!

Until next time and I see you again, may you be blessed and find joy and hope in all you do! Tatenda chaizvo! (We thank you very much!) Jaiaen

Picture of Magaya Senalani granddaughter

Field Report #2

March 20, 2026

by Jaiaen Beck Field Reports

Dear Nhimbe Friends,

We have another week under our belt and are getting many things accomplished, which have been on my plate for a few years, since 2019 was my last visit.

Please check here for Field Report #2!

Plus, let me share a slide show of the recipients who have received the comforters… this is our 3rd round of distribution to the elderly.

Thank you for your ongoing interest and support – we are so grateful – for without you, nothing can be done…you are part of the wheel of progress.

All the best,

Jaiaen

Greetings from Zimbabwe!

March 15, 2026

by Jaiaen Beck Field Reports

Hello from the ground on the other side of the planet. I’ve been here for one week and am delighted to share a Field Report with this link. Please check it out!

Many thanks to you for all you do for Ancient Ways and Nhimbe for Progress. Many good things are going on with the project and I hope to share more as the month continues. I will return home on the 5th of April.

Many blessings and much Large Love – Jaiaen

Heart-to-Heart Call for Help!

February 3, 2026

by Jaiaen Beck Fundraisers

Greetings Nhimbe Family! Thank you for your ongoing interest and commitment to making Nhimbe for Progress a reality that gratefully continues to evolve with your support.

The most recent inclement weather patterns bombarded many parts of Zimbabwe with torrential rains. Over two weeks ago we began hearing of the rains pelting both the high-density suburbs and our own rural Mhondoro. The results of this continual rain are multi-faceted, and unfortunately for Nhimbe, it caused a loss of toilets at the preschool.

The high water table at the preschool means that they began filling with water, making them impossible to use. Our toilets are built by the industry standard, that of the improved Blair rural pit-style toilet, which has been our model since 2002 when we began the preschool. The above photo shows the outside of the toilets.

This type of toilet has a hole in the center, much like the pit toilets we find at our National/State parks camping/hiking locations. The main difference is that, traditionally, the place to sit was considered a luxury, primarily due to poverty. Now, as opportunity and finances allow, people are including a place to sit.

Here is a video from Mudavanhu Magaya, our co-director of Nhimbe, sharing his story from the ground.

On closer inspection, we can see that the weather has taken its toll on these toilets, and the walls are compromised as well. See this slide show giving an up-close-and-personal look at the situation.

toilet corner crack — Toilet Corner Crack

toilet ceiling corner — Toilet Ceiling Corner

toilet ceiling corner with vent — Toilet Ceiling Corner with Vent

There is hope though! There is a part of the property with a lower water table, and according to the health inspector, we can build a “block” of toilets along the fence line in this other area. Plus, this will be a newer model of toilet built to a better standard. Construction needs to start right away!

Due to receiving a ZCDP (Zimbabwe Community Development Project) grant, we only need to put together the remainder of $2,300, which includes bricks, cement, labor, and relevant materials. Whatever amount you can contribute is immensely helpful! Thank you for whatever you can do!

The other ways that we will see changes to Zimbabwe from this downpour are:

The heavy rains do cause waterlogged soils (like at Nhimbe) and also nutrient leaching, yellowing of crops, as well as difficulty with weed and fertilizer control.
There is a likelihood of more pests invading crops due to the volume of water and an increase in livestock diseases as well.
There may be a better harvest this coming fall (March-April) due to enough water, including improved pasturelands.
Water-borne illness is more likely to occur due to standing water.
The average dam levels are better because of these torrential rains, and this can impact electricity availability in a positive way.

Again, thank you for however you might reach out to our preschoolers in Zimbabwe. Securing toilets that work is so basic! Please see this link to donate.

Final Call for Last Minute 2025 Donations!

December 31, 2025

by Jaiaen Beck Fundraisers

Dear Friends,

Another year has given us the amazing opportunity to help our Zimbabwean neighbors. The United States certainly has many hurdles as well, but I want to ask you to consider joining us in the work that we are doing in Mhondoro. Please check out this link to get a quick overview of this next year’s Focus on behalf of Nhimbe for Progress.

If you haven’t read our annual letter with our proposal for 2026 and a report of 2025 activites, please find it here and also the letter from our president, Jan Six. The residents of these villages are incredibly grateful, as their lives have been gradually changing since we began in 1999. We are speaking of not only the six villages that comprise our core, but also of the surrounding villages which are benefiting from our services.

These days, we are reaching into many local schools for the Mhandara Monthly Care (MMC) program, which intercedes on behalf of maturing girls with weekly meetings, music and sewing lessons, monthly care supplies, and a critical component, soap. Ahh, what we take for granted!
Additionally, parents will walk their child from wherever they live, through the bush, to benefit from our preschool program where children are prepared for the Zimbabwean school system in a stellar way, while receiving a healthy meal plus early childhood development training. These young ones are excited about learning, due to our staff and the resources we can provide because of our donors.
We continue to do our best to increase clean water availability. The W.A.T.E.R! program (wells and toilets everyone’s right!) faces huge challenges, being so dependent on weather, soil type, and a larger investment to make a change. But, we persevere. A bore hole, which is the superior way to get water, costs 3 times that of a regular well. For 300 families it would cost simply over $300,000. If you know someone able and willing to help in this way, please share this with them.

We remain committed to bringing assistance to these impoverished communities where normal government programs have not been able to reach. Our goal is to uplift the people and improve the substandard living conditions through increasing resources and education. Your fully tax-deductible donation is what makes it work. However this aligns with your higher purposes in life, we thank you for whatever you can do. You do make the difference! Have a wonderfully safe and joy-filled New Year!

Jaiaen and the Ancient Ways board

P.S. What is this picture? Today we shipped these donated boxes to Zimbabwe. We have sent a box of hand-selected books for the Community Center library, which serves the preschool and anyone who comes. As in previous years, we also are shipping the comforters, pieced with beautiful colors and patterns, to honor the next six elderly women. (In-kind donations of things is an equally great way to share what you have.) Thank you for your ongoing support!

Your Annual Report and Warm Winter Wishes!

December 5, 2025

by Jaiaen Beck All

$16 a month continues to provide this child with a great head start!

Please find your annual report and our plans for next year in these links:

If you are interested in a quick overview of how to make a difference, please go to 2026 Focus on the website.

We are ever so grateful for your contributions that sustain the operations in Zimbabwe from one year to the next. Each year we re-evaluate how we are doing, how we can improve and what the future might ideally hold. What possibilities are necessary and what are premature dreams?

Life seems fragile in some ways. It all depends upon one’s vantage point. On the one hand, there has been a remarkable market with a good return for those with certain investments, and on the other hand, there are major reductions in various industries and resource availability all over the country. Depends upon the camp in which you find yourself. We are wishing you as our neighbors the very best in what life is bringing your way.

In all cases, we appreciate whatever you do and however you assist us in reaching our Zimbabwe neighbors. It’s your interest and donations that keep things moving. Your encouragement, your prayers, and however you donate ( one-time or recurring) make the difference. Thank you!

Please feel free to call with any questions. I always enjoy the time discussing whatever is on your mind. I don’t always have answers but do have an ear!

Warm winter wishes to you and yours.

Jaiaen

Library Books

November 19, 2025

by Jaiaen Beck Youth Well Being

In addition to clicking on the dots, you can use the arrows on the left and right of the pictures to move through the images.

Fall Greetings and Giving Thanks!

November 12, 2025

by Jaiaen Beck Youth Well Being

It’s been a full schedule for several months now between Zimbabwe and here, with little downtime anywhere to be found. I’m just glad to be able to share with you a little before the holiday season is upon us, as that is just around the corner.

Here, we celebrate Thanksgiving, and in good fortune, we share in family warmth and/or comradery. Thank you, friends of Zimbabwe, for being an extension of my familiar circle. You, sharing music, and of course, your interest in our work there, bring much grace and joy to my life. Being on planet earth seems quite complex from astronomical events to world politics and our own nation’s struggles. Everything might fall into disarray, but this love creates buoyancy…thank you all for your part in that!

This latest blog post from Cathy Buckle, a writer in Zimbabwe, talks about hope for her country, and I truly appreciate the sentiment. I have really enjoyed (Is that the right word since sometimes it’s harsh?) her courageous writing and blunt, bold insights over the years. She speaks of the radical changes there, becoming serious beginning in 2000, which was the year of my initial journey to Zimbabwe to start Nhimbe for Progress.

The main thing I recall about that trip was that I was to be hosted by my vision partner, Cosmas Magaya, and his wife, Joyce. Upon my arrival, she was unexpectedly ill and passed away, as I, solo and wide-eyed, welcomed my 3^rd morning in a new land. The next full week was an immersion in Shona cultural experiencee with a broken-hearted family. Both my parents and dear godmother had passed away years before, but I hadn’t scratched the surface of sharing that sorrow until being absorbed by the African tradition on behalf of Joyce. Through those experiences I let go of about 100 kilos of grief I didn’t even realize I was carrying. The way that the family intimately embraced me and invited my participation went far beyond any preconception I could have had. I returned to the US unusually light.

That same week the parallel currency market was 42 instead of the legal exchange of 38 Zim dollars to 1 USD, and we thought that $4 was a big deal. Little did I know, that was just the beginning of spiraling inflation and getting a solemn, street-wise education in poverty and the loss of too many dear Zimbabwean friends and family. There has been something so amiss separating humans and their prosperity for quite some time across the planet. This up-close-and-personal glimpse during an impressionable time has stayed in my memory, pushing me to ask questions with nary an adequate answer.

Sometimes I wonder about hope in the face of hardship, and where does this hope come from? After all these years, much to my dismay, I’ve concluded that thousands of years of traditions that have created some of the tragedies and traumas of life in Zimbabwe today are not meant to be solved by someone like me. I am not the solution maker. Perhaps I am just able to infuse some essence of hope in daily life because of your help. You enable me to bring resources, which then open the windows to alternative ways to view life for the average villager and ordinary child.

The heart of Nhimbe has always been the creche (Nhimbe preschool) with its special place among the residents. There are many things we do for the community there, but the preschool reigns supreme. Over the years, international NGOs have been our partners, as have churches, non-profits, and individuals, bringing opportunities to this otherwise underserved area.

All rural areas are particularly affected by massive unemployment, challenging weather patterns impacting agrarian livelihoods, and harsh lifestyles, turning kumusha (a word meaning to go to the rural area and back to one’s roots) on its ear. Our region is no different. What is distinctive is that we, Cosmas and I, asked 6 villages that normally do not work together, to take on the modus operandi of the USA’s melting pot…we asked that they work together for the sake of the whole to help put together a community approach. Its not totally unprecedented, as the words nhimbe and jangano (a project we developed with Fradreck Mujuru’s rural home) were both old fashioned words, meaning “working together to help one another.” The Nhimbe infrastructure and organization put an exceptional new spin on that old idea.

The children’s faces say it all. These recent photos reflect happy children. The food variety that they receive each day at school is improving their nutritional outlook supporting the development of new neural pathways, and that has to be exciting for a child whose family often has little. They are also learning with some of the best tools and teachers available.

This little girl shares a poem and her dance for us, being enjoyed by everyone present. These children exude gratitude, and we also are so very grateful for how you have supported this mission over the years. We know that, financially, many of you have taken some tough hits with our US economy being assaulted in a variety of ways, and we deeply appreciate that you keep us in your prayers as well as on your list of gifting organizations. Many thanks your way for both types of encouragement and sharing our story with friends, family and co-workers. Plus, utilizing your employer’s matching fund program is extremely empowering for your dollar!

Bye for now from the preschool! Thank you for whatever you can do (and if you can, consider a recurring donation here or a bank draft. You make the difference to help us make a difference!)

HeartWorks ElderCare 2025 Comforter Delivery!

October 5, 2025

by Jaiaen Beck Health Heartworks Eldercare

Autumn Greetings Wherever You Are!

Here in Lacomb, Oregon, the colored leaves are falling and there is a nip in the air, reminding us to wear scarves, dig out our long sleeves and start thinking about hunkering down. Everything is still luscious and green, but we are feeling the season’s change with fire building, great garden harvests, and the last music venues of our normal gigging season. It always feels great to share the music throughout the year with our communities in Oregon’s mid-valley, particularly after sharpening and polishing with the tutelage of spring and summer performances.

Ancient Ways students come together weekly from Sweet Home, Lebanon, Albany, North Albany, Corvallis, Wren, Salem, and of course, Scio and the Cascade foothills where Ancient Ways was born 31 years ago. We are always welcoming in new students interested in studying this sweet music with us, as that is what drew me to Zimbabwe in 1990. October 12th finds us at the Philomath Sunday Market to get the last taste of our marimba music in October.

26 years ago, we began Nhimbe for Progress with Cosmas Magaya, and have kept a focus on education and health for our Zimbabwean neighbors for all these years. Currently, the attention is being given to operate the preschool, as well as the community library and garden, provide services through the Mhandara Monthly Care for maturing girls, and build (and deepen) wells for anyone in need.

The Ancient Ways and Nhimbe landscapes are like a kaleidoscope every year revealing how the fundraising we do through our performing, writing, and events dovetails with Nhimbe’s reality, supporting the key functions of the vision. We have been and are still dedicated to uplifting the people in rural Zimbabwe through the dedication of a handful of village residents who understand and are committed to the future. Many people have come and gone since 1990 when I put my foot on this path, both here in the states, and there on the ground, all of which make this incredible tapestry unfold, giving the children, the families, and the elderly, hope, tools and resources for a better life. Huge thanks to all the ways you have supported our work over these many years, for example, tipping at performances or sending donations to help us raise funds for our efforts.

Recently the HeartWorks Eldercare team here in the US, hand-made (pieced and tied) another six comforters, which were shipped to our rural area and gifted to six elderly residents in Mhondoro (they choose one person from each village). We honor the elderly with this lovely donated high-quality needle-craft and thank you for your help in making it a reality! There are various ways to help those in need and this has become an annual way to reach out and let the elderly know we are not just thinking about them, but actively extending our warmth to embrace them! Check out the video!

Thank you again for all of the ways you continue to keep Nhimbe for Progress on the map! (zoom in and, although this is not recent, see the Community Center!)

We appreciate all that you do. Feel free to donate here now – you do make the difference!

Portia is Getting Back on Her Feet!

June 16, 2025

by Jaiaen Beck Project Updates

Dear Friends of Zimbabwe,

Its with much gratitude that I write to thank you for your assistance with our latest request for help for Portia (see May 28th blog). You cannot believe what a difference even $25 makes! Click here to donate now and enter Portia in the comment under Greatest Need.

The good news is that she was able to have the surgery plus some of the follow-up tests to not only get her out of the danger zone, but also clear her to live with a fresh and fearless outlook. The great news is that she is doing well as she recovers, and the entire family is very grateful. We normally do not ask for help for individuals, but when someone is so deeply involved with Nhimbe and its future, there is no question.

Her test results took a bit to come back, and, in the meantime, she has been studying dietary changes and just generally reclaiming a positive attitude. Years of adapting to pain without relief does wear on one’s outlook!

We know that our MailChimp emails are ending up in many spam folders, so we ask that you do whatever it takes to help us find our way to your mailbox. You being able to tell the Nhimbe story can be just as important as sending donations. We (as in everyone involved in the states and on the ground in Zimbabwe) appreciate whatever you can do. You do make the difference!

We haven’t quite reached the $2,000 goal for Portia, so, if you are able and inclined, please know that some of the last-minute donations that have come in (I suspect people finding us in their spam folders) are definitely pushing us to meet our goal. See from the picture how she is a very active woman being professionally employed full-time, plus a mother and wife. I thought I was busy! May she have many more healthy years blending work and family living!

Tatenda Chaizvo! (We thank you very much!)