Zimbabwebound

Well we were able to have a bit of a sleep in today; our bus didn�t leave until lunch time so we had a majority of the morning to pack up and get ready to head back to Bulawayo. As soon as we felt the pot holes in the road we knew we were back. This weekend we are heading away with about 40 orphans to Willow Park, it should be a good weekend to spend with the kids and play a lot of games and just let them chill in the relaxing surrounds. We leave tomorrow afternoon and get back Sunday evening.

Have a great day … we look to blogging again shortly … until next time …

Today we had to pull out our old safari suites and put on our safari hats, because we had the opportunity to visit Antelope Park for some wild adventures. Antelope Park is a large nature reserve about 25 minutes out of Gweru; it is an awesome set up with beautiful green grassed parks set next to a large river where guests can canoe or take a river cruise.

Our host came to collect us shortly after we arrived to take us into the lion cub enclosure. As we approached we saw the three 8 month old cubs prowling the entrance, they looked like they were going to be quite active and playful, but alas after we entered they walked around for a bit then sat back down at the entrance. Our next adventure was after lunch when we got to go for a ride on the back of an elephant. Our guides took us on a short trail ride around part of the park; the trainers at the park have taught all the elephants how to play football and it was fun to see them kick the ball as well as pick it up and throw it around the playing field.

After spending a majority of the day at the park we had to quickly make our way back into Gweru to get meet up with some friends so we could get to a bible study they do with the children at the Blue Hills Reformatory. This was our first opportunity to get to ride on an E.T. which is Zimbabwe�s version of public transport. This was an interesting experience, imagine cramming about 36 people into a 16 seat bus. Our host led us to a corner away from the main stop where we were able to get on whilst the bus was still empty … when we arrived at the main stop, the crowd of people would not stop pushing and shoving … it was on for young and old, there was absolutely no mercy shown for anyone, even young school girls were being hurled out of the way or squashed into the people in front of them so that the hoards could get on board.

After a short ride we got to our destination. The Blue Hill Reformatory is a facility set up for children who were either street kits or who have broken the law. The New Life Centre church have been coming into the reformatory for about 2 years now and are only allowed in for 1/2 hour on Wednesday afternoon and for 1 hour on Sunday morning. Dr Makori who heads the ministry said that the children can�t get enough of the gospel and really get into the praise and worship time and the bible studies. Please pray for this ministry and its leaders; please also pray that the officials continue to allow the people from the church into the reformatory to spread the word.

Like sand through an hour glass, so are the blogs of our lives … until next time …

Once again we had to set our alarms to the ungodly hour of 6.30am. We were invited to go to the local Teachers Training College for early morning devotions before the first lecture began. It was a great time of singing worship and praise and listening to the devotion lead by one of the students. After devotions it was time to give my first lecture … yes you read correctly, I took a lecture … Prof Harry Muller is starting to appeal to me more and more. The students (including Jodi) participated in some great discussions about some aspects of love mentioned in the bible. The title of my lecture was called �The One Another�s and Love in the New Testament�. I will be publishing lecture notes and providing reading material in the future for students who would like to study at the Institute of Harry�s Theology.

In the afternoon, Jodi and I went with four of the students for the training college to a local orphanage. As we pulled up Jodi and I thought that the children may take a little bit of time to get used to us and our weird accent, but much to the contrary they came running up to us and stuck to us like glue. One young child would not let go of Jodi, many times she went to put him down, but he would not let go of Jodi�s neck and when he did it was only to place her hand back on his butt so she could continue to hold him. One thing we have learnt about the African culture is their lack of knowledge about personal boundaries … it was humorous to see Jodi fully experience this with the kids when she pulled out a packet of balloons and started handing them out. I liken this scenario to sea gulls … imagine sitting at the beach and you see a single gull … you throw it a chip and as soon as this is done the entire population of gulls that reside on the east coast of Australia come to your one spot hoping to also get some chips … replace sea gulls with young children and the chips with balloons and you will catch my drift. The children engulfed the unexpected Jodi until there were no more balloons to hand out.

This orphanage is well set up, they have their own chooks to provide eggs and meat, and they also have rabbits and their own HUGE veggie patch which provides next to everything from maize to chilies. This is very handy as food is either very expensive or non existent. The children seemed very proud of their surroundings and were eager to show us every square inch of the property.

It was lovely to blog with you today, hope we can do it again sometime. Until next time…

Today we met up with Morgan who heads up Scripture Union for the Midlands area (it is quite a large area to look after). They are involved in many school outreach programs including life skills programs, running school assemblies were they can preach the word of God to the children, lunch time get togethers for the Christian children and much much more. We joined Morgan for the lunch time worship in one of the churches in town, this is run every day and they always have a great turnout … the place was packed. It started with individual prayer, then they had a worship team who lead a few songs, next one of the pastors got up & gave the sermon (all in their native language), so we didn�t understand any – but we did understand his yelling. Our first comment when we came out was how loud it was. After this we went for a walk through town & had lunch in a place where the sign out the front says �American style caf� – The Dutch Oven�. An interesting name with some very interesting food.

It was after today�s outing combined with a strong feeling from both of us that we decided that we should not be here in Gweru, but instead be back in Bulawayo. It was not an easy decision to make but we both felt it was the right thing to do. So we told our hosts and made our plans to migrate back down to Bulawayo on Thursday.

Saturday
Today we had to awaken from our slumber early again … we had to be at the bus stop by 7.30am to catch our bus up to Gweru. We made it there in ample time and before we knew it we were on our way. Blue Arrow Busline is a very nice coach service, they have comfortable seats with ample leg room and they even served us biscuits and a choice of soft drink or mineral water. It only took about 2 hours to travel from Bulawayo to Gweru, not long at all. We were greeted by Dave Fergusson and his daughter Stacey, Dave is our main contact up in Gweru. It was a lovely drive back to his house to meet his wife Heather. The streets don’t have as many pot holes as Bulawayo and it seems a lot brighter and more colourful up here. In the afternoon, we attended the school sports day … Jodi and I could not believe that the children actually turned up to a school event on a non school day, they train them well over here. It was quite a large event and many spectators lined the running track.

Bar the traveling and the sports day, not much really happened today. It was a nice day just to sit back and take in our new surroundings.

Sunday
This morning we attended the New Life Centre church on Windsor Road. It was a great time to meet all of Ben and Sue Naude’s friends and find out their deep and darkest secrets. Ohh the stories we have to tell. We also met up with Pastor Ogden and his wife Peggy who founded the church many years ago. It was great to finally meet them as we have read their biography and found it to be quite inspiring. The people who fellowship at the New Life Centre are very nice and made us feel most welcome.

This evening we went to the local Baptist church and met up with Rogan, who is the Pastor of the church. There were only about 12 people including us, but we had a great time of fellowship and sharing. They are a very warm and welcoming bunch of people and we had a great time making new friends, sharing stories over a cup of tea after the service. They are currently in the process of building a new worship centre, it isn’t at lock up stage yet, but it has taken about 6 years to get it to this stage. They said that over the last 6 years they have had about 250 members leave because they have migrated out of Zimbabwe.

To blog or not to blog that is the question. Until next time.

Today we went for a drive out to Lupane, a rural Catholic hospital about 1.5 hours out of town. It is one of those towns that have the mud huts you see on tv (so cute). We were given a tour by the priest who looks after the centre, they do such a great job there & they are one of the last places that still have nurse training schools. When we went into the malnourished ward it was hot & smelly, & full of babies (1 ½ yrs – 4 ½ yrs) who were so so small. They are literally skin & bone. Their skin is discoloring & they have sores over their bodies because their skin is peeling off. A few were just whining the whole time & others were just too weak to even cry. It really does just make you wonder how the world gets in such a state where people are so poor their children are dieing.
We were able to give the parents/grandparents small gifts of clothing & blankets that we were able to buy with the donations from SPCC. Youth For Christ donated meal packages to these people because when the children go home the parents or grandparent don’t have the money or produce to feed them and the children’s health will go down hill fast again.

Please pray for this center. They are doing a great job providing care for the local people as well as giving training to the local girls in life skills (such as sewing and cooking). Please pray that the support given by outsider donors will continue and that this ministry will continue to flourish.

Today was great! First off we went to the local Baptist church with Ray Motzi, the local pastor & heard all about his visions for the church. He is well respected in Zim for his church planting & standing up to the government; he has been arrested several times. He then took us to the Theological College where he lectures Social Theology, we sat in on one of his lectures and before starting he got the students to ask us questions about Australia.
After a quick lunch in the car we went to a hospital in a poor part of town called Mpilo. This is where the abandoned babies up to three years old are taken. They just craved human touch, we held them & took in balloons for them to play with (they loved them). There was one little boy with such an infectious little chuckle that we just wanted to bring home. (we both wanted to bring a few of them home). They have two disabled boys there & one who is so sick with the chicken pox, he just cried & cried when he was put back in his cot.
These children & any other abandoned children will eventually go into the house which the Baptist church has bought & has made part of there ministry. This center is not open yet as they are caught up in the bureaucratic web, awaiting approval from the government first, then from Social Welfare (at least another 6 months before opening). This center will be so beneficial to these children as they will have workers from the church loving & caring for them instead of nurses in the hospital who just do it because it is there job. These children are so neglected it made me angry to see the nurses sitting back not caring for them, but I suppose it is much better than leaving them to die.
It was in the evening that we went to see the house the Baptist church has bought for their ministry; it is a huge house with loads of potential, but needs a bit of work done still.

Sallibonaane (sally banana) – hello. Well Steve is not impressed that I haven’t written any blogs yet, so Harry has said I have to for a while. Today we went to Sidojiwe, a very very poor suburb on the outskirts of town. Whole families including grandparents, children, grandchildren & even cousins all live in tiny little units. The units are about 4m x 6m divided into half by curtains, one is used as a lounge & the other as a bedroom – the whole family will sleep together in this room (so tiny that four of us could not fit in together comfortably). They have a communal kitchen with only a sink & a wood fire BBQ type thing, they also have communal bathrooms. These units were all condemned a few years ago, (but people still live in them & are charged rent)! You can not imagine the smell, darkness & dampness of this place. A preschool is run in one of these units for the local kids from 3 – 6 years old, they have about 15 – 20 kids. The two teachers do the best they can with nothing. The kids sit on sugar bags on the cold wet cement floor. So sad to see this & to think the kids have no future & no life to look forward to, but they do not know any better.

You’ll never guess what … we still have no power and my cold is finally clearing. We had an early start for today, up at 6.45 getting ready to go to Willow Park which is a school camp site run by YFC. It has 5 lodges which sleeps up to 10 children in bunk beds and also has an assault course, rope course and sports fields. Willow Park is in a state of repair and maintenance, but with a new team being formed it will be ready for camps in the next few months. Willow Park also lodges orphaned children and abused women who need a little bit of respite. It is a beautiful place up in the hills where the buildings all have thatched roofs and are set in the tranquil surrounds of fresh green grass and relaxing water holes. We had an interesting time getting there, this time the 2 seater ute had to accommodate 6 people as well as a large white fridge. This fridge had to be supported by three very manly men in the back who had to also battle the harsh up hill terrain combined with the arctic cold winds and the monsoon rains � well maybe this is a slight exaggeration … there were three manly men but it was mainly flat road bar the last 200 meter and the winds were mainly produced by the driving and the rain was more like a very light sprinkle. Well that pretty much concluded our day … ohh one last thing, blessings today for us … the sun shone through the clouds and we were kind of warm for about 5 minutes today. May the blog be with you … Until next time …