Here are the highlights of our three days at Vic Falls
Tuesday (9/30) @ Vic Falls
After repacking our bags (again!) taking just what we'd need in Vic Falls, we joined 13 others heading for a short vacation in the middle of our missionary trip. Meagan was also with us to return home to Zambia. The flight routed us through Bulawayo, so took over three hours to get to VF. It was raining in Bulawayo and we were concerned that we'd be facing rain at the Falls, but not so. It wasn't as sunny as we would have liked, but no rain. We were greeted at the airport by our transportation that Steve or Washington had arranged, and also by some "native" dancers, scantily clad and singing and playing drums.
Steve and Washington decided to rent two vehicles to facilitate getting around in town. Those were loaded mostly with our luggage, while most of us piled onto the air-conditioned van for the ride to the hotel.
At the hotel, we knew we must wait for either Steve or Washington to arrive before signing into our rooms. The staff at first were accommodating, offering us a complimentary drink and a comfortable place to wait. But as time went on and the others didn't show, they put more and more pressure on Jim to get us to take the rooms. He finally came up with a reason to wait that satisfied them. When Steve arrived, he did a magnificent job of convincing them to give us a rate of $50/person/night, which includes breakfast. So, we got our assigned rooms, then all said our last goodbyes to Meagan. What an impressive young woman she is.
We decided that we all felt fresh enough to visit the falls this evening. I was amused and surprised to see hands holding umbrellas and other things to buy or rent poking out from the souvenir booths near the parking lot as soon as we departed the cars. Steve told us that this was a taste of things to come.
The Falls were beautiful and breath-taking. One can't help but think of God when surveying such a glorious sight. The hymn "How Great Thou Art" comes to mind. It isn't possible for me to describe the beauty, power, and breath-taking majesty, so I hope the pictures we took will suffice.
We got wet, just walking past on the Zim side. In some places, it felt like a rain shower, in others, just a mist. Yet, Steve says the falls are lower than he's ever seen them before.
We took pictures, joked, played, and (some) did deeds of daring. We had a good time and I felt a little guilty to be in such luxurious surroundings when we had so recently been with orphans and destitute families who live so close, yet probably will never see the falls, and certainly cannot stay in a place like Elephant Hills. We had also left behind some of our American comrades who were continuing to serve others while we relaxed and had some fun. One thing I would have liked was a continuation of daily group devos during this portion of the trip.
The next experience made me feel even more aware of the difference in my circumstance and that of so many others in the world. We went to a restaurant called Boma. (Of course Steve had once again negotiated a good rate for us to make it affordable...) It offers traditional African fare as well as some more familiar foods. After each of us chose an appetizer from five choices, we were turned loose on the buffet-style service for the rest of our meal. We could select from about eight choices of meats to be grilled, all or just some. I chose warthog (at Steve's suggestion) and ostrich kebab, and a double portion of vegetables. This threw off John's selections as I nearly cleaned them out of veggies that were ready to serve. The warthog was excellent, but the ostrich was tough. Elsewhere, there was a salad bar; lamb on a spit, with various accompaniments; and multiple choices for dessert. Oh, and lots of choices of bread at the salad bar. Nathan, a young man on the trip--tall and lean--ate and ate and ate. He joked that he probably ate an entire warthog himself.
After eating came the entertainment, which was group participation drumming, with instruction. Nathan missed the instructions, as he was still eating.
It was fun, but not particularly melodious. The finale for the entertainment was volunteer dancing by members of the "audience." From our group, Chris, Tracy and Jessica volunteered. I did not have a good view of this so can't really report on how it looked.
We returned to the hotel with all of us ladies reveling at the idea that we would be able to dry our hair with a dryer!
Tomorrow we go on safari.
Wednesday (10/1) @ Vic Falls
We left the hotel early in order to get to Chobe Park while the animals are still active. We did not have to wait until the park to see wildlife, though. The people in our vehicle saw a giraffe, elephants and a sable while still in Zimbabwe. Across the border, we changed vehicles and off we went. Brrrr it was cold in the morning in those open-air buggies. But we knew it would warm up later in the day.
At times we saw many animals—impalas especially. But then we would go for a long time without seeing anything. But all-in-all, we saw just about all the types of animals that are supposed to live at Chobe during the morning tour, but no lions.
Lunch was another sumptuous spread. I had to try the impala ribs, which were quite good, but not as good as warthog.
As a group, we had decided that we also wanted to take the afternoon boat tour on the Chobe River. That was well worth the cost. Being on the river gave us up close and personal views of elephants, hippos and crocodiles. And the bird life in the park is also stunning. Between us, John and I got some great shots. I think John took some video of the elephants crossing the river, which ought to be quite impressive.
We piled into the two rental cars (and I do mean pile—getting 15 people into two vehciles that seat 5 each required some interesting arrangements) and headed to town for pizza. At the table, Jessica coaxed a very interesting story about how they came to be married out of Jim and Judy Liby. But, I can’t divulge the details. Just suffice to say that it was entertaining.
Thursday (10/2) @ Vic Falls
In the morning, a small group of us decide to go “Walk with the Lions” after Steve, once again, negotiated a reasonable rate. Since I did not see, nor photograph, a lion on this trip, I’ve decided to be brave and take the trip so I can show Josh a photo of me with a lion, even if it is only half-grown. It is awesome to see these creatures up close. I thought I would be more frightened than I was. Seeing others successfully touch the lion before me helped and having so many handlers there did too. Bev went after me, and just at that moment, the lioness started to act up a bit. It took some doing for the handlers to settle her down, but it all went well. We visited with two pairs of lions. I opted not to pet the second lion, so just took pictures. Steve, Bev and Chris were thrilled to acutally walk beside them. (We pet them as the were just lying down.)
Before we leave, we must pick up souvenirs for ourselves and loved ones. We brace ourselves for the challenge of shopping at the market. Deals can be had, but not without some harrassment. I asked John to stay with me while we strolled through the market looking for things I had on my list. I was surprised at how docile the vendors were. They each told us their name, where their “shop” was and asked the we give them consideration before buying. When we finally found a shop that had something we were looking for, the negotiations weren’t too bad. We may have been able to get the things we bought for less, but I felt that the prices weren’t outrageous. We had fun on our last purchase…a basket. I selected one I liked and the man who owned the rights to sell it asked a completely ridiculous amount. I countered with something much lower and he became stubborn, when suddenly I saw about five other people lifting baskets above their heads, indicating that they were willing to sell for the price I offered. So, I picked out one of those I liked and made a deal with the woman holding the basket. The man then was willing to sell me his for the price I had offered, even offered to go lower. But I was miffed at him for being so stubborn and went ahead to close the deal with the woman. John and I were laughing and knew we could have probably paid even less, but it was fun. At that point we were done shopping, so we went back to the car to wait for the others. That’s when we began to get mobbed and hounded by vendors offering us things we truly didn’t want. A mad without any hands came looking for some help, but I indicated I could not help him until the others were not around. So he patiently waited and I was finally able to give him some cash. I have no idea how a man without hands can live, except by begging. He was so thin and barefoot with ragged clothes on. My heart really felt for him.
Eventually, everyone was done shopping and I declare Jessica the best bargainer among the group. Chris, I think traded just clothing for everything he got. He ended up with just his soccer shorts on, having traded away all the clothes he brought with him and those he was wearing. I guess he always does that. I thanked him for not trading away the shorts!
Back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to fly back to Harare tomorrow. Most everyone will stay at the airport and catch their flight back home. We enjoyed a light dinner at the hotel.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Mission at Nhowe
As those of you following this blog know, access to the internet in Zimbabwe was challenging at best and non-existent most of the time. As result, I am just now ready to add my posts to John's. I hope that you find our two perspectives enlightening. This post covers the first week or so of our mission...the time we spent at Nhowe Mission.
Sunday 9/20 Avondale service
Hymns sung in English & Shona; service is in English.
Everyone greeted all visitors, very friendly.
They celebrate birthdays similar to Fellowship, but more involved-the song has more verses and you are asked your age.
Sermon by one of our group (John Langley). Topic David and Goliath, message: listening.
Family from Angola; letter of recommendation.
Met Hazxinei Kaerezi, Provisions manager at MSOP. Field Program still in progress. Two student ministers at Avondale.
After church, returning to the Mhlangas, we saw people all in white, "apostles" holding worship services in the open...curious.
Potluck at Washington's. Big spread, good conversation and sharing, getting to know others in the group.
"Lost" luggage all arrived
Relocate to Nhowe. 2 1/2 hour drive.
Arriving at Nhowe mission-no electricity. Candlelit dinner. Generator started...let there be light!
Satying with Gordon & Linda Majonga and their children, Anesu (2), Siphetokuhle (6)
Monday (9/21) @ Nhowe
Began the day with a devotional at hospital:
John Langley spoke on Zacheas and the value God places on every person. His primary scripture was Phil 2 v 1-4
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."
Prior to the scripture, two beautiful hymns were sung in Shona, the second being to the tune of "How Great Thou Art." Very moving.
Washington said the closing prayer.
After breakfast, Dr. Dehge took us on a tour of the hospital. Something prevented me from participating in all of it, but I cannot recall what drew me away. Then we were treated to a tour of Nhowe school, including time in several classrooms. Children are very well-drilled in what to do, love having photos taken. While at the school, I spoke briefly with Alfred, the farmer whose output helps fund the school. Very impressive young man. I hope to be able to spend more time with him later…
After lunch we all took a bumpy truck ride to visit M. Makunde @ 2 Streams Farm. Brother Makunde is one of the Orphan Ministers no longer being paid. He is also a former headmaster of the secondary school at Nhowe. With him accompanying us, we visited three communities (families?) that he supports spiritually and helps with their physical needs as well. These people are extremely poor. Cory thinks a good possibility for us, either through ZOP or directly, or in partnership. Lots of possibilities...
This evening we discovered that we had to return to Harare w/Washington to try for our visas for Mozambique tomorrow.
Wednesday (9/23) @ Nhowe
Began the day today attending the 6:45 service @ Nhowe Mission church. The singing by the students is simply incredible. We learned that this is a daily occurrence. We'll be back tomorrow.
We accompanied Dean on a trip to find his "lost" orphan. Happily, it was successful. She is not in school now because she has no birth certificate and she is at the point in her education where she needs the certificate to take exams to move to the next level. Dean provided her family with money to get it. The family gave us bag of lemons-very sweet, for lemons, and very gnarly looking.
Returning to Nhowe, the group took pictures of all ZOP orphans at Nhowe ~93. They do this each year, to keep the pictures and information on their web site current. I just observed. Beautiful children, some looking better (physically) than others.
Later in the day, I sat in on meeting to discuss an orphanage @ Nhowe. Very eye-opening. No time-frame, just in discussion stage.
While John helped with painting, I sorted clothes, shoes that we brought to give away. I hope to take to orphans tomorrow, if Cory can get a truck and guide. "Sold" some to Jeff for a couple of boys he is sponsoring. (Some children in his congregation gave him money for clothes, so he insisted on paying.)
Evening worship service again awed us with the singing by the students here at Nhowe. After regular service ended, John Langley conducted a very moving foot-washing service. The leaders from our group washed the feet of the elders of Nhowe Mission church of Christ. After the elders, John L. asked a young husband/father (Alfred, the farmer) to wash the feet of his new baby girl. On his own initiative, he washed his wife's feet,too. John L. informed me later that the washing of wife's feet was totally impromptu, but was one of the best parts. Also moving was the sight of Christian men from the US and Africa praying together, one-on-one. It choked me up.
Thursday (9/24) @ Nhowe
Again attended the early morning service @ Mission church. The singing makes my heart pound.
After breakfast, a group of us went back to Two Streams for photos of ZOP orphans and to give away clothing and shoes. These children sang for us after a little prodding by Cory. We left remaining items of donated clothing with Brother Makunde to give to the most needy.
Back at Nhowe-more singing-a special concert arranged for us by Dr Lemons. Beautiful. John recorded it. A special treat following the concert: the children rehearsed the Zimbabwean national anthem in preparation for the dedication on Saturday and for a competition later. It sounds like a hymn. Incredible.
John and I visited with Brother Nhamo Marunga, the minister at Nhowe mission, at his home. He explained how they are trying to mitigate the impact dollarization has had on the school by getting more local support, both financial and food donations. Still, he was clearly making a plea for more US support. He also thanked us for Fellowship's past support of MSOP and told us that Brother Lawrence Sedze will be here this Saturday, probably for the ground-breaking ceremony for the nursing school. While there, we met Fielding & Karen Allison from Tanzania (Americans who have been doing mission work since 1972) who are here for a three-day marriage seminar, starting this evening.
At evening services, John Langley gave an excellent lesson on witchcraft from Acts 19.
Friday (9/26) @ Nhowe
No field trips today. Began again with services in the Nhowe Mission church. Instead of the complete assembly of children singing, we were treated to a few groups-two girls' groups and one boys'.
I helped Joyce cut (tear) and sew surgical drapes for the hospital. One interesting challenge associated with this was that the spool of thread Sister Chaka provided did not fit on the machine, so we just set it on the table and it worked just fine! How fun to improvise.
Joyce and I also showed Renesi (one of the cooks) how to bake a cake. Chris had handed him a cake mix and can of frosting and asked him to make a cake for Abby, who had a birthday yesterday. It was quite an adventure…finding cake pans, figuring out where we could bake it. They use an outdoor wood-fired oven to bake bread, but we weren’t sure we could manage the heat appropriately. And, we had the challenge of recalculating degrees F. into degrees C. It was a mild success, but Renesi was happy to have this experience. He did a fantastic job frosting the cake that did not come out of the pan perfectly!
Everyone had a low-key day except the guys on maintenance. I got to know Joyce and Beverly much better today. We had birthday cake for dessert.
Saturday (9/27) @ Nhowe was devoted to the ground-breaking for the School of Nursing celebration. Afterwards there were countless board meetings. The rest of us spent time with staff and others on the mission.
Sunday (9/28) @ Nhowe
Church services @ Nhowe Mission
Highlights:
· School children singing Shona hymns as they enter. I cannot hear this music enough. I’m glad we have it recorded.
· Prayer requests. Members come forward to share their requests privately with one of the men. My guess, well over 100 children came up or stood at their seats when room at the front was exhausted. Very moving to watch Zim & American men quietly and gently hear the requests, then come together on the stage to share the general threads. They (on the stage)and we (in the audience) held hands as Steve led the entire assembly in prayer. While the call was being responded to and the requests were taken, the assembly softly sang hymns in Shona. The only more moving worship experience I've witnessed was the feet washing earlier. POWERFUL
After lunch, we were free to do whatever, but encouraged to get packed as everything was going with us tomorrow to Igava. John & I visited "Arizona" where Renesi & Lisbon, the cooks, live. Renesi had invited me earlier in the week to come see his place and his chickens. After a nice visit to both their homes, we returned to the hospital compound. On the way to Arizona, we had noticed smoke from a fire not too far away. The cooks assured us that the fire would not reach us. But as we returned, we saw smoke rising behind the hospital. The Americans staying in "the Quad" were evacuating. The fire was crackling. I never expected fire to sound so loud! We ran to pack our things as quickly as possible in case they decided to evac us too. By the time we had packed up, the fire was threatening the first three houses in the group where we were staying. It was amazing to see the men of our group and the children from the school fighting the fire with buckets of water and tree branches. It was frightening and thrilling at the same time. I was crying out of fear and amazement at the efforts. As soon as it looked like we had some area under control, the fire broke somewhere else. But eventually, it was contained. Thanks be to God!
We had only minor casualties. Jim Liby was hospitalized for observation for his heart. Another miracle was that Nathan and Jeff were able to fix the EKG machine so they could get a good reading on Jim's heart. Jeff was given some medication for asthma and I got a sore throat and runny nose from the smoke that lasted about three days. I even thought I was getting a cold for a while.
Monday (9/29) @ Nhowe and Igava
This was a transition day. We had ceremonies at Igava school to attend, then some of us were going to Harare and others back to Nhowe. Jesse decided to stay at the hospital rather than go to Vic Falls. I was so proud of him at that moment. What an incredible young man he is. I'm so glad he came and glad that we got a chance to know him better. He was also awesome fighting the fire yesterday. God has certainly blessed him with a giving heart.
Before we left, Emerson Stewart, who was staying at Nhowe, put his head into the van and started singing "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" We said goodbye to the doctors and other staff at the hospital, most of us knowing that we will be back (God willing.)
At the Igava school, we attended a ceremony to give some of the orphans their new school uniforms. But first, about 15 people at the head table needed to make speeches. It must be the Zimbabwean way. Yet, through the speeches, we learned how the school is supported by the parents and women's sewing club, as well as the community. A couple of the orphan girls made speeches, too--one from Primary, in Shona, and one from Secondary--in excellent English.
As the children received their new clothes, they bowed or curtsied to Carrie and Tiffany, who were handing them out. Some of the other children laughed, teasingly as the older boys bowed. I guess kids are pretty much the same, in some respects, no matter where they are in the world.
A bonus was that each child returned to the ceremony with his/her new uniform on. Nice to see them looking well-kempt and proud. Some of the children receiving new uniforms had none before. Others had out-grown them or they were badly ripped.
After the ceremony, John and I met the orphan we support--Shallet. She is learning English, but cannot speak any yet and was very shy. I learned that she lives with her "old Granny" and that there are five children in the home. I asked the Orphan Preacher at Igava to look into the situation and let me know whether they are all in school and just what their situation is. Pray that he will contact me!
We saw the sewing room where the women of the sewing club make the uniforms. They have two sewing machines and an embroidery machine. They still need one or two more sewing machines to make the best use of the women's time. Washington says this is a very effective program as it provides uniforms for the needy orphans and the club can also sell uniforms to parents of students who can afford them, thus funding additional fabric for more uniforms. Shallet does not yet have a uniform, but she is on the list to receive one. I hope that she gets one soon.
We also went out to see the new well (bore hole) that has been dug on site. They actually connected the couplings and started the water running while we were there. Pretty exciting for the students, staff and families at Igava.
Finally, it was time for us to part company, with some of us heading for Harare and Washington's house and others returning to Nhowe to finish out the week. We expect to see most of them again at the airport in Harare before most of the group head home.
Sunday 9/20 Avondale service
Hymns sung in English & Shona; service is in English.
Everyone greeted all visitors, very friendly.
They celebrate birthdays similar to Fellowship, but more involved-the song has more verses and you are asked your age.
Sermon by one of our group (John Langley). Topic David and Goliath, message: listening.
Family from Angola; letter of recommendation.
Met Hazxinei Kaerezi, Provisions manager at MSOP. Field Program still in progress. Two student ministers at Avondale.
After church, returning to the Mhlangas, we saw people all in white, "apostles" holding worship services in the open...curious.
Potluck at Washington's. Big spread, good conversation and sharing, getting to know others in the group.
"Lost" luggage all arrived
Relocate to Nhowe. 2 1/2 hour drive.
Arriving at Nhowe mission-no electricity. Candlelit dinner. Generator started...let there be light!
Satying with Gordon & Linda Majonga and their children, Anesu (2), Siphetokuhle (6)
Monday (9/21) @ Nhowe
Began the day with a devotional at hospital:
John Langley spoke on Zacheas and the value God places on every person. His primary scripture was Phil 2 v 1-4
"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."
Prior to the scripture, two beautiful hymns were sung in Shona, the second being to the tune of "How Great Thou Art." Very moving.
Washington said the closing prayer.
After breakfast, Dr. Dehge took us on a tour of the hospital. Something prevented me from participating in all of it, but I cannot recall what drew me away. Then we were treated to a tour of Nhowe school, including time in several classrooms. Children are very well-drilled in what to do, love having photos taken. While at the school, I spoke briefly with Alfred, the farmer whose output helps fund the school. Very impressive young man. I hope to be able to spend more time with him later…
After lunch we all took a bumpy truck ride to visit M. Makunde @ 2 Streams Farm. Brother Makunde is one of the Orphan Ministers no longer being paid. He is also a former headmaster of the secondary school at Nhowe. With him accompanying us, we visited three communities (families?) that he supports spiritually and helps with their physical needs as well. These people are extremely poor. Cory thinks a good possibility for us, either through ZOP or directly, or in partnership. Lots of possibilities...
This evening we discovered that we had to return to Harare w/Washington to try for our visas for Mozambique tomorrow.
Wednesday (9/23) @ Nhowe
Began the day today attending the 6:45 service @ Nhowe Mission church. The singing by the students is simply incredible. We learned that this is a daily occurrence. We'll be back tomorrow.
We accompanied Dean on a trip to find his "lost" orphan. Happily, it was successful. She is not in school now because she has no birth certificate and she is at the point in her education where she needs the certificate to take exams to move to the next level. Dean provided her family with money to get it. The family gave us bag of lemons-very sweet, for lemons, and very gnarly looking.
Returning to Nhowe, the group took pictures of all ZOP orphans at Nhowe ~93. They do this each year, to keep the pictures and information on their web site current. I just observed. Beautiful children, some looking better (physically) than others.
Later in the day, I sat in on meeting to discuss an orphanage @ Nhowe. Very eye-opening. No time-frame, just in discussion stage.
While John helped with painting, I sorted clothes, shoes that we brought to give away. I hope to take to orphans tomorrow, if Cory can get a truck and guide. "Sold" some to Jeff for a couple of boys he is sponsoring. (Some children in his congregation gave him money for clothes, so he insisted on paying.)
Evening worship service again awed us with the singing by the students here at Nhowe. After regular service ended, John Langley conducted a very moving foot-washing service. The leaders from our group washed the feet of the elders of Nhowe Mission church of Christ. After the elders, John L. asked a young husband/father (Alfred, the farmer) to wash the feet of his new baby girl. On his own initiative, he washed his wife's feet,too. John L. informed me later that the washing of wife's feet was totally impromptu, but was one of the best parts. Also moving was the sight of Christian men from the US and Africa praying together, one-on-one. It choked me up.
Thursday (9/24) @ Nhowe
Again attended the early morning service @ Mission church. The singing makes my heart pound.
After breakfast, a group of us went back to Two Streams for photos of ZOP orphans and to give away clothing and shoes. These children sang for us after a little prodding by Cory. We left remaining items of donated clothing with Brother Makunde to give to the most needy.
Back at Nhowe-more singing-a special concert arranged for us by Dr Lemons. Beautiful. John recorded it. A special treat following the concert: the children rehearsed the Zimbabwean national anthem in preparation for the dedication on Saturday and for a competition later. It sounds like a hymn. Incredible.
John and I visited with Brother Nhamo Marunga, the minister at Nhowe mission, at his home. He explained how they are trying to mitigate the impact dollarization has had on the school by getting more local support, both financial and food donations. Still, he was clearly making a plea for more US support. He also thanked us for Fellowship's past support of MSOP and told us that Brother Lawrence Sedze will be here this Saturday, probably for the ground-breaking ceremony for the nursing school. While there, we met Fielding & Karen Allison from Tanzania (Americans who have been doing mission work since 1972) who are here for a three-day marriage seminar, starting this evening.
At evening services, John Langley gave an excellent lesson on witchcraft from Acts 19.
Friday (9/26) @ Nhowe
No field trips today. Began again with services in the Nhowe Mission church. Instead of the complete assembly of children singing, we were treated to a few groups-two girls' groups and one boys'.
I helped Joyce cut (tear) and sew surgical drapes for the hospital. One interesting challenge associated with this was that the spool of thread Sister Chaka provided did not fit on the machine, so we just set it on the table and it worked just fine! How fun to improvise.
Joyce and I also showed Renesi (one of the cooks) how to bake a cake. Chris had handed him a cake mix and can of frosting and asked him to make a cake for Abby, who had a birthday yesterday. It was quite an adventure…finding cake pans, figuring out where we could bake it. They use an outdoor wood-fired oven to bake bread, but we weren’t sure we could manage the heat appropriately. And, we had the challenge of recalculating degrees F. into degrees C. It was a mild success, but Renesi was happy to have this experience. He did a fantastic job frosting the cake that did not come out of the pan perfectly!
Everyone had a low-key day except the guys on maintenance. I got to know Joyce and Beverly much better today. We had birthday cake for dessert.
Saturday (9/27) @ Nhowe was devoted to the ground-breaking for the School of Nursing celebration. Afterwards there were countless board meetings. The rest of us spent time with staff and others on the mission.
Sunday (9/28) @ Nhowe
Church services @ Nhowe Mission
Highlights:
· School children singing Shona hymns as they enter. I cannot hear this music enough. I’m glad we have it recorded.
· Prayer requests. Members come forward to share their requests privately with one of the men. My guess, well over 100 children came up or stood at their seats when room at the front was exhausted. Very moving to watch Zim & American men quietly and gently hear the requests, then come together on the stage to share the general threads. They (on the stage)and we (in the audience) held hands as Steve led the entire assembly in prayer. While the call was being responded to and the requests were taken, the assembly softly sang hymns in Shona. The only more moving worship experience I've witnessed was the feet washing earlier. POWERFUL
After lunch, we were free to do whatever, but encouraged to get packed as everything was going with us tomorrow to Igava. John & I visited "Arizona" where Renesi & Lisbon, the cooks, live. Renesi had invited me earlier in the week to come see his place and his chickens. After a nice visit to both their homes, we returned to the hospital compound. On the way to Arizona, we had noticed smoke from a fire not too far away. The cooks assured us that the fire would not reach us. But as we returned, we saw smoke rising behind the hospital. The Americans staying in "the Quad" were evacuating. The fire was crackling. I never expected fire to sound so loud! We ran to pack our things as quickly as possible in case they decided to evac us too. By the time we had packed up, the fire was threatening the first three houses in the group where we were staying. It was amazing to see the men of our group and the children from the school fighting the fire with buckets of water and tree branches. It was frightening and thrilling at the same time. I was crying out of fear and amazement at the efforts. As soon as it looked like we had some area under control, the fire broke somewhere else. But eventually, it was contained. Thanks be to God!
We had only minor casualties. Jim Liby was hospitalized for observation for his heart. Another miracle was that Nathan and Jeff were able to fix the EKG machine so they could get a good reading on Jim's heart. Jeff was given some medication for asthma and I got a sore throat and runny nose from the smoke that lasted about three days. I even thought I was getting a cold for a while.
Monday (9/29) @ Nhowe and Igava
This was a transition day. We had ceremonies at Igava school to attend, then some of us were going to Harare and others back to Nhowe. Jesse decided to stay at the hospital rather than go to Vic Falls. I was so proud of him at that moment. What an incredible young man he is. I'm so glad he came and glad that we got a chance to know him better. He was also awesome fighting the fire yesterday. God has certainly blessed him with a giving heart.
Before we left, Emerson Stewart, who was staying at Nhowe, put his head into the van and started singing "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" We said goodbye to the doctors and other staff at the hospital, most of us knowing that we will be back (God willing.)
At the Igava school, we attended a ceremony to give some of the orphans their new school uniforms. But first, about 15 people at the head table needed to make speeches. It must be the Zimbabwean way. Yet, through the speeches, we learned how the school is supported by the parents and women's sewing club, as well as the community. A couple of the orphan girls made speeches, too--one from Primary, in Shona, and one from Secondary--in excellent English.
As the children received their new clothes, they bowed or curtsied to Carrie and Tiffany, who were handing them out. Some of the other children laughed, teasingly as the older boys bowed. I guess kids are pretty much the same, in some respects, no matter where they are in the world.
A bonus was that each child returned to the ceremony with his/her new uniform on. Nice to see them looking well-kempt and proud. Some of the children receiving new uniforms had none before. Others had out-grown them or they were badly ripped.
After the ceremony, John and I met the orphan we support--Shallet. She is learning English, but cannot speak any yet and was very shy. I learned that she lives with her "old Granny" and that there are five children in the home. I asked the Orphan Preacher at Igava to look into the situation and let me know whether they are all in school and just what their situation is. Pray that he will contact me!
We saw the sewing room where the women of the sewing club make the uniforms. They have two sewing machines and an embroidery machine. They still need one or two more sewing machines to make the best use of the women's time. Washington says this is a very effective program as it provides uniforms for the needy orphans and the club can also sell uniforms to parents of students who can afford them, thus funding additional fabric for more uniforms. Shallet does not yet have a uniform, but she is on the list to receive one. I hope that she gets one soon.
We also went out to see the new well (bore hole) that has been dug on site. They actually connected the couplings and started the water running while we were there. Pretty exciting for the students, staff and families at Igava.
Finally, it was time for us to part company, with some of us heading for Harare and Washington's house and others returning to Nhowe to finish out the week. We expect to see most of them again at the airport in Harare before most of the group head home.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Fourth Africa Posting
I had hoped to post this last installment of my journal in Johannesburg airport since we had time to kill. Unfortunately their internet connection at the airport was not functioning so I waited to get home to use a more reliable internet connection. This set of journal entries covers the last day at Vic Falls as well as all of our travel to Mozambique and our last few days in Harare.
(Thursday, Oct 1) The experience at the market is definitely hard core. To say the stall owners are aggressive is to use the most extreme understatement. They never let up. Good deals can be had but you have to put up with a lot of hassle. Even after we had finished shopping we were hounded by the vendors. They make the vendors in Mexico look like they are on prozac. I hope the Mexican vendors never meet these guys. We were able to get a few postcards which I will write tonight and send tomorrow on the way to the airport. We were also able to get stamps at the post office which was only about a block away from the market. The tourist policeman directed us to the post office. I guess they are there to make sure the tourists don't get too harassed.
We returned to the hotel and had dinner at the snack bar of the hotel. Mostly hamburgers and large sandwiches. After dinner we headed for town and had ice cream at the Cream Inn, one of several eating establishments in the same building and all with the word Inn in the title of the eating establishment. A quick trip back to the hotel and we got packed for our trip back to Harare tomorrow.
(Friday, October 2, 2009) I got up this morning to take a few pictures of the hotel and then go to breakfast. Another great spread. The hotel is full of a convention of The Sabbeth Keepers. Luckily we got in for breakfast before they hit the line. Breakfast is a very nice buffet, with eggs, meats, fruit, breads and fruit juices, including mango and guava. After breakfast we checked out and loaded the cars for the airport. We had to do two trips to get everyone and their luggage to the airport. On the way we were able to drop off our letters at the post office.
(Saturday, October 3) Today we traveled to Mutare to visit the Mutare School of preaching. The town of Mutare is on the border with Mozambique. It is located in a valley surrounded by hills. It is really quite striking. The town is of good size and had a bustling market and bus station both of which we passed on the way to MSOP. Coming into town we went through Christmas Pass, a winding pass reminiscent of passes in the state of Washington. We were dropped off at the school by Washington and Alice while they went to visit Alice's mother who lives about 30 km away.
The MSOP is situated on a hillside and we got a fairly complete tour by the staff, including Lawrence, the acting principal and Ella, the school secretary. I do not remember the names of the staff except that the librarian had a name like Theo and one of the teachers had a name like Bamo. I believe that Sue got them to write their names so that we would have the correct spellings. We saw the bore hole and tank they had built and saw the two burned out pumps that occurred because of the erratic voltage levels they have. A three phase voltage regulator solved that problem. The tank is in need of some repair to keep it from leaking and a float shutoff valve to keep the pump from working too hard and wasting water by pumping when the tank is full. The other problem they have is that the bicycles they have are completely useless since no one knows how to perform basic bicycle maintenance. Mostly flats are the problem and bolts that are jarred loose by the bumpy roads and lost. No tools are around to fix the bikes. Also the bike components are of inferior quality and in many cases break easily because they are made of plastic. Things like pedals and brakes seem to break easily but most of the bikes could be fixed easily with little effort by someone interested in bicycle maintenance.
We also saw the computers there and a similar comment can be made. The computers have been there for over a year and are still sitting in a room not connected. No one has checked them to see if they work. Again, they need someone at the school to take responsibility for routine maintenance. This might be helped by using some of the capability at Nhowe School. Washington was going to check on this.
We visited most of the facilities of the school, including the dining hall, the school office, the library, the dorm for single men, the chapel and assorted other smaller buildings. Almost all of the structures were constructed quite awhile ago. After having lunch with the staff we discussed some of the issues surrounding the school. Washington and Alice then returned and we resumed our trip to Mozambique. We navigated through a large line of fuel trucks on either side of the road on the Zimbabwe side waiting to get their paperwork done for crossing the border. Then we had our visas stamped for leaving Zimbabwe and entering Mozambique. We then met Owen and Eunice and a few other relatives including Owen's father and one of his brothers. We then drove to Manica, (about 20 km from the border) and had tea and biscuits at Owen's fathers house. We them proceeded on to Owen's house in Messica, a much smaller town about 18 km from Manica. We were greeted at Owen's house by a few members of the Church congregation. I began to understand that a considerable number of the people in this area speak Portuguese, unlike my impression from doing a little reading about Mozambique. Mozambique is about twice the size of California.
We also began using mosquito nets over our beds at night. This area is definitely a malaria area. We are taking our pills but really have seen few mosquitoes. I guess the nets are doing their jobs since several people have heard mosquitoes buzzing around the nets at night.
It is amazing to watch Eunice cook a meal. It is all prepared outside over a charcoal fired cooker. Eunice puts in a very long day. They have a well for water which they boil for most uses but have no running water in the house. All water is brought up by bucket. Similarly only the toilet and the shower drains work. All waste material is flushed down the drains by using a bucket.
(Sunday, October 4) Today after breakfast I rode to church and Sue walked with Owen and Eunice. The current church is a wooden small structure. They are currently building a new structure of brick right next to the old church. The church was filled to over flowing. Washington Mhlanga gave the lesson in the first hour of the service. This began the practice which consisted of sequential reading and translating in English, Shona and Portuguese. I gave the short lesson during the regular service. I spoke on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Evidently it was well received since several church members mentioned the lesson to me over the next couple of days. The singing of the Shona Hymns proved uplifting as usual led by a very energetic song leader. We learned a few things by talking to the church members after church and all members of the church were involved in a serpentine hand shaking exercise which took a while to complete. During the service some of the young people of the congregation professed the desire to be baptized. Shortly after visiting outside the church we all walked to a flooded stone quarry where two young men and two young women were baptized, complete with the singing of Shona Hymns.
We then walked back to Owen's house where we had dinner. I downloaded a video of the baptisms from Sue's camera to Owen's computer and compressed the video so it would play without halting on his computer. It seemed to work well and the quality was OK. After a bit of visiting with some church members we shuffled off to our nets and another mosquito free sleep.
(Monday, October 5) The next morning after breakfast we set out to see several members of the congregation in their own homes. We ended up passing through the Messica Musika, or market. It was quite warm and I was feeling a little sluggish and I think I got dehydrated. When we got back I passed on lunch and consumed lots of water. I was fine for dinner. More church members came to visit after dinner and one of them brought some bread which we would have for breakfast the next day. It was quite moving to see the degree of commitment of Owen and Eunice in performing their duties as well as the genuine acceptance and caring shown by the church congregation for Owen and Eunice.
Once again we crawled under the nets to protect us from mosquitoes. Seems to be working
(Tuesday October 6) Today we were to set out for Chimio ( the provincial capital where the governor lives) It is a fairly good sized town with lots of commerce going on. We had come to see if Owen could retrieve his check which we sent to his father's account. This was not successful since the deposit had not arrived, but we determined that the best way to send him money is by Moneygram directly. He only needs the code number which we can supply him and some ID. We cover the sending fee in the US, so he gets the money with no decrement.
We then set off for the border to cross back to Zimbabwe. After about an hour plus we got to the border and let Owen and Eunice off. They will take the bus back to Messica. We had the hassle I predicted we would have due to the error of the Immigration clerk when we took the 1 day trip to Botswana. Washington was able to talk them out of charging an additional $30 each to get back into Zimbabwe. Once we crossed the border we stopped at a shop in Mutare owned by Alice's sister and brother in law. We then took off for the house of Alice's mother, who is not felling well. She has liver cancer I believe. She lives in the Eastern Highlands, not far from Mutare. This is a beautiful part of the country with a lot of mountains and forests. After stopping for tea we headed off on our return journey to Harare. This was an extremely beautiful drive with windy mountain passes and lots of hills and rocks. We took as many pictures as we could until we ran out of light. In a little while we were able to take pictures of a fire by the side of the road. It was a long ride in the dark to Harare with several disabled vehicles by the side of the road. They mark this by using branches instead of flares. Washington said that there were fewer broken down vehicles than usual.
A quick dinner and a little TV watching and we climbed into bed with no nets this time.
(Wednesday, October 7)
Today we headed downtown for a few errands by Alice and Washington. This was followed by Washington driving out to the orphan project at Chivero. This was on the road to Bulawayo. We saw several of the White Farms which were taken from the farmers. A number of these were turned over to government cronies like the governor of the reserve bank who has an enormous farm. The Chivero Orphan Project is on one of these farms. They are one of 80 tenants on the farm. They have been deeded the land. They are doing quite a good job at Chivero with several buildings built or in process of being built. They have a clinic that is about to open. They are also planning an orphanage which is partially built. The church is built but not completed as are some dwellings. They also plan a primary school. They have a large field where they raise crops to feed themselves as well as to sell commercially. They are currently in a lull as they are awaiting additional funding. This definitely seems like a worthy project but quite a bit too ambitious for us alone. Perhaps some teaming agreement can be reached.
We returned late in the afternoon and had a short bible study followed by dinner. Washington once again told a number of stories concerning his adventures traveling for the state run metals company of Zimbabwe. The man has way too many stories but they are very entertaining.
Tomorrow will be our last full day in Africa. In some respects the time has gone too quickly. On the other hand we have done so much and been so many places, I am amazed that we did all that we did. It has been a very worthwhile trip. We have learned the kinds of things that you can only learn on the ground and by asking lots of questions until a consistent story emerges. We shall not soon forget the experiences, the places and most of all the people of Africa. I await our next trip.
(Thursday, October 8) Today we set off to see a few locations and meet a few people in the Harare area. Washington drove us to an area called Caledonia. It is named after the farm which used to be there but was confiscated by the government. A few years ago it was the dumping ground for a group of people who were living in shacks and selling out of small stands in the vicinity of Harare. They were removed from where they were living, rounded up and dumped at Caledonia as part of the campaign to "get rid of the filth" - a Zimbabwean Urban Renewal Program.
A small community has developed in the area now and some farming is done on the land but it was set up as a tobacco farm and the land is not well suited for growing maize, which is what the people are choosing to grow. There is a small congregation of C of C there. We visited a tent which they use for gathering. Washington told us the story of how they got the tent in South Africa on a trip to get one of the Nhowe vehicles repaired. While they were there they were robbed and beaten by a gang of South African thugs. It was a costly experience. As we left the Caledonia area and were on the highway again we encountered a brush fire burning right by the side of the road. The heat was quite intense for a short distance and the smoke was thick.
We next took off for the Chitsungwira area, which is where Washington's sister lives. This was the black township where all the black workers lived back in the days of Ian Smith's Rhodesia. It is located south of Harare. The area has continued to grow and today housed about 150,000 residents and has its own industrial base. Washinton's sister served us cokes and home made buns. Quite good. We headed back to town and met Alice at the Avondale Church where her office is. There were two bible studies (one for the men and one for the women) for about an hour. We picked up some chicken take out at a restaurant on the way home and had dinner and tucked in for our last night in Africa.
(Friday, October 9) Well the final day has arrived. We have had breakfast and are packed. We are awaiting the arrival of 3 members of our original group at Nhowe Hospital. They remained at Nhowe when we went off to Mozambique. We are on the same flights to Johannesburg and Atlanta. There is about a 4 hour loayover in Jo'burg. I am hoping I can get on line at the airport and post this last entry to the blog. If the speed is OK, I will try to at least post some pictures. The videos will have to wait since they require extensive editing. I just have fragments right now.
(Thursday, Oct 1) The experience at the market is definitely hard core. To say the stall owners are aggressive is to use the most extreme understatement. They never let up. Good deals can be had but you have to put up with a lot of hassle. Even after we had finished shopping we were hounded by the vendors. They make the vendors in Mexico look like they are on prozac. I hope the Mexican vendors never meet these guys. We were able to get a few postcards which I will write tonight and send tomorrow on the way to the airport. We were also able to get stamps at the post office which was only about a block away from the market. The tourist policeman directed us to the post office. I guess they are there to make sure the tourists don't get too harassed.
We returned to the hotel and had dinner at the snack bar of the hotel. Mostly hamburgers and large sandwiches. After dinner we headed for town and had ice cream at the Cream Inn, one of several eating establishments in the same building and all with the word Inn in the title of the eating establishment. A quick trip back to the hotel and we got packed for our trip back to Harare tomorrow.
(Friday, October 2, 2009) I got up this morning to take a few pictures of the hotel and then go to breakfast. Another great spread. The hotel is full of a convention of The Sabbeth Keepers. Luckily we got in for breakfast before they hit the line. Breakfast is a very nice buffet, with eggs, meats, fruit, breads and fruit juices, including mango and guava. After breakfast we checked out and loaded the cars for the airport. We had to do two trips to get everyone and their luggage to the airport. On the way we were able to drop off our letters at the post office.
(Saturday, October 3) Today we traveled to Mutare to visit the Mutare School of preaching. The town of Mutare is on the border with Mozambique. It is located in a valley surrounded by hills. It is really quite striking. The town is of good size and had a bustling market and bus station both of which we passed on the way to MSOP. Coming into town we went through Christmas Pass, a winding pass reminiscent of passes in the state of Washington. We were dropped off at the school by Washington and Alice while they went to visit Alice's mother who lives about 30 km away.
The MSOP is situated on a hillside and we got a fairly complete tour by the staff, including Lawrence, the acting principal and Ella, the school secretary. I do not remember the names of the staff except that the librarian had a name like Theo and one of the teachers had a name like Bamo. I believe that Sue got them to write their names so that we would have the correct spellings. We saw the bore hole and tank they had built and saw the two burned out pumps that occurred because of the erratic voltage levels they have. A three phase voltage regulator solved that problem. The tank is in need of some repair to keep it from leaking and a float shutoff valve to keep the pump from working too hard and wasting water by pumping when the tank is full. The other problem they have is that the bicycles they have are completely useless since no one knows how to perform basic bicycle maintenance. Mostly flats are the problem and bolts that are jarred loose by the bumpy roads and lost. No tools are around to fix the bikes. Also the bike components are of inferior quality and in many cases break easily because they are made of plastic. Things like pedals and brakes seem to break easily but most of the bikes could be fixed easily with little effort by someone interested in bicycle maintenance.
We also saw the computers there and a similar comment can be made. The computers have been there for over a year and are still sitting in a room not connected. No one has checked them to see if they work. Again, they need someone at the school to take responsibility for routine maintenance. This might be helped by using some of the capability at Nhowe School. Washington was going to check on this.
We visited most of the facilities of the school, including the dining hall, the school office, the library, the dorm for single men, the chapel and assorted other smaller buildings. Almost all of the structures were constructed quite awhile ago. After having lunch with the staff we discussed some of the issues surrounding the school. Washington and Alice then returned and we resumed our trip to Mozambique. We navigated through a large line of fuel trucks on either side of the road on the Zimbabwe side waiting to get their paperwork done for crossing the border. Then we had our visas stamped for leaving Zimbabwe and entering Mozambique. We then met Owen and Eunice and a few other relatives including Owen's father and one of his brothers. We then drove to Manica, (about 20 km from the border) and had tea and biscuits at Owen's fathers house. We them proceeded on to Owen's house in Messica, a much smaller town about 18 km from Manica. We were greeted at Owen's house by a few members of the Church congregation. I began to understand that a considerable number of the people in this area speak Portuguese, unlike my impression from doing a little reading about Mozambique. Mozambique is about twice the size of California.
We also began using mosquito nets over our beds at night. This area is definitely a malaria area. We are taking our pills but really have seen few mosquitoes. I guess the nets are doing their jobs since several people have heard mosquitoes buzzing around the nets at night.
It is amazing to watch Eunice cook a meal. It is all prepared outside over a charcoal fired cooker. Eunice puts in a very long day. They have a well for water which they boil for most uses but have no running water in the house. All water is brought up by bucket. Similarly only the toilet and the shower drains work. All waste material is flushed down the drains by using a bucket.
(Sunday, October 4) Today after breakfast I rode to church and Sue walked with Owen and Eunice. The current church is a wooden small structure. They are currently building a new structure of brick right next to the old church. The church was filled to over flowing. Washington Mhlanga gave the lesson in the first hour of the service. This began the practice which consisted of sequential reading and translating in English, Shona and Portuguese. I gave the short lesson during the regular service. I spoke on the parable of the Good Samaritan. Evidently it was well received since several church members mentioned the lesson to me over the next couple of days. The singing of the Shona Hymns proved uplifting as usual led by a very energetic song leader. We learned a few things by talking to the church members after church and all members of the church were involved in a serpentine hand shaking exercise which took a while to complete. During the service some of the young people of the congregation professed the desire to be baptized. Shortly after visiting outside the church we all walked to a flooded stone quarry where two young men and two young women were baptized, complete with the singing of Shona Hymns.
We then walked back to Owen's house where we had dinner. I downloaded a video of the baptisms from Sue's camera to Owen's computer and compressed the video so it would play without halting on his computer. It seemed to work well and the quality was OK. After a bit of visiting with some church members we shuffled off to our nets and another mosquito free sleep.
(Monday, October 5) The next morning after breakfast we set out to see several members of the congregation in their own homes. We ended up passing through the Messica Musika, or market. It was quite warm and I was feeling a little sluggish and I think I got dehydrated. When we got back I passed on lunch and consumed lots of water. I was fine for dinner. More church members came to visit after dinner and one of them brought some bread which we would have for breakfast the next day. It was quite moving to see the degree of commitment of Owen and Eunice in performing their duties as well as the genuine acceptance and caring shown by the church congregation for Owen and Eunice.
Once again we crawled under the nets to protect us from mosquitoes. Seems to be working
(Tuesday October 6) Today we were to set out for Chimio ( the provincial capital where the governor lives) It is a fairly good sized town with lots of commerce going on. We had come to see if Owen could retrieve his check which we sent to his father's account. This was not successful since the deposit had not arrived, but we determined that the best way to send him money is by Moneygram directly. He only needs the code number which we can supply him and some ID. We cover the sending fee in the US, so he gets the money with no decrement.
We then set off for the border to cross back to Zimbabwe. After about an hour plus we got to the border and let Owen and Eunice off. They will take the bus back to Messica. We had the hassle I predicted we would have due to the error of the Immigration clerk when we took the 1 day trip to Botswana. Washington was able to talk them out of charging an additional $30 each to get back into Zimbabwe. Once we crossed the border we stopped at a shop in Mutare owned by Alice's sister and brother in law. We then took off for the house of Alice's mother, who is not felling well. She has liver cancer I believe. She lives in the Eastern Highlands, not far from Mutare. This is a beautiful part of the country with a lot of mountains and forests. After stopping for tea we headed off on our return journey to Harare. This was an extremely beautiful drive with windy mountain passes and lots of hills and rocks. We took as many pictures as we could until we ran out of light. In a little while we were able to take pictures of a fire by the side of the road. It was a long ride in the dark to Harare with several disabled vehicles by the side of the road. They mark this by using branches instead of flares. Washington said that there were fewer broken down vehicles than usual.
A quick dinner and a little TV watching and we climbed into bed with no nets this time.
(Wednesday, October 7)
Today we headed downtown for a few errands by Alice and Washington. This was followed by Washington driving out to the orphan project at Chivero. This was on the road to Bulawayo. We saw several of the White Farms which were taken from the farmers. A number of these were turned over to government cronies like the governor of the reserve bank who has an enormous farm. The Chivero Orphan Project is on one of these farms. They are one of 80 tenants on the farm. They have been deeded the land. They are doing quite a good job at Chivero with several buildings built or in process of being built. They have a clinic that is about to open. They are also planning an orphanage which is partially built. The church is built but not completed as are some dwellings. They also plan a primary school. They have a large field where they raise crops to feed themselves as well as to sell commercially. They are currently in a lull as they are awaiting additional funding. This definitely seems like a worthy project but quite a bit too ambitious for us alone. Perhaps some teaming agreement can be reached.
We returned late in the afternoon and had a short bible study followed by dinner. Washington once again told a number of stories concerning his adventures traveling for the state run metals company of Zimbabwe. The man has way too many stories but they are very entertaining.
Tomorrow will be our last full day in Africa. In some respects the time has gone too quickly. On the other hand we have done so much and been so many places, I am amazed that we did all that we did. It has been a very worthwhile trip. We have learned the kinds of things that you can only learn on the ground and by asking lots of questions until a consistent story emerges. We shall not soon forget the experiences, the places and most of all the people of Africa. I await our next trip.
(Thursday, October 8) Today we set off to see a few locations and meet a few people in the Harare area. Washington drove us to an area called Caledonia. It is named after the farm which used to be there but was confiscated by the government. A few years ago it was the dumping ground for a group of people who were living in shacks and selling out of small stands in the vicinity of Harare. They were removed from where they were living, rounded up and dumped at Caledonia as part of the campaign to "get rid of the filth" - a Zimbabwean Urban Renewal Program.
A small community has developed in the area now and some farming is done on the land but it was set up as a tobacco farm and the land is not well suited for growing maize, which is what the people are choosing to grow. There is a small congregation of C of C there. We visited a tent which they use for gathering. Washington told us the story of how they got the tent in South Africa on a trip to get one of the Nhowe vehicles repaired. While they were there they were robbed and beaten by a gang of South African thugs. It was a costly experience. As we left the Caledonia area and were on the highway again we encountered a brush fire burning right by the side of the road. The heat was quite intense for a short distance and the smoke was thick.
We next took off for the Chitsungwira area, which is where Washington's sister lives. This was the black township where all the black workers lived back in the days of Ian Smith's Rhodesia. It is located south of Harare. The area has continued to grow and today housed about 150,000 residents and has its own industrial base. Washinton's sister served us cokes and home made buns. Quite good. We headed back to town and met Alice at the Avondale Church where her office is. There were two bible studies (one for the men and one for the women) for about an hour. We picked up some chicken take out at a restaurant on the way home and had dinner and tucked in for our last night in Africa.
(Friday, October 9) Well the final day has arrived. We have had breakfast and are packed. We are awaiting the arrival of 3 members of our original group at Nhowe Hospital. They remained at Nhowe when we went off to Mozambique. We are on the same flights to Johannesburg and Atlanta. There is about a 4 hour loayover in Jo'burg. I am hoping I can get on line at the airport and post this last entry to the blog. If the speed is OK, I will try to at least post some pictures. The videos will have to wait since they require extensive editing. I just have fragments right now.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Third posting
This is the third posting, coming from Elephant Hills Resort at Victoria Falls. An extremely slow internet means I will probably only post text. Hopefully I can post some pictures and video latter but I wouldn't count on it. So here is our story so far in summary form. Some has already been posted but most is new. Thanks to Betty Grace for the e-mail in Zimbabwe.
Fellowship Africa Mission Journal
1.)Nhowe Mission Hospital, Zimbabwe. 9/24/2009
This is the first journal posting for the Fellowship Africa Mission to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. I will summarize the events of the first 4 days in Zimbabwe.
We arrived in Harare on the 19th of September and were met by Washington Mhlanga who then transported us to his house. We are a group of about 22. Washington has a very large house with accommodation for several people. There were several couples on the trip and more singles. The couples each had their own rooms and the singles either paired up in individual rooms or slept on couches in an area behind the main living room.
A brief mention of the trip. It was an uneventful but long trip especially the 15 hour non stop flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. The layovers were not too bad. We ended up spending more time in Atlanta but that just meant we spent less time in Johannesburg. There were more services available in Atlanta, so that worked out fine. We met some of the people that we would be traveling with in Atlanta but did not make all of the introductions until we were at Washington's house in Harare. We carried most of our essential items in 2 carry on items each which although a pain for lugging around served us well since all the checked baggage was delayed until the next day.
(Sunday, Sept 20) After a night of fairly good rest since we were so tired we got up, had breakfast and went to church service at the Avondale Church of Christ. The church is small but very nice. The members of the congregation were very gracious and the singing of Shona Hymns was heavenly. (more about this later)
The group that we are traveling with include several members of the Eastpoint church of Wichita, Kansas. These include:
Steve Lemon - an MD who has been associated with Nhowe Mission for about 20 years. The Nhowe Hospital is named after his son Brian who was killed in an automobile accident about 15 years ago while attending college.
Chris Lemon - the son of Steve and brother of Brian. He is an avid soccer player and has been coaching and playing soccer with some of the young men here at Nhowe.
Corry and Trish Mauck - a couple who have been to Africa and in particular Zimbabwe many times. Corry appears to be in charge of the Orphans Program and seems to be eveywhere and know everyone.
Emerson and Joyce Stuart - a retired couple who have been to Zimbabwe before.
Beverly - who is a photojounalist for this trip.
Dean Foster - originally from Oklahoma and a big OU fan. He has sponsored some of the orphans who are in the Orphans Program run by Nhowe.
Megan - a young girl who is associated with the Eastpoint congregation but who has been on an extended mission to Zambia to work in an orphanage which cares for children from birth to age 3
Nathan Batten - a young man who is a mechanical engineeer and works at Cessna.
Abbie Castelli - a nursing aid who is in Zimbabwe for the first time.
John Langley - one of the ministers of the Eastpoint church who has been to Zimbabwe multiple times
Geoff and Kerrie Van Sandt - a couple from Springfield, Missouri. Geoff's father is Roy Van Sandt, who is one of the elders of the Eastpoint church. Roy and his wife had planned to come on this trip but were unable to due to a family emergency.
Tracy - from Oklahoma - a fried of Beverly and a teacher, interested teaching some of the children in Zimbabwe and in the Orphans Program. This is her first trip to Zimbabwe
.
From North Carolina there are:
Judy and Jim Liby - a couple who have not done missionary work before and are interested in the Orphan Program
Jessica - a young woman who is interested in the Orphan Program and is on her first Zimbabwe trip. She is also interested in teaching.
Tiffany - another young woman from North Carolina whose name I can't remember. She is also doing extensive photo jounalism and is interested in the Orphan Program
From Seattle there are:
John and Sue Calhoun - that's us. Sue is the chairman of the Missions Committee at Fellowship Church. John is retired.
Jesse McFarland - a registered nurse who is serving on a medical mission at the Nhowe Mission Hospital
After church we came back to Washington's house for a potluck lunch after which we packed up and hopped on the bus to Nhowe Mission. This is about 2 to 3 hours south and east from Harare on the Mutare road.
We arrived at dark and had a candlelight dinner since the power was off. In a little while the generator came on and we had power as we moved to our accommodations. We are staying with Dr. Gordon Majonga and his wife Linda and their two children Anesu (boy about 3) and Siphetokuhle (girl about 6).
(Monday, Sept 21) After getting a fairly good sleep - not too hard since we were still recovering from our 30 + hour traveling expedition - we got up and had a devotional with the hospital staff where we all introduced ourselves. This was followed by breakfast, a tour of the hospital and a tour of the Nhowe School.
After we had lunch we hopped in the trucks and headed out to several of the Orphan Program locations to visit some of the people who minister to the orphans as well as see some of the orphans. There are certainly a lot of very needy orphans in these locations. We first visited a man, Mr Makunde who used to be the headmaster of the Nhowe School. He has recently retired and is currently an Orphan Program minister who monitors the progress of the people supporting the orphans as well as the needs and progress of the orphans. We went to three locations where there were orphans. The last place we were at we were given a gift of a goat for the hospital. We took it in the back of the pickup we were in. They were certainly among the most impoverished people I have ever seen.
The one memory I will carry with me from Zimbabwe is the graciousness and politeness of the Zimbabwean people.
We got back to the hospital after dark and had dinner after which we went back to our room. In a little while Washington Mhlanga appeared with the forms for our visas to Mozambique. We filled in the forms and then noted that we had no passport photos. This meant we would have to accompany Washington back to Harare. We arrived about 11 pm and went to bed immediately.
(Tuesday, Sept 22) The next morning I got up and composed a posting for my blog. We had breakfast with Washington and Alice and went to get our photos and to the embassy of Mozambique for our visas. The application process went smoothly and we all went back to Alice's office where I thought she had internet connectivity. It turns out that she has e-mail only so Washington took Sue and I to the internet cafe. For $1 you got 40 minutes of internet. We waited about 15 minutes and I was able to upload the blog posting in about 10 minutes. We then took off for Marondera where Washington got his car certified for travel into Mozambique. This took about an hour. We called the Hospital and found out that Dr. Ndehge and Dr Lemon were on the way to Marondera. We met them and traveled back to Nhowe hospital with them.
After dinner we retired to our house and had a long conversation with Dr. Majonga about economics and life in general in both the US as well as Zimbabwe. It was very informative. We also got a good bit of information from Dr Ndehge on the drive back from Marondera I think I have a much better appreciation for the political scene and the history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
(Wednesday, Sept 23) The next day we went to the school to attend the start of the day services for the students at Nhowe School. The building holds about 2500 people. The students file in and begin singing the Zimbabwe national anthem in Shona. This is an experience which must not be missed. After we got back to the hospital we had breakfast and headed out to visit one orphan who was sponsored by one of the members of our mission group. We found her and were able to determine a few issues which could be resolved to get her back in school. It was a very good experience and we left with a large bag full of lemons directly from their lemon tree. We returned for lunch and then I helped paint some primer on some of the fascia trim on one of the buildings. At about 4:30 we went to the Nhowe school for a service which included the washing of feet of the elders of thje Nhowe School congregation by the elders of the Eastpoint church. We then returned for dinner and headed back to our house.
2.) Nhowe Mission Hospital September 25, 2009.
(Thursday, Sept 24) Today we did our usual devotional at the Nhowe School and returned for breakfast. After breakfast we hopped in the truck to go and take pictures of some of the orphans at one of the orphan stations near the house of Mr Makunde. He lives on part of an old "White Farm" where the owners have been driven off. There are some old barns for drying tobacco on the farm and we met in a roofed (but partially open on the sides) structure which I believe serves as a meeting place for the local community. Along the way we met up with Washington Mhlanga who had our visas for Mozambique and our passports. We were very pleased. Most of the time was spent having all the orphan kids on the list come and have their picture taken to document their progress in the program. We had done this the day before at Nhowe School and while we were in Harare on Tuesday they had done this at another school. This allows the program to determine if the children are still in the program and are progressing with their school work. For this group the day to day monitoring is performed by Mr Makunde.
We returned in the truck but as we just started someone noticed that a stick bug had attached himself to my pants and was walking along them. He eventually climbed off of me and on to Joyce. People started taking pictures and eventually Trish tried to get the bug off of Joyce whereupon the bug fell right on the front of Joyce and she let out a whoop and eventually got the bug off. A good time was had by all. We returned to the Hospital over the usual bumpy roads and had lunch.
The highlight of the afternoon was a singing presentation by the students of the Nhowe School. Several groups of 4 or more did songs in both English and Shona. All of the groups were very good but one group of about 5 young men from the High School stood out as being exceptional. In particular one of the young men, a bass had one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. He was fairly small but the power of his voice stood out from all the other singers and this was all accomplished with seemingly little effort. After the singing presentation, the assembled school choir gathered to do a practice session for the singing of the national anthem of Zimbabwe. We were treated to an extraordinary performance. The choir performs in competitions at a national level and are highly ranked. Once again the voice of the young male bass singer also stood out from the rest of the choir due to the power and clarity of his voice. After the singing we went to the house of Nhomo Maranga, a graduate of the Mutare School of Preaching, the only Bible College in the country. We support some of the special projects of this school. He wanted to thank us for past support and inquire as to any future support. He works at the Nhowe School doing preaching and counseling but would like to have his own congregation.
We returned to the school and while we were waiting for a class on witchcraft to begin, Sue began to take pictures. She was immediately mobbed. I tried to take pictures of the mob but soon found myself caught up in a different mob. We retreated to the class in a short while.
After the class we returned to the hospital for dinner and then returned to our house. I did some downloading of pictures and sound recordings and cleaned off the memory cards in the cameras. The little netbook that I brought has proven to be very useful. Unfortunately I have found little time to be able to use it. Hopefully I can remedy this. It appears that I tend to wake up early and I am able to do some journaling in the hours of 4:00 am to 6:00 am. So far I have used this time for journaling because I have allowed myself to get behind. I am mostly caught up so I hope to get some blog material together for posting in the next few days and then hope we can get to the internet cafe to post to the blog. I also hope to prepare some photo sets and videos.
(Friday, Sept 25) We got up and went to the usual devotional at the Nhowe School and returned for breakfast. No trips were planned so we all stayed around the hospital and either observed or pitched in to help do tasks. Dean and I got two of the doors that had been brought down and fit them to a doorway that leads into the operating theater. The old doors on the outside have gotten badly weathered and had begun to deteriorate. We got as far as sizing the doors and cutting and planning them so they fit the opening. Unfortunately there were no hinges so we could not hang them.
I spent the afternoon trying to catchup with my journaling. There was a class at 4:30 at the school and I attended while Sue stayed behind and helped with some sowing. I walked back with Jim Liby and John Langley and we had to delay since a couple of the boys wanted to talk and have some pictures taken. John asked how to say short and round so that we could apply a nickname to Corry. We were told Mupfuti Mapudha or something like that.
We returned and had dinner and headed off to our house and went to bed. I am feeling a little sniffly and wanted to get some rest.
(Saturday, Sept 26) Finally caught up with my journaling. It is about 6:00 am and we are preparing for the day. There will be a dedication of a nursing school at the hospital today at around 10:00 am.
The dedication was quite an event. There were several dignitaries including a senator, the governor, the local chief, the minister of health as well as several of the board of governors and directors of the Nhowe Mission Hospital. The nursing school will be located a short distance from the set of Hospital buildings between the hospital and the location of the houses for the staff of the hospital. We heard the singing of the students from the school and lots of speeches followed by a tour of the hospital. This was followed by a lunch and then endless meetings for the board of governors and the political officials. The rest of the afternoon was quiet and little was done for the rest of the day.
(Sunday, Sept 27) This was a day that started out well with a service at the school that lasted for about 3 hours. I was able to get a series of videos of the children coming into the church building. This was followed by lunch and we had little on our agenda for the afternoon. We took off with a couple of the cooks from the hospital to visit the hospital garden and to visit their homes. One of the cooks was named Lisbon and I did not catch the name of the other cook. Lisbon has a son named Anesu. The other cook had a chicken coop in the front of his house. He buys chicks for $1 and sells them for $7. He had a battery operated TV and radio running off of a car battery which was charged by solar panels. On the way down to their houses we saw a fire burning on a ridge in the not too far distance. It was more advanced as we came back. We took some pictures and were not too concerned until we saw some fire in the vicinity of the hospital. By the time we got to the first set of dwellings for the staff we could hear the fire crackling about 200 yards from the houses. The mission visitors who were living in the houses were being evacuated. We hurried back to our structure and packed our stuff. By that time the fire had moved up the hill and was within about 50 yards of our house by the time we came out after we had packed. The fire was primarily contained by consummation of the fuel which consisted of the high grass which is all over the area.
This does not diminish a heroic effort by the mission group, the hospital staff and students from the high school. Key participants were Jesse McFarland, Chris Lemmons, Geoff Van Sandt, Dean Foster, Emerson Stuart , Nathan Batten as well as several of the wives and Jim Liby. Jim suffered a heart episode (he has heart problems) and was admitted and released from the hospital. The next day he appeared to be OK and was in good spirits. The fire continued on for quite a while past dark and and I was able to get several short video sequences which I can edit together later. So a quiet afternoon proved to be anything but quiet.
(Monday, Sept 28 ) Today we are headed to the school at Igava which is not too far from Marondera, the town where we got the car permit to drive to Mozambique. The school is quite a bit smaller than Nhowe and has been in existence from about 1990. I would say the number of students are half or one third of the student population of Nhowe. There was to be a ceremony at the school where new uniforms were to be given out and the borehole which was supported by the Eastpoint church was inspected and water was seen coming from the pump. Our (Sue and I) orphan whom we support for her school fees was there and we were able to meet her and have pictures taken with her. A long bumpy ride back to Harare followed where we arrived at the home of Washington Mhlanga. We leave for Victoria Falls tomorrow. We had a great dinner and got packed for the trip. We shared a few stories and got to know our fellow travelers. It seemed that we did not get enough down time while we were at Nhowe but I guess that just happens when you try to pack a lot in to a short time.
(Tuesday, Sept 29) So begins our great adventure. Today we packed our things and loaded them into a truck and got a ride in a neighbor's van. On the way to the airport we passed a small game preserve and saw kudus (a kind of large antelope) as well as zebras. Shades of things to come. We were on our way to the airport to fly to Victoria Falls and then to the Chobe Game Preserve in Botswana. A flight of about 1 hour brought us to Bulawayo where we discharged some passengers and got a few more. Then another 1 hour flight and we were at Victoria Falls, on the extreme west side of Zimbabwe. We got a van ride to the hotel we are staying at on the outskirts of the town of Victoria Falls. It is called the Elephant Hills Resort. It is definitely 4 or 5 stars and has beautiful grounds as well as a nice golf course and views of the Zambesi river. You can look out across the river and see Zambia. After getting settled into the hotel we set off on a tour of the falls. This is probably the driest period of the year so the falls were down quite a bit from their usual volume. In some ways this worked to our advantage since the mist from the falls is at a reasonable level so that you can see the falls and also not get drenched. The falls are definitely spectacular and we spent about 2 hours walking along the trail and taking pictures. At the end of the trail you have a view of the bridge that crosses into Zambia. This bridge is used for bungee jumping for the adventurous tourists. We declined. On the way back to the entrance we encountered some wart hogs which are quite abundant in this area. They were rooting in the ground for something. (More about wart hogs later). We concluded our tour and made plans for dinner at Boma Restaurant, not far from our hotel.
The experience at Boma Restaurant was incredible. The food is the traditional food of Africa. This included a variety of fruits and vegetables most Americans are familiar with as well as a variety of meats that most Americans may have heard of but never seen, let alone tasted. In addition to beef, chicken and lamb there was pork sausage and boerwar (another kind of sausage) as well as ostrich, wart hog and crocodile tail. The consensus was that the wart hog won the battle hands down. The ostrich was tasty but tough. This is an all you can eat restaurant and then some as a few of our group can confirm. One of the young men on the trip, Nathan seemed to be the victor when it came to over stuffing oneself. A variety of deserts complemented the meal and then it was time for the entertainment. A group of African dancers began the show and then audience participation began with everyone given a drum and drumming lessons followed by group dancing. All in all a very full night in more ways than one. A quick trip back to the hotel and a nights rest would prepare us for the Botswana portion of our journey.
(Wednesday, Sept 30) The morning came too soon since we were aiming on reaching the border (about 50 km away) by 7:00 am. The hotel had packed breakfast for us, so we each took our little boxes of food and headed for the vans that would take us to the border. Along the way we saw a few animals in the bush along side the road, or crossing the road. This included a giraffe, a sable (a kind of antelope- we saw a black male cross the road) as well as a small group (5 or 6 ) of elephants along the side of and crossing the road.
Shortly after this encounter we reached the border for all the paper work shuffle and cleansing of our foot ware (to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease) and then climbed into our open air safari vehicles for the short ride to the Chobe National Park. Our trip began on land as we jerked along the bumpy roads in search of wild beasts. The prize of course, would be a sighting of a lion or leopard. Unfortunately neither of these appeared, although lions had been spotted a few days before. The area of the National Park that we visited was along the banks of the Chobe river which separates Botswana from Namibia. Part of the park includes Seduku Island which is in the middle of the channel of the river. A border dispute settlement in the Hague gave the island to Botswana and abundant wildlife use this island, including Cape buffalo, elephants and hippos. Our land trip included views of lots of varieties of birds, including storks, cranes, bee-eaters, fishers, eagles and vultures. We saw lots of impalas, a few wart hogs, cape buffalo, kudus, a monitor lizard, elephants, water bucks, some giraffes and as we were making our way back to the starting point, a few zebras. We also saw truck loads of the most dangerous animal - tourists.
After concluding our land trip we headed to a lodge for lunch. It was the Mowanda Lodge, which is located on the bank of the Chobe river. Once again a fabulous meal which this time included Impala steak, which was quite good. A short walk to the dock and we all piled into the boat for our water trip. After a short trip by water to the registration hut where our captain (Sinka) registered for our group to enter the park waterways we set off to see the wildlife. This was by far the best part of the trip. We added a few new animals - crocodile and hippo - although we had seen both before but not so close. Also several more monitor lizards, some quite large. The highlight of the trip was getting close to Seduku Island where we got very close views of elephants, Cape Buffalo and hippos in fairly large groups. We got to see them as they entered and in some cases emerged from the river to and from the island. Lots of photos and videos were recorded of course.
It was with a great sense of satisfaction at seeing nature so well preserved as well as a sense of regret in having to leave that we headed back to the dock and boarded the vehicles back to the border and then back to the hotel. Along the way in Zimbabwe we once again saw several small herds of elephants in the bush along the roadside.
Dinner was at a pizza place in a local shopping mall in Vic Falls, followed by a little mall shopping and then a quick hop back to the hotel. Some of the group may head for a local lion preserve where young lions are being studied ( up to 18 months). I have decided to stay behind and catch up on the blog. The afternoon is set aside for shopping and packing for the trip back to Harare tomorrow.
Fellowship Africa Mission Journal
1.)Nhowe Mission Hospital, Zimbabwe. 9/24/2009
This is the first journal posting for the Fellowship Africa Mission to Zimbabwe and Mozambique. I will summarize the events of the first 4 days in Zimbabwe.
We arrived in Harare on the 19th of September and were met by Washington Mhlanga who then transported us to his house. We are a group of about 22. Washington has a very large house with accommodation for several people. There were several couples on the trip and more singles. The couples each had their own rooms and the singles either paired up in individual rooms or slept on couches in an area behind the main living room.
A brief mention of the trip. It was an uneventful but long trip especially the 15 hour non stop flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. The layovers were not too bad. We ended up spending more time in Atlanta but that just meant we spent less time in Johannesburg. There were more services available in Atlanta, so that worked out fine. We met some of the people that we would be traveling with in Atlanta but did not make all of the introductions until we were at Washington's house in Harare. We carried most of our essential items in 2 carry on items each which although a pain for lugging around served us well since all the checked baggage was delayed until the next day.
(Sunday, Sept 20) After a night of fairly good rest since we were so tired we got up, had breakfast and went to church service at the Avondale Church of Christ. The church is small but very nice. The members of the congregation were very gracious and the singing of Shona Hymns was heavenly. (more about this later)
The group that we are traveling with include several members of the Eastpoint church of Wichita, Kansas. These include:
Steve Lemon - an MD who has been associated with Nhowe Mission for about 20 years. The Nhowe Hospital is named after his son Brian who was killed in an automobile accident about 15 years ago while attending college.
Chris Lemon - the son of Steve and brother of Brian. He is an avid soccer player and has been coaching and playing soccer with some of the young men here at Nhowe.
Corry and Trish Mauck - a couple who have been to Africa and in particular Zimbabwe many times. Corry appears to be in charge of the Orphans Program and seems to be eveywhere and know everyone.
Emerson and Joyce Stuart - a retired couple who have been to Zimbabwe before.
Beverly - who is a photojounalist for this trip.
Dean Foster - originally from Oklahoma and a big OU fan. He has sponsored some of the orphans who are in the Orphans Program run by Nhowe.
Megan - a young girl who is associated with the Eastpoint congregation but who has been on an extended mission to Zambia to work in an orphanage which cares for children from birth to age 3
Nathan Batten - a young man who is a mechanical engineeer and works at Cessna.
Abbie Castelli - a nursing aid who is in Zimbabwe for the first time.
John Langley - one of the ministers of the Eastpoint church who has been to Zimbabwe multiple times
Geoff and Kerrie Van Sandt - a couple from Springfield, Missouri. Geoff's father is Roy Van Sandt, who is one of the elders of the Eastpoint church. Roy and his wife had planned to come on this trip but were unable to due to a family emergency.
Tracy - from Oklahoma - a fried of Beverly and a teacher, interested teaching some of the children in Zimbabwe and in the Orphans Program. This is her first trip to Zimbabwe
.
From North Carolina there are:
Judy and Jim Liby - a couple who have not done missionary work before and are interested in the Orphan Program
Jessica - a young woman who is interested in the Orphan Program and is on her first Zimbabwe trip. She is also interested in teaching.
Tiffany - another young woman from North Carolina whose name I can't remember. She is also doing extensive photo jounalism and is interested in the Orphan Program
From Seattle there are:
John and Sue Calhoun - that's us. Sue is the chairman of the Missions Committee at Fellowship Church. John is retired.
Jesse McFarland - a registered nurse who is serving on a medical mission at the Nhowe Mission Hospital
After church we came back to Washington's house for a potluck lunch after which we packed up and hopped on the bus to Nhowe Mission. This is about 2 to 3 hours south and east from Harare on the Mutare road.
We arrived at dark and had a candlelight dinner since the power was off. In a little while the generator came on and we had power as we moved to our accommodations. We are staying with Dr. Gordon Majonga and his wife Linda and their two children Anesu (boy about 3) and Siphetokuhle (girl about 6).
(Monday, Sept 21) After getting a fairly good sleep - not too hard since we were still recovering from our 30 + hour traveling expedition - we got up and had a devotional with the hospital staff where we all introduced ourselves. This was followed by breakfast, a tour of the hospital and a tour of the Nhowe School.
After we had lunch we hopped in the trucks and headed out to several of the Orphan Program locations to visit some of the people who minister to the orphans as well as see some of the orphans. There are certainly a lot of very needy orphans in these locations. We first visited a man, Mr Makunde who used to be the headmaster of the Nhowe School. He has recently retired and is currently an Orphan Program minister who monitors the progress of the people supporting the orphans as well as the needs and progress of the orphans. We went to three locations where there were orphans. The last place we were at we were given a gift of a goat for the hospital. We took it in the back of the pickup we were in. They were certainly among the most impoverished people I have ever seen.
The one memory I will carry with me from Zimbabwe is the graciousness and politeness of the Zimbabwean people.
We got back to the hospital after dark and had dinner after which we went back to our room. In a little while Washington Mhlanga appeared with the forms for our visas to Mozambique. We filled in the forms and then noted that we had no passport photos. This meant we would have to accompany Washington back to Harare. We arrived about 11 pm and went to bed immediately.
(Tuesday, Sept 22) The next morning I got up and composed a posting for my blog. We had breakfast with Washington and Alice and went to get our photos and to the embassy of Mozambique for our visas. The application process went smoothly and we all went back to Alice's office where I thought she had internet connectivity. It turns out that she has e-mail only so Washington took Sue and I to the internet cafe. For $1 you got 40 minutes of internet. We waited about 15 minutes and I was able to upload the blog posting in about 10 minutes. We then took off for Marondera where Washington got his car certified for travel into Mozambique. This took about an hour. We called the Hospital and found out that Dr. Ndehge and Dr Lemon were on the way to Marondera. We met them and traveled back to Nhowe hospital with them.
After dinner we retired to our house and had a long conversation with Dr. Majonga about economics and life in general in both the US as well as Zimbabwe. It was very informative. We also got a good bit of information from Dr Ndehge on the drive back from Marondera I think I have a much better appreciation for the political scene and the history of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.
(Wednesday, Sept 23) The next day we went to the school to attend the start of the day services for the students at Nhowe School. The building holds about 2500 people. The students file in and begin singing the Zimbabwe national anthem in Shona. This is an experience which must not be missed. After we got back to the hospital we had breakfast and headed out to visit one orphan who was sponsored by one of the members of our mission group. We found her and were able to determine a few issues which could be resolved to get her back in school. It was a very good experience and we left with a large bag full of lemons directly from their lemon tree. We returned for lunch and then I helped paint some primer on some of the fascia trim on one of the buildings. At about 4:30 we went to the Nhowe school for a service which included the washing of feet of the elders of thje Nhowe School congregation by the elders of the Eastpoint church. We then returned for dinner and headed back to our house.
2.) Nhowe Mission Hospital September 25, 2009.
(Thursday, Sept 24) Today we did our usual devotional at the Nhowe School and returned for breakfast. After breakfast we hopped in the truck to go and take pictures of some of the orphans at one of the orphan stations near the house of Mr Makunde. He lives on part of an old "White Farm" where the owners have been driven off. There are some old barns for drying tobacco on the farm and we met in a roofed (but partially open on the sides) structure which I believe serves as a meeting place for the local community. Along the way we met up with Washington Mhlanga who had our visas for Mozambique and our passports. We were very pleased. Most of the time was spent having all the orphan kids on the list come and have their picture taken to document their progress in the program. We had done this the day before at Nhowe School and while we were in Harare on Tuesday they had done this at another school. This allows the program to determine if the children are still in the program and are progressing with their school work. For this group the day to day monitoring is performed by Mr Makunde.
We returned in the truck but as we just started someone noticed that a stick bug had attached himself to my pants and was walking along them. He eventually climbed off of me and on to Joyce. People started taking pictures and eventually Trish tried to get the bug off of Joyce whereupon the bug fell right on the front of Joyce and she let out a whoop and eventually got the bug off. A good time was had by all. We returned to the Hospital over the usual bumpy roads and had lunch.
The highlight of the afternoon was a singing presentation by the students of the Nhowe School. Several groups of 4 or more did songs in both English and Shona. All of the groups were very good but one group of about 5 young men from the High School stood out as being exceptional. In particular one of the young men, a bass had one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. He was fairly small but the power of his voice stood out from all the other singers and this was all accomplished with seemingly little effort. After the singing presentation, the assembled school choir gathered to do a practice session for the singing of the national anthem of Zimbabwe. We were treated to an extraordinary performance. The choir performs in competitions at a national level and are highly ranked. Once again the voice of the young male bass singer also stood out from the rest of the choir due to the power and clarity of his voice. After the singing we went to the house of Nhomo Maranga, a graduate of the Mutare School of Preaching, the only Bible College in the country. We support some of the special projects of this school. He wanted to thank us for past support and inquire as to any future support. He works at the Nhowe School doing preaching and counseling but would like to have his own congregation.
We returned to the school and while we were waiting for a class on witchcraft to begin, Sue began to take pictures. She was immediately mobbed. I tried to take pictures of the mob but soon found myself caught up in a different mob. We retreated to the class in a short while.
After the class we returned to the hospital for dinner and then returned to our house. I did some downloading of pictures and sound recordings and cleaned off the memory cards in the cameras. The little netbook that I brought has proven to be very useful. Unfortunately I have found little time to be able to use it. Hopefully I can remedy this. It appears that I tend to wake up early and I am able to do some journaling in the hours of 4:00 am to 6:00 am. So far I have used this time for journaling because I have allowed myself to get behind. I am mostly caught up so I hope to get some blog material together for posting in the next few days and then hope we can get to the internet cafe to post to the blog. I also hope to prepare some photo sets and videos.
(Friday, Sept 25) We got up and went to the usual devotional at the Nhowe School and returned for breakfast. No trips were planned so we all stayed around the hospital and either observed or pitched in to help do tasks. Dean and I got two of the doors that had been brought down and fit them to a doorway that leads into the operating theater. The old doors on the outside have gotten badly weathered and had begun to deteriorate. We got as far as sizing the doors and cutting and planning them so they fit the opening. Unfortunately there were no hinges so we could not hang them.
I spent the afternoon trying to catchup with my journaling. There was a class at 4:30 at the school and I attended while Sue stayed behind and helped with some sowing. I walked back with Jim Liby and John Langley and we had to delay since a couple of the boys wanted to talk and have some pictures taken. John asked how to say short and round so that we could apply a nickname to Corry. We were told Mupfuti Mapudha or something like that.
We returned and had dinner and headed off to our house and went to bed. I am feeling a little sniffly and wanted to get some rest.
(Saturday, Sept 26) Finally caught up with my journaling. It is about 6:00 am and we are preparing for the day. There will be a dedication of a nursing school at the hospital today at around 10:00 am.
The dedication was quite an event. There were several dignitaries including a senator, the governor, the local chief, the minister of health as well as several of the board of governors and directors of the Nhowe Mission Hospital. The nursing school will be located a short distance from the set of Hospital buildings between the hospital and the location of the houses for the staff of the hospital. We heard the singing of the students from the school and lots of speeches followed by a tour of the hospital. This was followed by a lunch and then endless meetings for the board of governors and the political officials. The rest of the afternoon was quiet and little was done for the rest of the day.
(Sunday, Sept 27) This was a day that started out well with a service at the school that lasted for about 3 hours. I was able to get a series of videos of the children coming into the church building. This was followed by lunch and we had little on our agenda for the afternoon. We took off with a couple of the cooks from the hospital to visit the hospital garden and to visit their homes. One of the cooks was named Lisbon and I did not catch the name of the other cook. Lisbon has a son named Anesu. The other cook had a chicken coop in the front of his house. He buys chicks for $1 and sells them for $7. He had a battery operated TV and radio running off of a car battery which was charged by solar panels. On the way down to their houses we saw a fire burning on a ridge in the not too far distance. It was more advanced as we came back. We took some pictures and were not too concerned until we saw some fire in the vicinity of the hospital. By the time we got to the first set of dwellings for the staff we could hear the fire crackling about 200 yards from the houses. The mission visitors who were living in the houses were being evacuated. We hurried back to our structure and packed our stuff. By that time the fire had moved up the hill and was within about 50 yards of our house by the time we came out after we had packed. The fire was primarily contained by consummation of the fuel which consisted of the high grass which is all over the area.
This does not diminish a heroic effort by the mission group, the hospital staff and students from the high school. Key participants were Jesse McFarland, Chris Lemmons, Geoff Van Sandt, Dean Foster, Emerson Stuart , Nathan Batten as well as several of the wives and Jim Liby. Jim suffered a heart episode (he has heart problems) and was admitted and released from the hospital. The next day he appeared to be OK and was in good spirits. The fire continued on for quite a while past dark and and I was able to get several short video sequences which I can edit together later. So a quiet afternoon proved to be anything but quiet.
(Monday, Sept 28 ) Today we are headed to the school at Igava which is not too far from Marondera, the town where we got the car permit to drive to Mozambique. The school is quite a bit smaller than Nhowe and has been in existence from about 1990. I would say the number of students are half or one third of the student population of Nhowe. There was to be a ceremony at the school where new uniforms were to be given out and the borehole which was supported by the Eastpoint church was inspected and water was seen coming from the pump. Our (Sue and I) orphan whom we support for her school fees was there and we were able to meet her and have pictures taken with her. A long bumpy ride back to Harare followed where we arrived at the home of Washington Mhlanga. We leave for Victoria Falls tomorrow. We had a great dinner and got packed for the trip. We shared a few stories and got to know our fellow travelers. It seemed that we did not get enough down time while we were at Nhowe but I guess that just happens when you try to pack a lot in to a short time.
(Tuesday, Sept 29) So begins our great adventure. Today we packed our things and loaded them into a truck and got a ride in a neighbor's van. On the way to the airport we passed a small game preserve and saw kudus (a kind of large antelope) as well as zebras. Shades of things to come. We were on our way to the airport to fly to Victoria Falls and then to the Chobe Game Preserve in Botswana. A flight of about 1 hour brought us to Bulawayo where we discharged some passengers and got a few more. Then another 1 hour flight and we were at Victoria Falls, on the extreme west side of Zimbabwe. We got a van ride to the hotel we are staying at on the outskirts of the town of Victoria Falls. It is called the Elephant Hills Resort. It is definitely 4 or 5 stars and has beautiful grounds as well as a nice golf course and views of the Zambesi river. You can look out across the river and see Zambia. After getting settled into the hotel we set off on a tour of the falls. This is probably the driest period of the year so the falls were down quite a bit from their usual volume. In some ways this worked to our advantage since the mist from the falls is at a reasonable level so that you can see the falls and also not get drenched. The falls are definitely spectacular and we spent about 2 hours walking along the trail and taking pictures. At the end of the trail you have a view of the bridge that crosses into Zambia. This bridge is used for bungee jumping for the adventurous tourists. We declined. On the way back to the entrance we encountered some wart hogs which are quite abundant in this area. They were rooting in the ground for something. (More about wart hogs later). We concluded our tour and made plans for dinner at Boma Restaurant, not far from our hotel.
The experience at Boma Restaurant was incredible. The food is the traditional food of Africa. This included a variety of fruits and vegetables most Americans are familiar with as well as a variety of meats that most Americans may have heard of but never seen, let alone tasted. In addition to beef, chicken and lamb there was pork sausage and boerwar (another kind of sausage) as well as ostrich, wart hog and crocodile tail. The consensus was that the wart hog won the battle hands down. The ostrich was tasty but tough. This is an all you can eat restaurant and then some as a few of our group can confirm. One of the young men on the trip, Nathan seemed to be the victor when it came to over stuffing oneself. A variety of deserts complemented the meal and then it was time for the entertainment. A group of African dancers began the show and then audience participation began with everyone given a drum and drumming lessons followed by group dancing. All in all a very full night in more ways than one. A quick trip back to the hotel and a nights rest would prepare us for the Botswana portion of our journey.
(Wednesday, Sept 30) The morning came too soon since we were aiming on reaching the border (about 50 km away) by 7:00 am. The hotel had packed breakfast for us, so we each took our little boxes of food and headed for the vans that would take us to the border. Along the way we saw a few animals in the bush along side the road, or crossing the road. This included a giraffe, a sable (a kind of antelope- we saw a black male cross the road) as well as a small group (5 or 6 ) of elephants along the side of and crossing the road.
Shortly after this encounter we reached the border for all the paper work shuffle and cleansing of our foot ware (to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease) and then climbed into our open air safari vehicles for the short ride to the Chobe National Park. Our trip began on land as we jerked along the bumpy roads in search of wild beasts. The prize of course, would be a sighting of a lion or leopard. Unfortunately neither of these appeared, although lions had been spotted a few days before. The area of the National Park that we visited was along the banks of the Chobe river which separates Botswana from Namibia. Part of the park includes Seduku Island which is in the middle of the channel of the river. A border dispute settlement in the Hague gave the island to Botswana and abundant wildlife use this island, including Cape buffalo, elephants and hippos. Our land trip included views of lots of varieties of birds, including storks, cranes, bee-eaters, fishers, eagles and vultures. We saw lots of impalas, a few wart hogs, cape buffalo, kudus, a monitor lizard, elephants, water bucks, some giraffes and as we were making our way back to the starting point, a few zebras. We also saw truck loads of the most dangerous animal - tourists.
After concluding our land trip we headed to a lodge for lunch. It was the Mowanda Lodge, which is located on the bank of the Chobe river. Once again a fabulous meal which this time included Impala steak, which was quite good. A short walk to the dock and we all piled into the boat for our water trip. After a short trip by water to the registration hut where our captain (Sinka) registered for our group to enter the park waterways we set off to see the wildlife. This was by far the best part of the trip. We added a few new animals - crocodile and hippo - although we had seen both before but not so close. Also several more monitor lizards, some quite large. The highlight of the trip was getting close to Seduku Island where we got very close views of elephants, Cape Buffalo and hippos in fairly large groups. We got to see them as they entered and in some cases emerged from the river to and from the island. Lots of photos and videos were recorded of course.
It was with a great sense of satisfaction at seeing nature so well preserved as well as a sense of regret in having to leave that we headed back to the dock and boarded the vehicles back to the border and then back to the hotel. Along the way in Zimbabwe we once again saw several small herds of elephants in the bush along the roadside.
Dinner was at a pizza place in a local shopping mall in Vic Falls, followed by a little mall shopping and then a quick hop back to the hotel. Some of the group may head for a local lion preserve where young lions are being studied ( up to 18 months). I have decided to stay behind and catch up on the blog. The afternoon is set aside for shopping and packing for the trip back to Harare tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Second Africa Posting
The Lord has been truly blessing us, except with Internet connections. But perhaps the fact that John and I had to come back to Harare to arrange for our visas for Mozambique was His providence, giving us a chance to also get on the internet.
Other answered prayers are for safe travel, healthy travelers, inspiring experiences, and delivery of our bags containing gifts for orphans. I think we have met the orphans to which these gifts will go. They are soooo needy. I have never seen such poverty. Please keep the orphaned children of Zimbabwe in your prayers.
If you want to get a message to us or to Jesse, the best way will be to send an email in care of Alice Mhlanga. Her email id is alicewbs@africaonline.co.zw. She checks this daily.
Other answered prayers are for safe travel, healthy travelers, inspiring experiences, and delivery of our bags containing gifts for orphans. I think we have met the orphans to which these gifts will go. They are soooo needy. I have never seen such poverty. Please keep the orphaned children of Zimbabwe in your prayers.
If you want to get a message to us or to Jesse, the best way will be to send an email in care of Alice Mhlanga. Her email id is alicewbs@africaonline.co.zw. She checks this daily.
First Africa Posting
First Posting From Africa
September 22, 2009
Harare, Zimbabwe
Well we have been in Africa for 2 full days, after traveling for a little over 30 hours, including a 15 hour non stop flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. Hopefully we have gotten the most painful part of the trip past us. We were greeted by Washington Mhlanga when we landed in Harare about 10:30 pm local time on Saturday the 19th. After a short ride to Washington's house we all were shown our rooms and headed for bed. There are about 23 people on this mission. The people on the mission include people from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, North Carolina. And of course our team of 3 from Seattle.
The next day was Sunday and after a breakfast prepared by Alice Mhlanga, Washingtons's wife we headed off for church at the Avondale Church of Christ. The members of the church were very gracious and friendly and we felt immediately at home. One of the most striking features of the service was the singing of some hymns in Shona. The language is a very musical language when just spoken, but the effect of hearing a group singing Shona hymns was very striking. I look forward to listening to more of this as our mission progresses. I will try to record some of it when possible.
We returned to Washington's house for a potluck lunch before heading off for our trip to Nhowe Mission, about 3 hours from Harare. The road reminded me of roads I have traveled in Mexico and Honduras, only not so windy and fairly flat. We are at approximately 4000 feet elevation. If you want to see about where we are go to Google Earth to about 18 degrees south and 32 degrees west. One of the mission people is a mechanical engineer and he had a GPS and fixed our position. You've got to love geeks. After dinner we all went off to our acommodations at the Brian Lemons Memorial Hospital at the Nhowe Mission. We are staying with one of the doctors at the hospital, Gordon Majonga and his wife Linda and two small children Anesu (boy 2)and Siphetokuhle (girl 6).
The next morning we awoke to see a red sun in the sky and a few cows grazing not too far from our house. We set off for the Hospital (about a 5 minute walk) and after a devotional with the staff of the Hospital we all introduced ourselves and got to know some of the hospital staff. After breakfast we got a tour of the hospital from the director, Dr Ndege. Some of us then went to the Nhowe School and got to see some of the classrooms. This is a large school, (actually 2 schools, a primary and high school) They have over 600 students. The school is much larger than anything we saw in Honduras but the classrooms and the kids looked very similar. After lunch we headed off for some of the Orphan Ministry locations. This was an opportunity to see the people and the countryside of rural Zimbabwe. The people we saw were definitely poor and very happy to see us. One of the things I was struck by is how polite and gracious these people are. It was very fortunate for us to be on this mission, since the Eastpoint church from Wichita has done so much work for these people. It was a gathering of old friends which we had the privilege of attending. Travel was similar to Honduras with a lot of riding in the back of pickup trucks, etc and the roads are every bit as bad as the dirt roads in Honduras. After a day of traveling and touring we finished the day at one of the families which ministers to orphans. We had a singing session in a round building with no roof and once again we heard Shona Hymns. It was fantastic. The final cap to the day came as the family we were visiting gave us a goat to take back as a gift to the Nhowe Hospital.
Just as we thought we were getting back to the Hospital for dinner and a night's rest, Washington came by and brought us the forms for the visas to Mozambique. After doing a little work on the forms we noted that we did not have our 2 photos for the visas. So we traveled to Harare with Washington and spent the night. The next day we got up and got our photos and applied for the visas at the embassy of Mozambique in Harare. Washington will pick them up tomorrow. So far our access to the internet has not materialized. We are now in the office of Alice Mhlanga which has internet access so will try to make this first posting. So it looks like we will only have a few opportunities to post to the blog. So far we have a lot of pictures but I have not had the chance to download them. Hopefully we will be able to do this on the next posting.
September 22, 2009
Harare, Zimbabwe
Well we have been in Africa for 2 full days, after traveling for a little over 30 hours, including a 15 hour non stop flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa. Hopefully we have gotten the most painful part of the trip past us. We were greeted by Washington Mhlanga when we landed in Harare about 10:30 pm local time on Saturday the 19th. After a short ride to Washington's house we all were shown our rooms and headed for bed. There are about 23 people on this mission. The people on the mission include people from Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, North Carolina. And of course our team of 3 from Seattle.
The next day was Sunday and after a breakfast prepared by Alice Mhlanga, Washingtons's wife we headed off for church at the Avondale Church of Christ. The members of the church were very gracious and friendly and we felt immediately at home. One of the most striking features of the service was the singing of some hymns in Shona. The language is a very musical language when just spoken, but the effect of hearing a group singing Shona hymns was very striking. I look forward to listening to more of this as our mission progresses. I will try to record some of it when possible.
We returned to Washington's house for a potluck lunch before heading off for our trip to Nhowe Mission, about 3 hours from Harare. The road reminded me of roads I have traveled in Mexico and Honduras, only not so windy and fairly flat. We are at approximately 4000 feet elevation. If you want to see about where we are go to Google Earth to about 18 degrees south and 32 degrees west. One of the mission people is a mechanical engineer and he had a GPS and fixed our position. You've got to love geeks. After dinner we all went off to our acommodations at the Brian Lemons Memorial Hospital at the Nhowe Mission. We are staying with one of the doctors at the hospital, Gordon Majonga and his wife Linda and two small children Anesu (boy 2)and Siphetokuhle (girl 6).
The next morning we awoke to see a red sun in the sky and a few cows grazing not too far from our house. We set off for the Hospital (about a 5 minute walk) and after a devotional with the staff of the Hospital we all introduced ourselves and got to know some of the hospital staff. After breakfast we got a tour of the hospital from the director, Dr Ndege. Some of us then went to the Nhowe School and got to see some of the classrooms. This is a large school, (actually 2 schools, a primary and high school) They have over 600 students. The school is much larger than anything we saw in Honduras but the classrooms and the kids looked very similar. After lunch we headed off for some of the Orphan Ministry locations. This was an opportunity to see the people and the countryside of rural Zimbabwe. The people we saw were definitely poor and very happy to see us. One of the things I was struck by is how polite and gracious these people are. It was very fortunate for us to be on this mission, since the Eastpoint church from Wichita has done so much work for these people. It was a gathering of old friends which we had the privilege of attending. Travel was similar to Honduras with a lot of riding in the back of pickup trucks, etc and the roads are every bit as bad as the dirt roads in Honduras. After a day of traveling and touring we finished the day at one of the families which ministers to orphans. We had a singing session in a round building with no roof and once again we heard Shona Hymns. It was fantastic. The final cap to the day came as the family we were visiting gave us a goat to take back as a gift to the Nhowe Hospital.
Just as we thought we were getting back to the Hospital for dinner and a night's rest, Washington came by and brought us the forms for the visas to Mozambique. After doing a little work on the forms we noted that we did not have our 2 photos for the visas. So we traveled to Harare with Washington and spent the night. The next day we got up and got our photos and applied for the visas at the embassy of Mozambique in Harare. Washington will pick them up tomorrow. So far our access to the internet has not materialized. We are now in the office of Alice Mhlanga which has internet access so will try to make this first posting. So it looks like we will only have a few opportunities to post to the blog. So far we have a lot of pictures but I have not had the chance to download them. Hopefully we will be able to do this on the next posting.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Prayer Meeting
We had an awesome prayer meeting last night. It was a sincere time of sharing our hearts and voices in prayer. We are humbled by the support of our brethren at Fellowship church, and feel honored to be taking this trip.
I have to admit I had been getting more and more anxious as the time to depart draws near. The prayer meeting helped me express my concerns and give them to God. I know that He is in control and will give us amazing experiences, if we just let Him. This morning after thinking about last night and spending some time in prayer, I added more things to our prayer requests. We appreciate your intercessions on behalf of this work.
- That we will have time every day for prayer—quiet, reflective time with Him
- That we will see Him at work
- That we will have greater trust in Him and a greater willingness to let Him guide our path. (He does it so much better!)
- For greater humility, courage and wisdom
- That we will be the eyes, ears, hands and feet representing our Lord and His servants at Fellowship
- Thanksgiving that He has opened these doors of opportunity for us and thanksgiving for His servants in Zimbabwe and Mozambique who are eagerly looking forward to our coming.
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