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.