Merry Christmas everyone!

Hello!

So, Christmas is only a week away - how exciting! It doesn’t quite feel like it here, given the high temperatures, but we’re doing our best to get into the festive spirit. The past two weeks have been as busy as ever, and we’re now really looking forward to our approaching holiday - in two days’ time we’ll be off to Antelope Park! Anyway, before I get to that, here’s an update on the past couple of weeks...

Foundations For Farming: This is the one Oasis project we’ve been continuing through the month of December. Our mealies (or maize plants) have now grown to about a foot in height, which we are quite excited about. They’re really coming along nicely. We’ve been going back each week to check up on their progress, and to weed the plot. We’ve all caught the sun nicely from doing all our farming (I have a rather splendid patch of burn on my back), but it’s been enjoyable. All the motherly instincts in me are coming out in those plants! It’s really nice to have something physical to do, and something where we can see the progress and the results of our work week by week. We just keep praying that they’ll all keep growing!

Northside Community Church:
The vast majority of the work we’ve been doing at the church is Christmas-related. There’s been a lot more cutting, sticking and folding - doing the jobs that no-one else has time to do. We’ve also helped Sarah organize SALT books (Sunday School teaching resources), dating way back to 1981. That was a mass clear-out, and something Sarah really appreciated us doing. It’s not very exciting work, but it’s making a difference to people, and they really appreciate our help. We’re learning what is meant in Luke 16 when we are told to be “faithful in little things”. Not everything we do here will be huge and incredible, but by serving others in the little things we are learning, before we tackle the big things. And people really appreciate it - we have the time, and we are willing, so we can help.
This weekend the church has two Carols by Candlelight services - one in the nearby shopping village, and one in the church. Last night we were in the Village, and for that service Jess, Helen and I were selling candles and holders, and then we performed two drama pieces as well. It’s very much outreach focused there, so our skits were based on the true meaning of Christmas. It was a very nice evening, despite the rain! Honestly, if you get caught out in the rain here you get soaked! On Sunday night’s carol service we have the responsibility of ... the lights. It means we’ll get to enjoy the service too, which will be nice.
At Northside we also had a day of baking mince pies and biscuits, for the various Christmas events that are happening soon. We did this with the help of lots of children, so as you can imagine it was messy stuff, but amusing and fun too!
As I said before, we have the responsibility of doing the children’s talks on the Sunday morning services. Last week there was a special service for the Upward celebration (I’ll tell you more about that just now), so our second talk will be tomorrow. We have it all planned out, so hopefully it will go well.

Upward Soccer Camp:
Otherwise known as football (sadly, I have definitely got in the way of calling it soccer here, purely because people struggle to understand when you say football!). Upward Soccer Clinic is a soccer camp for kids aged 5 to 13 which took place last week, from Thursday to Sunday. We were team leaders; it was exhausting, but lots of fun! The first three mornings (the sessions ran from 8am till 12 noon) involved being with our teams, and leading the half-hour devotional times in between taking the kids round the soccer skills stations. On the Saturday they also had two mini-matches: I was very proud of my team, when they won 7-0 and 5-0. We had some real football stars! I had 3 girls and 5 boys, and a big mix of ages in my group (called Team David, because we “defeat the giants”) The youngest was a brilliant little boy called Alex, who struggled with skills like step-overs and things because his legs were barely long enough to step over the ball! But his effort was absolutely fantastic, and each day he’d come to me and ask if I thought he was improving, and tell me about how he’d been practising the night before and things. The oldest was another boy named Alistair, and although he was quite a bit older than some of the kids he was very helpful and encouraging. On the Sunday morning, all the kids were invited to come to Northside for an “Upward celebration”, where we sang the songs they learned and gave a certificate to each child, for various different things. It was a really good way of bringing families who don’t usually come to church into the church, because it was a very informal service. And the kids all seemed to love the week they had!
Being leaders at a soccer camp is not something Helen, Jess and I would have initially thought we were cut out for, but we were enthusiastic and gave it our all (and thankfully didn’t have to teach any kids skills!) We were the encouragers, the supporters, the “pick-you-up-when-you-fall-down”-ers, and ended up really enjoying it, despite the early mornings (we were up at 5am each day...)

And everything else...
God at work: We have each been so challenged in our time here, and are growing in our faith. We have learnt what a faithful God we have - he has protected us at every turn. We've also learned that we don't need to be doing huge, massive things to make a difference. Sometimes it's the little things that people really appreciate. I've found my daily quiet times in the morning have helped me grow and sustained me - the number of times the passage I've studied has come into relevance that day is far from coincidence, I'm sure. Each night we pray together, about the day, our issues, and the days ahead, and we've found that God really does hear and answer our prayers. As we've been feeling homesick, He's surrounded us with people who are just there to be our friends and "family", which is incredible. We found that working with the kids at Upward Sports was brilliant too, because, like at Gateway, although a lot of them know about God (their biblical knowledge is outstanding for their age!), they don't know him personally.

Relationships: We have formed some wonderful friendships here. I do have a special mention to make, to Nix and Gayle, who have been brilliant - we decorated Gayle's hoouse with many festive things, and she often comes to our rescue in times of crisis, She is therefore named "Super Gayle". And Nix is such a good friend to us, and never fails to make me laugh. Her stories of Zimbabwean life are highly entertaining! (Ok, so that mention has nothing to do with the fact that they have both read this and both asked about it....) Our other friends have been equally brilliant to us, and we're going to Victoria Falls at New Year with two of the other girls from the bible study and their friends.
Things have been a little strange with Kate away, but Sarah is wonderful. She is full of advice and wisdom, and when we had more problems with our car she was right on hand to help us out. Everyone in our church has been wonderful too, and we've had dinner with a few different people. It's really nice to feel part of the church community, and to know ltos of people too.

This and that: We've had an enjoyable few weeks. This morning we went to a flea market to buy each other Christmas presents, and tried our bargaining skills with the sellers. We were all quite proud of ourselves! We also went to a pantomime - it was so cheesy and fantastic and put us righjt in the Christmas mood! There are so many similarities to a British pantomime, but so many differences too. It was certainly an experience to remember.

Prayer Points:

• continued safety - we are going travelling as of Monday, so as we go to areas of Zimbabwe we don't know we are praying God will still protect us and watch over us!
• the Christmas children's talks - they've been fun to prepare, and we hope we can deliver them with confidence, and make people think a little more about Christmas.
• the outreach events Northside has planned. We really hope that people in the community will be provoked to think about what it's all about.
• homesickness. Obviously as Christmas approaches we're all thinking about home a lot more, but we pray we can enjoy our experience of a hot Christmas here, and not miss friends and family too much.
• our car! Geoff (the car) is not always very happy. We've spent quite a lot getting him fixed, so we pray he will last us our trip this week, and that we'll get there and back without any problems!

Thank you once again for your continued support. The next time I write will be when I return from Victoria Falls, so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

God bless,

Jo

Prayer points :)

Ok, so have a little bit more time now. Here we go with a few prayer requests:
- Upward Soccer camp. Don't worry, this does not mean I am coaching football (I think that would be disastrous). Basically, we are team leaders, making sure we have all our kids at all times, and also leading a half-hour devotion session in the middle of the day. The kids here are now on holiday for a month, so it's an outreach thing for them to do during the break. We're praying that they'll be open to hearing about Jesus (about 60% of them won't be from Christian homes) and just that they'll have a brilliant time too. For us, energy will be the issue, and wisdom in what to say to these kids.
- safety. A regular feature! We've been really lucky so far, there haven't been any accidents. We just hope this continues, particularly with our upcoming trip to Antelope Park (a game reserve) and Victoria Falls over New Year.
- that we won't miss home too much over the festive season! We love being really involved in Christmas at the church - it definitely takes our mind off the fact we're not with our friends and family at home. As Christmas approaches, please pray that we won't feel too homesick and that we'll be able to focus on all the exciting things we have planned rather than the fact we're not with our families.
- the talks on Sunday mornings. The first one went really well, so we now have a standard to keep up! We pray that God will use us and that we can really be helpful at Northside, in the small practical ways and in the more obvious way, when we're talking at the front of the church.
- health. Again, we have been really blessed in this area, with no major problems. Hopefully this will continue!

Thank you so much for your prayers, it's greatly appreciated. We really are experiencing God's love and goodness here, and we're learning so much. I know that He hears and answers our prayers - He is a God of compassion and of grace. And he wants us to share in that!

I'll post again in a few weeks' time,

Jo

Introducing Big Bird...

Hello again,

I hope you are all well. We’ve seen clips of the snow on the news here - wow! I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little bit jealous. Just a day of snow would be wonderful, then I’d happily come back here to the sunshine. Sadly that’s not quite how weather systems work... So instead I will have to enjoy the sun and storms we’re getting here! In fact, I have a tan! Well, a driver’s tan - my right arm is noticeably more tanned than my left, from where I’ve had the window rolled down in the car as we’re driving a long. But still, I will take any tan I get. How strange it will be to have a sunny, hot Christmas...

Anyway, back to my news. Things are changing in our routine a bit now, as Oasis projects quieten down over the month of December, so a lot more of our work is at Northside. But I’ll go into that “just now” (which in Zim means “soon”, we have learned!).

Mbare Pre-school: We finished at Mbare for this year just last week. The children have a “graduation” ceremony as they move up from the pre-school into Grade 1, and we watched them practice it and had a final chance to play with them and talk to them. Their presentations for the graduation were very sweet: reciting months of the year, days of the week, numbers, nursery rhymes... They know a surprising amount! It will be interesting getting to know a new group of kids in the new year, but hopefully we’ll feel useful right from the beginning as we’ll have a better idea of what is expected of us and how to adapt our activities to suit their age and English-speaking abilities! The netball at Mbare also finished for the year, and again hopefully next year when we return I’ll be able to join in coaching a little bit, and we’ll get to know the coaches and girls even better.

Jewellery-making: We’ve still loved doing this, and now Kate has gone to the UK she is selling some of the things we’ve made over there. We have a nice array of necklaces, earrings and bracelets that we’re all quite proud of!

Foundations For Farming: I am now (un)officially a farmer! Helen, Jess and I, along with the Oasis director’s gardener, Ouda, are tneding to our little plot of land outside the Oasis offices. It’s bigger than 6m x 6m though! We have 494 holes, each with 3 maize seeds planted in them. That makes 1482 little seeds planted in our plot. Each with love and care. We were very proud of ourselves when we dug the holes, put in the fertiliser and planted the seeds all in one (hot!) morning. Now we have to keep checking up on the land to weed and things. I feel like a protective mother - I was so proud when we saw the first green shoots sprout up from the ground the other day. Hopefully the maize will be fully grown before we leave, in time for us to harvest, but we’re not entirely sure...

Gateway Grade 6 Camp: So I mentioned this in my prayer requests in the last blog (and a big thank you to those who were praying for me!). The camp went really well - I loved it, and the 90 kids did too! Basically, we were leaders on a Grade 6 (aged 11) activity camp in Sanganayi Creek, aka. “the bush”, about 2 hours outside of Harare. The overall aim: to help the teachers select prefects for next year (by seeing how the kids worked in teams and who the leaders were), while also slipping in some God-stuff (it was a Christian school). It was brilliant, but absolutely exhausting! Lost my voice too - trying to get yourself heard over a large group of kids takes effort.  For those of you who know of Scripture Union camps, think of that, then cross it with boot camp, and you have Grade 6 camp! While in Britain there are many rules about child safety and child protection, it’s not such a big issue here. We were allowed to “punish” the kids in whichever ever way we saw fit - so long as we did the exercise with them (promoting the idea of being a team ... make sense?) So, each morning at 6am they had to do exercise for 45 minutes, run “to the grid” which was about 500m away, do push-ups (“When I say one, you say one. ONE” “One, thank you sir!”), that kind of thing... And at night, if they were talking past lights out, we could get them up to make them do things, until they stopped talking. I felt so cruel, but I was actually a very nice leader in comparison to what some of the guys made their campers do! What’s more, the kids didn’t even seem to mind - well, they asked for it! I mean literally asked for it. Helen was asked by her dorm as they were being punished if they could do 20 push-ups. It was really quite funny, and so different to any Christian-related camp at home. I had some really good kids in my group, and some absolute terrors. Hence why I lost my voice. By the end of it they worked pretty well together, but they were shattered. They had to do so much though that it was to be expected.

We had some interesting experiences in Sanganyi - the most memorable of which might be hitch-hiking on a truck of manure. Lovely. The colour of the pool there will remain with me always too - it was green. Really green. You couldn’t even see your hand if you put it just under the surface of the water! But the kids seemed to love it - that was their washing for the week. I dealt with bucket-showers instead though. It was so hot there, you needed to cool down any way possible! In terms of the Christian side of things, it was slipped in a lot as the kids were doing their activities in terms of how we should act (supporting each other, etc) and then each morning we led devotional times with our team. I was really encouraged by the response of my group - they know a lot about the bible, but when we talked about it many of them had not thought about what it really meant for them. Therefore, many of them got a greater understanding of just how much God loves them, and how much He wants to have a relationship - with them! It was also the only time when they all listened to each other, ALL the time, which made a nice change...

It was a really good week as well, in terms of us getting to know the young adults in our church too, since they were the other leaders. When we first went to Northside we weren’t really having many conversation other than “how was your week...?”, but now we can have such a laugh with the group that were leaders at the camp too.

Northside Community Church: We are now a lot more involved with the work in the church - as Oasis quietens down, things get busy at Northside! The school term has now finished, so things move into holiday mode. No more Wow Kidz (although the last session of that was a lot of fun - we made Christmas cards and had hot dogs!) or paired reading, but a lot more work, ironically.

Christmas time! - Jess, Helen and I have the responsibility of delivering the children’s talk in the Sunday morning services in the run-up to Christmas. I am actually really looking forward to it, although it will be a bit daunting speaking in front of the whole church! However, we have some good ideas, and it should be fun to present the Christmas message in different ways. The first service today went really well, with a focus on the “surprise” of Christmas. The kids loved the fact we had sweets for them at the end, and the lesson stuck with them which is nice! The adults seemed to appreciate it just as much too. We’ve also been decorating the church for Christmas, which has been lots of fun. I climbed the ladder to the top of the huge Christmas tree (although it’s a pine tree, not a fir...) to put our handmade star at the top. It was a proud moment. The tree is also flat at the back, but being the innovative, resourceful, fantastic team that we are, we managed to make it look festive and tree-shaped! We’ve also done a lot of star-making and star-cutting, for a few of the things going on around Christmastime.

Nativity Parade - Last night we had a nativity parade in the nearby shopping centre before they switched on their Christmas lights: it was our job to shepherd the little children and watch over them at night. We assured them that they need not be afraid of the bright lights from camera flashes as they flocked towards the stable scene. The children were wise and followed our instructions; I reckon our presents comforted them. Well, that’s what we thought we were going to be doing (sorry, I just really wanted to write all that - Helen and I had spent some time coming up with it!) What we actually ended up doing was dressing the kids for the nativity parade, then dressing up ourselves - as children’s characters! My alter-ego? Big Bird, from Sesame Street! Helen was Sylvester and Jess was Bugs Bunny, from Looney Tunes. What had happened was that the young adults from the church who were supposed to be doing it didn’t show up, so they needed three people to fill in - and we were those lucky girls! I can safely say that I did not expect to be dressing up as Big Bird and walking up and town a street for two hours while Christmas lights are being turned on and carols are being sung out. It’s tiring stuff: waving to kids; making up handshakes with teenagers; posing for many a photo (what was brilliant was that no-one could see my face, so I could pull funny faces and no-one knew!); being slightly abused by kids who are “too cool”; and getting very, very hot! God has some interesting plans up his sleeve, for sure. But Northside’s aim over Christmas is to get involved with the community, so while we were doing that there were competitions and things going on by the stage, where Pastor Cross was presenting. All in all, it was a ridiculous, fun, absurd evening, and an experience I will never forget! I now have something for my CV if ever I apply to work at Disneyland...

I think what I’ve learned from all this is that we can actually serve people in so many ways. Just by doing the odd jobs that no-one else wants to do, or has that no-one has the time to do, and by being completely available and completely willing to throw ourselves into anything, we’re helping a lot. And who else can say that they dressed up as Big Bird in Zimbabwe?!

And everything else...:

God at work: We’ve seen God answer prayer here - a lot! Even with the little things. It is pretty strange for us, being thrown into living on our own and things for the first time in another country, but whenever we’ve had difficulties there’s always been some way out. The Lord’s provision is incredible! He’s been watching over us for our whole time, and granted us good health - although Helen and I have each been a little ill in the past week or so, it’s passed in a matter of days. Each of us has had a cold, and Jess has been bitten alive, the poor girl, but in general our health has been really good, considering we’re in a new climate, with some new foods, new routine and everything. God is good! Again, I’m constantly challenged here, in my own personal quiet times and in the way I act towards others or in certain situations. Sometimes you need to be taken out your comfort zone to see what’s really going on in your life. I know that coming here has helped me to appreciate what I have at home, particularly friends, family and church, and it has helped me realize that actually there is a whole lot I can do at home to serve others too.

It’s also been a challenge these past couple of weeks without Kate - but again God has surrounded us with wonderful people on whom we can rely. Which leads me onto...

Relationships: We really have been blessed in terms of the people who surround us here. Since Kate has left, Sarah Cross, the pastor’s wife, has stepped in as our “overseer”. Other women (and men!) at church have been equally caring and supportive, which is brilliant. One of the most interesting characters we’ve met here is Tiri - I call him ET, for Enthusiastic Tiri. He led the Grade 6 camp, and is very active in the church. It was Tiri who asked us to dress up as children’s characters. He is so positive, so enthusiastic and so encouraging, you cannot help but smile when you’re around him! We also feel a lot more part of the goings-on at Northside since camp and since we’ve started working there more often. We’ve even been to play tennis a few times with some of the young adults! The pizza and ice cream place just across the road from the church has proven to be a handy spot for impromptu socials too! Several people have invited us round for dinner, so we know more of the families in the church now too, which is lovely.

We’ve continued going to our bible study on Saturday nights, which we are still really enjoying. We feel like we know the people there really well now, and when we meet up with them it’s really just a chance for us to relax with friends and enjoy ourselves, away from responsibility, which everyone needs once in a while!

Culture: We have learned a lot about Zimbabwe as a country. And we’ve also picked up some of the commonly used phrases (“just now”; “guys”; “shame”; “ya”). My accent is slowly being lost, which is quite tragic! I think it’s the English influence from Jess and Helen too though, if I’m honest. We’ve learned a little bit of Shona, but not huge amounts. “Makadini” is “hello, how are you?”

In our bible study we’ve heard quite a lot about the farming situation here, and a man named Ben Freeth has come to the study twice now to talk to us about his experiences of being kicked off his farm. He has suffered awful injuries, but through it all has stuck to his faith in God. It’s very interesting how much of a heart he still has for Zimbabwe - despite all he has gone through he remains in Zimbabwe, instead of running to a different country. He and his father were involved in a court case where they took President Mugabe to court for  taking their land from them. I won’t tell you the outsome - the film is called “Mugabe and the White African”, which is really moving and challenging. I absolutely recommend it!

Sorry, out of time just now, but I will post up my points for prayer soon hopefully! Main things are safety, Upward sports (a soccer camp where we'll be leaders, leading devotion times and things with the kids), health and our holiday - we leave in two weeks for Antelope Park! Also that all the Christmas outreach things that Northside are doing will make people think. I'll post in more detail soon.

God bless,

Jo

Photos :)

Ok, so here are some lovely photos of Zim - it takes FOREVER to upload them, so not very many, sorry!

My birthday - with gifts from the girls. Those biscuits were INCREDIBLE!

The Jackerandas - how pretty!

The view from Domboshava

Netball girls, all kitted up!

The Tanaka girls we visited at the start of our trip. that's popcorn, by the way,

My journal, summarised!

Hello friends!

I’m sorry it’s been a while since I wrote properly here; 3 weeks has passed, I think? We’ve been very busy, but now I have a little bit of time to tell you more about what’s going on here. I think I’ll take a similar structure to my other blog post - gives me a chance to organise my thoughts! I could give you it in journal form, but given that I’ve already gone through one 200-page notebook and it’s only been 5 weeks, we could be here for a while... So, here we go:

Mbare Pre-school: The girls and I have really enjoyed doing this on Tuesday mornings! The first week we went, after the visit I mentioned before, we just sat at the side of the class and watched what was going on and how they did things, and then after break played games with the little ones in the other building. We learnt a lesson from that - parachute games with 75 children who don’t understand English very well isn’t particularly successful! However, the kids did adore the parachute: they made up their own games! A personal favourite was the traffic light song - “Robots, robots, show us your colours. Red, stop; orange, get ready; green, GO!” And, with that, they would all jump around wildly underneath the parachute and generally get very excited. Helen, Jess and I were at a bit of a loss of what to do, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves in their hectic play, so we let them continue!
The past couple of weeks that we’ve been there have been more “normal” though - we have just been with the slightly older ones (aged 6), and have led an activity, read a story and played games with them. They still struggle with their English - this week, we were helping them with their maths work, and we found (with the help of Noktula, a girl who is coming with us from Oasis and is our “translator”) that actually they knew all the maths, it’s the English they struggle with. Yet we have seen improvement even over the last few weeks, so that is promising. What we all find quite funny though is that the kids haven’t realised that we don’t speak Shona, so they will call out “Auntie Jo, Auntie Jo”, followed by a phrase which, to me, might as well be gobbledegook, and wait expectantly for a reply. Luckily, if you just smile and hold out your hands for them to play clapping games with you they don’t seem to be too fussed about it! Our other activities included teaching them how to cut - which we realised actually was quite beneficial, since the class is so big that the teacher underestimates their abilities sometimes because it’s quicker for her to do it herself, but when we three (four with Noktula) are there, we can go round and help each child individually. We really do enjoy it there!

Netball at Mbare: Now, for those of you who know me, you’ll know that this is something that is right up my street! I wasn’t sure if I’d get the chance to play netball while I was here, but each Thursday afternoon we go to Mbare High School to play with the girls who are around 13 years old. And they’re good! Very speedy, and very imaginative in their playing. I really enjoy this because even though there is a slight language barrier, I’m slowly getting to know the girls and the coaches, and feel like it’s a way to just have fun with them. Mbare is a very rough area of Harare, so it’s great that the girls have the opportunity to play sport together and just have fun. It also keeps the girls off the streets, away from selling themselves and other such things. I was invited to come to a tournament they took part in last week - I apologised for not being able to come and watch, at which the coach, who speaks little English herself, said “No! Not watch, play!” I thought the other teams might have been able to tell I wasn’t from around that area...
It’s a really encouraging look at what is happening in the area - after speaking to their main coach, who has only just come back from a trip away, netball is a developing sport here in Zimbabwe - for men and women. He plays for the Zim national men’s team, and then coaches the rest of the time. The girls here are what he calls “grass roots” level - they’re learning, they’re developing, and because they’re young it will hopefully meanm that in years to come the national level will improve. What they’re doing in Mbare is bringing these girls together, playing netball and also teaching them in other ways - about HIV/Aids, doing drama and singing, encouraging teamwork, etc. It’s really interesting, and the girls seem to really enjoy it.

Jewellery-making: Helen, Jess and I love doing this - it’s our relaxing, mid-week activity, but we know that we’re doing it for a good cause too! The bags and jewellery are being sold to raise money for Jacob’s Well and the Tanaka project - I bought a bag because after my experiences in town with a backpack I realised that a handbag would be very useful! We’re each learning new skills, and we can make all sorts of necklaces now. It’s really good fun, and gives us a chance to talk with some of the other Oasis staff too.

Foundations For Farming: So, this is what I had mentioned last time under the heading of “River of Life Westgate”. Basically, we’re going to be farming (yes, me, farming!) in the patch of land behind the Oasis offices. We went to an open day to learn what it’s all about, and watched a little demo of how to go about planting your own 6m x 6m plot. In short, Foundations For Farming’s principles are: plant on time, plant at standard, plant without waste and plant with joy! they operate a zero tillage process, so basically that means no ploughing and lots of manual labour. And now we have to replicate their 6m x 6m example at Oasis! We have to get the maize seeds planted before the 25th November, according to their method, so we’ll be busy at Oasis doing that, along with Nathan, Martin and Pastor Piri’s gardener (the latter two have been on full training courses, so they’ll be directing us novices so we don’t ruin the plans!

Street-girls’ bible study: This has been an interesting one. We’ve only had the chance to go into town with Ivy (who I’ll tell you more about later...) once, and now Oasis is trying to focus in on a specific community, Epworth, it’s at the foundation stages again. However, the once chance we did get to go to Harare Gardens with Ivy, we spoke to a girl who was lying on the grass alone, begging in the park. Ivy spoke to her kindly in Shona, and translated for us. Basically, she still lives in Epworth, but comes to the city to beg. She’s worried about her future: she dreams of being a maid for a good family who’ll treat her well, but she’s afraid. Afraid of being mistreated, afraid of what her own family will do if she leaves, afraid of being completely alone. So, we all sat down on the grass and prayed with her. Ivy then directed the girl to Streets Ahead, another organisation which focuses on helping vulnerable girls like her, and we then left her. She’s still in our prayers today, even though we haven’t seen her since.
Sadly, though, we haven’t yet had the chance to do a proper bible study with the girls, either in town or in Epworth. But God has taught me that it’s important to build solid foundations if things can really be changed - there’s no quick-fix. So when we visited Epworth this Tuesday to talk to some of the leaders of the churches about possibly holding the bible studies there, I went in with a forward-focused view - the work we are doing now will impact in the long-term, and that’s something that we’ve been grappling with while we’ve been here. The aim is to be able to start work with the girls in Epworth by the beginning of the new year.

Epworth: So, I’ve now mentioned Epworth a couple of times. It is basically the community just along the road (and I mean just along the road!) from the Oasis offices, where Oasis are hoping to establish their projects over the next three years, and see change there. It’s such a poor community: their “houses” are tiny brick shelters with tin sheets as a roof; there is no running water and no power; there is no organised planning to the layout of the place... It really resembles a rural village, “real” Africa, despite being only 5 minutes’ drive from the nice buildings in the suburbs of Harare. that is something that has really challenged Helen, Jess and I - for a place like Epworth to be so close to where we’re staying is just surreal. I cannot get my head around it. It’s another world. We thought we had seen the contrast, between those in the city centre and Mbare and those in the area we stay in. Apparently not. Such poverty next to such wealth is really harrowing, and is something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get used to - but at the same time I’m glad we have the opportunity to get involved, to see it for our own eyes and to help establish rehabilitation programs, sports programmes and other things to try and turn the community around, little by little. Each project Oasis runs - Tanaka, Church Mobilisation (working with local churches and encouraging them to get involved in the community), PSP, Net2Work (computer skills training programme), Jacob’s Well (tailoring), Sports and Recreation - have set targets for their work in Epworth, and we’ll be involved with the beginnings. In a sense this is tricky, as we may not get to see the overall effect on the community, but we are happy to be involved and to just learn more about this culture and what is going on to change things.

Northside Community Church: We are really enjoying ourselves at the church. the pastor, Gary Cross, is a very good speaker, and we’ve each found his sermons really challenging. We have established a sort of rota, whereby one of us stays in the church while the other two help with the Sunday School classes each week. I really enjoy being with the Grade 3’s (about 8 years old). They are very intelligent, which makes things fun and more interesting, as they ask questions and seem genuinely interested. I teach them alongside another guy, Joel - but I think my British organising has come in handy, as Joel is a very last-minute kind of guy, and the kids get easily distracted if they’re left to their own ends for even a minute!
We’ve also been continuing with Wow Kids on Friday afternoons. The kids there are an energetic bunch, but after that first Friday we’ve gauged their level and managed to adapt things to suit the way they work. It’s been really successful, and the kids seem to really enjoy themselves. It’s nice for them to have something to do on Friday afternoons, and it’s another chance for us to teach them about Jesus. We’ve been amazed at how they soak up what they hear - they listen to a memory verse, and within a minute they’ll know it, and they’ll STILL know it the next week! Also, their attitude is a lot more respectful than that of some British children, which has definitely helped us and also been something to learn from their Shona culture.
We’ve learned a lot from going to the Young Adults session on Friday nights too - but mostly about the culture here. HIV/Aids is a huge issue, and it is only recently starting to be addressed in churches here - there are support groups available, and a few weeks ago one 20-something guy came to give his testimony. It’s baffling how much people can be isolated if they say they are HIV positive, as it shows the lack of knowledge amongst young adults. Something we’ve noticed in the church, and in other areas too, is the education levels - those in their late 30s and 40s have a very good education, and the young children and those in their teens are receiving good education too. What is missing is that middle section - the 20-somethings. There seems to be a real struggle for people to get back into college or university to get training or degrees which will allow them to get a job, and there is high unemployment here among that age group. It’s really sad - they’re being overtaken by those who are younger than them. In the Friday evening sessions we have noticed a huge lack of knowledge of what being a Christian really means, so as Helen, Jess and I are with these young adults, we’re trying to set as Christ-like an example as possible and in getting to know each person, hope a bit of our knowledge will rub off on them!

And everything else...:
Training and seminars - We’ve had a few seminars in our time here which have given us a chance to learn some new things and think about what we’re doing. These have actually been really useful - a chance to challenge ourselves in our own walk with God, as well as giving voluntarily. We had two days of a leadership seminar, which challenged our thinking and planning and vision as people who are supposed to be leading others (for us, in the church youth), and another day of a discipleship seminar, where we discussed the importance of prayer in our day-to-day living.

We have friends! - Yes, it’s true. We have managed to get to know some Zimbabweans, and can now call them friends! The staff at Oasis are lovely, and at Northside too we have met people we can have a good time with. It’s great to be able to get to know people in each of these places, as it is where we are based through out the week. We’re so thankful it’s been successful so far, and everyone has been so friendly! What has been really nice though is getting to know people outside of where we’re working. On Saturday nights we go to a young people’s bible study, where we have met around 20 other folk around our age - just finishing A levels or in the year below that. They have been so good to us, and we feel we can really relate to them. It’s really interesting to talk to them about being a Christian in our respective countries, and it’s been such a blessing to be able to just enjoy our time with them and have a laugh, and not feel laden with responsibility there. It was this group of friends who suggested I had a braai for my birthday (see later), and who took us to Domboshava (again, see later). We go to an evening service in the church just down the road from us, called Baptist Bible Church (aka. BBC - the first time they mentioned it we genuinely thought they were talking about the channel!) where some of them go too, and there we’ve been helping out with their own Foundations For Farming patch, to pick up hints and tips for ours and just to make the effort to get to know them. We have been invited out with them many a time already, so hopefully over the nxt four months we’ll be able to continue to enjoy our time with them, and take them up on their offers!

My 18th birthday - So this was an eventful day! I had a great birthday here in Zim though, the girls went to so much effort and really made it special. On the Saturday before my birthday we had the youth group round for a braai - a big barbecue - and used the pool and just generally had a fun day! We had made a cake (a necessity for a birthday party, of course), which actually tasted pretty good, despite power cutting out before we had hoped to finish cooking it. Thankfully, it still cooked through, and lots of pink butter icing covered up the sunken centre... It was really nice just to have a relaxed, fun afternoon/evening with everyone - some people had even bought me presents, which was lovely and unexpected! The day of my actual birthday (Monday) was fantastic - despite the lack of birthday post from Mum and Dad (honestly, you’d think my own parents would manage to wish me a happy 18th birthday in writing... Only joking, you know I love you Mummy and Daddy!) Helen and Jess gave me the fright of my life in the morning - at 6.20am, as I was walking to the bathroom in that half-asleep state, they were just outside my door and shouted “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” I jumped out my skin! We had birthday toast for breakfast (with a candle and all), and I opened the gifts they had bought me (the sweeties!). A beautiful wooden photo frame with silver giraffes up each side, a box of AMAZING biscuits (we have only admired them in the shops, before turning to the 60 cents packets...) and a set of bath/shower things. In handmade wrapping paper. So thoughtful!
As we headed to Kate’s house in the morning, I found myself hoping that there’d be a road block, just so I could see if the policeman, when looking at my license, would wish me a happy birthday. Sadly (or fortunately?) this didn’t happen... We spent the day renewing our visas (see below), I Skype-called my parents (thus making up for the lack of post) and then Kate took us out on a trip to ... a lake and bird reserve (which had remained a surprise until we pulled into the place - well done girls!) It was really peaceful and calm and everything that my 18th in Scotland probably wouldn’t have been! We had lunch together there, which felt like a little “family” outing, and then we headed back to where we’re staying. At 4.30pm, we met up with some of the crew from the young people’s bible study (Nix, Gayle, Lee, Craig, Jimbo and Hannah, so now I can say names!) who took us out to Domboshava.
Domboshava is a beautiful spot just outside Harare - it’s basically a huge, smooth rock that you can walk up, and from the top we got amazing views across Harare and in all the other directions too. We walked up in the late afternoon light, watched the sun set at the top, then came back down. It was breathtaking - God has made a beautiful country of Zimbabwe!
Then came my next surprise. Nix, Kate, Helen and Jess had arranged a surprise meal out to a local pizza place. I literally had no idea of this - I was so tired after Dombo that I had expected to crash right into bed as soon as we got home! But we had a lovely meal out (Helen, Jess, Nix, Gayle, Jimbo, Craig and I), with lots of laughs and far too much pizza. Then, after the pizza, I got my final surprise of the day after pizza - four waiters, one of whom bent right down to sing LOUD in my ear, “Happy Birthday!” Or their version of it. I was so shocked/embarrassed/confused! However, it was really funny, and I appreciated the effort Helen and Jess went to to get them to do that. And the effort they went to for the whole day. On a day where I copuld have felt really homesick, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and didn’t think about home too much. But, that said, it will be nice to celebrate with friends and family on my “18th and 4 months” birthday!

Visa renewal - To start my birthday off we had to go to immigration offices in town to renew our visas. The slight hitch was that they had actually expired last Friday, so we were three days late! We were pretty scared of what they might do to us, and had been praying about it ever since we discovered we were too late to get there on Friday itself. Kate initially sounded as panicked as we were, but after a few hours of it sinking in, we had spoken to someone in the know and she had too, and both of us were informed that we should be ok. Technically they could deport us (meaning that we’d have had to cross the border to Mozambique, then come back in), but with prayer, and lots of it, we should be fine. So, we prayed and prayed - 1 Peter 5:6-7 gave me some peace about it all, and by Monday morning we were confident(ish) that we’d be ok. We prayed together again just outside immigration, then walked in and got our visas without any problem whatsoever! It was over in 5 minutes! God is good. What’s more, is that after that incident we all feel certain that God wants us to be here in Zim, and that He has plans for us here. It has quelled any doubts in our mind. So, praise the Lord!

God at work - The visa situation meant a lot to us - we really had to trust in God, and trust His ways - we were determined not to pay a bribe, and determined top do everything above board. And God pulled us through. I’ve been learning a lot about reliance on Him while I’ve been here - it is most definitely His plans, His agenda, and not mine. things here are so unpredictable, we’re never quite sure where we’re going next, but I’m finding myself trusting in God so much more, knowing that He is in control and that He will use me for His purposes. But, and here’s the bit I struggled with initially, it’ll be in His perfect timing. I have to be patient - there is no quick-fix to things going on here (for example, in Epworth), but God will come through and He has a plan that I cannot even begin to comprehend, but a plan in which I am a part. I’ll do my bit, and God will sort out the rest. I’m really learning to have that servant attitude we envisioned before we came out here.
This patience thing has been particularly relevant with Oasis’ establishing projects in Epworth. We’re building foundations, slowly moving in - hopefully Helen, Jess and I will get to see some results before we leave, but we know that the firm foundations are important if things will change for the long-run.
In Oasis’ staff as well we have been amazed at what God has done. One particular staff member, Ivy, has had a very rough life. She ran away from home aged 13 because her parents were violent and abusive, and lived on the streets of Harare. There, she fell pregnant, but was then taken in by nuns to give birth, so that the baby was brought into the world healthy and well. She stayed with them for seven days, then tried to cross the border to Mozambique with a friend. Her friend passed away as they travelled, leaving her and her child to fend for themselves completely. But then a missionary found them, and sent Ivy to a place to get help, until eventually she was placed in a foster home. Her foster parents took her to church, and looked after her as though she was theirs, and then encouraged her to learn about HIV/Aids. She eventually decided to get tested - her result told her she was HIV positive. What I found most striking, though, is that she is not now bitter about that - in fact, she says she was angry for seven days, then made a conscious decision to carry on regardless, taking her medication and living an otherwise normal life. She was more thankful that her son tested negative - what a miracle! Ivy now is a real woman of God - she runs a terminal illness support group in her church, and she is heavily involved with the work of Oasis - both the sports and recreation things, and working with street girls. She is a real inspiration to us - having been through so much, her faith is still so strong. She even forgave her biological parents, and built that relationship up again. Wow.
We are so thankful for the relationships God has blessed us with here - it’s really incredible how many wonderful people He has put in our lives. so many have offered to have us round for lunch, or go out for coffee, or just chat to us after church. We’ve been invited to three different places for Christmas, even!
We’ve been really challenged in Epworth and Mbrae, in terms of the rich/poor divide. But God is faithful, and he has been helping us deal with that. Kate has given us wonderful advice, and we can always turn to her if we have any practical issues.

Upcoming events: Next week (Monday 15th to Friday 19th November) we’re going to be leaders at a Grade 6 kids’ camp - that is, children aged 10/11. It is an adventure camp, with loads of activities throughout the day, and time for teaching them about the life of Jesus too. It’s a pretty hectic schedule - up at 6am, bed at 9.30pm each day - and from what we’ve heard, it is absolutely exhausting! We will hopefully be working with Kidz Can in the near future too - a lady from Northside brought the idea forward to us, and basically it would involve doing hospital visits to the children’s ward, and playing with the kids there. It’s something that really sounds exciting to us, and we really hope we’ll be able to do it soon!
The run-up to Christmas is looking pretty busy too - schools close at the end of November, so we will be mainly involved with things at Northside. From 9th to 11th December we’ll be group leaders at Upward Sports, which is a football training camp for kids aged 5 to 13, for 4 hours each morning. Don’t worry, I won’t be teaching anyone how to play football - I’ll just be taking them round the stations, then leading the mid-morning devotions with my group of 10/12 kids. Northside have lots of other things going on around Christmas time, so we’ll be getting involved with helping organise those, and just encouraging festive cheer here!
We are in the process of booking our holiday too, which will be happening around Christmas time - it seems forever away now, but we know it’s going to sneak up on us so quickly! At the minute we’re planning to visit Antelope Park, a game reserve, for four days before Christmas, then be at Victoria Falls for New Year. Hopefully it will all work out!

Points for prayer:
Thank you for your continued prayer and support - I love receiving emails and little messages from you all (email address is joannamurnane@hotmail.co.uk, by the way). It’s really encouraging to know I have the support of the church and family and friends, so thank you. Things are generally going really well here, however there are always a few things we’d appreciate prayer for:
continued safety here in Zim
the Grade 6 camp this week - from what we’ve heard it’s going to be fun, challenging and utterly exhausting! We pray that God will sustain our energy, and that we’ll each be able to show Christ’s love to each of the kids in our groups.
team dynamics. We all get on very well still, which is such a blessing. Occasionally tiredness can affect how we react to things, but we’ve always managed to find time out to refuel and relax. God is teaching us all, and each night we talk about our days and pray together, which helps us rely on God’s strength and encourage each other too.
Relationships here in Zim - on 23rd November Kate and her family are leaving to go to England for Christmas - she will be gone for over a month. This will be a challenge for us, as up to now she has been who we turn to when we have problems. We pray that God will provide us with other sources of advice (we’re thankful for the great number of people we have here in our lives already!). We also pray that we will continue to grow in our friendships with those around us, so that we can learn from them, and them from us.
homesickness - over the past week I have felt pangs of homesickness, related to my birthday I think. Please pray that I will be able to keep up regular contact with you all, family in particular, and that I will find my comfort and strength in the Lord.
Oasis’s move into Epworth. It’s a time of big change for Oasis Zim, as all their projects have set out their 3-year goals. We are praying that we will go into this community with a heart for service, an understanding of where they are at already, and a vision to change things for the better by encouraging self-suffiency and
that I continue to be challenged. God is really working here, and I am so thankful for how much he’s been teaching me so far. In the next few months I’m praying that I can put into practice what he has taught me, and continue to learn other things that will benefit those around me.

Thank you once again for your support. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

God bless,

Jo

PS. My police count (ie. the number of times I’ve been stopped by police) has now reached 7 - I’ve had a bit of a lull recently! And no more stolen cars to speak of.

Finally 18!

Hello all!

Just a quick one to apologise for not having posted ablog up for some time now - we have been crazily busy here in Zim! I’m writing one now, which I’ll hopefully be able to out a new post up this Saturday.

For now, though, just to let you know that we’re all safe and well still, and that we are experiencing more and more of God’s goodness while we’re here - to us and to others. It’s my brithday today - we celebrated on Saturday with a braai (a bbq - in November!! I never thought I’d get that, ever!) with some of the young people from the youth group and evening church we’ve been going to, and we managed to make a cake JUST before the power cut out on us. I am so thankful for the people God’s put in our lives here - I thought I might be friendless for my 18th, but we had such a lovely day/evening, and so far today is turning out equally as wonderful too. Jess and Helen gave me the fright of my life this morning, with a surprise “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” just as I walked out my bedroom at 6.30am... We're heading to Domboshova (spelling I'm not sure about!) later, whi9ch is apparently a beautful spot just outside of Harare where you climb the rocks and watch the sun set. Looking forward to it!

God bless, and I WILL post more detail on Saturday!

Jo

Points for prayer

Just a quick one with a few prayer requests for the next week or so, as I forgot to mention the specifics on the last couple of things. Please pray for...

• the girls from the Tanaka project, that their faith and hope can continue and won’t dwindle in the government school they’re now in.

• the staff at Oasis - they’re all working really hard and love God, but many have problems at home with housing, family and finances. Please just pray that God will provide for them, and that they’ll be able to continue the good work they’re doing.

• finances for Oasis Zim - the Tanaka project in particular is struggling, which is why we are making and selling jewellery. Having just moved offices, Oasis are planning to set up a drop-in centre in the building adjacent to where they are now, for street girls to come and get counseling, advice and help, as well as the opportunity to get to know God more.

• our team - We have found the first few weeks tiring, and sometimes feel drained of energy. As things are still shaping up, we’re trying to learn to trust God and his plans - it’s God’s agenda, not ours! Please pray that we will be refreshed of energy and will be enthusiastic in each project, and that we will remember that we are here to serve God, build relationships and demonstrate Christ’s love in that way. We are also struggling on/off with homesickness, as various events have caused us to think of people at home. Again, please pray that we can remember we’re here for a purpose, and that we ill be able to rely on God and support each other through that. In difficult times I personally have been encouraged by the well-known Psalm 23 - “Surely your goodness and your unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” We are not alone here, and I am praying that we remember that.

• safety - God has been watching over us in our first couple of weeks here, and we simply pray that it continues throughout our stay in Zimbabwe.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.
God bless,
Jo x

Once upon a time in Zimbabwe...

Hello again!

Firstly, sorry for lack of pictures - minimal internet and slow internet speed means they take far too long to upload! The past few days have been equally as diverse and exciting as the first week - so much has happened it’s impossible to tell you everything. So I thought  I’d pick out a few highlights...

Mbare Pre-school - This is where we’re going to be working every Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon (sports). We popped in for a little visit, met the teachers and some of the children. It was a very surreal experience - the children chanted “auntie, auntie, auntie” at us, which is the equivalent of chanting “Miss, Miss, Miss” in a primary school here. They were all rather excitable as it was their lunch break, so hopefully when we come to teach and work with them we’ll be able to control it!

River of Life Westgate - Built around a church (think large thatched-roof hut, rather than our brick buildings), this is a training centre for farming. Sounds a bit bizarre, but the thinking behind it is to make farming in Zimbabwe more effective - with a smaller portion of land, they can take better care of the crops, and therefore come harvest time produce a greater yield. The organisation run workshops at Westgate and in other places in Zimbabwe, and the idea is that eventually people will learn how to farm more effectively, for themselves and to sell. So, when we visited, we were given a tour of the herb garden - where they use everything from mint to strawberry leaves to milk thistle for herbal remedies - and also of the crop fields. The men who gave us the tours were so clearly passionatge about the work they were doing; they truly believe in using plants and herbs, since it is a natural gift from God. What struck us most was their reasoning behind the herbal remedies: there are so many people who cannot afford healthcare and medicine here in Zim, so by showing them how they can grow herbs and use them to improve their health, and by running a clinic on-site, illnesses can be treated. The reason we were shown round this farm is that we are going to be replicating their “DIY” versions in the ground of the Oasis offices, for the people Oasis serve to benefit from.

Jewellery-making - This is something we will be doing weekly, with an aim to then sell the jewellery in the UK and US (when various people from Oasis travel home or on visits) to raise money for the Tanaka prject (which I’ll some to later). A girl called Catriona is heading up this project, but she’s back in America until January, so has left guidelines and images and things for us to use to give us ideas. We enjoyed finally doing something that we felt was beneficial, and something that will become part of our weekly routine. It was quite soothing too, as it took a lot of concentration. And, once we’d finished for the day, our necklaces and bracelets actually looked really nice!  At least, we’d buy them...

Visiting the Tanaka girls - A monthly occurrence for us, we think. With Junic, we headed to a government-run boarding school which is now home to five girls from the Oasis Tanaka Project (which recently shut down due to lack of funding, but will hopefully be re-opened within the next few months). We met the girls and chatted with them, and they then sang to us. Even from the short time we spent with them, it was evident they had been through a lot, so their faith in God was really touching. For example, one of the girls was abandoned by her father who took her siblings away from her too, and she was left on the streets until she was taken in by Oasis and looked after by those who run the Tanaka project. The work that the Oasis women did with them and the care they provided gave her a family again. She was clearly so appreciative of the visit from Junic, and from her story it was her faith that kept her going in what was quite an oppressive environment in the government-run school where she boarded too. The girls had such joy when they sang to us, and that hit home with Helen, Jess and me: they don’t have any material possessions or any known family (one doesn’t even have a registered birth certificate), but they can find joy and hope and peace in God, and stick together as sisters. What struck me most was when another of the girls explained that when people from Oasis visit them, “it’s like a mother to us”. While some of the other kids there have family who just couldn’t afford to look after them, these girls are abandoned but the work that Junic and the other women in charge of the Tanaka project gives them hope.
We visited the little ones in another orphanage school called “Village of Hope”, which was founded by a Canadian Christian organisation. It was like a different world compared to the government-run place - each of the dormitories had residential housemothers who looked after 8 children each of varying ages, to create a family-like feel for the kids. The children we met and played with seemed really happy and looked out for one another (6 year olds were entertaining the babies, and things like that). The work the directors and housemothers were doing was clearly making a difference, and their caring approach created a much friendlier atmosphere.

Northside Community Church - On Fridays and Sundays we will be working in the church, in the youth department. When we rolled up on Friday we expected a fairly easy day, getting to know the place and just observing the kids’ club, maybe helping out from the sidelines. But no. Ben, the youth director, had different ideas. He assigned us the task of leading the 2 hour session with kids aged 6 to 12 ourselves. Talk about throwing us in at the deep end! So we were given a worksheet that the session will be based around (Daniel 5), and told to plan games, craft and lesson on that. It’s fair to say we were pretty nervous - 2 hours with kids is a long time! - but we made a plan in the morning and figured out who was doing what. Come 3 o’clock, we were ready for the kids (although the two guys who we had been told were coming to help us evidently were not, as they hadn’t shown up). But, long story short, we managed! The children were very excitable at the start, but Ben gained control of them, passed over to us and we were fine from then on. The main difficulty we established was that the younger children couldn’t actually read or write English yet (Shona being their mother tongue), so that was a problem with the worksheets. But we were aware that wasn’t our fault, and we dealt with it by Jess and I wandering round the room to help specific kids while Helen led from the front. The children  were lovely though, and very well behaved - it seems to be very much a part of the culture that children respect those who are older than them, so when we asked them to do things they would listen and follow instructions, which was a welcome treat for us! The kids really appreciated it, and we’re pretty sure we’ll have fun taking that session over the next few months.
We also went to the young adults session at night, and although at first feeling fish out of water since they were singing in Shona as we entered and we were the only white people there! However, the speaker was really good, and it gave us a chance to talk to people of a similar age to us. Hopefully we’ll be able to go regularly and make some new friends there - sport seems to be the social activity of choice, so maybe some football, basketball and tennis will be coming our way soon!
On Sundays we also will be helping with the childrens’ work - yesterday we led the kids’ club during the service, while the Sunday school teachers took the day off. We were therefore occupying 70-odd children with the help of Antoinette, the youth worker in the church. There are no child safety issues, one adult per three children or antything like that here! It went really smoothly again though - we are so thankful, as God has been hearing our prayers and helping us through these early challenges!

It could only happen in Africa... - I have been keeping tally of the number of times I’ve been stopped by police while driving (note - I haven’t done anything wrong, they just like to harrass people!). So, in my one week of driving I’ve been stopped three times and waved by once. Thankfully, each time there hasn’t been an issue - God has been watching over us there! I’ll keep you posted each blog, don’t worry. In other car-related issues, we have discovered that our key fits more than one car, by accidentally breaking in to someone else’s. Whoops. What’s more, after the fiasco, the man came back to ask my name - “Nice to meet you,” he said, then handing over his card he continued, “give me a call sometime.” Only in Zimbabwe! Shopping has provided some entertainment too - pricing is just ridiculous! A green pepper is $1.54 per kg, while the yellow or red varieties are $10.78! If you fancy some Ferrero Rocher to treat yourself, don’t buy it in Zimbabwe - $20 for eight would be the price you’d have to pay. That is some expensive chocolate (if you want to send some out here though, do feel free...) Candlelight dinners have featured too, although sadly not romantically (don’t tell Helen or Jess!). The frequent power cuts haven’t been too much of a bother for us, but they do make the day a little more interesting!

Ok, so that’s my “summary” for now, any questions you have you can leave a comment and I can try to get round to them! Internet connection varies, and also depends on the electricity, but I will do my best.

Love and prayers,

Jo

"Thank you for Jacks, Jill and Helen..."

*Sorry guys, this blog was written on Monday 11th, but didn't have internet access to publish it before today. I'll get the next one up asap!*

So our first week here in Zimbabwe is nearly over! It has been a whirlwind of activity: we’ve met new people, tried new food, visited new areas, driven not-so-new cars... Since our arrival we’ve had a week of orientation, giving us a chance to settle in and get our bearings before we start our regular timetable (on Wednesday).

From the little that we’ve seen so far, Zimbabwe is such an interesting and diverse country, in nature and in people. Each night we are sung to sleep by the birds and crickets outside our house - we are staying in a low-density area, so there isn’t a lot of traffic which means we can always hear their chirruping. Aside from the cockerel which has woken us up at 5:45 a.m. the past couple of mornings, it seems so peaceful - a world away from the crowded streets of Harare, which I’ll get to later. The trees and flowers are beautiful here too, which I didn’t really expect. Jackerandas - large trees with lilac blossom - line streets and avenues (which are all in a grid, running parallel and perpendicular to one another), and other plants and trees which are just so different to those in the UK make a drive from one side of town to the other a little nature tour too! On the day of our arrival we saw a zebra in a forest park on the way to our current home, which was a pleasant surprise.

The house we’re staying in at the moment belongs to the parents-in-law of Kate Brits, our team co-ordinator here in Zim. They aren’t actually here at the minute, but their house is lovely - much nicer than what I expected! This is mainly because this is the part of town where it’s safe for us - a group of three white girls - to live. Lorraine and Henry even have a swimming pool, which we have appreciated in the October heat which we are repeatedly told “just started last week”. Frequent power cuts make things like cooking and washing  interesting, but so far we haven’t had any serious issues. It is just something that the locals have learned to live with - you can’t explain it, and can’t really predict it, so you learn to adapt with it. We experienced one power cut yesterday in a supermarket: all the lights, the fridges, the tills cut out for five minutes until the generator kicked in, and eveything was up and running as if nothing had happened; people even continued to shop in the dark!

As a team, Jess, Helen and I have found Zimbabwe to be in a better state than we had initially expected. Having spoken to a few people, things have dramatically improved since last summer, and now most things are widely available. We managed to buy sim cards for $1 each, whereas last year they could only be bought on the black market at extortionate prices. That said, we haven’t visited the rural areas yet - we will hopefully get the chance to do this with a woman in Northside Community Church, where we’ll be based for the next 5 months - and we have noticed a huge contrast between the rich and the poor. Each house we have visited feels like a bubble, separated from the streets just beside where people are selling all sorts of things.

We noticed this contrast most when we went into downtown Harare on Friday, for what Kate called the “Harare Challenge”. Taking a combi - a commuter bus which is only supposed to take 12 people but actually gets packed with at least 20 - into town from the Oasis offices with Memory and Barbara, two women who work there, we walked around the streets of Harare, popped into some shops, visited the national gallery and had lunch. At Wimpy. But this was not a Wimpy burger - oh no - this was Wimpy sadza! Sadza is basically a maize-based “filler” that is a cross between mashed potato and rice. Despite the horror stories we had heard before, we all thought it tasted ok - so long as it’s served with something else, be it a vegetable relish or a meat accompaniment, it is most definitely edible. We are cooking for ourselves at the minute though, so we’re pretty glad we don’t have to have it every day for lunch and dinner, like most Shona people do.

On Sunday we had our first experience of Northside Community Church, a mixed church in an area of Harare called Borrowdale. Again we found the people to be so welcoming and friendly - so many people introduced themselves that we have forgotten the vast majority of the names! For those at Freeland Church, there are some similarities - the worship band has similar instruments (the girls who sing were in the Top 10 of Nigerian Idol!) and there’s a screen and projector for the words and points to highlight during the sermon. We sing in English and in Shona, which is definitely a little different, and it’s a lot bigger than Freeland - there are 100 young people alone in the church! 100 young people who we have been assigned to entertain next week while the teachers have their week off... As I said though, everyone is very friendly - we were invited to lunch with Ann Clark, who is an admin assistant in the church. We had such a lovely afternoon with her - conversation was really interesting as it turned out her family had been white farmers before the troubles. There was one moment where we all had to bite our tongues to hold back laughter though - while Ann gave thanks for the food, she said (with the best intentions, no doubt) “Thank you for Jacks, Jill and Helen...”. None of us had the heart to correct her! So, to Ann we will be Jacks, Jill and Helen for the next five months!

We had perhaps more “African” style worship with the Oasis team on Monday morning, where someone would start singing a song, and everyone else would sing back the next part, and the songs continued like that. Africans definitely have better rhythm than us! The clapping and harmonies were amazing, and it was a fantastic experience in such a little room! The people we’ll be working with at Oasis all have stories to tell, and we’re really looking forward to getting to know them better as we work with them on various projects.

The biggest challenge I’ve had to face so far is driving. While I am so grateful they drive on the same side of the road as in Britain, there are definitely some differences! There are potholes everywhere here, and speed bumps which they don’t like to mark with paint or anything. I think Jess and Helen have had a few surprises in the back of the car when an unexpected bump has come our way! Our windscreen wipers have had a bit of a workout too, despite the lack of rain - for some reason or other the indicator switch is the opposite side of the steering wheel to at home. Finally, the scariest challenge has been the policemen. Having only been driving for two days, I’ve already been stopped and asked for my license. It’s a tricky business, since they’re often looking for bribes in return for letting you off the hook, but often all they want is to check the car is insured or has a radio license. Luckily we had no bother when we were stopped, and were given permission to go with a “Have a nice day” and “Say hi to your friend in the back!” Kate has told us that if we show fear, they’ll pick up on that and try to get some money out of us - but I can be confident in that we are allowed to drive with a UK license for up to 6 months in the country, so hopefully we won’t get too much hassle!

Overall, it’s been a week of easing us in to Zimbabwean culture and to the work we’ll be doing and the places we’ll be visiting over the next few months. We’ve been getting on really well as a team and have been fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who are willing to help us, so we just hope and pray that it will continue!

Soon to depart!

How time flies. It seems like yesterday I was at my interview with Oasis for this trip, and now, here I am, 23 hours away from my plane leaving Heathrow. I can't believe this is my last night in Scotland of 2010!

So, I've done a little tour of the country to say goodbye to all the lovely people in my life, and have spent the last few days seeing family and (duh duh duuuuuuh) packing. It has been an emotional rollercoaster making lists, re-writing lists, buying essentials, buying non-essentials, putting things in my suitcase and rucksack, taking things out my suitcase and rucksack, swapping things from my suitcase TO my rucksack, swapping things from my rucksack to my suitcase, taking things out again, putting them back in... Finally, though, at approximately 9:07pm tonight, I finished. Suitcase the right weight, rucksack the right weight, hand luggage full to burst, but still the right weight. It is a miracle. I still have a sneaky feeling I'll have to take some books out when I come to airport check-in though. Oh, how life is stressful. However, the first challenge of my trip has been overcome. Joanna 1, baggage allowance 0.

Jess, Helen and I are due to arrive in Harare early afternoon on Thursday (there's a time difference of 1 hour). We'll have a week, give or take a few days, of orientation, then the real work will begin. We have been given a provisional timetable, which involves a mix of teaching at the preschool, leading health and recreational classes, and working in Northside Community Church with the young people and children, but as we were told at our training - it's Africa! So any plans can change at the last minute, so I won't bother going into too much detail until I'm there. That said, there are still a few things that I would greatly appreciate prayer for:

• a safe journey to Harare for myself and the team - we are flying to Harare from Heathrow on Wednesday night, via Nairobi.
• safety in the country - particular on the roads and at night. As the only driver in the team, I will be doing a lot of the driving to and from the schools and church, and from what I hear African roads are a little different to here in the UK!
• an open mind and willingness to learn and adapt - I am very aware that things may be difficult for us at the start as we are thrown into a lifestyle completely different to what we have known up until now, so
• that our relationships within the team and with the locals and those we work with would be blessed.
• a heart to persevere when the going gets tough, and remember why we are there and our vision as a team - we know that this is not going to be plain sailing for the whole five months, but we hope to be able to continue and overcome the challenges and difficulties!

Thank you. The next time I write this I'll be in Zimbabwe - what a thought! Anyway, must go to update my iPod with the music I'm going to be listening to for the next five months...

God bless,

Jo

Training complete, the adventure approaches...

Hello all!

Firstly, thank you to all who have supported me ahead of this trip to Zimbabwe. I really appreciate it all. You're amazing!

So, I have just finished 4 days of training at the All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire. This Oasis Global Action Team to Zimbabwe consists of: Jess, 18, from Sheffield (left in picture); Helen, 18, from Guildford (bottom right); and me! The other girls are absolutely lovely (yay!) and we're all really looking forward to the 6 months that lay ahead of us.

Our training consisted of lots of intense sessions, packed with information and advice on things ranging from health to teaching children, and building relationships to handling finances! We discussed our expectations and aims, to come up with an overall 'vision' - see the top of the page for this one. After sleeping for 13 hours when I arrived home, my frazzled brain has had time to process everything, and I can now begin to complete my final preparations before heading off on Wednesday 6th October!

So, what exactly are we going to be doing while we're away? My honest answer is, I don't know. Nothing is definite for us yet. One thing we were told in our training is that it's Africa - we'll have to be flexible! However, what I do know is that Oasis run various projects in and around Harare, and I could be doing any of a range of things: working with girls affected by HIV/Aids; teaching basic Maths, English and life skills to help the locals find better employment; doing hospital visits; practical building and painting work; teaching pre-school children, etc. For more information, you can browse Oasis' volunteering page or Oasis Zimbabwe.

So there's a little introduction, more will be on its way soon!