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