New year, back to work!

Makadini! (See, I’m really getting into the Shona culture here...!)

I hope you’re all keeping well and have got back into the swing of things this new year. How are the resolutions going? I pray that God is already moving in your lives this year. A verse that has stuck with me so far is Hebrews 12:28-29:

    “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to     God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

It’s beautiful. We have a firm foundations in God, a firm hope. Therefore we should serve him out of gratitude and worship for what He’s done for us. And that has been my inspiration this year as we’ve been going back to work.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything, so here’s an update on what’s been going on, what’s new, and what’s about to happen...

Pre-School Programme:
We have moved away from Mbare for now, so that we can experience some different pre-schools. We are now working in Epworth, where Oasis have a lot of targets for the next three years as they focus more of their projects there. Each time we go into the pre-schools, we try to reflect the love of God in what we do - showing kindness, giving each child individual attention, and praying for the kids each week. On Wednesday mornings we have been going to Margaret Treacy pre-school, based at the Catholic church in Epworth. This pre-school is fairly well-resourced, and the teachers are very organised. We have thoroughly enjoyed the work we’ve done there - it has been a lot easier to fit in there than at Mbare, since it is the start of the new school year rather than part-way through the last term! These past couple of weeks we have read stories to the children (from an adapted children’s bible, mostly), taught a new song, done an art activity with them and played games. The children - 55 of them in total so far - are all fairly confident, and we can already see improvements in their English. They love singing - they have lots of rhymes in Shona and in English, and we taught them “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and, just this week, “Who’s The King of the Jungle?”, which they all thought was brilliant (teachers included!) It’s been a lot of fun teaching them English in subtle ways - for an art activity we drew round our hands, and from there we could teach them some colours and practise their counting skills. We have found that parachute games go down a treat as well - they adore running underneath and just generally getting very excited! This group of children, and the teachers, loved playing with the bubbles we took along with us last week. It’s nice to think that we can bring in new things for them to do, which so often in the UK we take for granted, whereas here it was something really special, and really fun, for them to play with. Their joy is contagious, that’s for sure.
The other pre-school we have been working at is quite a contrast. We have had a maximum of 17 kids there, but they’re all equally willing to learn. We have done some of the same things with them (we were so proud when we returned and they could remember how to play Duck Duck Goose - they had been practising, clearly!) but we also made music shakers (boxes with rice in them, basically) which they had a lot of fun playing with. Some of them have very good rhythm, while others might need a little more practise!

Foundations For Farming:
Our hearts were crushed when we returned to Oasis from our holiday to find that our maize patch had overgrown with weeds - though the maize itself had still managed to grow too, thankfully. But since then we’ve been working hard at it in the afternoons, getting used to using a hoe to weed, and it is now back to clear land! It has been heavy work, so we’re very thankful for the good weather God’s given us, and for the pool back at the house we’re staying in. We’re all quite protective over the land though, and I’m happy to say that some of our plants are now over a metre tall - yay!

Jewellery-making:
We’ve been making some more jewellery - some of which will be coming home with me to sell, so I hope you’re all ready to stock up on some fine pieces of hand-made wearable art!

Northside Community Church:
From our busy Christmas schedule at the church, we are now back to our regular Friday/Sundays there. Wow Kids, the Friday afternoon kids’ club, has started again, and yesterday we were talking about Elijah being fed by the ravens - and everyone made their own paper bird. It’s been good fun there, as the kids listen well and we can bring some new ideas to them. We’ve also started paired reading again - it’s lovely to hear the children’s reading skills improve as time goes on.
A lot of our time at Northside has also been spent making powerpoint presentations for various people and various things - this weekend is the church’s 38th anniversary celebration, so we have made a slideshow of photos from their past year, which has been interesting for us as we’ve been able to see what actually goes on in the church elsewhere. We’re back to leading kids’ groups on Sunday mornings as well - my Grade 3 class is lovely, and I’m excited to spend more time with them.

Hands of Mercy Orphanage:
Last weekend we visited an orphanage about 40 minutes’ drive out of Harare. Again, little old Geoff managed to hold up on the dirt tracks, in the heavy rain - we’re so proud of him! Anyway, at the orphanage they’re setting up a new feeding programme in the nearby rural area, starting this week, so we were helping clear out the area they are using for it - weeding, cutting back grass, cleaning pots, etc. It was really interesting to go out there, and we also got the chance to play with the kids - who again loved the parachute games, and dodgeball and volleyball and things too. It was great! The family who run it were so lovely, very welcoming and said we could go back any time, so I think we’ll probably pop back there when we next have a bit of time. God’s really given them a heart for the poor in that area, and it is so encouraging to see them doing something about it, so we’d love to be involved a little more. We all felt that it was nice to experience a different part of life in Zimbabwe, and by meeting the orphans and going to church there (a congregation of 10, including us) we definitely experienced something we never could at home.

Prayer requests:
Thank you so much for your continued support in prayer - we all agree here that knowing we have friend and fimily praying for us back at home encourages us so much! Over the next few weeks we have some exciting plans, so we have a few prayer requests...

• our maize plot - we are praying that God will provide the weather conditions it needs to grow big and strong. We really feel it is something that will make a difference to people once it’s grown, so we want to be able to do it to the best of our ability!

• our team - we’re all very aware that the end is drawing ever closer, so please pray that we will be able to complete everything God has set out for us. We are also praying that we will have the energy to continue, and will not miss home too much.

• Fuel prices are continually rising here, which is stretching our budget a bit, so please pray that we will be able to cope with the changes and find a way to keep up all the work we’re doing while keeping to our transport budget as well.

• Pray for the children at the pre-schools and at Northside - they all need to know how special they are to God, and how valued they are. It’s so important a truth that we feel some are not hearing at home.

• Please pray for our continued safety here - we have heard of violence in the rural areas because of upcoming elections. This has not yet affected us in town at all, but we are simply praying that God will continue to protect us and keep us from danger.

• As we travel to Nyanga, in the Eastern Highlands, next weekend, and then onto Mozambique the following week, please pray that God will protect us on our journeys. We also pray that He will open our eyes and hearts to new things He wants to teach us - life in Mozambique is very different, so we are excited to experience something completely contrasting to our life in Zim.

I know I keep saying it, but thank you so much for all your support (I'm assuming people are still reading this, aha!) I will write again after our travels!

God bless,

Jo xx

Bungee jump...? Never again!

The three of us at Victoria Falls Hotel

Sunset at Antelope Park!

Playing with baby lion cub

The fear in my face says it all, does it not?

Happy new year all the way from Zim! Already one week into 2011, how exciting. So, this’ll be a shorti(ish) blog, as we haven’t done much work over the past couple of weeks - it has been holiday time! We went to Antelope Park, a game reserve/wildlife park place, for a few days before Christmas, spent Christmas in Harare, then went to Victoria Falls for the days surrounding New Year. We’ve had a brilliant time - here are a few highlights...

Antelope Park:
We spent three nights here, from Monday 20th December until the Thursday of that week. We had very good journeys both ways, which we’re grateful for - Geoff, the car, did us proud! And our time spent at the park was fantastic. It is such a beautiful spot, and the girls and I had plenty of time to relax and sunbathe and enjoy the surroundings. Helen’s mother has passed on her bird-watching habits to Helen, who has in turn passed them on to me, so even though I don’t know what they all are I’ve been pretty interested in the birds here (they’re a lot more exciting than those at home anyway...) When we weren’t just lazing about, writing journals and reading and playing cards in the sun, we played with the little lion cub (for free!), walked with lions, rode elephants, did a game “drive” by horse and cart, and did a sunset cruise along the lake. The baby lion cub was ridiculously cute (she rolled about and played with us like a puppy!) and we were so fortunate to get to play with her, since she was actually “too young” for public viewing, but her playpen was right next to our accommodation so the keepers let us play with her anyway! And the lion walk was incredible. It was slightly strange, knowing that the animals will grow to be such huge killing machines, really, but they are such beautiful creatures. There were two female lions and one male, who was a bit more independent and wandered off from time to time - he had a habit of running up to us from behind, so I always kept my out for him. The elephant ride was a lot of fun - one hairy moment where Helen and I thought we were going to fall off, but apart from that we loved it. I didn’t think elephants really had a “character”, but they do - they’re such funny animals! We got the chance to feed them (while sitting on them, and at the end) - they have really twisty trunks! Helen nearly got her little finger vacuumed off when feeding, but managed to rescue it, escaping with just a bit of elephant slobber. Lovely. We really enjoyed just riding along with it too. The sunset cruise was beautiful - a very picturesque sunset, and we had a very amusing Sri Lankan/New Zealand family on the boat with us who kept us entertained when there wasn’t much going on. The birds and the views were just incredible though. And finally the game “drive” - the horse and cart pulled us around the game park - we saw eland, impala, zebra and giraffe. Very bumpy, which made it a little tricky to take photos, but fun all the same. All in all, it was a very relaxing break for us just before Christmas, and a chance to do things we might never do again!

Christmas:
For each of us it was our first Christmas away from family, and although we all missed home a bit, we had a lovely day. Santa still visited us, it was 30 degrees Celsius, we ate Christmas dinner with all the trimmings, had mince pies galore and, of course, awful cracker jokes. We even swam under the stars at night and played swingball and badminton outside during the day. We each got to chat to home, and now have enough chocolate to last us a lifetime! Having Christmas away from home was something we were all nervous about, but God has blessed us with such wonderful friends here that we had a brilliant day anyway. Different, for sure, but we all enjoyed ourselves and felt included and loved by our Zimbabwean family!

Victoria Falls:
Words cannot describe how incredible the Falls are. On the 31st December, when we wandered round the area, I was completely taken aback by how loud it is, and how powerful. and it just goes on and on and on, for so long! The spray was immense too - everyone had warned that we’d get wet, but I had assumed that it would be just a little damp. I got absolutely drenched, so much so that the green dye from my bag ran onto my shorts, vest top and leg (I looked like I had a huge bruise!). It really is a sight to see - not a surprise that it’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world!
Activities-wise, we each did the zip-line in pairs (we had gone up with a group of friends who were with us until the 2nd January) across the gorge. This was fun, not too scary, and you could enjoy the view as you went across. After that, on the same day, Helen and I did a tandem bridge swing. Sounds gentle, but it was pretty scary! You free-fall 80 metres from the same point on the bridge that people bungee jump off of, attached only by a body harness. Then, after the free fall, you swing. Helen and I were scared: we clung to each other for dear life, from the very top to the very bottom, until we realised we were not going to fall into the water below. Most people looked very graceful in their free fall, with straight legs and a smooth swinging action. Helen and I, on the other hand, were anything but. We tried in vain to obtain a “seat” position, as you would on a swing, forgetting that with free-falling that does not work. So instead we ended up pedalling our legs, trying to regain some sort of control. It didn’t work. But still, we survived! It was certainly an experience, and although our photos of it aren’t great, it won’t be something I’ll be forgetting soon!
Finally, I bungee jumped. That’s right. I threw myself off a 111m-high bridge, attached at the feet to a bungee rope (which on closer inspection looked kind of frayed...) Sorry Mum! It was the most terrifying experience of my life. I’m glad I did it, but never again. Jess did it too (and loved it), but Helen was sensible and got her money back the day before, having decided there was no way she could throw herself off a bridge twice. Most people stop screaming with fear after the first rebound or two; I, on the other hand, continued to scream in sheer terror, until the nice singing man (I think the singing was to soothe) pulled me across to him to take me back up to safety. Even then I wasn’t calm, until I was back across the railings of the bridge. I’m glad I have photographic evidence of this jump, because otherwise I’m not even sure I’d believe myself. But there we go, I ended 2010 by jumping off a bridge, and started 2011 by being pushed off the very same bridge (my legs had buckled out of fear, so there was no jumping to be done!). Again, Mum, I’m sorry, but I survived!
In the rest of our time at the Falls, we did some good ol’ souvenir shopping, had fun with friends, and had “high tea” at the very fancy Victoria Falls Hotel, which has a stunning view of the bridge and the gorge. there was a big music festival on New Year’s Eve to welcome in 2011, so we got the chance to hear some popular Zimbabwean bands too.

God at work:
So, even though we’ve been on holiday over the past couple of weeks, we have still seen God ever present in our lives. He has blessed us with wonderful friends and lovely families to spend the holiday period with. Had we not had such great people here, it could have been a pretty lonely time, but God provides in every way! He has also kept us safe in different situations, whether it be travelling, up close with the animals or doing crazy activities. And we also want to praise him for giving us each confidence and wisdom in the children’s talks we did over the Christmas period at Northside - each one was a success. The other girls in particular were very nervous beforehand, yet they spoke so well.
We are all excited about the plans He has for us over the next nine weeks: there are more possibilities of travelling to work in different areas of the country, and some exciting new projects to get involved in, so we hope that they will work out for His purpose.

Prayer requests:

• Praise God for the 13 weeks we have had here so far, that we have each grown in our faith and learned more about His amazing faithfulness.

• Please pray that as we go back to work, God will renew our strength and energy, so that we can give our all to the work we’ll be doing.

• We are praying that we will continue to learn more of our incredible God, and continue to be effective witnesses of His love and grace, through our words and actions. In our work lives and social lives, we want to be able to reflect Christ, and have the same gracious, humble attitude that he had.

• For homesickness - as we have now passed the halfway point, we are realising that it has been a long time since we have seen people at home! Please pray that we will not miss friends and family too much, and that we will be able to focus on God’s plan for us here and appreciate the new friends we have in Zim.

• For our team - please pray that Jess, Helen and I will continue to work well together and support each other in these last couple of months.

I’ll update you all again in a couple of weeks’ time, with the progress of our projects and plans. Thanks once again for your support in thoughts and prayer.

Jo xx