A Christmas Wish

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

We wanted to send out a short Christmas wish to each and every one of you. 

So before we go too far......

..HAPPY CHRISTMAS.....!

We are very aware that we know each of you on so many different levels, some of you will be close family, others old friends from years back, some have become friends recently during our travels and work in Africa, some we have just briefly met along the way and others only via social media such as this blog. 

However where you fit into our story matters not, we are just truly thankful to you for being part of our amazing lives.

2018 has been a very busy and interesting year for us, we have returned to South Africa on three occasions and we've made new and exciting adventures into Zimbabwe and Zambia. Each of those trips were to share and extend the Emerging Leaders programmes in those nations, seeking to call out that amazing amazing potential that is within each one of us. We've had some ups and downs but mainly our year was full of fun and joy as we engaged with some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Through these trips we have seen many lives transformed, made many new friends, reconnected with many others and heard of people writing new life stories for themselves, their finances, their families and their communities after attending the training sessions we have run.

During the year we have also had the opportunity to experience some awesome things, places we would have never dreamt that we would see so if you would like to have a look back throughout our year then please click on the following links to our blog, each post capturing a small segment of time during 2018.

Blazing new trails in South Africa 

Another month in sunny South Africa

Back on a green island and a holiday to a hot and sunny one!

To Africa, to England and to Africa again

a few weeks in Zimbabwe

From Zim to Zam

Health, wellbeing, family and friends

Running around the Cape.....in more ways than one!

We do hope you enjoyed reading one or two of those posts but thinking we'd best sign off now, we just wanted you to know that we do value your support in whatever ways you do that. 

If you do want to add to the smallish pot that we are collecting for our upcoming near on four month trip to Zimbabwe (twice), Zambia and Madagascar then please follow the links as below.

Either contact us directly at timw@emerging-leaders.net where we can provide you with our bank details or you could give directly by following the link to our PayPal giving page. 

So once again we want to wish you all a peaceful Christmas, a prosperous New Year and we hope to see you again in 2019, wherever you are in this precious world.

Blessings and HAPPY CHRISTMAS!


Tim and Maz

Running around the Cape.....in more ways than one!

Official photo from the Winelands Marathon 2018,
not many road marathons include uphill stretches on
gravel roads, but the one I completed did!

Sorry we've been so quiet on the blog our recent internet connection hasn't been great, but we hope you've kept up with our comings and goings on our other social media platforms that took less data but for those of you who have been out of the loop we thought we'd quickly update the blog with this short post.


We arrived in South Africa on 8th November to undertake some further work developing the relationships with farms, suppliers and exporters specifically within the M&S and now Tesco supply chains, however other than meetings on the 8th and 9th my (Tim's) first focus was on more personal challenge, that of running full marathon which I completed early on the morning of the 10th November.


(Video of my finish above)

That 'race' took place around the university town of Stellenbosch where some of the most amazing wine is produced on the slopes of the stunning mountains that provided us all with a beautiful backdrop as we ran the 42.195km undulating route out to Somerset West and back. I was very clear of the time I wanted to achieve, so applied my leadership mindsets and made sure I remained focused, sticking to my planned 'there' but doing it just one step at a time, thus ensuring I didn't waver from my schedule which meant that I hit my goal of running under 4 hours which I was very pleased with.

Armistice day with the Houses

During our five week stay we were hosted by some of our good friends who we were eager to catch up with, our first stop was with Rob and Emily House and their two children who continue to grow into wonderful young people and by the end of our first week, where we been running around to meetings with further exporters and even existing local training companies we had ventured up the mountain to stay with Sandy and Ali where we both completed our first Park Run, more of a 5km trail run, in Grabouw.

After that moved down to Strand, where we had rented an apartment for around three weeks, which not only provided us with a central base for us to venture out to the meetings that took up most of our days, but that also enabled us to run out along the beach front in the early mornings and enjoy stunning sunsets in the evening with perfect views over False Bay to Table Mountain and the Cape peninsula.

Sunsets over the Cape

It is so encouraging to see how the Emerging Leaders programme has been taken to the hearts of the workers and wider farms where they work, the current team have done an amazing job helping to spread the story and we are now in a position where we have too much work coming in for 2019, which is great but posses a bigger challenge, that of needing more 'registered trainers' who will be able to share Leadership for Life in an official capacity.

Catching up with friends, who were keen
to help us with our plant powered diet!

With the above in mind one key thing was to identify those people, so we undertook to lead a Leadership for Life programme with around 20 people who we are looking to train up to be those 'registered trainers' within the commercial sector, this event which was attended by people who have been training within the farm network in South Africa for many years and was very well received.

We are certain that we achieved the main aim ensuring that those people received the programme themselves, there is power in people actually putting the leadership principles into action before they actually share it, thus ensuring that as they train others they know how and why we follow a very rigid method of engaging with some of the most vulnerable people in the world in this very accessible programme.

Potential Leadership for Life Registered Trainers!

Early in 2019 we will be running a Train the Trainer, unfortunately myself and Maz won't be around as we'll be returning to Zimbabwe to undertake a similar project with those we shared the programme with last year, and we are excited to see Emerging Leaders move to another level in South Africa with more people able to share the programme both into the farms and also the wider communities where we are seeking to engage with the younger people of this incredible country which has many issues that need good leadership to overcome.

An official photo taken of us race up from Hout Bay

Outside of our working hours we seemed to be able to find at least one event a week to take part in, so after running the Marathon and the Park Run we both completed a wonderful trail run called Origin of the Trails, also in Stellenbosch, which took us higher into the mountains, Maz also ran a 10km road race from Hout Bay along Chapmans Peak Drive and back, whilst I took on a more daunting trail run also from Hout Bay and up into Blackburn Ravine, which was quite a challenge but one which gave us great joy as the sunset over the Atlantic Ocean.

Filming some of the farmworkers who have
been on the Leadership for Life programme

Another key part of our trip was to set up and then arrange some filming, we are keen to start telling some of the stories that are coming out of the training as people start to lift up their heads and understand that they have the potential to influence others in a positive way. We are excited to see how the film comes out, which follows the day in the life of a tractor driver on one of the local farms in Grabouw who had already attending our training in June and sees him put his leadership principles into action as he develops a community garden where he is sharing that produce with others who don't have as much as he does.

Maz, Myself and Mike

We were able to catch up with some of our contacts made during our time at the Village of Hope, we've been helping our friend Mike over a number of years as he seeks to complete his degree to become a school teacher (he has also provided excellent Xhosa translation the Emerging Leaders team) and we were able to take a boy whom we have known for years to his skills based training matrix, it was a pleasure to be able to help him on that special night.

Unfortunately we had some rather sad news when we were asked to meet up with the MD and FD of the Thembalitsha Foundation, who informed us of the boards decision to close down the Village of Hope at the end of March 2019. Whilst we can understand some of the main points of that decision it was still hard to hear of the issues that have led to them making that choice and our hearts go out to not only the children but mainly the staff, many of whom we employed way back when we opened the project in April 2009.

Daily drives to meetings were a bit boring!

We are taking the positives out of the venture and know that hundreds of children's lives, many of whom would perhaps not be around if we hadn't have been there, have been impacted in a very positive way. With further knowledge of the friendships that we made and the lives of those hundreds of volunteers who played a part in that fantastic time will also be changed for good having been part of something that was very very dear to our hearts. 

Sunsets over Lions Head

Our last week was spent in Cape Town where we stayed/were 'house sitters', for the guy who helps oversee Emerging Leaders in South Africa. It was great to spend some time in this city which has become very familiar but one that we really haven't had the time to explore. We got up early most of those final mornings to get down to the promenade at Sea Point to complete some faster 5km and 10km runs (I actually got PB's at both) and to run along Signal Hill under the watchful gaze of the mighty Table Mountain and his smaller but no less impressive ally Lions Head.

Us and Lennox

We also had a Christmas get together with some of the Emerging Leaders team, it was nice to share a meal, catch up and hear stories of how the programme is being used within the schools and wider community areas like the huge Khayelitsha township which sits outside Cape Town.

All in all it was a busy time interspersed with some further amazing experiences, it's always a blessing to be able to visit the Cape in late spring, the days are longer and getting warmer and the blue skies seem much bigger than those that surround our caravan as I type this up on a dreary Sunday afternoon in Bristol.

and Jo!

We're not sure when we will be back in South Africa again, other than flying through Jo'burg onto Harare in late January but we are sure we will return at some point to keep opening up the doors for more opportunities and to encourage those who are already doing an awesome job as we see transformation come to every community one person at a time.

So we sign off in the knowledge that we will see many of you before Christmas but if we don't have chance to share our seasons greetings to you in person then please accept these as we wish you and your families a blessed and peaceful Christmas and a prosperous and healthy 2019.



Tim and Maz x

Health, wellbeing, family and friends

Nana and Grandpa pop in for a visit to their
Great Grandchildren

It's been a while since we last posted an update on our blog, it sometimes seems easier to tell of our adventures to Africa and other wildish places than to speak about the day to day lives we lead in between times.

As always we know many of you are kept up to date with our comings and goings via Facebook and or email, but for once we wanted to post some of our highlights during our time back in England before we fly off to South Africa again this coming Wednesday evening.

End of the school holiday trip to Exmouth

With Bristol as our base we have been able to spend some time with our eldest son, his wife and our three adorable grandchildren. As the years pass you tend to forget the busyness of family life, we really do take our hats off to Chris and Claire as they juggle busy jobs with their three children, making sure that all three of them enjoy a varied mix of activities throughout the week, including ballet, cubs, beavers, football and rugby (they all play rugby even our dear little granddaughter). We miss them when we travel but treasure the times when we are with them.

Capturing the coastal path

We were blessed with a week of wonderful weather as we joined my sister (Tim's), her husband, our niece, my Mum and Dad as well as our middle son and his wife for a week of walking along the South West Coastal path, this time based just outside Falmouth, such a beautiful part of England. Not only did we complete some good few miles but also enjoyed some runs and even a dip (Josh and Haddy not me though!) in the cold English Channel.


I also had the opportunity of spending an afternoon in a single seater racing car, which was a present for my fiftieth birthday (in 2017), the event took place at the historic Silverstone circuit, home of British motorsport since hosting the first ever official Grand Prix back in 1950. 

Silverstone

I could bore you with the detail but just to say that to be in a car capable of around 150 MPH with little to protect you and your bum skimming over the tarmac as you lay almost horizontal is one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. It certainly gave me even more respect of the likes of Lewis Hamilton and my heros of yesteryear Jackie Stewart et al.

That's me that is.....

Over the last year or so we have become more aware of the effects that we are having on the planet, our fellow human beings as well as the animals we share this incredible blue ball with. 

We've read many books, listened to loads of podcasts and watched a number of documentaries as we try to further understand the issues such as health, wealth, happiness (of both ourselves and others) and the impact of our actions, that we used to take for granted.

As such we have taken on a mainly plant based diet, even considering buying leather goods and obviously the amount of plastic we use during our daily lives. We are certainly not advocating such a radical move by everyone, there are certainly people groups who have lived well for thousands of years in a sustainable ways, walking gently over the land which they have called home, treating the land and their animals in as best they know how, however within our mass consumerist society things have gone way off balance.

For now all we would ask is for you to also become more aware of how you are living, what the legacy will be for our children's children and what lifestyle choices you could make to holt or turn back this seemingly devastated world. 

We would encourage any of our readers out there to at least watch an Australian documentary called Dominion, be aware this contains some shocking footage, we had to break from it a couple of times, but looks at not only the food but sporting, fashion and pharmaecutical industries and the impact they are having on our world. 

We were also able to catch up with our youngest son and his girlfriend as they stopped off in London before flying off to Sri Lanka were they will be travelling, and also watching the England cricket team play. We can't say that we're not a little green with envy and wished that we could have joined them for a few weeks.....maybe another time.

Frances and Spencer!

One of the reasons for staying on longer here in England, rather than flying back to South Africa in early October was to attend the wedding of our good friends, Frances and Spencer who were getting married on the stunning island of Jersey. Frances had spent time with us volunteering at the Village of Hope, with Spencer and even her sister Katie joining her over Christmas one year. 

Not only did we enjoy the wedding but were able to catch up with old friends, Mel and Jess, also volunteers with us in South Africa, as well as Martin and Jackie, whom we had just returned from our time in Zimbabwe.

Friends at the wedding, doesn't Martin scrub up well.

During our stay we were hosted by a couple of lovely friends, Rebecca, whom I (Tim) used to work with in my old 'corporate life days' and Lisa, who once again both had visited us in South Africa. They are wonderful hosts and have a home right on the seafront where we were able to step out and walk or run along.

A motley crew

Another reason for being in England in October was for me to join some of my old friends at their bi-annual walking weekend, I was instrumental in setting up the first few but since our full time move to South Africa in 2008 hadn't attended one since. It was great to catch up with friends, share some stories and create new memories on the English lakeland fells just outside Grasmere.

That's enough about me!, so to move onto Maz for a mo, she has had time to have some headspace, she's been reading a lot, enjoyed some time with her sister and Dad and as part of our healthier lifestyles we have both taken up running, which we are both enjoying and as you'll remember from previous post have even raced in South Africa.

So all in all we've had a busy busy time, thanks to everyone who either hosted us or shared/bought us a meal and for the fun times and new memories we've made during our time back in England.

Prior to Christmas we will be in South Africa, where we will obviously update this blog with a few more stories before heading back to England for around a month before making return trips to Zimbabwe, Zambia and Madagascar where we will be working with those we have already invested in and which we are very excited to move on to the next chapter in the stories of those three needy nations and their peoples. 

From Zim to Zam

We signed off from our last blog with the news that we were in Zambia and during this post we will provide a short update from that time where we spent just under two weeks with our friends, Chris and Rebecca Viola, and their family of four, who we first met in Uganda in 2015.

A child headed house hold wash their dishes
complete with a chicken taking a drink!

The Viola's moved out from their home in Texas to Kabwe, a mining town that sits around two hours north of Lusaka, in 2016 and set up and run a charity called 'Driven Ministries' who work with some of the most vulnerable people in that town, supporting children with sponsorship for them to attend school, a daily sports outreach at the piece of land that they have bought in one of the 'compounds' located to the south side of the town plus they are developing an old farmhouse which will become a place where they can host volunteers and run a hospitality training centre.

Moving from Zimbabwe to Zambia was quite an eye opener for us, from the empty shelves at Robert Mugabe airport in Harare to the bright lights of the showrooms tempting people to part with their hard earned cash for the latest Land Rover or Jaguar cars in Lusaka. That's not to say that Zambians are rolling in money but totally highlights the lack of investment and opportunities that have held back Zimbabweans for over three decades, however poverty is all relative as we were to see as we moved further into the rural areas of Zambia.

The first group of Zambians to have ever completed
'Leadership for Life'

We had been invited by Driven Ministries to share the Emerging Leaders - Leadership for Life programme which we have been using to bring personal mindset change to many people, mainly in South Africa and Madagascar, but also in Burundi, Uganda and most recently Zimbabwe. They had managed to gather around 70 local leaders, mainly pastors but also members of the local police and some of the people that they employ, who we shared the programme with over a total of four days in two separate groups.

The second group working out their 'Here to There'
during the training.

Once again it was wonderful to see those 'lightbulb' moments taking place within those we were sharing with as we took them on a journey towards hope by introducing timeless leadership principles in an interactive and fun way which helps people to remember the 'nail it' points and then apply them to their lives. 

We starting with the fact that it's our poor ways of thinking that keep us from reaching our amazing potential and that we need to see ourselves as a leader of our own lives, then applying those principles to their finances, moving on to the reason a leader exists is for the benefit of others and encouraging them to start a project that will impact the lives of their community, and finally we look at how they lead themselves within their team/s.

The view from atop of 'Prayer Mountain'

Kabwe is most famously known to be one of the most polluted places in the world due to the amount of mining that has taken place, especially Zinc and Lead, which still takes place illegally, such is the demand and the need for people to 'make a living'.

The surrounding countryside is very flat but we did spend a morning climbing a local hill, known as prayer mountain, which gave us stunning views over the local communities, many of whom still live in simple mud huts with straw roofs which brought home the poverty that is rife in the rural areas even if Lusaka has its sparkling lights. 

Sports outreach Zambian style

We also had an opportunity to share some of the leadership principles with the hundreds of children that attend the sports outreach, it was fantastic to see a model similar to that which we had used at the Village of Hope in South Africa being used to bring hope by engaging the children and young people who live in the 'compound' (common term for a more formal area similar to a township in South Africa) near the 'Driven' sports field.

A home visit with the Violas

Chris had just returned from a fundraising trip in the USA and had raised funds for Driven to send more children to school and it was great to join their team as they made five home visits to the boys and their families, many of whom come from 'child headed' homes or single parent families who struggle to find the funds to send all the children under their care to school.

Typical compound mud brick home

The meetings with the families were very formal affairs, we were all invited to sit down, mostly outside with the local community gathered around listening to the introductions and reason for our visit. 

Once again the poverty that these families live in hit us, very simple homemade brick homes, those bricks made from the mud that surround their homes, which were similar to those we had seen in the much more densely populated slums in Kampala, again no running water or electricity.

A delivery of local mud bricks!

Being the dry season the land was parched and any signs of the farming which we had seen in the much more fertile soil of Zimbabwe were none existent and one wonders how the people survive until the rains come to provide much needed water for people to grow the maize meal which makes up much of their poor diet and leaves Zambia as one of the most vulnerable to malnutrition in Africa with children under five and women being those who suffer most from this surely curable issue. 

The Viola children made us feel very welcome in their home and along with their huge Ridgeback/Great Dane mix dog, more like a horse really, we had some fun in their lovely garden which was blessed with many fruit trees which attracted lots of beautiful butterflies and even a family of Eagle Owls, the parents of which we saw and heard in the branches and who were caring for two chicks which we were able to see in the 'V' of one of the trees in the garden.

Downtime with a run around the dairy farm at sunset

Their home sits next door to the Zambian Operation Mobilisation base where their children are able to join with others to play football and basketball, and also next door to a dairy farm, on which myself (Tim) and Maz were able to run around in the cooler mornings or sunset filled evening skies.

Hailing from Texas the Violas were keen to tempt us away from our now near on Vegan and definitely vegetarian diet to try some typical Texan food, which involved 'scones and gravy' for breakfast and obviously an American style BBQ on their Weber, unfortunately we didn't get time to sit around a traditional african Braai but maybe that will come on a return visit! 

We made some great friends with the Driven employees, including 'coach' Chris and Precious, who run the sports outreach, and Jimmy, Akim and Moses the garden team plus Athetha who all attended our training and whom we are excited to hear of how they are applying the principles into their own lives and the projects that they are looking to set up.

Once again we were able to share the programme in English, as we did in Zimbabwe, which enabled us to really engage with those attending, however we see the success of the work that we are doing is to train up local people, as we have done in Madagascar and Uganda, to share the programme in their own language to their own people groups so we are already planning return trips to both these needy nations in early 2019, of which we might need some help with funding!

Should you wish to invest in our work then please follow the link to our PayPal account and or email us at timw@emerging-leaders.net for more info.

a few weeks in Zimbabwe

Those who attended our Leadership
for Life training in Bulawayo

Since our last update we have spent near on a month in Zimbabwe, other than visiting Victoria Falls on our 25th wedding anniversary we hadn't visited this nation before so our hearts and minds were open as we set off for what would be a very eye opening experience.

This is quite a long blog post so please grab yourself a coffee and join us on this journey for a few of your precious minutes.

We're sure that you will have heard about the plight of this once great African nation, historically known as the 'bread basket of Africa', however that status is long gone and although the land is ripe for growing all manner of fruit and vegetables and has huge mineral deposits, the recent (near on 40 year) political situation, plus the sanctions that have been in place to limit trade and export, have driven the nation and it's people to their knees.

fingers marked to show
that people had voted

Our hearts were slightly troubled as we headed into land at Bulawayo airport, the second and most southerly city, our preconceived ideas had clouded our minds, however as we came through passport control, then baggage reclaim and customs we could not have been made to feel any more welcome.

Due to the upcoming elections the nation was on high alert, these would be the first elections to take place following Robert Mugabe's forced step down from power late last year, we tried as much as possible to keep our heads down but within an hour of us arriving in the country we were in the midst of a prayer meeting where not only the local church but also local politicians had gathered to pray for peace for the next few weeks events.

People discussing the different candidates
for the election

We had been invited to Zimbabwe by some of our Korean contacts who work in South Africa and Madagascar, and to meet up with some of our old friends, Martin and Jackie, who we have known for many years due to them being part of our small village community in our home village of Whitchurch. They have been visiting Zimbabwe themselves for over six years working on projects in and around Mutare and were keen for us to share the Emerging Leaders programme with some of the people who they have grown to love.

Our first week was spent in Bulawayo where we shared the Leadership for Life programme with around 40 church leaders/youth workers and people running local Non Government Organisations (NGO's), the programme was very well received, the people who attended were open and eager to learn. We are now looking forward to hearing the stories of hope that people will be writing for the benefit of their communities.

We were hosted by a lovely elderly couple who live in an area called Queens Park (obviously that name sat well with Tim given his affinity to the mighty Queens Park Rangers football team), and I (Tim) was able to get out for a couple of longish runs around the suburbs that had seen better days.

On our day off we visited the local Bulawayo museum, which was actually very good with a large range of items from stuffed animals and birds, butterflies to history from the pre-colonial times, a hall dedicated to Cecil Rhodes and the arrival of the British (which we both found fascinating on many levels) plus halls of the seemingly endless minerals, including gold and diamonds which can be found all over the country.

Some of the impressive brick wall
structures at Khami

The local pastor also took us on an adventure to find a World Heritage site which are home to the remains of an African civilization, the people of which had built some incredible walled structures upon which their village sat. The site at Khami was very impressive and was set in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Unsurprisingly we were the only western tourists there which became the norm for the rest of our month long trip.

Maz in her element
with a three day old on a home visit

It was soon time to leave Bulawayo to make the seven hour journey north east to the city of Mutare, it was an interesting trip and we were glued to the windows as we past large swaths of veld, incredible rock formations and small rural villages with the traditional rondervals (round mud huts with straw roofs) being the norm.

Mutare sits on one side of some impressive mountains sharing a land border with Mozambique which we could almost touch from our accommodation where we were staying with Martin and Jackie. Surprisingly the weather had been very chilly in Bulawayo and we were expecting it to be slightly colder given the altitude of Mutare (over 4,000 ft) when we arrived but it seems that the weather had changed and we enjoyed some very pleasant early spring days with cooler evenings.

I see no ships, Martin surveys the horizon
towards mozambique

Due to the elections we decided to lay low for a couple of days before starting the two scheduled Leadership for Life programmes, however during that time we were able to visit the projects that Martin and Jackie had been working on during the six years of visiting the area. One a brand new primary school which was being built year by year, extending the intake which now has around 500 children who attend from the local township. The second a new site where an amazing man called Stuart feeds over 100 orphans or vulnerable children each and everyday.

Tim and Stuart 

Stuart is also in the middle of constructing a new brick building which will serve as a church on Sundays and community outreach centre for him to run his awesome programme from throughout the week. 
It was amazing to gather on our first Sunday morning with various people, old and young, who stayed on after the church service to help shift the soil and boulders from a bank of ground to become the foundations of this new building, talk about hard workers, even women with children strapped to their backs were wheeling wheelbarrows or carrying heavy stones to help with the construction. After around two hours we all stopped to enjoy a simple lunch of maize meal and a vegetable broth, now that's what we call real church and real community.

Maz helping shift some rocks

Unfortunately I twisted my back during a time of stone moving and further aggravated it on a run, we were both able to get out an exercise around the location where we were staying, and I felt the same pain that I had last year when I slipped a disc. This somewhat hampered my movement and we took to sleeping on the living room floor which helped elevate some of the pain. I'm glad to say that the issue seems to have abated for the moment but I am being very careful to avoid any further damage which resulted in three months of rest this time last year!

Whilst the people are extremely poor the township areas bear none of the hallmarks which we have become accustomed to in South Africa, one of the main reasons for this is due to the policies that the government has on anyone constructing buildings such as those informal settlements in South Africa with shacks made out of little more than pallets and tin sheets. Everyone seems to respect the regulations, no tapping of electricity from the overhead cables and one main thing which we noticed, no scrap yards which therefore negate the need to 'find' metal and or cables to 'cash in'. 

That said these structures seem to be becoming more acceptable and we drove through an area between the river and the railway line which has sprung up but not in such high density as in South Africa and people have left enough space between their 'plots' to work the land for them to produce some basic staple foods to subsidise their meager incomes. 

With such a high unemployment rate it seemed that everyone was busy doing something, every available piece of land in any community, be it by the roadside or up a mountain slope has been turned into a vegetable garden and people were being proactive to keep hunger at bay.

Martin atop Cross Kopje

The city of Mutare has seen better days, it is quite unbelievable that this town rose up out of the veld around 100 years ago and it would seem that over the last near on 40 years that infrastructure that had been so well planned, if not without it's use of local labour to construct, who were then maginilised to the 'township' areas, has been left to it's own devices. That coupled with the crippling economy, the large timber and forestry industry has ground to a halt and other than a newly built car assembly plant there seem too few jobs for the local people find employment. 

After securing the venues for the leadership training we took some time out on election day and headed into the mountains, it was so refreshing to breath in the stunning scenery and imagine a day when Zimbabwe is able to welcome tourists with open arms and without worry.

The first group attending training in Mutare

Martin and Jackie were great hosts, taking time out of their busy UK schedules to ensure we were well fed and watered, as well as making sure we met our appointments on time, showing great leadership skills themselves as they concocted meals to suit our vegetarian pallets. We all enjoyed the times when we visited the large local market where all insundry gather to purchase fresh produce, this current season was great for tomatoes, which overflowed, and the year round favourite bananas which grow in abundance in almost every piece of open land.

Maz deep in conversation with some of the orphans

Our first training in Mutare was made up of a similar mix of people we had had in Bulawayo, however there were a couple of outstanding people Misheck and Alick, two amazing men who make the room come alive and we are so pleased to have been able to hook up with them as they seek to continue to speak into the seeds that we have sown within that group, of which around 20 of the 40 people completed the whole four modules and whom have a heart for community development where they live.

Our second group in Mutare at Stuarts Project

The second group joined us at Stuarts project, where we ran the event in a half open sided tin structure overlooking the valley with the Cecil Kop mountains providing a stunning backdrop. This group was mainly made up of local ladies, some young but also including a few of grannies, one in her seventies who proclaimed that the training had reignited a passion to help transform the lives of her daughter-in-laws (one wonders how old they are) and grandchildren, she had thought that her life had come to an end but now realised that that she has potential and still so much to give to the world, what a wonderful story!

Maz leading a session 'see yourself as a leader'

There were quite a number of young people in each group and we were very impressed with their already honed entrepreneurial skills of which we are certain we added value, especially around their finances, the need to keep focused and the way they see themselves and their country and its current situation. There is hope here and it was wonderful to spend time taking people on a journey from hopelessness towards hope!

IMPACT

People discussing 'good and bad financial management

One thing we have noticed that we don't often share is the impact of what we are doing. We will address that in a later blog post but for now we want to share a few stories that came out from the three groups we worked with in Zimbabwe which will obviously develop as people put the leadership principles into action in their own lives and the lives of their communities.

We found the finance module had the biggest impact, all most all of the people didn't have a budget, therefore didn't know where their limited amount of money was going. 

One lady shared how she had gone home and discussed this with her family and she was already making savings by cutting out the amount of Coke she was buying. One coke might seem cheap but when she added up all the cokes she was buying in a week, then month and then looking at the saving she could make over the whole year drove her to 'change her thinking'.

The school that Martin and Jackie have
been involved in building, now educating 500 children

The aim of the programme is to call people into action, being a leader is about lifting up those around you, this culminates in them running a project for the benefit of others, these are a few ideas that people came up with and we are excited to hear about the results of their leadership steps.

- filling in the pot holes in the road outside of their house.
- a teacher wanted to start a career advice service.
- setting up extra lessons for either children who don't attend school or who are struggling.

Girls at the orphans feeding programme
enjoying a game similar to dodgeball

- making peanut butter to sell to then invest the money into one of the other community project.
- extend a garden project to supply veg to the orphans and vulnerable children in her area.
- a urban health awareness campaign.
- neighbourhood watch

We hope that these give you and idea of the things that people are now able to 'see and take responsibility' for and we will share more from both South Africa, Madagascar, Uganda and Burundi at a later date.

The 'Honey Doctor' and
some of his wares

One afternoon we visited an interesting project run by a man commonly known as 'the honey doctor', he has set up a business harvesting organic honey from the bees and hives that he has around the area. 

We also made sure we got out for walks, enjoying views from the high tops at Cecil Kop and also Cross Kopje. The sunsets were amazing, some of which required some off roading to get to see and one wonders how many photos of sunsets one needs but just to say we added a few hundred to our already extensive collection!

There is still much tension around the contested election results and we continue to think and pray for the nation and it's people, some of whom have become dear friends, we don't want to think of the situation getting any worse than it already is but we do fear that that might happen given the sentiment of those we were chatting with.

sunset time.....again

We are now in Zambia where we will be spending a few weeks with some friends we met in Uganda but are certain that we will be back in Zimbabwe very soon, as the need is huge, the people are eager and our programmes are touching people and calling them into the very leaders that they, their families, their communities and their country need them to be.


If you would like to sponsor us, sowing into the work that we are doing and therefore the lives of those we are sharing with then please click on this link which will take you to our PayPal site. The funds raised pay for our flights, accommodation and basic needs within the countries we visit, we do not draw anything for ourselves and are happy to share the details of our expenses should you need to see them.