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.