2020 vision Zimbabwe

Maz teaching principles of leadership

After spending around two weeks in England over the Christmas period where we enjoyed catching up and celebrating with family and friends, which was awesome, we took the New Years day flight to Cape Town in readiness for the second test match between South Africa and England at the delightful Newlands cricket ground which is set in the most stunning location laying under the gaze of the mighty Table Mountain.

The moment England won the test match

Without going into too much detail the test match was one of the best to be played at Newlands in many years with England winning the five day match with under an hour to play with Ben Stokes taking man of the match with a amazing display with some incredible catches, blazing stroke play and intimidating bowling. It was also England's first win at Newlands since 1957 which was celebrated by the thousands of travelling Barmy Army fans who outnumbered the local fans by around 8 to 1.

The scouts we trained in Bulawayo

Since leaving Cape Town we have been sharing the Leadership for Life programme in Zimbabwe, starting in Bulawayo where we met up with some of the team that we trained last year and then traveling up to Harare on a six hour coach journey to spend 10 days with some friends from England at a project that they support in the large settlement of Kuwadzana.

Maz training in Bulawayo

It was our third visit to Zimbabwe in the last two years and it is clear to see that this once mighty nation is suffering from a lack of investment which has a huge impact on the daily lives of the majority of the population. The value of the local currency has dropped so much, this time last year we were receiving around four Bonds to the $, this year we were getting between 16 and 20 Bonds to the $, this hyperinflation which is running between 16% and 36%, is crippling the country and has knock on effects with power outages and lack of Petrol making daily life such a challenge.

Living life on the front foot with the group
in Bulawayo

Whilst US$ isn't officially accepted we found a few stores that accepted it and we exchanged some for the local Bond note, currently the maximum bill is 5 Bond, around 25 pence meaning that you need to have wads of it to buy anything of value.

Cuthbert teaches the need to have a plan of steps
to get a project from Here to There 

As you can imagine without investment in the infrastructure of roads, schools, hospitals, water supply or energy production things will continue to be a challenge and with the normal summer rains failing to arrive we saw huge fields of maize (the staple food) and other crops in a state of stress with worries about the supply of food in the near future which could then lead to further challenges around starvation. At present doctors in the main hospitals and some government high school teachers are on strike due to unreceived salaries.

Our first group in Harare

However with all these issues we still found people very engaging, smiling faces greet you and a 'hello how are you' busts forth in English that has been learnt in the schools which follow the British curriculum. The Leadership for Life programme helps people to see their lives as ones full of amazing potential and each one is encouraged to apply leadership mindsets to start to write a new story for their lives and the lives of their finances.

$20 of local bond notes

Overall we lead four different Leadership for Life programmes, two in Bulawayo, including to around 25 young people connected with the Rover Scouts, and two in Harare, and took two of the younger adults who we had trained last year in Bulawayo to help us deliver the programme in Harare over the first weekend, it was great to spend some time with them, encouraging them as they gain confidence by sharing the programme and learning from us.

Maz teaches about good and bad financial management

We had some interesting conversations, especially around money and the need to lead our money well. What came out from all the groups was that it is so hard to set a budget for a day, let alone a week, month or year. With prices of staple food such as Maize and bread changing by the day, and increases in school fees and petrol putting further strain upon a population where traditional jobs on farms and in the manufacturing sector have been lost it is hard to see where they can apply the principles that we are sharing.

Our second group in Harare

That said we heard stories of people who had started projects to increase their income, buying and selling products, making things, or undertaking some projects that would be of a benefit to their community. All in all over 100 people completed the full four modules, with over 50 attending two or three modules, during the four programmes we ran.

At the test match in Harare, Zim v Sri Lanka

We only managed to have one full day off during the two weeks we were there and were blessed to spend the Wednesday where we attended yet another day at a test match, this time at the home of cricket in Harare, the Harare Sports Club, where Zimbabwe were playing their first match since sanctions were lifted by the ICC, verses Sri Lanka. Once again the ground was a little lacking of investment with the old replayscreen and electronic scoreboard in a state of disrepair and the floodlight pylons standing bare with not one light remaining.

During one lower point of our stay I made this note in my diary which I hope will help you understand some of the issues we and the many millions of people face each and every day.

I'm putting these thoughts together as I lay on my single bed at a school where we are staying in Zimbabwe. My heart is pounding as the frustration builds as I think about our current situation. 

Since arriving here last Thursday, today is the Tuesday of the following week, we haven't had stable power, any hot water or any water (hot or cold) flowing from the showers which are situated next to the room which I'm sharing with Maz and all the worldly goods we need to support this two months trip into Africa, and that fit under the 20kg weight limit applied by the internal airlines we've flown with. 

So this is when I am having to apply all the principles that we teach on our Leadership for Life programmes, the thoughts I'm having at the moment could lead to hopeless feelings which then lead me to negative actions. 

This morning I'm having to lift up my head and see myself as a leader, asking myself how would a good leader act in this situation, I'm having to have appreciative thoughts, it's true we have no power and no running water but we do have buckets that have been filled from the pipes outside my bedroom window, so I must be thankful that we have the opportunity to use this for a simple wash. I'm also thankful that we have comfortable beds, clean sheets and a candle that also scares away the mosquitoes which have been trying disrupt our sleep. 

We also have a battery pack which we've been able to charge when the newly installed simple solar system has enough power to be shared amongst the other people who need to use its precious energy. 

I'm also wondering why I'm feeling so frustrated with this situation, a situation that I've been in before and one that I am now sharing with millions, if not billions of people, who have to endure these and much more challenging situations everyday of their lives.

I suppose it could come down to the fact that I chose to come here, I could be sitting in a warmish caravan in the middle of England at the moment, which would present me with some equally frustrating challenges that come from living in a caravan but surrounded by familiar faces in a country that does actually work even though we often think things should or could be better. 

It could be from the apathy that I see in the eyes and the actions of those who around us, I'm expected to empathise with them around their plight but if I do that it only leads to further negative thoughts as they seemingly accept without question the challenging situations they they find themselves in and that then can be justifiably understood when looking at how this nation, as with many others, has suffered at the hands of poor leadership and that I think is where my heart hurts the most. 

I believe we've been called to raise up and call out that amazing potential that lays within each and every person, young or old, man or women, boy or girl, for them to understand that either the way that they think and or the way others think about them has kept that potential from flourishing which leads to unproductive, unsustainable, impoverished and dysfunctional communities where hopelessness is passed on from generation to generation. 

So this morning I'm choosing to look at the current challenges differently, if I'm going to be training others about good leadership then I need to be a good leader too, so I'm already looking forward to this afternoons training session where over 50 people, from the sixth form students, their teachers and some people from the local community will gather together to look at the issue around good and bad financial management and I am thankful that we've already imparted this awesome leadership programme with three other groups of people both here in Harare and also in Bulawayo and where we are already hearing of people who have taken back their life pen to write a new and inspiring story for their lives and the lives of those around them. 

We are now in Zambia with our friends Chris and Rebecca Viola who run the amazing charity, Driven Ministries, and whom we will be spending the next three weeks with. We will update you on our experiences here later on in the trip.