Farewell to Zimbabwe

Reflection From Jodi
Well the time has come for us to head off on our way back home. In many ways we are sad to be leaving & would love to stay longer in this fantastic place. We have felt very at home here & despite all the hardships we have witnessed & experienced while we have been here we will be back. People are leaving this country in droves, we have found that it is a country in need of people to come here & help - just to love these people really does make all the difference in their lives. We have reflected constantly that if the people in Australia were to go through what these people go through everyday, they just wouldn�t be able to cope. We are just so thankful to have had these experiences & thank you to everyone who has blogged with us along the way, it has been great to keep in touch & it is a huge encouragement for us to hear that people back there a thinking of us & praying for us.

Reflection From Andrew (Harry)
As I reflect over our Blog it makes me reminisce fondly on our time here in Zim. Time has just gone soooo fast, it only feels like we arrive last week yet we have witnessed and got involved in sooo many things. We are still exploring our part in God�s will and we are seeing more realistically were we fit. Our prayer before we left was to find our place in God�s will and that we would see what He has us doing in the future ... well I can confidently say that He has shown us a little bit more and boy are we excited. Thank you all for your support and encouragement through responding to our blogs and through your constant prayer we have been truly blessed. See you all in a week or so.

In His Service,

Jodi and Harry.

Day Twenty Four

We were off to the Baptist church this morning for a family service where the kids performed a few items. Both the songs & message was kiddie friendly & everyone joined in & had a great time. They have a family service once a month to ensure the kids are getting involved with the church & seeing how adults behave in this situation, it also helps the adults to see how their kids are behaving & growing within the church environment.

We finally got to go to Motobo. It is something that was planned for us to do on our first weekend here, but due to the crazy weather we couldn�t go. We had a huge picnic lunch sitting beside a beautiful lake, the only thing that spoilt our time were the flies - these are not ordinary flies, they lay eggs on your clothes & they can burrow into your skin & hatch inside you, so that can be quite painful. We then walked up to World View, a beautiful lookout over the rocky scenery. There were two graves up there, & a monument to people who died in the war. It is unlike any scenery we have here - the balancing rocks are huge & it looks like a giant has just picked up a heap of stones & piled them up, such a pretty site to see in amongst all the greenery from the recent rains.

Day Twenty Three

Today was great day, we had a sleep-in & then we were taken to a café for a late breakfast. The food was quite nice, Harry liked his coffee but the tea here leaves a lot to be desired. They have it weak, milky & most people have heaps of sugar, (I am yet to see tea leaves). After a relaxing start to the day we headed off to run a few errands & checked out some shops in a mall we had not been to yet.

Next we went on to visit my favorite kids one last time, I am glad we did. When we arrived we could hear the kids crying from outside. We went in & found all of the kids still in their cots & not a nurse in site. We had stopped along the way to buy some disposable nappies to change the kids, it turns out this was a good idea. The hospital once again had no steam, so the kids had no nappies on & only a few of them had bits of ripped up cloth wrapped around them. So after changing them all we took them all out of their cots & held them & played with them, they are all so craving for affection. Sadly the time came for us to say goodbye to the kids & once again I could not get the baby off of Harry – for a guy that can’t stand holding babies he certainly is doing a lot of it. It is sad to have to leave these kids in such bad conditions, especially when we have been able to see the kids open up to us & have formed such close bonds with them.

Day Twenty Two

Our wake up call at 6.00am was on time and both Andrew and I got up left for our walk around the falls at 6.30. As we approached the gates we saw that there were six guards, so our plan to pretend to be locals went out the door - we borrowed ID�s & rehearsed all of the details but in the end we were not that confident (the price for locals is $460,000. = $2.30 US compared to $4,000,000 = $20 US for tourists). Our walk took about 1 � hours to go all the way around, we had been told that we will get soaking wet, but we were nearly at the end & still dry so we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. It all changed as we got to Horse Shoe Falls Lookout where we had a bit of mist spray on us. We walked on around the corner to see the mist poring down like rain, we thought we were already wet so we would be brave & go right around the front (there is a back way - not so wet), it was as we were slipping & sliding on the rocks that we decided that we were apparently not that wet before.

We got back to the hotel, had a quick shower & headed to the restaurant for breakfast. We were in heaven! As we were sitting at our table drinking tea & coffee, gazing over the waterhole it was then that I decided that I am a hotel person, not a roughing it person. We were once again bursting from eating too much.

Begrudgingly we checked out of the hotel & went back to the markets to get some more bargains. This time we took some of our shirts & jeans to trade because the day before people wanted to trade for the shirts & shoes we were wearing. So with our suitcase full of stone carvings instead of clothes we got back into the car & headed off for our long five hour drive back to Bulawayo.

Day Twenty One

We decided to pack up camp early this morning ... I think that the flies heard about our plans and decided to join us ... my goodness, the amount of flies buzzing around this place at 6.30 was phenomenal ... I am used to seeing one or two by about 9.30am on hole 10 or 11 on the Keperra golf course not 1,000,000 at sun up. But that is Africa for you I suppose. An idea was put forward and the vote was unanimous that before traveling too far a buffet breakfast at the Hwange Safari Lodge was in order. It was very relaxing and quite different to the bowl of muesli and warm milk we had on the previous day. With bloated stomachs and eager spirits we finally departed to see the world famous Victoria Falls.

The journey was not as long as Day Nineteen ... we were only cramped into the 2.5 seater ute for about 4 hours, what a relief. By the time we arrived our rooms were ready and boy did they look good, we had an awesome view of the surrounding savanna and waterhole where impala enjoyed a refreshing drink. We only had time to quickly admire the view before we were off again to find more curios. We finally got our chance to barter and boy did Jodi go off ... An absolute star when dealing with the likes of the pushy (and sometimes rude) African sales folk. Any body who knows Jodi knows how feisty she can get; well it came in very handy when searching for a bargain ... no body could shaft this little rocket. With a few curios in our hand we departed the market place pleased with the bargaining which was done.

This afternoon Jodi was able to shed the shackles of poverty and enjoy the elegance and ambiance of high tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel. This hotel is the finest in Victoria Falls and has a price to match. The view from our table was delightful as we looked across the freshly manicured lawns and out into the gauge with the bridge which crosses the Zambezi.

Our dinner tonight was at the Boma. This was my first chance to trial chibuku (the African version of VB) and I have to admit ... I will probably never willingly drink it again. The dinner was definitely appetizing and we left with belly�s full of all different kinds of game meat (Impala, warthog, ostrich, mopani worm and the list goes on). This restaurant also has traditional dancers which perform throughout the night and at the end, all guests are given a drum and are educated on how to do the African beat. What a great way to finish after two nights of roughing it in the bush.

Day Twenty

We were off by 6.am to see how far the lions were from us the night before & I can assure you that they were only about 300m from our camp (not the 2-3km they were telling me the night before). Even though we only saw 1 of the big 5 (the elephant) we still saw heaps of animals & we had such a great time. We got to see heaps of Giraffe, Elephants, Warthog, Baboon, Monkey, Zebra, Impala, Eland & so on. It is quite different to see them in the wild instead of zoos.

We had a bit of rain today so a lot of the animals were in hiding & keeping a low profile - not so good for finding wildlife, but great for a person who is scared out of their wits.
I handled my second night better that the first, I was still very on edge but felt a little assurance in knowing that Lions don�t hang around the one area, they roam around to find more animals so the possibility of them being anywhere near us was pretty low.

Day Nineteen

Today was a long day! By the time we got the tires checked, our camping permit & our pizzas to take with us we were off at about 12.30pm. We got to the National Park at about 4.pm & then found out that the campsite we were allocated was the furtherest from the gate, so about 6.pm we were finally at our destination. I quickly checked out the kitchen & decided that it was not suitable to sleep in, so I then I checked out the toilet & the four walls were strong, the window closed & the door was sturdy, it was way more suitable.
I was a bit on edge as there is no lighting to see what is creeping around your camp, as soon as I heard the Lions roar I ran for the car & let me tell you Harry was not very compassionate. It took our friend Derek a while to convince me to get out & even then I was sooooooo scared I hated every minute that went by until I could get to bed.

Day Eighteen

Today was a pretty easy going day, we went curios (souvenir) shopping . There is so many nice things, but having such strict regulations in Aus it really restricts what we can bring back.
Well tomorrow we are off to Hwange National Park to see the big five and Victoria Falls. I (Jodi) have already reserved the camp ground kitchen (at least it has four walls, a door & a roof), there is no way you would ever get me in a tent in the middle of a game reserve! ... We shall blog again on Friday or Saturday. Have a great couple of days ... we know that we shall.

Day Sixteen & Seventeen (Weekend # 3)

Wow ... what a busy weekend. They were long jam packed days. On Friday night ... or should I say Saturday morning the kiddies didn’t get to sleep until 2am, then they were awake again and running around the camp grounds at about 5.30am. This did not really leave much sleeping time for us leaders. The children though had a really good time, eating lots, playing games and learning more about God. On Saturday evening a couple of the groups wanted to do a couple of skits ... we thought that it would take only 2 or 3 minutes, but after 25 scenes and 45 minutes later the first skit finished and we still had another one to go ... it didn’t matter though because the other kiddies were laughing and really enjoying what was being presented.

Before we knew it the weekend was over and we all headed back home on the Sunday afternoon. We came back to the western suburbs to find out that a football match had just finished. People and cars were hoarding the streets; there was hardly any room to move. Driving through this traffic was like nothing I have ever experienced before in my life. I was given one road rule ... there are no rules. I am glad I was given that rule ... the people in the other cars were absolutely ruthless. But we made it though, even though I have a few more grey hairs there were no other damages.

Well I must be off now ... we shall blog again soon.

Day Fifteen

We are happy to be back in Bulawayo! We went back to my favorite place this morning to see the abandoned babies (I have been breaking my neck to get back there). We were both happy & sad to be there, we were able to take all of the kids out side to play for half an hour because there were about 10 of us visiting. We found out that one of the little boys who we fell in love with after only one visit has now been put in an orphanage so it was a little sad to think that we will never see him again. The other little boy that we are madly in love with is nicknamed Daniel (because no one can say his real name), I was looking forward to seeing him soooo much but I couldn’t get him off of Harry, so I only got a quick hold just before we left. It broke my heart to leave him there & knowing that he could so easily be ours if we stayed here does not make it any easier to go home.
This afternoon we headed off to Willow Park with a heap of orphans for the weekend, we had a lovely afternoon & although there were a few hiccups to start with the evening went well.

Day Fourteen

Well we were able to have a bit of a sleep in today; our bus didn�t leave until lunch time so we had a majority of the morning to pack up and get ready to head back to Bulawayo. As soon as we felt the pot holes in the road we knew we were back. This weekend we are heading away with about 40 orphans to Willow Park, it should be a good weekend to spend with the kids and play a lot of games and just let them chill in the relaxing surrounds. We leave tomorrow afternoon and get back Sunday evening.

Have a great day ... we look to blogging again shortly ... until next time ...

Day Thirteen

Today we had to pull out our old safari suites and put on our safari hats, because we had the opportunity to visit Antelope Park for some wild adventures. Antelope Park is a large nature reserve about 25 minutes out of Gweru; it is an awesome set up with beautiful green grassed parks set next to a large river where guests can canoe or take a river cruise.

Our host came to collect us shortly after we arrived to take us into the lion cub enclosure. As we approached we saw the three 8 month old cubs prowling the entrance, they looked like they were going to be quite active and playful, but alas after we entered they walked around for a bit then sat back down at the entrance. Our next adventure was after lunch when we got to go for a ride on the back of an elephant. Our guides took us on a short trail ride around part of the park; the trainers at the park have taught all the elephants how to play football and it was fun to see them kick the ball as well as pick it up and throw it around the playing field.

After spending a majority of the day at the park we had to quickly make our way back into Gweru to get meet up with some friends so we could get to a bible study they do with the children at the Blue Hills Reformatory. This was our first opportunity to get to ride on an E.T. which is Zimbabwe�s version of public transport. This was an interesting experience, imagine cramming about 36 people into a 16 seat bus. Our host led us to a corner away from the main stop where we were able to get on whilst the bus was still empty ... when we arrived at the main stop, the crowd of people would not stop pushing and shoving ... it was on for young and old, there was absolutely no mercy shown for anyone, even young school girls were being hurled out of the way or squashed into the people in front of them so that the hoards could get on board.

After a short ride we got to our destination. The Blue Hill Reformatory is a facility set up for children who were either street kits or who have broken the law. The New Life Centre church have been coming into the reformatory for about 2 years now and are only allowed in for 1/2 hour on Wednesday afternoon and for 1 hour on Sunday morning. Dr Makori who heads the ministry said that the children can�t get enough of the gospel and really get into the praise and worship time and the bible studies. Please pray for this ministry and its leaders; please also pray that the officials continue to allow the people from the church into the reformatory to spread the word.

Like sand through an hour glass, so are the blogs of our lives ... until next time ...

Day Twelve

Once again we had to set our alarms to the ungodly hour of 6.30am. We were invited to go to the local Teachers Training College for early morning devotions before the first lecture began. It was a great time of singing worship and praise and listening to the devotion lead by one of the students. After devotions it was time to give my first lecture ... yes you read correctly, I took a lecture ... Prof Harry Muller is starting to appeal to me more and more. The students (including Jodi) participated in some great discussions about some aspects of love mentioned in the bible. The title of my lecture was called �The One Another�s and Love in the New Testament�. I will be publishing lecture notes and providing reading material in the future for students who would like to study at the Institute of Harry�s Theology.

In the afternoon, Jodi and I went with four of the students for the training college to a local orphanage. As we pulled up Jodi and I thought that the children may take a little bit of time to get used to us and our weird accent, but much to the contrary they came running up to us and stuck to us like glue. One young child would not let go of Jodi, many times she went to put him down, but he would not let go of Jodi�s neck and when he did it was only to place her hand back on his butt so she could continue to hold him. One thing we have learnt about the African culture is their lack of knowledge about personal boundaries ... it was humorous to see Jodi fully experience this with the kids when she pulled out a packet of balloons and started handing them out. I liken this scenario to sea gulls ... imagine sitting at the beach and you see a single gull ... you throw it a chip and as soon as this is done the entire population of gulls that reside on the east coast of Australia come to your one spot hoping to also get some chips ... replace sea gulls with young children and the chips with balloons and you will catch my drift. The children engulfed the unexpected Jodi until there were no more balloons to hand out.

This orphanage is well set up, they have their own chooks to provide eggs and meat, and they also have rabbits and their own HUGE veggie patch which provides next to everything from maize to chilies. This is very handy as food is either very expensive or non existent. The children seemed very proud of their surroundings and were eager to show us every square inch of the property.

It was lovely to blog with you today, hope we can do it again sometime. Until next time...

Day Eleven

Today we met up with Morgan who heads up Scripture Union for the Midlands area (it is quite a large area to look after). They are involved in many school outreach programs including life skills programs, running school assemblies were they can preach the word of God to the children, lunch time get togethers for the Christian children and much much more. We joined Morgan for the lunch time worship in one of the churches in town, this is run every day and they always have a great turnout ... the place was packed. It started with individual prayer, then they had a worship team who lead a few songs, next one of the pastors got up & gave the sermon (all in their native language), so we didn�t understand any - but we did understand his yelling. Our first comment when we came out was how loud it was. After this we went for a walk through town & had lunch in a place where the sign out the front says �American style caf� - The Dutch Oven�. An interesting name with some very interesting food.

It was after today�s outing combined with a strong feeling from both of us that we decided that we should not be here in Gweru, but instead be back in Bulawayo. It was not an easy decision to make but we both felt it was the right thing to do. So we told our hosts and made our plans to migrate back down to Bulawayo on Thursday.

Day Nine & Ten (Weekend # 2)

Saturday
Today we had to awaken from our slumber early again … we had to be at the bus stop by 7.30am to catch our bus up to Gweru. We made it there in ample time and before we knew it we were on our way. Blue Arrow Busline is a very nice coach service, they have comfortable seats with ample leg room and they even served us biscuits and a choice of soft drink or mineral water. It only took about 2 hours to travel from Bulawayo to Gweru, not long at all. We were greeted by Dave Fergusson and his daughter Stacey, Dave is our main contact up in Gweru. It was a lovely drive back to his house to meet his wife Heather. The streets don’t have as many pot holes as Bulawayo and it seems a lot brighter and more colourful up here. In the afternoon, we attended the school sports day ... Jodi and I could not believe that the children actually turned up to a school event on a non school day, they train them well over here. It was quite a large event and many spectators lined the running track.

Bar the traveling and the sports day, not much really happened today. It was a nice day just to sit back and take in our new surroundings.

Sunday
This morning we attended the New Life Centre church on Windsor Road. It was a great time to meet all of Ben and Sue Naude’s friends and find out their deep and darkest secrets. Ohh the stories we have to tell. We also met up with Pastor Ogden and his wife Peggy who founded the church many years ago. It was great to finally meet them as we have read their biography and found it to be quite inspiring. The people who fellowship at the New Life Centre are very nice and made us feel most welcome.

This evening we went to the local Baptist church and met up with Rogan, who is the Pastor of the church. There were only about 12 people including us, but we had a great time of fellowship and sharing. They are a very warm and welcoming bunch of people and we had a great time making new friends, sharing stories over a cup of tea after the service. They are currently in the process of building a new worship centre, it isn’t at lock up stage yet, but it has taken about 6 years to get it to this stage. They said that over the last 6 years they have had about 250 members leave because they have migrated out of Zimbabwe.

To blog or not to blog that is the question. Until next time.

Day Eight

Today we went for a drive out to Lupane, a rural Catholic hospital about 1.5 hours out of town. It is one of those towns that have the mud huts you see on tv (so cute). We were given a tour by the priest who looks after the centre, they do such a great job there & they are one of the last places that still have nurse training schools. When we went into the malnourished ward it was hot & smelly, & full of babies (1 ½ yrs – 4 ½ yrs) who were so so small. They are literally skin & bone. Their skin is discoloring & they have sores over their bodies because their skin is peeling off. A few were just whining the whole time & others were just too weak to even cry. It really does just make you wonder how the world gets in such a state where people are so poor their children are dieing.
We were able to give the parents/grandparents small gifts of clothing & blankets that we were able to buy with the donations from SPCC. Youth For Christ donated meal packages to these people because when the children go home the parents or grandparent don’t have the money or produce to feed them and the children’s health will go down hill fast again.

Please pray for this center. They are doing a great job providing care for the local people as well as giving training to the local girls in life skills (such as sewing and cooking). Please pray that the support given by outsider donors will continue and that this ministry will continue to flourish.

Day Seven

Today was great! First off we went to the local Baptist church with Ray Motzi, the local pastor & heard all about his visions for the church. He is well respected in Zim for his church planting & standing up to the government; he has been arrested several times. He then took us to the Theological College where he lectures Social Theology, we sat in on one of his lectures and before starting he got the students to ask us questions about Australia.
After a quick lunch in the car we went to a hospital in a poor part of town called Mpilo. This is where the abandoned babies up to three years old are taken. They just craved human touch, we held them & took in balloons for them to play with (they loved them). There was one little boy with such an infectious little chuckle that we just wanted to bring home. (we both wanted to bring a few of them home). They have two disabled boys there & one who is so sick with the chicken pox, he just cried & cried when he was put back in his cot.
These children & any other abandoned children will eventually go into the house which the Baptist church has bought & has made part of there ministry. This center is not open yet as they are caught up in the bureaucratic web, awaiting approval from the government first, then from Social Welfare (at least another 6 months before opening). This center will be so beneficial to these children as they will have workers from the church loving & caring for them instead of nurses in the hospital who just do it because it is there job. These children are so neglected it made me angry to see the nurses sitting back not caring for them, but I suppose it is much better than leaving them to die.
It was in the evening that we went to see the house the Baptist church has bought for their ministry; it is a huge house with loads of potential, but needs a bit of work done still.

Day Six

Sallibonaane (sally banana) – hello. Well Steve is not impressed that I haven’t written any blogs yet, so Harry has said I have to for a while. Today we went to Sidojiwe, a very very poor suburb on the outskirts of town. Whole families including grandparents, children, grandchildren & even cousins all live in tiny little units. The units are about 4m x 6m divided into half by curtains, one is used as a lounge & the other as a bedroom – the whole family will sleep together in this room (so tiny that four of us could not fit in together comfortably). They have a communal kitchen with only a sink & a wood fire BBQ type thing, they also have communal bathrooms. These units were all condemned a few years ago, (but people still live in them & are charged rent)! You can not imagine the smell, darkness & dampness of this place. A preschool is run in one of these units for the local kids from 3 – 6 years old, they have about 15 – 20 kids. The two teachers do the best they can with nothing. The kids sit on sugar bags on the cold wet cement floor. So sad to see this & to think the kids have no future & no life to look forward to, but they do not know any better.

LATEST UPDATE ... WE NOW HAVE POWER ... YIPPEE!!

Day Five

You'll never guess what ... we still have no power and my cold is finally clearing. We had an early start for today, up at 6.45 getting ready to go to Willow Park which is a school camp site run by YFC. It has 5 lodges which sleeps up to 10 children in bunk beds and also has an assault course, rope course and sports fields. Willow Park is in a state of repair and maintenance, but with a new team being formed it will be ready for camps in the next few months. Willow Park also lodges orphaned children and abused women who need a little bit of respite. It is a beautiful place up in the hills where the buildings all have thatched roofs and are set in the tranquil surrounds of fresh green grass and relaxing water holes. We had an interesting time getting there, this time the 2 seater ute had to accommodate 6 people as well as a large white fridge. This fridge had to be supported by three very manly men in the back who had to also battle the harsh up hill terrain combined with the arctic cold winds and the monsoon rains � well maybe this is a slight exaggeration ... there were three manly men but it was mainly flat road bar the last 200 meter and the winds were mainly produced by the driving and the rain was more like a very light sprinkle. Well that pretty much concluded our day ... ohh one last thing, blessings today for us ... the sun shone through the clouds and we were kind of warm for about 5 minutes today. May the blog be with you ... Until next time ...

Day Four

Well I am still sick ... I am starting to feel a little better but my nose is still manufacturing mass amounts of produce and my voice sounds like I have swallowed a cheese grater. Ohh well ... what can I do ... I have use up all my sympathy points with Jodi so I have to build a bridge and GET OVER IT. We are still without power and no power for this long means no hot water. Jodi and I boiled a pot of water over a gas bbq and had a bath about 2 inches high. Interesting ...very interesting. Just think, if these things weren't sent to try us I would have nothing to write about in the blogs ... a blessing in disguise.
We traveled into the YFC office today in the middle of Bulawayo and finally got to see what we have been reading about over the last 3 years. We were only in the office for a short time before we headed out to Motopos which is a small rural community about 1 hour out from Bulawayo. There we were able to help with the children's RE program ... Stan you would have been proud, we taught them Dodge Ball. The music and the sermon we could not understand (spoken in Emdabelli) but from the looks of it 3 children raised their hands to find out more about Christ ... praise be to God. It was amazing to hear the children sing, it was just like a well choreographed US movie, they sung in perfect harmony, pitch and beat. It seemed liked nothing could wipe the big wide smiles of these children's faces, not even the fact they had to be at school, it was cold and they did not have any electricity and a majority of the windows were broken allowing water from the rain to produce puddles of water on the cold concrete floor. YWAM Bulawayo have a team place out there for 4 weeks working with the local Presbyterian church and it was fantastic to catch up with them and find out where they are from and what they have been doing.
Tonight we had our first experience of Zim pizza, it was an interesting experience. The Mexican Taco pizza was up there for innovations, it had mince, tomato and even fresh lettuce with salsa and sour cream sauces to put on top. The pizzas were actually quite nice and would give the dominoes and pizza hut pizza's a run for the money.
It was great to blog with you ... until next time !!!

Day Two & Three (Weekend # 1)

Saturday
We woke up Saturday to absolutely no power, gale forced winds and rain ohhhh sooo much rain. It is absolutely freezing � rumor has it that polar bears will be immigrating shortly. We were organized to go sight seeing this weekend but due to poor weather we had to cancel. However, we did get to go to the train museum and look around all the old trains and find out about the history of trains in Zimbabwe. The Museum was also open, but our guides were horrified at the entry price, over 990,000 just for one ticket (we also needed to prove were we had got our local currency from to make sure it wasn�t from the black market) so we decided to skip that one. Our first taste of the local shops were interesting � we went to the local Spar Supermarket and found that jam was on a managers special of $Zim 99, 500 and that Natural Juice was marked down to only $Zim 280,000 (their normal juice is what we would call cordial � weird, totally weird, just like calling cordial, squash, hey Mike and Cass) � and people think that the Spar shops in Australia are bad.

Sunday
This morning (still without power), because of all the wet and cold weather, I have woken up with a blocked nose and croaky throat � gotta love that � thank goodness Jodi has come well equipped with her medical bag � I was able to get a tissue, a cough lonzinger, a panadol as well as a sticker on my hand for being such a good patient. We had a fantastic time worshipping at Bulawayo Baptist church and hearing lots and lots of new songs (even though the words on the screen did not always match the words sung). The rest of the day was a blur � Jodi gave me a stronger drug (I don�t know if it was to sooth my pain or to give her some peace and quiet) and I slept until the evening church service. The evening service is meant for the younger people and it went off like a frog in a sock. The band sounded great and the teenagers responded well to the message. We had an interesting time picking up a load of young people on our migration to the church. It was extremely cold and slightly wet night and due to fuel shortages only one car could be taken to church. The problem was that the car was a two seated tray back ute and we had 11 people to transport � At least I was sick and given right of passage in front.

Enough of my wining � Must be off. Happy Blogging.

Day One

It was fantastic to finally get a proper sleep after about 43 hours of being awake. We had a relaxing morning preparing for Kids Club in the afternoon. This club was run by an elderly lady who has resently passed away … Youth For Christ is now looking after the program which is run in a Methodist church in the western suburbs of Bulawayo. All the children that come to the club are orphans and a majority has been infected with HIV. It was fantastic to see the kids being able to smile and have so much fun singing and playing soccer with a plastic bag ball after starting life in such an unfortunate way. Tonight we will be sampling some traditional foods such as Sudsa and Brier (don’t know how to spell … or even if this is the right word … means BBQ or something to that effect).
Until next time
Andrew & Jodi.
P.S. Sorry there are no photo’s today … we got caught up in the moment and forgot all about the camera

The Flight

The flight from Brisbane to Bulawayo was a long but comfortable trip. Both Jodi and I managed to trial the transit lounges in both Singapore and J’berg …. Highly recommended!!!!! The flight from J’berg to Bulawayo was only short and we were in a plane that sat no more that 40 and it was only half full … that was lucky, we don’t think the airport (as seen in the photo) could have handled too many more.

Until next time,

Andrew & Jodi