Zimbabwe - where Ben makes babies cry & charity work gets done

It was back in June 2014 that I first visited Zimbabwe. I came with my Mum and two others, Pat and Vicar Ronnie, as part of a church link. For some reason unknown to me the Diocese of Rochester linked churches in Kent to churches in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. The link between St Paul's (the church I grew up in Rusthall) and St Peter's (located in Mabelreign, Harare) had been going for sometime without either congregation knowing much about the other. I joined the team with the aim of rectifying this estrangement. The four of us had a wonderful two weeks of meeting the parishioners, journeying to Victoria Falls and mostly eating more sadza and chicken than my stomach could cope with!

At Leopard Rock, Mutare - the fanciest hotel in Zimbabwe

Fast forward nearly 600 days and I'm back in Harare and volunteering with an amazing charity called Creating Better Futures (CBF). First established by a local Zimbabwean and fellow alumni of the University of Reading, Dorothy Dix set up CBF in the UK with the aim of supplying vulnerable and orphaned children, here in Zim, with an education they would struggle to otherwise access. Now that I'm here, volunteering my skills and meeting the children I am over the moon. However, rewind a month, we had no idea we would be here with CBF - to be honest we were just getting over the shock that we couldn't stay in South Africa and we were overall pretty gutted to be moving on to Harare for a month.

A Zimbabwean sunset

When we first planned to travel to Southern Africa I knew I wanted to return to Harare and introduce Ben to the people I'd met on my first visit, to ensure we would stop by we booked our next set of flights to Uganda - leaving Harare on the 6th of February. So this is where our worries started, we knew we had to stay in the country until early Feb, but we needed to leave South Africa by the 6th of January, leaving us a month to entertain ourselves in Zimbabwe. Now don't get me wrong, Zim has some beautiful places and fantastic game parks - however we will be travelling across the country and exploring Victoria Falls on an overland trip later on in the year (stay tuned to hear more about this trip!). So a month in Harare, what on earth were we going to do? Where could we stay without imposing? Surely a month is too long to ask people to host and entertain us?!

Ben's wonderful ability to find kittens anywhere he goes!

This is where a wonderful bit of fate kicked in. In my final year at University I was part of RAG (raising & giving), a fundraising society. This exposed myself and our committee to local charities based in Reading. Post graduation the RAG secretary, lovely Beth, was volunteering for Creating Better Futures. I knew the charity had links with Zimbabwe but I had no idea where they were based or even if volunteering in the country would be possible. Despite my attempts of Facebook stalking and digging around online I couldn't find the answers to these questions so I messaged Beth. Being the wonderful person she is she put me in contact with Dorothy, the CEO of Creating Better Futures, and I was able to explain our situation. A handful of WhatsApp messages later and Ben and I had been offered the opportunity to volunteer for as long as we wanted with CBF, with the invitation to stay with her Mother, Beverley, in Harare. We were briefed on a couple of things we could assist with; mostly the profiling of children, to assess any potential sustainability projects and to relay the situation the vulnerable children were living in. Dorothy informed us that although we would stay in Harare we could travel out to the rural schools whenever necessary. For us this was perfect and a real answer to our prayers. We would be able to use our skills to benefit the charity and this gave us a focus for our time in Harare.

Ben & I being welcomed to Mutake Primary

Now, only a few days away from leaving Zimbabwe and we can wholeheartedly say we have loved the experience. Over the last four weeks Ben and I have frequently journeyed to an area 50 km north of Harare called Domboshava. Situated in rural Mashonaland we've visited two primary schools that Creating Better Futures are supporting. Cheza Primary School is 340 children big and Mutake Primary School has 960 children. Both are full of children who loved the camera and couldn't stop practicing their few English words. However for all the little ones at the school the first time they saw a 'mzungu', or white person, it was understandably a little daunting. Let's face it if you've never seen a white person and then you're confronted with Ben with his scrabbly ginger beard it's likely you'll cry.

Ben profiling a young boy called Blessed during a home visit

To date Ben and I have assisted with the profiling of over 150 children that have their school fees paid for by the CBF organisation. The majority of these children have lost one or both parents and their situations are often heartbreaking. One day we were able to visit some of these children's homes. Below is a photo of Nelson, he is 11 years old and towards the end of his primary education. His Father has passed away and he lives with his Mum and two older brothers. Now don't get me wrong, that sounds awful but when processing many children in a similar situation it hadn't really hit home to me what that meant. When I stepped into Nelson's house all that changed. The house you see below is no bigger inside than your average garden shed. It has a table, a cabinet, four chairs, one dresser and a double bed. That is it. No water. No electricity. No internet. No bathroom. Let me just take a second to think about how many wonderful things I have inside my house. Gosh how I felt humbled. Three growing boys and their Mumma have to share a bed for lack of space. When it chucks it down with rain they all huddle in together. Despite this Nelson enjoys doing his homework and works hard to support his Mum's farming. Not your average 11 year old hey?!

Nelson & his Mumma

In our second week Ben was delighted to travel the 3 1/2 hours east to Mutare where the third CBF supported school is based. Ben in particular was excited to journey to this area of Zimbabwe as his Mumma was born there. Growing up on a mission station Ruth spent the first decade of her life in the beautiful and extremely scenic Chimanimani Mountains, but was born and attended school in Mutare. Although we spent most of our time in the rural area visiting the CBF primary school we were able to see Mutare hospital and get a sense of where a part of Ben's heritage comes from.

The stunning scenery of the Bvumba Mountains, Mutare

Throughout our short time in Mutare we were able to meet and profile the CBF students that make up a small percentage of the 1,700 students attending Chitakatira Primary. One of the students we met was Constance Mureyani, a 10-year-old girl with a difference. Tragically Constance was hit by a car last year on her way to church. After an agonising period of time it was decided by the doctors that it was necessary to amputate her right leg just below the knee. Following a successful operation and a 40-day stint in hospital, Constance was determined to get back to school and to continue with her education. When introduced to Constance I was struck with how independent she was and her willingness to get on. Again, similar to Nelson, I only really got to know Constance when we conducted a home visit one afternoon. From the primary school Constance daily walks, on her crutches, roughly 3 km - however this is not your 'normal' 3 km walk down a path or road. Instead Constance walks her 3 km on a serious incline up the side of a mountain, rain or shine. At such a young age and a mere 5 months after her accident, I was completely taken aback by her determination and resilience. This became even more apparent as our 4x4 pick-up truck struggled to slowly climb the route she walks to school and back!!

Constance with her Auntie & Uncle outside her house

To our delight we we able to see Constance again once we returned to Harare. CBF had arranged for her to attend a hospital consultation regarding the possibility of a prosthetic leg. Unfortunately, the system in Zimbabwe does not offer any health provision or assistance to those who don't have the funds to pay for it. Whilst it would be fantastic to see Constance fitted with a new leg as soon as her body is ready for it, realistically, this will only happen when funds become available. As you may imagine, this is unreasonable for a family who already struggle to pay for Constance's school fees. Their situation is made worse following her initial hospitalisation and operation fees that are currently crippling the family with a $1,183 debt. Horrifically, the driver that caused Constance's accident is from London and reassured the local police that she would pay all of Constance's medical bills. To date she has only paid the family a pitiful $50. Following the consultation CBF are now pursuing avenues to fundraise the $600 needed for the prosthetic leg, but in the short time Ben and I felt moved to provide a replacement set of crutches as the ones Constance was battling to use were second hand, adult sized crutches that were no longer fit for purpose. We hope that she will be more comfortable in the short term but we pray that one day we will hear of the fantastic news that she can walk and play again, as every 10-year-old should. Find out more about CBF here

Attempting to 'help' make porridge for the children at Mutake Primary

Of course we were also delighted to be able to visit our friends at St Peter's. One Sunday we arranged to attend church in the morning and head back to John and Agnes's for lunch. When double checking the time church started we forgot to request when the English service started, so instead of arriving at 7 am to enjoy a service in our mother tongue, we arrived 8:30 am and sat through a 3 hour service in Shona, the local dialect in Harare. Being the only white people in the congregation our mistake was pretty obvious and we really had no idea what was going on! Despite this we were both pleased to have attended as we were met with plenty of friendly faces and received plenty of offers of dinner (Ben is now getting a flavour of the hospitality and immense feeding that I experienced last time)!

The tiny puppy - 'Pretty' - who arrived whilst we were in Harare

Sadly, we had some unexpected and shocking news on Monday 11th. We learned of the passing of a wonderful woman, Portia Chikwekwete. Portia was St Peter's church administrator and all round organiser, so the last time I visited Harare she accompanied us on many of our trips. I will never forget our laughter filled outing together to the magical Chinhoyi Caves. Portia was one of the 13 Zimbabweans we welcomed in Rusthall last summer and her infectious smile will be remembered lovingly by many of us back in the UK. Amazingly Ben and I saw Portia for one last time the day we arrived in Harare. We were then so saddened to hear of her death just 4 days later, but I thank God I was able to have one last hug and to hear how much she had enjoyed the beginning of 2016.

All smiles at Chitakatira Primary

During our last week in Zimbabwe Ben and I have been kept busy with the charity hand overs and general organising, as well as visiting a host of houses and enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the St Peter's congregation. We want to thank all the many friendly faces who have made our stay so enjoyable and for opening their homes (& dinner tables!) to us.

They soon figured out he isn't as scary as he looks!

Thank you Beverley, Lawrence, Ronald, Shepard, Maidevine, Maievi, little Nenyasha & baby Devine (who now doesn't cry and crawl away at the site of Ben) for having us in your home for the month! Thank you for attending to our every need and truly treating us as your family.

Lawrence, Maidevine, baby Devine, Beverly, Melissa, Nenyasha & Ben

Thank you Dorothy & all at CBF UK. We were two strange travelers asking for an opportunity & you have blessed us with an experience we will never forget. It was an utter privilege to be able to help the incredible work you do here.

Ronald, Ben & Lawrence

Thank you Rev Gift for doing a fantastic job of sorting us out with places to go and people to meet. We really enjoyed seeing familiar faces again and meeting more of the church link family.

Thank you the: Sanyanga family, Masuku family, Garura family, Nheweyembwa family, Chimbetete family, Manyema family, Mautsa's Chipunza family, the Bvumbe's and all those at Megga 2 for hosting & feeding us - we are extremely grateful (although our waist-lines might not be!).

Enjoying lunch on our last day with some of the St Peter's congregation

Next we journey to Uganda to meet up with a team from our church at home which we are really looking forward to. We will spend two weeks in a small village called Rwentobo, close to the border with Rwanda. We will be working with the local primary school run by a charity called World Shine Ministries. See here for more: Mission Rwentobo

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Melissa xx

Prayer requests:

• We are thankful to God for our time in Harare, it was clearly his plan for us and we have again seen his love and faithfulness.
• We continue to be grateful for our continued safety on our trip, with no serious illness or incidents so far...!
• We pray for the wonderful people who hosted us during our stay here, particularly Beverley for her amazing hospitality and generosity. We pray for God's blessing upon her and her family.
• We pray for the work that CBF are doing here in Zimbabwe and also the team in the UK. Although the charity is relatively small in size, it is huge in ambition and potential. We pray that God would take the work they do to a new level and we would see and hear amazing stories in the changes taking place in the schools they support.
• We pray particularly for the finances of CBF that funding would be obtained to continue the current projects and start and develop new ones.
• We pray for God's guidance in our own lives as we have felt challenged and encouraged about what he may be preparing for us.
• We pray ahead for Mission Rwentobo with members from Tonbridge Baptist Church. We pray for safe journeys for us and the team and ask that God's hand would be upon all of us as we carry out the work he has planned. We are thankful for the opportunity and pray that we would see Jesus move in the way we are with each other, with the local villagers and particularly the 700+ children of Rwentobo Primary School.
• We continue to thank friends and family for all the prayers, love and support we receive on a daily basis.
• We also keep my (Melissa's) brother, Alastair, in our thoughts & prayers as he currently sits his mock A-Level exams and starts really focusing on university. May God guide him, and all those sitting exams, to be the best they can.