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Luxury and Poverty; Faith and fear; full supermarkets and empty larders;
swimming pools and no running water; acres of fertile land all unfarmed;
public male authority and private female dependence; extended families and
strict discipline.
This is the country that a group from Croydon with Bishop Nick Baines
visited from 10th – 25th April 2007. Let me give you a snapshot of what the
country is like and what I experienced:
Luxury
We visited the tourist areas: Antelope Park and Victoria Falls as well as an
overnight stay in Harare. Here there were well-manicured lawns, sprinkler
watering systems, modern shower/toilet blocks, restaurants with plenty of
food, shops with expensive goods.
I was also invited to the home of James. We had lunch and supper at his home
behind high electrified walls and electric gate. He has his own generator
and bore hole, which replenishes his swimming pool. There is water in
Zimbabwe - it is just the process of getting it to the homes that is in
disarray. When he had a phone call from one of his employees who needed
petrol for a business trip the next day he invited me to accompany him to
his engineering works and we took fuel with us.
He used to own the Dairy in Kadoma and a house nearby where the workers
lived but that is now closed down as there are no dairy cattle!
HOWEVER what did impress me with James was his attitude. He is a good
Christian man and he said, “I have to invest in Zimbabwe because it is my
children's future.” He is putting his money back into Zimbabwe and providing
jobs.
Poverty
I visited St Paul's, Kadoma and was driven around the High Density area. It
started as prefabs quite close together and eventually there were concrete
homes no bigger than a garden shed which housed 6 - 7 people with basically
a mattress on the floor, a small single burner camping stove and a bowl.
I also visited St Mark's Church Patchway, Kadoma.
The churchwardens and pastor and congregations were there to give us a
typical welcome. This is a high-density area about a 20-minute drive from
Kadoma in a very out of the way rural area. No public transport and nearest
town Kadoma! Not many cars either and Kadoma had had no fuel or running
water for three months. Here were a dozen or so young people aged between 12
and twenty, which was very encouraging. A very basic church but a very
lively one with great faith. People were in tears when I spoke to them that
we were there to share and walk a few steps with them. In spite of the
poverty they gave us a bag of tomatoes and some fruit. They couldn't afford
to give it but we could not insult them by refusing.
Faith and Fear
The country is mainly Roman Catholic but there are many protestant churches
from Baptist to, of course, Anglican. The churches are full of people of all
ages. The services in typical African style can take up to four hours! The
Hymn boards list 20-30 hymns and then there is the impromptu singing in
between! The Anglican service is basic prayer book - 1662 - some in Shone
some in English. The first Sunday in the parish where I was sent I was
invited by the Archdeacon to speak and say hello to the congregation. After
the service he invited me to preach the following Sunday which was a great
honour. Some of our party preached for an hour at their churches -I managed
25 minutes! Imagine if we did that on a Sunday morning in Southwark!
One of the problems for the clergy in Zimbabwe is preaching Sunday after
Sunday trying to inspire and give hope to people who see no hope in the
future of their country. They see themselves as the Hebrews in slavery
awaiting release to the Promised Land or as wandering in the dessert for
years awaiting God to intervene.
But the clergy also have to deal with government men in the congregation who
will report back anything they may say that is out of order. Whilst I was
being shown some of the poorest townships the car I was in was “sandwiched”
between to unregistered brand new land rovers. We immediately turned off and
left the area as I was told by my companions that these cars were “Mugabe's
thugs playing the threatening game”.
WHAT I will always remember is the beautiful country that Zimbabwe is and
the faces of the wonderful people that live there. As I watched the sunset
over the Zambezi River I prayed that the sun would soon rise again over
Zimbabwe.
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