VBS

A few weeks ago there was also the fabulous addition of two great men: Guy and Jeremiah. They came separate from all we are and were doing, just to help out. From doing research on line they got in touch with Glen Miller- the man behind Hands of Hope- and flew out here to do some much needed maintenance, plumbing, and electrical work. They've been quite fantastic and handy, especially in the light of John and my glaring lack of do-it-yourself skills. 

     Three days ago the rest of the team finally arrived, and we've been meshing together with them to see some more of the homes, giving them an idea of what it's like down here, as well as begin work on our Vacation Bible school program. On Sunday, we- the team- went out to Goshen Farm: 1000 acres of land donated to a Highfield Church that is being turned into a self sustaining village for orphans. last year a crew from Solid Rock came out here to start building homes on the farm and this summer one of that team has returned as our team leader- the fabulous Judge Tom Kohl. We had a church service out there with the locals and the team performed a hilarious impromptu skit based on the parable of the sower. We shared a few songs with them, and our own Andrew Bradey gave an exhortation from the great commission.

The day slowed to soccer and taking tons of pictures of the kids while some of our young ladies sang "this little light of mine" with them. All the kids love being in front of the camera and they break out into riotous hysterics when they see themselves in the camera. These kids are some of the first kids we'll be sharing VBS with this week. We're starting it monday at the Fernroad home with about 30 kids and it means a couple of things for this trip right now:

1) It means that we're working with another culture that we're all rather un-familiar with. To help, we have a crew of youth from a neighboring church that is helping us develop a program that will be a blessing to the kids.

2) It means that we're starting it today (as I write this at 12:45 am in my bed) with only a few days of co-ordinating, so we need the Lord to make up for our lack of prep time in working in the kid's hearts- not by our power God.

3) It means that in a weak we'll be doing it again for 300 kids, as opposed to 30 the first time around. 

We still have a lot of games, teachings, and crafts to organize and then execute for a lot of kids, so we'll be busy trying to keep up with our schedule here. But all this also means that 

4) God is going to work in the lives of kids whether we have a slick set up or not, and that this is a great time for us to just give up all the strength we thought we had, and lean into Him. 

So, as you read this, be praying for us and the two VBS weeks ahead.

Lastly, Im really terrible at blogging and keeping up at it, and Im trying to figure out how to put a slideshow up here so I can get a lot more pictures on. There is no way I can post all the stories and pictures here and my head gets over-loaded trying to handle all the possible content... this leads me to discouragement at having a blog at all and makes me want to gut it out, load it with gun-powder, and just light it off in the harbor to watch the whole thing go under in a blaze of thundering glory! ka-BOOM!! But... I persist. I might eventually figure out how to blog, but in the event that I don't, let's just go get coffee when Im back in the states, and I'd love to tell you all about it face to face. In the mean time, I will lay me down to rest, cause it's early, and I'll try not to worry to much about not being a world class journalist. Goodnight!

I mentioned deliveries, and here it is. These kids jumped up to help us load out these bags of ground corn, beans, kapenta, and salt. In the blue striped polo is our good buddy Farayi, supervising as usual. 

We've delivered food in the truck to nearly a dozen separate projects all over zimbabwe, with our recent trip taking us 170 kilometers into the bush, most of which was on less than dirt roads. Food is delivered once every three months to each of the homes and feeding schemes. A quick word on lingo: a scheme is good. It's a plan and a direction to benefit others, not a rouse to snooker people.   

John and I took a road-trip with Gary out to several projects deep in rural areas. Here, John shares a word from God to these kids. Most of them had never seen a white man, and none of them knew of america. 

It took a while for these kids to warm up to us, but eventually we had them playing tic-tac-to in the sand with us and trying to teach me how to make a bird noise with just my hands... I still can't do it, but I'll keep trying. 

These are most of the kids living at the 'Fernroad A' home, all in their uniforms before school. I absolutely love these kids. This home is part of three underneath the Philadelphia Project that Solid Rock supports. John and I spent four days at this home working on repairing the wood-tiled floors and painting it sweet and fresh. 

What's the work

There are a couple different elements of the work that we're a part of down here in Zimbabwe. Some is simply what Hands of Hope is up to, and others are what we are a direct part of as we visit the ministry here.

1) The feeding projects. Hands of Hope sponsors several different church across the country and partners with them to supply food enough for at least one meal a day for orphans of AIDs and other children in need. A feeding project willy typically start with 50 kids and grow as faithfulness and trust are built. The biggest project I know of is run by a man named Pastor Mtatu who helps to feed over 400 orphans.

2) Housing projects. It's the same idea as feeding, but with a roof overhead as well as food. Typically a group of two to three women are the aunties over a home that can have from seven to over a dozen kids, many taken in from the streets. There are about a dozen housing projects that I know of now with more on the way. The people down here are so loving and many of them do this work for orphans without any support. Pastor Gideon is a wonderful man who lives just outside the city of Buluwayo and has taken about eighteen kids under his own care to feed them and clothe them- all own salary. This is not to praise a man, but to show the love that lives through God's followers here in Zimbabwe. Many people plant gardens and farms to help ease the burden of feeding so many kids.

3) Along with the housing projects. Hands of Hope helps kids obtain a vision for the future, working at providing the kids with educations as well as a spiritual foundation in life, that they may grow, not simply to be healthy, but also to love and serve the Lord. It's not enough to give these kids food and shelter, but also reason to live and grow- They give these children the gift of dignity. John and I worked with three other men down here to paint a home here. I didn't see why we were doing it, thinking it wasn't helping anybody much, but Pastor Mtatu assured me that the beauty of the home is such a gift to kids, showing them their value and giving them a sense of something more- it helps give them worth.

4) Bulk buying and deliveries. We've gone out a couple times with the workers here to buy food in bulk for the feeding projects- They search all over the city because whoever has the best price is never consistent and even ten cents a kg can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars per three month buying period. After the food is bought, we load up this totally sweet truck and drive it around town to the projects, riding in the back with the food in case somebody tries to steal from us at a stop light (called a 'robot' down here, by the way.)

5) Visiting. A big part of what is happening here, something I wasn't expecting, is the visiting. People want to know how we are, how we find Zimbabwe, how the states are, how Obama is doing as president- a man from a village where no white man had been in ten years asked me if I thought a black man could be president, and if Obama was bringing the troops back to america as promised. We meet a lot of people most all of whom love to converse and be social, but the best ones are still the kids we see at the homes. They are a beautiful bunch of people who love the Lord. I promise, I'll get picture and stories of kids up soon. We have the blessing of making relationships with the people here and it's amazing to see how much of an encouragement we can be to a family of orphans and their aunties simply by spending time with them and being ourselves. They love that we've shown up to see them, it's probably the easiest work I've ever done, and one of the best ways -it seams- to lift the burden of life down here.

This is the main thrust of what's been going on with us on the trip.

Photos

Im working on getting some pictures up that I hope will be posted in the coming days. We'll get them soon.

Day off: Around town.

Farayi and I headed into town today after a pretty sleepy and easy morning. Pray for John, he's sick with a stomach thing so he couldn't join us. We hitched a ride into the city to hook up with a guy Farayi knows who was going to lead us on foot to bulk buy Kapenta, an inch long fish that's pickled then dried. It's super high protein so they buy it for the feeding projects. The streets are much more colorful on foot, and theirs a lot more to see on street level when you're not driving through. The street vendors sell things from air-time for cell phones, to belts, hats, and wallets. It's not unlike New York city, except for the size of it- it has what looks like a third of the people, and it's less glamorous, and it's a lot safer cause there's such good gun control, and the buildings are fewer and farther between, and there's no street performers. Other than that, it's just like NY. Anyway, we hoofed it through the city till we caught up with our mobile Kapenta dealer, but we found out she couldn't get us the fish till Monday and we need it sooner. We picked up another ride back home, empty handed, but we've got another lead on a guy who can get it to us sooner, so no worries.
Today has been the first day without a schedule or agenda, which has been really nice. It's pretty quiet to, so I'm glad for the chance to get some typing done. Right now our biggest challenges is hooking up a new printer to a computer that doesn't have a CD ROM so we have to download the drives online. Plus we're getting wireless Internet in the office, so when that gets up and running and the laptops get set up for it, we'll be able to have connections on four computers instead of just one at a time. It'll be great... when we get all the kinks worked out. Right now there are workers on the porch of the office re-packaging some of the Kapenta we already have into 1kg bags from 50kg bags. Later this week we'll drive those around in the flatbed truck to the different feeding projects. After that, we'll have been pretty much all over Zimbabwe, only missing a few kilometers from the eastern border.

Back in Town

My traveling buddy, John, and I, are finally back in Harare. Let's start at the beginning. John and I came down here to Zimbabwe two weeks ago, but it feels like so much longer. Since arriving we've been visiting what are called 'the Projects,' homes where orphans are kept and cared for by churches that partner with Hands of Hope. We spent four days last week out at a home called 'Fernroad A' where a group of adorable orphans lives with two aunties who take care of them and watch over them. The kids are great and warmed up to us right away even though only a handful of them speak english. We've been making friends and working on the homes- last week we painted Fernroad A over two days after working on the plumbing. One evening we led a devotion for the highschool and junior high girls who live across the yard in Fernroad B. John gave a little word and I played my guitar and sang. It's been such a huge blessing to be here and meet these people and work for them.
Time here is so up and down. There are very punctual people, and very not-so-much people. Some times we're sitting and waiting for things to happen, and other times we have to rush to get out the door five minutes ago.
Last thursday our friend Gary picked us up from Fernroad and and drove us back to the office we're sort of based in. We had ten minutes to unpack and re-pack for a four day road trip. The trip was across Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls and then visit the different projects across the country on the way back, stopping four times at warehouses to bulk-buy food for the feeding projects: places organized by churches partnering with hands of hope to feed fifty or more orphans on a daily basis. There's so much more going on here than we ever imagined.
So far, John and I have slept on at least eight different surfaces in so many conditions. Our first night on the road we shared a bed that was two feet wide, with one blanket and an overhead flourecent light that couldn't be turned off.
Pastor Simon is a man who lives in Hwange and has a huge vision for Christs church, building schools, farms, and meeting houses for Christian in the country to come and use. He took us several miles into the country on a dirt road to a village where no white man had been in ten years. The kids were so shy and the best we got out of them is a little hand shake before they ran away giggling and trying to push their friends towards our open palms.
We stayed a night in Bluwayo with a man who cares for over a dozen kids with his own meager salary. All the kids are so beautiful and friendly here. The littlest children lead out as the whole group sings praise to the Lord after dinner.
Today was the last leg home from visiting the different projects that are going on. This morning we had to pull off to the side of the road to refill our car with a jug of diesel we had to buy off the black market the day before. We needed a funnel to put it in our tank, but had no knife to cut our juice bottle open to make one, and none of the glass bottles discarded their were sharp enough. Fortunately, there was the remnants of a fire burning their next to the highway and we melted the bottom of the bottle and tore it open with a rock. Then it was just the open road, roughly a dozen corrupt police barricades hoping for bribes, and one last visit two a feeding project before we made it back 'home.' God was great to us and has showed us so many blessings through these kids- we traversed trecherous trails of stone that were not meant to be traveled in our tiny toyota. Somehow we made it safely though, with a slew of new friends and brothers in Christ and love for these kids.
I hope this gives you a picture of what we've been up to, and what it's like down here. Post any and all questions- We'll be back soon.

Our guys

Here's a quick list of some of the big players down here in Zimbabwe.
Jephat: He is like our main contact down here, driving us where we need to be and explaining to us the things we need to know, being our faithful host. He's a joyful guy with a wife and three kids, who pokes good jokes and loves to watch Cricket in his free time. He teaches physiology at the college nearby.
Farayi: Farayi is 27, works here as an administrator at hands of hope, but loves the kids more than the computers. He is a quieter man, and sensible. He wanted to take me on a double date with Becca and his girlfriend till he found out I played guitar. He doesn't want me to get him in trouble for not singing love songs to his lady.
Gary: Gary works at hands of hope as well, except that he's on vacation, so I don't know what he does yet. He is married to Virginia and keeps pet rabbits when most everyone else raises them to be eaten.
Courage: Young man visiting here- younger brother to Gary. He didn't know how to play guitar three days ago, but I am teaching him a couple chords.

Many more to tell of in the future!

Introduction

In the first post I completely skipped the introduction out of my excitement and fatigue. This blog is about John Ross, Evan Bower (myself,) and our trip to Zimbabwe. I came to this trip because I wanted so badly to do something bigger with my life than tend that bar at Starbucks. In my frustration with routine I applied for the summer trip to Zimbabwe through Solid Rock Church. I didn't even know if I a) would be accepted, b) had what it took to do this, c) was even supposed to go, given my lack of funds and needing to plan for more school in the fall. After making a brief list of pros and cons I decided to let myself go, if chosen. As God would have it, He opened up every possible door to the point where I basically discovered one day that I had woken up in Zimbabwe and will now be here till the end of August.
I can't speak for John, but I know God brought him on this trip as well. So, now we both have a divine purpose for being here and we're just trying to follow God, hoping He shows us what that is along the way.

Day one: Done

So, here I am in Harare, Zimbabwe with my buddy John. Nine hour time difference in the future, 95 percent unemployment, American dollar circulating, and the names of solid men we've met that I can't spell. Jephat met us at the airport and we spent the first night at his house. Now we're bunking up at the hands of hope office here in town with Gary, his wife, and Farri (sp.) All the stars are different down here, but I haven't seen any constalations yet cause the local dogs started to bark at us like we were intruders. We're in a brick building with a bit of grass property around us, enclosed by a fence, as is everything within the city limits. So far, I've learned how Cricket works and that they don't sell caterpillars at the market, but they do have corn flakes and axe body spray. It's been a day though, and my body hasn't fully adjusted yet, so I'm ending this post. John and I are well and healthy and fed and grateful for the prayer. God bless!