Loving the people of Zimbabwe

We had an incredible trip to Zimbabwe. Thanks for your prayers, we could definitely see God preparing the way for us and guiding us through this trip. A quick overview of what has been happening in Zim (from what I know anyway, which isn't a lot). Zim has been on a downward spiral for many years and is now in a state of crises with its people facing starvation. Zim used to be the "breadbasket" of Africa producing tons of food, but in the 80's, white farmers were forced off their land with the encouragement of the government and the people who took over the farms did not know how to do the farming. This created a food shortage and a collapse of their economy causing great inflation. As more and more people became resentful of the government and started calling for change, the president began doing whatever it took to stay in power including threats and violence. Now, approximately 1/3 of all the population has left Zimbabwe and those left are facing starvation because of either lack of food or extraordinary prices for anything. Urban Life Church, the church I am working through and where I am living, is sending teams into Zim to different areas to try to provide some food relief. Food aid is not allowed by the government, but the church gets around it because each person entering Zim is allowed a certain amount of food to take to friends and relatives so we just say that we are visiting friends and have enough people to take quite a lot of food.

It took us about 14 hours to arrive in Bulawayo, Zim on Friday after a 4 hour delay at the border. They were checking everyone's trailers and trucks and there were many people trying to get through. We were up early the next morning though and first headed to a nursing home where we delivered food parcels and visited with the people. The doctor there has been practicing in Zim for 50 years and I would guess is around 80 years old. He took me to see a lady who had just had a hip replacement. I was able to pray with her and a few other people. An interesting thing is that when we arrived we went to the wrong place initially and met a woman running a soup kitchen. At first we thought this was the place and began unpacking the food, but soon figured out it was wrong. But, it was a divine appointment because we had 10 extra food bags and were able to leave some with her. She was very excited because they were down to very little.

After leaving the nursing home we traveled a very pot-holed road, with me bouncing along in the back of the truck to a town about 1 hour away. We delivered food to the church there and then the pastor led us to 2 small villages. It was amazing to see how the people live. We formed a chain to pass the food from the truck to the hut and I was standing inside the hut next to a woman who had been cooking when we arrived. With each parcel of food, her smile grew larger and larger and I could see her eyes getting wider. Then we passed in maize meal (their main staple) and she was obviously overjoyed. These villages are very out of the way so they dont get food brought very often.

Inside one of the huts, the woman is described above

In the villiage

We returned to the city of Bulawayo and showed a movie to a church to try to provide some joy. We showed Horton Hears A Who - a great movie by the way. We gave popcorn and juice and hopefully for a few hours they could forget their worries.

I feel so priviledged that I was able to be a part of this amazing team and do something to try to make a difference in this region.