These updates start life as email to our families and friends. They are slightly reworked to appear later in a reworked form on our website, with sensitive material removed - on www.hnlc.org.au/lifeline
The impact of this trip was primarily related to the timing of it - right in the middle of the Presidential re-election, when the country was on edge everywhere we went. People kept saying at home, "you shouldn't be going", and when arrived in various districts in Zimbabwe, they were equally amazed that we had come! No one else had; the place was deserted of tourists and overseas ministry.
It was not an easy trip to report on; as yet, we have not added photos either. But the content of these reports should challenge and inspire our readers!
Hie from Harare. It’s 23c, and Peter (Brown) has gone with our host to the bank to draw money out. Get this, he is an executive with a Bank here, and he is allowed by law to withdraw $25,000,000,000 a day! That’s right – only $25 billion! Before Aug 06 when three zeros were removed, that would be $25 trillion! How much in $A I hear you ask? Ahhh, less than $A7…. A day….
We got ALL our luggage plus extra medical supplies through quick smart after the Qantas desk clerk read our church explanation letter (she spoke like a Christian saying, “I am very happy to be part of God’s plan for you!”). She didn’t even check the weight! Which was way over the limit; then she gave us additional boarding passes for Joburg-Harare (no need to queue again there), and an express clearance through emigration which helped us bypass 100 people in that queue, and another 20 at the security check-in.
Then the plane left two hours late. We had excellent seats right next to first-class. There were more vacant seats than in previous years, so Peter was able to stretch out over the three seats in our row and sleep, while I relocated to the “cattle pen” for a few hours.
We arrived 90 minutes late at Joburg, and stretched out at the regular spot – News café overlooking the apron. The sign said the Harare flight was delayed and had been relocated to gate A6 - right next to us. After a while, I became a bit suspicious of this when another plane remained in dock there. A double-check of another noticeboard showed “now boarding at Gate A19” – a long way from where we were. I raced over to Peter, called “let’s go, NOW-NOW”, when someone called out, “hey, Brian!”, and there was Jannie Kruize and her adopted son, transhipping home to Holland from Marromeu. Jannie has served as a missionary in Mozambique for over 15 years and Ben and I enjoyed her fellowship at the Beira Base last October. Small world… We hope to see her next trip to Mozambique. Then we raced down a long corridor, escalator, over to gate A19, to be told, “We announced the change over the PA, Sir”. The chaotic noise of Joburg airport meant neither of us heard this solitary announcement…. Three minutes later, we would have been sleeping overnight in the airport….
On the Harare plane, more “coincidences”… I sat next to a Zimbabwean lady and her two young children, greeted her and asked where she was coming from. The reply was, “Bankstown!” After I told her I was a minister, she said she attended AFM (Apostolic Faith Mission) in Sydney; she nearly fell over when (remember, here we are in the skies over Zimbabwe) I said, “Your pastor is preaching in our church this Sunday night!” She looked hard at me and said, “I remember you! You and your wife sang that wonderful song to our church, Makanaka Jesu!” She remembered Kefas too (who lives with us in Merrylands). It is a small world….
But, no luggage turned up in Harare for any passenger transhipping from Sydney. We were not surprised as the transit was too short with the lateness of the incoming flight. So, we are about to go out to the airport and check if it came in today. Joburg has the worst thieving rate of any airport globally.
Peter prayed on the way over that we believed the timing of this delay was also part of God’s plan for an “open road”, and that we would see His hand in this annoying part of African delays. The place was deserted, except for the lost luggage manager; we went in - and the entire luggage was there untouched. I started talking with the lady handling the documentation, when she asked about our church. She said she attended AFM, but when I asked a couple of questions, she opened up that she had grown up in a Mapostori cult. Although she had recently left them, she was still afraid of a curse they had placed on her, and we ended up having a lengthy conversation about how to renounce the effects of such curses and how to leave behind the influence of her mudzimu (Ancestral Spirit). So, there we were for 20 minutes in the customs hall of Harare International airport, praying for this soft-hearted (fairly new) believer, and leading her through a deliverance from an ngozi (an aggressive spirit) sent by the cult members against her. We urged her to pursue deepening her understanding of the Bible as well as making sure she is in regular fellowship – not easy when you work odd shifts. Remember, this ain’t Aussie! It’s very different here in all ways.
Parents! Don’t let your children try this at Sydney International Airport customs hall. You could be arrested….
Then we drove across to Kefas’s mother’s house in the high density suburb of Glenview, where there were a lot of people, all happy to hear fresh news of Kefy (who lives with us in boring old Merrylands). We passed on Kefas’s parcel for his Mum and left just on dusk. Peter got his first taste of crawling out of a high-density area on dark. There is a lot more traffic about again after many years of fuel shortages. As an ex-diesel mechanic, he was gob-smacked by the diesel fumes that fill the air. They don’t keep their filters clean, and Peter says this shortens engine life considerably.
We came home via the Celebration Centre which was staging a reggae night on the lawn…. While there, Peter got to see President Mugabe’s cavalcade roar past at breakneck speed! Quite a sight! It’s said the most dangerous job in the nation is that of the lead motor cycle as he is the first to speed at 90kmh through the red lights!
We had a good trip up from Harare – “only” 5 road blocks, but only one was a stoppage for us, and that was brief. The Lifeline director had wisely removed all the Lifeline signage from the vehicle because of the Government’s current antagonistic stance towards NGO’s. That and my Shona helped.
After church there, the whole Zulu family was present for the first time since Peter died over four years ago. The donations we brought (from church and running club people) were gratefully accepted – Martha is now caring (during the day) for quite a few local orphans (we would call them urchins), plus two older widows who have no support at all. The last donation Ben and I passed on in Oct 07 was spent on warm clothing as well as some food (Zimbabwe can be bitterly cold in winter). Martha is very grateful for the continued support shown her and these needy ones. We trust this will continue!
We then drove up to Chinhoyi, stayed over with Simon and Linda Smith. Simon owns a motor repair and crash recovery business, but the economic crash and burn is hurting them bigtime. Then we drove out to the high-density township where Peter and Stella Banda minister. The donated notebook computer found a good home. Peter’s older one had died recently, and he was stoked at the gift via our church of such a relatively modern one! Thanks for arranging this from your work, Gavin! And lastly, Tatenda Banda took us down to the market place where Good Ncube (another Lifeline graduate and former Harare Base groundsman) has set up a quite successful stall selling electricals and hardware. What’s more, his firstborn arrived on time and he named him, wait for it… BRIAN!!! This is my first grandchild-in-the-Faith in Zimbabwe! After many sons (mwana komana)…. I had to prise Peter away from the market with its trash and treasure storehouse of what I would call mostly junk (but Peter thought it was heaven, Maureen)….
The “open road” was free from glitches until 10k from Gweru where a very serious roadblock was set up with army personnel involved. Speaking a smattering of Shona has helped tremendously along the way, but it was being able to produce a letter in which we had highlighted my meeting last year with the Midlands’ Governor Msipa, and his offer to help us bring in aid – THAT pulled up what was becoming a very hard-nosed questioning session by the senior (armed) army officer. We were then waved through.
We have just got into Gweru this afternoon, after spending six days in Mkoba high-density Township, 8kms out. We had excellent meetings and discussions every day, mostly with leaders very concerned about the current and future state of their congregations. Peter came back from a very profitable time at Gweru Public Hospital where he spent the day (for the second time) building on the contacts Ben made last trip. He met with the director of the hospital who was very appreciative of what he is doing and our church’s offer to help equip in some areas where there are severe shortages of basic medical supplies.
The pastor we were staying with in the high-density township came across a confrontation nearby in Mkoba yesterday between supporters of the political parties; tonight we were told that three people were killed there. But we are being kept safe by God’s protection and using discretion about where we are. The sight of the water cannon cruising the streets outside the school where the church met was a little disconcerting, but I spoke with the policeman at the gate and he was courteous and at ease.
The main Gweru seminar went very well again. A total of 72 pastors attended – the daily numbers started at 45 and built to 57 on the last day – but that included some “rice Christians”! There are a lot of them here, as our church paid for a well-catered for lunch each midday. I spoke on several practical areas of building local church life on the New Testament truth of the Priesthood of Every Believer. The Q and A sessions were very stimulating! We went for a longer time each day than last year, and the feedback has been uniformly positive. Afterwards I located and burned 30 CD’s with the material used in the seminar to give to pastors who requested a copy of the resources we had gone over.
Peter had an extremely severe attack of insulin imbalance a couple of nights ago, after miscalculating an insulin injection. It was a typical Zimbabwean health issue! We prayed long and hard (you do here coz there ain’t many other options) and he recovered - after a good chuck in the garden! He is helping several diabetics here, and is starting to find his own niche of ministry. He’s been an excellent practical counterpoint to what I do. Fixes bikes, equipment, fiddles with the vehicles…
I took the lunchtime chapel services again in downtown Gweru on Monday and Tuesday. They were well attended, with a lot of prayer for the coming election. While we were in the building, smoke billowed up from the downtown area of Gweru; someone told us that a mob of youths wearing ZANU-PF t-shirts set fire to something in the downtown area. The mob mentality has to be avoided at all costs if you are a foreigner….
We are off to my friend’s small farm near Bulawayo to sit out the Election Day (if it happens, after the news tonight that Tsvangirai has sought refuge in the Dutch embassy and has withdrawn). We have read the Sydney Morning Herald Internet accounts of what is happening here, and this has been helpful.
Healthwise, we are both ok. The dry air and high altitude here has affected both of us somewhat in breathing and skin condition. My voice has been tested every day, but has stood up well. We have stayed indoors more than usual because of the current situation, and that has sent us both a bit stir crazy, but we have no other option. The continual power outages mean here in the Midlands we can’t do some things (especially computer-related), eat in the dark, and go to bed often by 8pm. That means we are awake at 4am, and the power is often still off! Drives you nuts! And not having opportunity to ride or jog means the sleep habits are out of whack too.
This update was started at 5am, election day. We are lying low for the day. But yesterday, we freely drove to the Theological College of Zimbabwe’s campus site to catch up with folks there, then on to Willow Park, 30k out of town, to visit Andrew and Jodi Muller, from Brisbane. They are a young couple who have been here over a year, leading a rebuild of the training / camp centre Lifeline used in the late 90’s and 2000. What a task! The road drops 3k down a valley off the highway and it is in shocking condition! A team from their church was there doing a week’s work in the rebuild, and we had a great time of fellowship and interstate rivalry (typical footy season Aussie camaraderie!). Their pastor had just run the 90k Comrades for the fourth time. He was a bit shocked when after he asked if I had ever done the Six-Foot Track ultra in the Blue Mountains, I said I did 12 before being awarded my buckle, and belt, and stopping at 58! He said, “The hills are unbelievable!” He did it once I think.
They asked what experiences we had had in the north, as the Australian Foreign Affairs Dept. have just issued an alert for all Australians to leave Zimbabwe ASAP. They had come up from Victoria Falls, and like us, did not really think such a red-alert was warranted. But, it is surely a time for great care, respect, and alertness.
ODD SPOT: the defacing of public signs with the President’s posters stands out to a visitor; including the main road signs into towns and cities! The directional arrows, etc, have been overlaid with exhortations to vote for the President. Think about that as you get lost…..
We will be in the Hwange National Park with the wild life for two days. After that, Peter flies home from Victoria Falls, while I start a (first-time) seminar in Hwange with the Ministers' Fellowship, before travelling back to Plumtree for a fourth year with the ministers there.
We have seen the “open road” that was prayed over us before we left. This is a wonderful country; we love it, the people, and yearn to see their desperate economic situation turned around. If you do drop a line in reply, please be discrete re what you say. Much email is intercepted here. Thanks.
A very enjoyable time at Mick’s and a great day at Breakthrough church again made our time in Bulawayo a real blessing. The Senior Minister rang us from Harare to say he did not expect many people to turn up because of the election tension (on people assembling), but the place was full (as usual!), and the praise and prayer powerful. Their services are well organised, and no show ponies there!
Early Sunday morning we left for Sinamatela (near Hwange). Six roadblocks later we arrived. Some of the police at the rural stops are very hungry (Peter obliged with some food). We settled on a routine! Peter driving, and me saying, “anogara kuAustralia!” (he lives in Australia), when they started speaking to him. Peter’s attempts at Shonglish then brought great mirth to several policemen, and this helped break the ice. We really have had only one “issues” roadblock the whole time we have been travelling here.
On to Sinamatela in the Hwange National Park and we discovered the animals don’t seem to have taken sides in this sham election campaign… Pity no one else was there to enjoy them. We were the ONLY visitors in the National Park… literally. In two days of travelling around the bush, pans, lookouts, etc, we did not see a single vehicle. The camp and roads were deserted. The manager of the Sinamatela restaurant told us he has closed his business after 18 years operating it. Everywhere, the tragedy of exhausting the economic capital of the old Rhodesian system is in your face. The country will take decades to recover from nearly 30 years of run-down. So many buildings have not had any maintenance (not even paint) since 1980, many roads are in unbelievable disrepair (even by African standards) - after the heavy rains last summer broke the tar open and no repairs were made (especially in the townships, where the sealed road surfaces are so bad, it would be better if they tore them up and reverted to gravel).
The animal and birdlife were truly as wonderful (as in, full of wonder) as ever. We saw a lot of species even though the abundant rain 6 months ago meant there are a lot of pools around which spreads the coverage of game. Sam Gabara came up from Victoria Falls on day 3 and took us on a wonderful long game drive. We had run out of food, but Sam got given a 7kg piece of kudu (juicy deer meat)! And we feasted like kings! Peter was amazed at his ability to see wild animals in the bush that we missed. Then Peter left with Sam for a day at Victoria Falls and home (after running the gauntlet of the souvenir market – a blood-chilling experience even for the most intrepid trophy hunter….).
The brain goes numb with the “zeros”. The rate we were quoted today to change $US100 was it would give us $Z1.4 trillion! (so you can see what the shops face on their price tags and registers, that’s $Z1,400,000,000,000…. In the pre-2006 currency that would be $Z1.4 quadrillion - $Z1,400,000,000,000,000 – that’s per $US1!!!!!!! Got a headache now? Try changing a $US100 note! Pity us as our brain spins every day.
ODD SPOT: The rate of exchange in Bulawayo a week later was $US1 to $Z22,000,000,000 ($Z22billion)!! In 11 years since we first came, when you add back in the three zeros they took off in 2006, that is an inflation rate of over 2,000,000,000,000%... yes, you read it right – over two trillion percent… This wiped out every old-age pension, superannuation scheme, bank account, investment fund years ago… As an ex-accountant, my brain acts like Microsoft’s old blue screen of death at this point, and freezes….
I had just returned from Hwange (350k) back to Bulawayo on my own and unlike when Peter and I drove down – when there were 6 roadblocks and 2 thorough searches of the vehicle (for arms it appeared) - I encountered only one and it was very casual – it was virtually non-stop.
I had a very effective 4 days there of intensive ministry. A lot of the leaders turned out for the 3 day seminar. It isn’t a big town (much smaller than Gweru), and the ministers seemed pretty happy with the material presented and where we went in the course. Overall it cost less than $US300 for catering, hall hire, printing, blank CD’s (the only thing the organisers got ripped off on - $A3 each!), and transport. The organisers were very careful to itemise everything spent, and the transport donation was a big factor in the numbers attending. These people / pastors are so poor they live hand to mouth. No one seems to have any spare cash (nor a food cupboard of provisions). Imagine in Aussie having to make a plan for a return bus fare to town… A bus fare from the various townships into Hwange was $Z SIX BILLION each way! The forex rate changes daily. It was $4billion / $US1 when we arrived three weeks ago; Hwange was $Z12b when we changed $US100 – so the bus fares were effectively $US50c each way. 50 pastors and spouses a day, and most of them catching a bus meant $US100 went that way – part of our Overseas Aid donations well spent. They were on the whole very appreciative (we tell them ordinary people at home are giving sacrificially so they can benefit).
Peter has returned to Oz for work; he was a great help to me all along the way - a real blessing to many others with his multitude of practical gifts. They would be happy to see him back! And blow me down, he is a really good cook!
We both thank the church for their continual prayers. There was a break-in into the Lifeline vehicle the night after the (same) thieves stole my host’s car battery. They didn’t take much, but made a mess of the dashboard. We were told later that the President had declared an amnesty on petty thieves all over the country to celebrate his re-election, and their release from jail led to an explosion of thieving….
I am well, fulfilled, and off the Plumtree on Wednesday morning early for three days before going back to George Moyo’s church for a day and then the 180k’s up to Gweru before nightfall. One day in Mkoba and then on to Harare. Six days straight of hard slog… But then, home!
The Gweru resource library is moving along (finally). It takes a while before the locals get the message that we expect THEM to do the local hard yards. The prevailing culture of Zimbabwe is to sit around until someone else fixes whatever needs fixing / improving / activating. So, I am patient and will wait until the locals get the message and get activated. We now have a (rent-free) premises that’s been made available. Thank the Lord! We want to not only supply pastors’ resources, but medical supplies, and clothing to the poor there. Getting goods donated in Aussie is not the problem – it’s finding a cost-efficient means of shipping it into Midlands, Zimbabwe.
ODD SPOT: I picked up a 14 y/o dwarfed boy this morning at 6.30am 15km out of Bulawayo. He was cold and alone. Another hitchhiker I picked up further in knew him and told me he had been living with his grandparents but they had both died and now he is living on his own. He had bulging eyes and a deformed nose, and Cosmos tells me his size and features speak of continual malnutrition. Talk about being moved with compassion on the ordinary people (like Mat 9:36-8 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."). All I could do was give him some money for a few days food, and send him on his way. This is quite upsetting when it happens. You feel so powerless, but we must act where we can.
It’s been nine days since last doing the scribe thing. Re-reading these updates, they are too wordy. But, how do you get across what we have experienced, seen, and felt for this upheaved part of the global community? Often, words fail. In such times, people often resort to humour to alleviate the stress of the current reality. Zimbabweans are incredibly stoic in their determination to persevere in the face of (to an Australian) overpowering adversity. They amaze me continually. And coming out today, with a 6-hour delay by good old Qantas (midnight departure now instead of 6pm), has enabled me to pause and reflect on the overall impact the last five weeks have had on me personally. In all the times I have been into Zimbabwe, this one is undoubtedly the one that has affected me the most.
The trip back from the South was uneventful. We had an excellent response to the three-day pastors and leaders’ seminar in Plumtree, a very depressed township. It was out fourth year there, and I have come to love and appreciate the locals in their endeavours to be faithful to God in very hard times, when many people are resorting to thievery to make ends meet.
All in all we covered some 3500kms, and the vehicle went really well. You have to have a reliable diesel in Zimbabwe. The AA ceased to operate a while ago; there is no corporate response group for vehicles now.
Hunger is bad, but people are not starving (as in the image of a Sudanese-type famine). Fruit and vegetables are plentiful, but meat and mealie (the staple carbohydrate) are scarce – partly because locals with no access to forex, and are being overwhelmed by the bushfire of hyper-inflation. No exaggeration – many, many people cannot afford to buy enough mealie, cooking oil, sugar and salt with their total month’s pay.
All this makes you come home to Aussie with a fresh determination to raise funds, resources, equipment, whatever, and make a difference even to a few orphans, old people, and struggling 25 year-olds who, while leaving High School with an equivalent of our HSC, have never been able to have access to a regular job. Everyone does something; to survive you have to, but what a waste of education.
ODD SPOT: On the SAA flight from Harare to Joburg this afternoon, the chief stewardess asked everyone to switch off the “cellulite phones”!!! I burst our laughing at the thought of all those overweight people reaching for the cell/mobile phone they had strapped to their large thighs!!!
On the way down from Harare to Joburg, the son of our first hosts (the Irishes in Harare) sat next to me! Andrew was on his way back to the US Marine Academy where he is studying. Small world yet again….
But it was up to dear old Qantas to top off our African trip with a 6½ hour delay from Joburg! We ended up flying out at 12.30am rather than 6pm! The stewards said the delays are currently due to a work-to-rule by Qantas engineers. Ah, Australia, beautiful one day… at war the next!
It’s been over three days home, yet the old body clock still thinks it is on African time. I began this session at 2.30am! Until next time, I hope you have been able to wade through the detail and get the feel of what is happening in a beautiful, but devastated and confused part of God’s great planet.
And of course, you can help too. Our church collects donations from quite a few people, and we make sure the amounts donated go 100% to the work of Lifeline over there. Absolutely nothing is taken out for admin, etc. Donations can be made by direct debit on Holroyd New Life Church’s bank account - details are: BSB 062-428 a/c 2803 1618; just mark it for Lifeline. Cheques can be mailed to our church office Holroyd New Life Church, 106A Jersey Rd, Greystanes, NSW 2145.