Planting Season

It is a pure delight for me to see the tilling of the soil in preparation for the coming maize season in Zimbabwe.  Every spare piece of land (near houses, roads, schools, shops, fields etc) is being transformed into productive areas to grow food.  At first it surprised me to see this happening through-out the city of Harare but now I celebrate to see such good utilization of the available land to feed the people who live here. 

The long dry season is now coming to an end (in Harare at least).  The grass is greening, the trees are covered in lush green leaves and the first maize crop is steadily growing taller.  After each rainfall, insects fill the air and the children at MRCH race to catch all that they can.  If I am fortunate enough, they cook the insects before they offer it to us to eat.  They are delicious (if your mind can relax enough to enjoy the taste). 

It is such a privilege and joy to live through and enjoy the different seasons of this country.  

Anthea

Shank's Pony

Earlier this week, some bold bandit stole a bike from one of the guards at MRCH. His bike had been leaning against the door of his home during a downpour. When our guard next came out, he found his bike had walked. Petty theft? Maybe, but the consequences for the guard are serious. He lives around ten kilometres (by road) away from MRCH so the daily bus fare required is $4. Unable to afford this the guard walks. This morning, he left home at 4am to arrive at work on time at 6.30am. He looked pooped. I asked how long it would take him to be able to purchase another bike. He was pessimistic, saying he didn't have any money. For now he walks.

Grant

Truck-nics

We like having picnics in the truck. We get some food and eat the food in the truck. When we finish our food we hop into the front and drive away. Last time we had a truck picnic people tried to sell us socks, mangoes, bathroom scales and a clock shaped like a ship’s steering wheel. We did buy the mangoes. One of the reasons why I like truck picnics is because we get lovely food.

Bridie

Grubs and other delicacies

 A little while ago an organization called CADS came to MRCH to teach about traditional foods. For breakfast we had porridge with baobab and peanut butter. A clown came and played some games with the little children – they had a great time. At lunch we had rapoko sadza and millet sadza. Some people even ate grubs. It sounds disgusting to me but mummy said they were nice!

Clare

Assembled

On Friday the school had a prize-giving day. The guest of honour was a representative of one of the largest fast-food chains in Zimbabwe, and (predictably) was late. The music was very, VERY loud and the normally shabby hall had been transformed by draping the walls with colourful cloth and balloons.

It started over one hour late, so while we waited the marching girls practiced on stage, in a flurry of red and white uniforms, and after that they got some boys to do some rapping, and then some other boys did some break-dancing, and they looked as if they were being electrocuted!

The guest of honour finally arrived, the marching girls performed, but after that there were a lot of dull speeches, and then someone recited a poem. It would be hard enough to memorize a poem without having to memorize the dramatic actions to go with it. The choir sounded beautiful, almost as good as angels (I have never heard angels singing, but it couldn’t be much better than this). The guest of honour gave her speech, and then there were two more poems. We had been sitting for over two hours, and finally they got started on the prize giving!

     

In assemblies in Australia, if someone gets an award, there is a lot of polite clapping, but here, if someone gets a prize, there is yelling, and screaming, and all that person’s friends and family run up the walkway with prizewinner, and are laughing, and crying. It is chaotic. And funny. It’s like they’ve won the lotto, not the geography award. I enjoyed it lots and lots.

Afterwards, to stop our numb bums falling off (we sat for four and ½ hours!), we walked to the shops and had a juice. It was sweet.

Abbey

Bricks

Yesterday we walked across Epworth to visit a friend who had spent the day repairing damage to her tiny brick house. We found Elizabeth hastily (but joyfully) mixing and applying concrete to large cracks in the walls of her home. The cracks had appeared, literally overnight, when the rains returned to Harare this week. Around Elizabeth’s home, less robust structures had collapsed.

Elizabeth, with the help of her daughters, was boldly removing broken bricks, filling large cracks and strengthening weak joins. She had never laid bricks before but serious damage, as well as the forecast of more heavy rain, left her with few options. She was using the understanding she had gained from watching the scores of houses being constructed very close to her own home.

Elizabeth is more frequently employed selling skincare products around Epworth. This week sales were poor and she was unable to purchase enough cement. As a result, more than an ideal quantity of mud was going into the slurry. If Elizabeth’s home survives the rainy season it will be a miracle borne out of her deep faith and tenacity.

As light faded, Elizabeth invited us inside to pray. She then insisted on walking us part of the way home. I could not be as hospitable and joyful if our shoes were switched.

Grant