+ VOLUNTEERS FIND UMC STRONG IN FACE OF SUFFERING IN ZIMBABWE
At the Zimunya Skills Training Center in Mutare, Zimbabwe, United Methodist volunteers and local workers lay bricks to build a wall. (courtesy photo) |
Written: 10/18/2007
By Rev. Dr. Kennedy Mukwindidza
Special contributor
On July 4, 14 volunteers from Florida, Kansas, Illinois and Ohio converged at Indianapolis International airport to fly to Zimbabwe for a mission trip. The team arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe, July 6 and traveled to Mutare the following day.
The team was part of the Compassionate Consultation Initiative Project - Zimbabwe (CCIP-Zimbabwe), which is building a skills training center in Zimunya near Mutare.
Zimbabwe is experiencing an extremely challenging economic, social and political situation. Unemployment is well beyond 80 percent, while the annual inflation rate has exceeded 7,000 percent. It is estimated that about one in five Zimbabweans between the age of 15 and 49 are infected with HIV/AIDS, which has resulted in growing numbers of households headed by children following the death of the parents. Life expectancy has been reduced to 34 years for women and 37 years for men.
It is evident that the situation there is desperate. There are some sections of the country where people are starving, especially in remote, rural areas. A joint report on Zimbabwe, from the Food and Agricultural Organization and the United Nations World Food Program, said that about 1.5 million Zimbabweans need food aid now. The majority of children in Zimbabwe go to school without breakfast, and there are no meals served at schools, making living and learning extremely difficult and challenging for children.
John Wesley once said, “Do all you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
The team went to Mutare to do all they could, by all the means they could, in all the ways they could for the people of Zimbabwe. They are facing unprecedented suffering caused mainly by the government that is supposed to support them.
On arrival in Mutare, the volunteers were met by jubilant Mutare D
United Methodist volunteers from the United States presented six sewing machines to a United Methodist women's club in Zimbabwe. (courtesy photo) |
istrict officials and the host families at St. Peters United Methodist Church. It is CCIP-Zimbabwe’s tradition to place volunteers with host families, so they get to know each other and understand the culture better through home stays with the local United Methodist members. Long-term relationships are created between the host families and the team members.
The volunteers focused on the construction of the Zimunya Skills Training Center. The team got to the center when the first block of four classrooms, a fellowship hall, kitchen and toilets were at slab level. The team helped lay the first bricks for the wall. There were a handful of local workers and a contractor who were hired to supervise the construction. Pre-ordered supplies were on site together with two kilns of bricks. The contractor and the “corner man,” who had the brick-laying experience and expertise necessary to teach the novice volunteers, were on site to give guidance to the construction process.
The volunteers had brought with them some tools and enough pairs of gloves for every worker at the site. The volunteers noticed that some of the local workers did not have appropriate shoes for construction work. In fact, some of the workers did not have shoes at all. The team members bought construction shoes for all the local workers.
It was fun and exciting work! Some volunteers laid bricks for the first time in their lives, while others sorted and hauled bricks close to the builders. Other volunteers helped mix mortar the old-fashioned way.
By the end of the four days of work at the skills training center, the outside walls were brought up to inspection height, while the inside walls were started.
The volunteers also visited Chitakatira United Methodist Church, where they donated six sewing machines to a women’s club, and the Chitakatira Primary School, where they gave the school 14 soccer balls.
The school has a total enrollment of 1,000 well-disciplined students, but the school has a lot of needs. Ten students share one textbook. There is no library at all. The classrooms are in disrepair, desks are broken, and the windows do not have glass.
The team also visited Fairfield Orphanage at Old Mutare and donated some money and supplies. They also had the opportunity to visit Africa University, which is a pride for Methodists all over the world.
On Sundays, the volunteers went to different churches in Mutare and the surrounding rural churches. The first Sunday, the team went to Chitakatira United Methodist Church. There were more than 200 people in a temporary slat structure with some backless benches. I had the opportunity to preach there, along with others.
Team member Paul Wilson preached at King David United Methodist Church, where 50 people were baptized and 35 joined the church.
Pam Jennison, another team member, attended worship service at Stream View United Methodist Church, where more than 1,000 people attended Sunday school classes outside and worshiped in a temporary, slat-sided structure, sitting on backless benches for about two hours.
The church in Zimbabwe is thriving, despite the confusing and depressing economic and socio-political environment. In every congregation we visited, there were more people in worship services than on the membership rolls. In most cases, the volunteers reported that there were new members joining the church through confession of faith.
The challenge of the church is how to respond to the overwhelming needs of the Zimbabwean community. CCIP-Zimbabwe is determined to engage a holistic approach to the crisis in Zimbabwe. Teams of volunteers will continue to go to Zimbabwe and be with the people. They will work with the people, pray with the people and study the scriptures with the people. Together we will find the way out. We need each other, and we are not alone!
Paul reminds us that, “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us!”
Rev. Dr. Kennedy Mukwindidza is pastor at Quinter and Grinnell United Methodist churches.
