We are now on board with Pregnancy Crisis Centre which is a wonderful little group doing what they can for women who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy and don’t know what to do or where to go and are considering abortion/suicide as a solution or cannot afford the booking fees at a maternity clinic, etc.  Many of the ladies are HIV positive, most are destitute. Lately Christine Mhlanga has been counselling a woman who is seriously suicidal. She literally has nowhere to go. Her baby is due in less than two weeks and once she has had this wee soul then what?  Pregnancy Crisis Centre hopes one day to have a place of refuge where they can offer short term (no longer than 3 months) accommodation to the homeless and in that time mediation with rural family will be undertaken so that the woman can be reunited to her family (she likely would have been ostracised for an illegitimate pregnancy) or she could be trained in a skill allowing her to make a living.

We are also going to take on a very exciting ministry called Pari Volunteers.  This is a volunteer visiting group within the main Harare hospital. We were invited to lunch the other day to meet a lady who has run this operation for 17 years. Her initial vision has had to be divided because the majority of support she raises goes towards kids with cancer and so the other people have to some degree been forgotten and she is hoping we will take it on and get it going.  Will be going to visit the hospital with her soon and then look to setting up a group of committed dedicated individuals who will give 3 hours a week to play with kids as well as visiting the other folk who are hospitalised.  This is a vital ministry in a place where people are seriously dehumanised! If you ask anyone about Pari they say you just go there to die.  Pari Volunteers will also raise money to provide for medication, scans and x-rays, etc., which people die for the lack of money to pay for such simple things.

We WILL get A2ZWWW registered here as a Trust so that all involvement will be as a partner of A2ZWWW itself as opposed to Colin and Laura!

We still do not have our vehicle, we have seen it, it is a white Honda CRV which has 4 wheel drive and a roof rack.  It is still in the bonded warehouse as yet not cleared by customs.  We are patiently and yet excitedly awaiting its release which will allow us to do stuff we have not as yet been able to do such as take Sarah Kagondo and her daughter Natasha to Karanda Mission Hospital (3 hours away on very rough roads) where Natasha will be able to get her knee operated on for a far better price than what she has been quoted here.  We will also be able to take the school bags and stationery to our kids in Lupane, Ndlovu and Vic Falls as well as delivering stuff to the hospital/clinic in Lupane!

Oh – I had better tell you about the Harare Midwifery Centre – wow, I was invited to meet with these incredible women just last week.  3 amazing midwives who some time ago decided to provide an alternative for women.  They are at the last hurdle of getting their clinic licenced!  It is awesome what they will be seeking to provide in the face of extreme opposition from the medical fraternity (obstetricians DO NOT like midwives and especially here as an obstetrician is paid for each individual birth – he only has to put his face in the door to get paid – midwives will try to forcibly stop a woman from pushing until the doctor gets there because that is what they are required to do so that the doctor is present at the birth – regardless of the fact that the midwife has done all the work). heard about a doc who arrived at a delivery after the placenta had been delivered and in order to claim his ‘pay’ he stitched her despite the fact she had no tear!!!!

Yes – we are here to make a contribution, no matter how small, in order to make a difference!  Please consider keeping the fire burning that side, because  you will hear of the great exploits that you have enabled – perhaps a young girl being able to walk again because of her operation being paid for by your efforts, perhaps a child graduating with a recognisable qualification because your efforts helped to pay for their education.

So – as I write this I realise I can use this to put a blog post up online – so don’t be surprised when you see this repeated in some cases on the website!!!

We have located a very talented young artist (has no formal training but his ability is superb). Sadly he is still in the ‘you are white so I can make money out of you’ mind-set so hopefully we will be able to win him over and get him to do designs for cards. He has no job and sits at Jacob’s Well Coffee Shop every day drawing with pencil.  You would be amazed (although you would not want to pay his prices hahaha).  I think though one day he will become realistic and we can then do business with him.

We are starting to run a married for Life group this Sunday between 2 – 4pm – this runs for 14 weeks and we are also starting to run a training group for No Disease Is Incurable (a seminar we’ve recently hosted) – that is going to be on Tuesdays from 2 – 5 for 11 weeks. Colin is starting to teach English as a Foreign Language on Monday mornings

We are still awaiting clearance of the boxes of medical stuff but we know God will do something amazing through the testimony of this.  There has never been a single instance in our live where we can look back and not see God’s hand on everything – restoring, enabling, blessing, providing all to His glory!

Well I had better go and put another load of laundry on!

With deep love respect and gratitude.

We went to visit a new Mum in Mbuya Nehanda, the country’s largest maternity hospital, some time ago. She had undergone a caesarean section and had a handsome little boy.  She appeared well as did her son and for this we are grateful to the doctors and staff of the maternity hospital. But there is a level of care that appears to have disappeared completely.

On reflection one cannot say it is domestic staff who are not doing their jobs because the floors, the basins, and general appearance of the ward was not too bad. But when a patients surgical gown from the day before, stained with blood, is lying at the bottom of the bed and a bag of IV fluids is hanging off a nail in the wall with bloodied venflon still in-situ you begin to realise the missing link is located amongst the nurses/midwives themselves.

There was no dustbin in the ward, the lady’s baby had not been cleaned since the day before and his nappy was full. The meconium had dried to his skin and he yelled with his healthy little set of lungs as I washed his bottom which took ages. Thank heavens there was water – nothing from the hot tap though. The dirty nappy and cotton balls had to be carried out into the bathroom down the passage to be thrown into an open dustbin.

There were no baby cots and the babies were left in their Mum’s beds overnight despite the Mum post section, in pain, with restricted movement, still under the influence of anaesthetic etc., and no cot sides on the beds to boot! This little boy was lying between his Mum and a soft pillow!  A health and safety nightmare in the UK!

We got there at lunchtime – which is visiting time – lunch was a small bowl of chicken and rice. This would not be too bad if it were not for the abundance of black houseflies landing and taking off again in a constant flurry of movement, patients seemingly oblivious to this!

The lady we were visiting was so grateful for the visit and even more grateful that she was in this maternity hospital as opposed to the other large hospital in the city – in her own words “this hospital is much cleaner”.

Jackie – a walking, breathing miracle!

Jackie is a young wife and Mother from our Church and a couple of weeks ago she suffered a ruptured ectopic pregnancy.  On Thurs 27^th Jan we were at the Marriage Ministries weekly meeting and Gan and Jackie announced they were expecting a baby. Gan has two children from a previous relationship and they have a little daughter together. They were so excited and had just told their other children that day.  Sadly this baby was not meant to be and by Fri 28^th at 4am Jackie was undergoing emergency surgery.  The rupture had occurred at about 22:30 on the Thursday and Gan had phoned me to ask if I had any strong pain relief as she was having such abdominal pain. It was a short time later as I was praying about it that the word ECTOPIC lit up my brain and I sent a text to say that if she was still in such pain they should go to the emergency room as it may be an ectopic pregnancy and that this is an emergency fortunately they were already on their way as the pain was unbearable. It took the next few hours for it to be confirmed and it also took US$1500 cash before Jackie was admitted for surgery. We were with her husband when, during Jackie’s surgery, his mobile rung – it was the operating theatre telling him that his wife needed blood and he should go and buy it and bring it to them.  This was around 5am!  Nevertheless the surgeon managed to arrange for it to be delivered and by 6am, following a transfusion, etc., the doctor came down to tell us she was okay.  Colin and I left then as we hadn’t slept all night and had a few things we had to do that morning so we wanted to catch a couple of hours sleep.  Jackie recovered well – by all accounts however somewhere between 12 to 1pm that Friday her lungs were flooded with liquid and she found herself unable to breathe. She was ventilated and subsequently developed septicaemia.  For a week our Jackie was on life support at an estimated average cost of US$1500 per day for treatments, etc. As a young family with a load of commitments they had not been able to afford medical aid insurance and so now everything had to be paid cash up front.

The prayer requests went out and the response to this appeal have been tremendous. We know so many people did so much and every bit helped but most of all the prayers of so many were richly rewarded when Jackie was discharged home on Wed 9^th February – just under 2 weeks from the start of it all.

Little boy with a burn!

I was told a story recently by a reliable source that a little boy was admitted with a simple burn on his forearm. The US$10 for his treatment was not available and sadly he went on to die, no doubt from infection.  These stories are common and everyone you meet has one to tell.

It beggars belief that people are left to die for the sake of money but this is a fact and it happens in many countries around the world – this story is not unique to Zimbabwe – indeed Africa. A number of years ago when on a mission trip to Bulgaria we met members of the gypsy Church who told us of one of their number being left to die in childbirth on the steps of the maternity hospital because she couldn’t pay the admittance fee.

The twin plagues of poverty and greed are killing people all over the world all the time!

One egg and some flour!

On a recent pastoral visit we asked a family consisting of Dad, Mum, young daughter and son what they had eaten that day. After some encouragement they admitted that the children had shared one egg mixed with flour for breakfast and that there had been nothing since – it was now mid afternoon. They didn’t have any food left and they hadn’t paid their rent of US$100 for the one room they share and that day was rent pay day.

The man, with a trade qualification and a trained pastor, is now unable to find work to support his family adequately.  How emasculating and demoralising these situations are for men, who unlike their western counterparts are not entirely happy to sit at home and take the role of the wife and mother in the home.

There are many families, men, women, children who roam the streets, knock on doors, plead for a days work just to help pay the school fees or buy some mielie meal.  Recently a lady arrived at the Church with her story. Sometimes you just say no – because sometimes you just have to. But this lady was different and I listened to her story.  Her name is Sarah, she is a widow with 5 children. Her and all her children are HIV positive and none of them are on a treatment program.  One of her daughters, who is 13 years old, has a large growth on her knee which has now crippled her and she can no longer attend school as she cannot walk. This little girl, Natasha, needs to have this lump removed and the hospital quote of US$161.50 plus US$30 for a chest x-ray. Sarah appealed to social welfare and they have agreed to pay for half the treatment provided Sarah pay the first half up-front. I admit I was impressed at this pledge of support.

A2ZWWW will pay the first hald for Natasha’s surgery and for the chest x-ray – but as we are growing in wisdom (having heard terrible tales of conmen/women) we will first meet with Natasha, photograph her knee, pay the hospital directly ourselves and then visit her post-surgery and photograph the knee again.  Isn’t it sad that one feels the need to do this but so many Churches are getting fleeced by the very sad, sad stories of so many only to discover these folk are not entirely honest!

We sent Sarah home with mielie meal, vegetables, and bus fare and we look forward to seeing her this week if at all possible.

Car Crash!

Last but not least we find ourselves without transport and thankful to the Lord God for sparing Colin from serious injury when he was involved in a car accident on the afternoon of Fri 11^th Feb.  Colin had dropped me to visit with friends and was to pick me up at 16:30. At 16:15 I got a call from Nathan – who was out playing bowls (that’s lawn bowls – the real thing – and he’s loving it). Anyway – he told me that he’d just been told Colin was in a car accident. We managed to make contact with one of the guys from the Church and found out that the accident had occurred just outside the Church. My friends drove me straight there and the pictures tell the story for themselves!  All we know is that God spared us a tragedy. Had Nathan and I been in the car Nathan would have been in the back seat – the car didn’t have seat belts in the back and the back seat was pushed forward and the front seats had collapsed back. The possibilities of what may have happened do not deserve consideration now as we that God for His protection.  The lady driver of the huge 4×4 twin cab with bull bars was not looking and was driving at a huge speed. When she looked up and saw the Nissan Sunny, stationary and indicating to turn right she didn’t even have time to brake but Colin was watching in the rearview mirror and saw the look of horror as she realised what was about to happen.  One of the young lads from the youth group was in the front passenger seat and we thank God that he suffered no injury at all – just a fright!  Colin was very very sore that night and is still pretty stiff and uncomfortable but no broken bones, no bleeding injuries – thank you Lord Jesus no need to go to hospital!

A Vehicle!

We are now car-less and believing for God’s provision for one.  They are not cheap here and we need a vehicle suitable for travelling long distances and off road If possible as some of the areas we will visit will be in the bush.

Our container is still not here – it is currently sitting dockside in Beira, Mozambique. The shipping company is still to get the customs clearance documents completed before our Zimbabwean clearance agents can take possession of it and bring it to us!  We are so, so, so, so, looking forward to the day it gets here and of course we need a vehicle to be able to take the all the wonderful donated stuff out to people who are in need.  We are particularly excited to deliver all the school bags from the school bag appeal and will be taking lots of photos for you all!

As I type this our electricity has gone off – we never know when it will be on or off – and I was in the process of cooking when suddenly it was no more. We also have no way of knowing when it will come back on.  I thought I would quickly finish this blog as the Church is running the generator as there is a cell group meeting going on and now I need to go and finish off the cooking on the single gas ring someone lent us for these times!  By the way – we priced a single Cadac gas ring the other day – it costs US$80! Hmmm – anyone coming over if you want to pack one into your hand bag – hahaha!

From us to you – we say thank you once again for being a part of our lives,

our journey, our adventure, our mission!

The container containing all the donated goods and our household items is still sitting on a dockside in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.  We had two choices of routing for the container and we chose for it to be routed via Beira, Mozambique due to the dockworker strikes and very long delays in Durban port.  However who could have known that the Beira Port would become severely congested due to the fact the harbour is very shallow and only two ships can dock at any one time and that they had been experiencing difficult tide patterns or something and the ships were not able to dock…….oh well the long and short of it is that we still await the container but there is no way of knowing when!  We are still living on borrowed furniture and kitchen utensils for which we are very grateful and we lack for nothing really except the conveniences of all our own ‘stuff’. Please pray we get the container soon because the little twin tub washing machine we have borrowed has to be returned in two weeks time! We priced a twin tub the other day and it was US$600, a decent automatic was US$850.  These were considered okay prices but for us they are excessive.

We are still not ‘earning’ an actual wage although we lack nothing and we are grateful to the Lord for His supply.  The job I (Laura) have applied for is still awaiting Treasury approval.  Sadly there is very little money to pay civil servants salaries and I suspect this is the hold-up.  Even still I expect to only receive somewhere in the region of US$100 – US$150 per month which is the normal pay for civil servants and my position will be part time so I have no idea what I will be paid.  In case you are wondering how we could consider living like this there is a scripture in the Bible, found in the Book of Matthew, chapter 6 and from verses 19 to 34 it reads:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.(NIV)

This is the Scripture that we stand on, knowing that what we need will be taken care of by our Father in Heaven.

The Rubbish Dump that is fast becoming the towns and cities of Zimbabwe!

A recent newspaper report states:

The litter in Zimbabwe is an eyesore and unless the situation is awarded due attention, things will only get worse and before we know it, our country will be rated among the dirtiest in the world (if it isn’t already). I truly hope that by the end of 2011 we will have made considerable strides towards

reclaiming our status as a beautiful rainbow nation that we can be proud to be associated with. Let us all come together and say an emphatic NO to littering, it begins with you and me.

We can confirm that the indiscriminate dumping of garbage is widespread and appears uncontrolled.  The City of Harare is valiantly attempting to bring back garbage collections, etc., but they have inadequate resources to deal with this massive problem and the citizenry are doing little to assist.

We were told by a friend the other day when she asked school children to pick up the litter they had thrown onto their school ground she was told “my parents said this gives the grounds-keeper something to do” this effectively told the children that they have no need for social responsibility.

It is recognised that a campaign of litter education is needed and this has begun so we are hopeful that as the message goes out we will see less litter and greater social responsibility.

The garbage is providing a fertile ground for the proliferation of flies and rats and for those of you who are squeamish the ever increasing population of rats would give you a few nightmares!

Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink…well not quite!

The City of Harare is unable to meet the entire water consumption needs to the city and people rely enormously on boreholes and in cases small self-dug wells. Where municipal water is available people are very, very careful to ensure that they boil it before drinking it however after reading the following excerpt from a local newspaper you would be forgiven for never wanting to drink tap-water EVER again!

“…the water we have been getting from the taps looks dirty and is smelly.”

“If examined with the naked eye, the water sometimes looks green in colour and stains clothes when used for laundry.”

Bwaaaaack bwaaaaack – Chicken anyone?

Oh dear, oh dear – we were recently told that chicken import from South Africa into Zimbabwe were currently banned – the following news report is terrifying and we are grateful to the Government mechanism in Zimbabwe that once they were aware of the situation immediately responded and banned these imports in order to protect the population from such unscrupulous and dangerous practice.

‘GOVERNMENT does not have a reliable monitoring mechanism to ensure that imported food and alcoholic beverages items are safe for human consumption, exposing consumers to harmful substances, officials admitted last week.

The shocking admission followed government’s ban on the importation of chickens supplied by a South African company that has admitted selling recycled chicken to major supermarkets.’

‘Government last week banned the importation of South African chickens following reports from that country that some producers who are also supplying the Zimbabwean market were recycling expired chickens.

Reports said the chickens were thawed for 24 hours at room temperature before being treated with chlorine to reduce bacterial load and then scientifically tested to determine levels of micro-organisms. They were then injected with brine before being repackaged and sold with a new expiry date.’

Not sure about eating chicken anymore however having enjoyed a wonderful lunch with friends yesterday where chicken was on the menu our hosts told us that in Zimbabwe ‘we cook chicken until it is dead!’  Boiled, roasted and then fried!  I was happy to eat it and it was delicious!

Guns, Anger, Sorrow!!!

People in Zimbabwe are becoming angry about the lack of small denominations in circulation and tempers are fraying as a result: A policeman recently shot dead a taxi assistant for failing to give him the correct change.

Within recent weeks a young teenage boy shot himself with his father’s gun. The body was found in the garden and the police were informed.  They told the parents not to touch the body until they got to the house – unfortunately they failed to arrive for nearly a full day and the boy’s body lay outside overnight.  When the Police did manage to arrive it was covered in ants. One can scarcely imagine the pain and grief of the father as he waited for so many hours for his son’s body to be collected!

DON’T get sick or injured you might have to go to hospital

We know of a young boy who recently was burned on his face and torso.  His family rushed him to a private hospital who was not able to admit him as they did not have a burns unit.  The lad was taken to a hospital that does have a burns unit but unfortunately they did not have space for him so he was admitted to the children’s ward. A relative of the boy was tasked with washing him and taking off the dead burned skin in a decidedly unsterile environment. This same person witnessed rats climbing in and out of the rubbish bin in the ward and had a large cockroach climb up his trousers whilst attending to the young boy.

Another young man we know personally had a plaster cast removed from his leg and the nurse cut through his skin – when he cried out she snapped at him ‘I’m only doing my job’. This young man had had surgery and the stitches were only removed after more than 14 days. Until then the wound had not ever been cleaned or re-dressed.  His skin was coming away when we took off the bandage and the skin on his foot had died and came away when we cleaned the nurse-inflicted wound! When I asked a nurse about this type of wound care she said this is practice that was common 40 years ago!

As I write this I am looking out the front office window, the rain is torrential but we are so grateful for it because the humidity has been high today and I have been overheating internally all morning!

The other day whilst driving through Borrowdale we saw vendors selling bunches of our beautiful national flower the Flame Lily. Everywhere you go men are selling ‘juice’ cards which are the airtime vouchers for the various cell phone providers or electric fly swatters, windscreen wipers and any other manner of item. Along the streets ladies sit behind little pyramids of tomatoes, potatoes and other fruit and veg and men braai (bbq) mielies (maize cobs) on open fires. The combi buses (people carriers) that are known as ET’s (emergency taxi) dominate the roads and the roadsides. Their drivers have no regard for the rules of the road and the roadworthiness of the vehicles would be highly questionable but in the absence of any other public transport it is thanks to these operators that folk can travel to and fro.

I had better end off for now – the rain has gone, we got the laundry in off the line in almost enough time and I need to get on with numerous other tasks which were not tackled this morning due to certain circumstances.

Please take the time to make contact – it always good to hear from you!

We are so grateful that in Zimbabwe we have such excellent infrastructure. It may be crumbling but we are still open for business and able to accomplish a lot!

We have not had the chance yet to travel outside the city and so we can only comment on our local environment and there are potholes, there are few working street lights and many of them are so badly rusted that they have actually broken and fallen over. There is a lot of garbage lying around – A LOT – and this unfortunately had resulted in lots and lots and lots of flies!  The City of Harare is valiantly trying to get its garbage collection programme working efficiently again but the challenges are enormous, and as usual it comes down to resources and the money to fund these.

The electricity supply is erratic and it is impossible to plan for it because there is no schedule for the load shedding.  Over the last couple of weeks or so there have been 16 hour a day cuts two to three days in a row and sometimes the power can be off for a short a time as 30 minutes although this is far rarer than the 16 hour cuts!  It does make it difficult to keep anything fresh and we have had to throw away food. We have now decided that for fresh food and vegetables we will buy on a daily, as needed, basis. You can buy fresh milk but unless you are going to drink it that day it is a waste of money so most of us seem to buy the UHT milk.

We are blessed to have a borehole at the Church, which is where we live, because the City of Harare is unable to meet the water demand but they too are continuing to do the best they can with the resources they are allocated.  We attended a Waste Management meeting hosted by Miracle Missions at which the Mayor of Harare spoke and he said that ZINWA (Zimbabwe Water Authority) was producing 600+ mega-litres a day but the demand is for well over a 1000 mega-litres.

Despite these challenges business continues, households run as do schools, clinics and hospitals and people still greet you with huge smiles and the standard ‘hi, how are you?’ to which the standard reply is ‘fine, how are you?’.

Yesterday what an experience Nathan and I had when we accompanied a friend to the informal Mbare Msika market. Mbare is notorious – I suppose like the Glasgow Barras used to be. It is in a very industrial area, is home to those that would sell clothing ( new or second hand), muti – that is the medicine produced by witch doctors, and vegetables and fruit from the small peasant farmers.

The market is almost open air although there is corrugated asbestos sheeting as a roof and it is in a walled area. The sellers shout at the tops of their voices and the most common thing you will hear is ‘dorra dorra dorra’ meaning that they are selling their wares for a single US dollar. Sometimes, as your skin colour is clocked the price will swiftly rise from ‘dorra’ to ‘dorra fifty’ or ‘two dorra’. The number of people in the market is quite something but I never felt crowded and I was never pushed or shoved by anyone. If you hear whistling you get out the way because it usually means a guy is pushing a scotch-cart (trailer) loaded with bales of clothing from America and the UK down one of the walkways to their pitch.

You do not go to Mbare alone, You do not leave your vehicle without someone to stay with it to watch it is not stripped clean or vandalised and you do not take anything like a bag or a wallet.  You have your money shoved down deep into a front pocket, wear a large t-shirt covering your pockets and you take your ‘Mbare bag’ which is a voluminous item into which all your bargains go!

I loved the experience, it was exhilarating and vibrant and dirty and smelly and full of life!  Making our way through the mass of humanity we noticed the ‘muti’. The traditional healers or witch-doctors have a large section in the middle of the market place and you can view a fascinating array of items from snake skin to elephant dung to bottles of potions and all manner of other items. I would have been interested to stop and have a good look but unfortunately the resident ‘witch-doctor’ spotted the ‘marungu’ (white) and wanted to engage as I was not keen to do so I just kept walking this time.

As we are not able to take anything valuable along I did not have my camera and so was not able to capture the sights to share with you. Who knows, perhaps as we become more familiar with the way things are this may be possible in the future but for now it is far better to be safe than sorry.

Just in case anyone was wondering – today it’s HOT! Don’t know what the temperature is but it’s been a really hot week and it does drain energy levels. We are only one week away from Christmas and it is anything but Christmassy – well it’s just too hot to feel like Christmas! Most of the till operators in the supermarkets and other shops are wearing red Santa hats and you can see lights and tinsel around but the sense of Christmas just isn’t there and for those of you who know I don’t do Christmas this suits me fine – but for Colin it is really strange!

We don’t know what we will be doing on Christmas day as yet but I can tell you we are very excited for New Year as we are going on a houseboat on Lake Kariba for 4 nights!  Will definitely have pictures of that to show you all and we will believe that Colin is will catch a huge Tiger Fish so that we can post a photo of him and his prize on facebook for proof!

We had a fantastic time meeting up with family from all over and reacquainting ourselves with those we hadn’t seen for     literally decades and then the day after the birthday party we took Granny down to Ushaka Beach and she stood in the       Indian Ocean and laughed and shrieked with delight as the waves washed up around her legs.

What an awesome privilege to share a special moment with her.

We then all had a great lunch on the beach front at a funky restaurant called Moyo, where a lady painted our faces and we ate interesting and very delicious food like air dried kudu salad!

My Grandmother, tired but elated shared a poem she had been memorising and had us in tears as she spoke of the journey that is life and it was with deep sadness that we all said goodbye realising that we may never see her again this side of heaven and indeed this might be true of the other members of family who had travelled from as far as America, UK and Mauritius to honour a fine grand old dame!

Dorothy May Costello 100 years old and still amazing!

Friday 26th November we began the last leg of our journey home to Zimbabwe. The details of how we got here are amazing and there has been such grace and favour afforded us as we managed to make our connections despite having too much luggage and our flight being delayed! As we descended toward Harare International Airport it was impossible not to recognise that deep sense of contentment that comes with knowing you are right where you are supposed to be. We were greeted by the wonderfully warm sunshine, the happy faces and cheerful voices of Zimbabweans, and Dave and Maxine who were so kindly waiting to transport us to our new home!

When we arrived at the flat we were swept up by the incredibly joyous welcome of our precious friends who had worked so hard to get the flat in order for our arrival and had even stocked our fridge and cupboards! Tea, coffee cake, much laughter and the icing on the top – we had electricity too!

Since then we have settled in as though we have always lived here. There has been no sense of ‘adjusting’ and we take the irregular electricity supply in our stride – no doubt because we are hooked up to a generator when we need a bit of power! What a blessing to be where we are, it must be incredibly difficult for people who do not have access to electricity at all. We have had very little electricity this week so far and the cuts last about 16 hours. This is not conducive to keeping anything fresh in the fridge and sadly I have had to throw away vegetables which have grown green mouldy exterior!

Thank the Lord today it is much better. There are suburbs which seem to never have these cuts but unfortunately our particular one is switched off often and for very extended periods. We have been lent a gas ring and bottle so we are able to boil water for the ever important cup of tea!

On Sunday the 12th Dec. our friend Meck Sibanda arrived in Harare and stayed the night over with us. Meck is one of those inspirational people who are surely storing up much treasure in heaven! He administrates the fees for the 138 orphans in Lupane which A2ZWWW pays school fees for and A2ZWWW has also now been able to give him funding to help support 10 orphans for the next 4 months. A2ZWWW also gave him enough money to buy himself some new spectacles as his current pair has a nasty crack which extends across the entire width of the one lens.

We have spoken to Taison and Rosa in Victoria Falls and we hope that we will be visiting them soon in the new year. The container is still in transit although it did arrive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on the 02/12/10. It is due to be in Beira, Mozambique on the 27/12/10 and so it should arrive here in Harare early in January 2011. We are really looking forward to that and to being able to sort out the school bags, etc. and begin distributing these. We will take a trip to Lupane to hand over those which were donated by Aglow International specifically for the orphans there.

Thanks to all the amazing people who play a part in the work of A2ZWWW and our lives!

On the 2nd November 2010 at 3pm a 40 foot container packed to bursting left what had been our home for only the previous 1.5 years.  In the container is packed generously donated charity items of various descriptions from various locations and an incredible number of various donors! Our freight agent Mairi, having perused our inventory list, said she was amused to read that we had even packed the proverbial kitchen sink!  The kitchen sink, along with units, oven and fridge freezer were all part of yet another incredible donation by people who want to help make a difference – no matter what.

We would love to list everyone’s names but it would be way too long and we would no doubt fail to remember someone or something and we’d hate to do that – so we want to say a collective huge THANK YOU to each and everyone who played a part – whether a large part or a small one – they all make up the whole and the whole is quite awesome indeed!

We also put into the container our personal household items because the replacement value of simple things like a kettle or iron are very high, and of course there are always the things that carry sentimental value and which are irreplaceable such as photograph albums and the wee knick knacks which play a part in making a home a home.

The container ships out tomorrow 5th November 2010 – Guy Fawkes Day and Laura’s brother’s birthday. From Grangemouth to Antwerp and then on down the globe to Durban, South Africa.  We have been told it will take 38 days to arrive in Durban so we expect it to be there around Monday the 13th December and then it has to get from Durban to Harare.  If you are the praying type please pray that the dock workers strikes in Durban will not be an issue and for speedy and safely delivery to Harare!  How amazing would it be to have the container unloaded before Christmas!?

Colin, Laura and Nathan are now comfortably situated in the wee flat that Laura’s parents rent in Carron, Falkirk.  After living in a huge spacious farm house for the last year and a half such a small space is a challenge as we try not to bump (literally) into each other LOL!

We are just working notice, tidying up personal admin affairs, arranging to have a meal with various folk, and other general activities prior to flying out of Edinburgh on the 22nd November.  We will travel via Durban because on the 24th November 2010 Laura’s grandmother turns 100 and we are joining the family gathering to celebrate and honour a truly amazing and awesome woman named Dorothy May Costello.

Then on the 26th November we will fly to Harare and so will begin the next chapter in the exciting adventure that is our lives.

We believe in faith, that a powerful, symbolic and prophectic declaration being made in Zimbabwe on the 25th November by the planting of maize seeds, will herald a new future for the country. Please visit www.foundationsforfarming.org for information on an amazing agricultural initiative.

Remember what it says in the Bible in Hebrews 11 vs 1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

We remain rooted in faith standing on the Word of God that is the only solid truth, unchanging and immoveable, that Zimbabwe will be rebuilt and be even better than before.

Ephesian 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

For Colin, Scotland has pretty much always been home.  He did leave for a short while whilst attending Bible College in Capel, Surrey but his heart has always been in Scotland……until now!

The land and people of Zimbabwe have captivated him and have called him to themselves and for me, his wife Laura, this now brings the opportunity to return home after ten years away.

It is with some sense of sorrow that I leave this beautiful land of Scotland for it is here I began my married life with my husband, here I was able to attend university and gain a useful practical education which will allow me to return home and to play a part in the rebuilding of my country and it is here that my parents and sister live, where I have friends and have built a life.

But…as I look to the future and contemplate returning to the land of my birth, home of my heart, there is a passion stirring deep within and I know, that I know, that I know – that this is all part of the greater plan and purpose for my life.

It is not a whimsical notion impulsively arrived at, nor a decision based on a warm and fuzzy memory – no – this is a decision that has been made based on prayer, on counsel, on confirmation, and it comes with it a sense that destiny has come full circle.