I,Aye, Eye

Izzy resting on the sofa on the  veranda

It's Impossible to describe how much pleasure Izzy, our dog gives us. She is a real character and so affectionate. As she is so large she is a great deterrant to would be intruders too! She has a habit of lying like this. We're not sure if it's to cool her undercarriage or she thinks she is human! We sometimes take her to Hillside Dams for a walk and she loves travelling in the back of the pickup.

Florah with Tinaye

Infant Chizana is the Image of his Dad and his sister Rutendo! Here he was 7 days old and is growing rapidly. Naturally Taps and Florah are delighted to have a boy after two girls. Florah's Mum is staying to help out for a while.


Imagine our amazement when local people stopped to ask X if 1BD could do a Field Day to show people how to farm! This is just what we were hoping the development of 1BD would achieve, inspiring others in the community to greater vision and opportunities. The Field day took place a week ago and was a resounding success.



Prayer before the speeches in the children's shelter

X talking to some of the visitors









Invitations were sent out to other churches, local councillors and the governor of Bulawayo. Unfortunately they couldn't all come but we had about 120 peple in all and it was a great advert for the church as well as the site. The ladies doing the catering excelled themselves, producing traditional foods over the fire as zessa was off! It was all delicious and the church hall was decorated beatifully with maize stalks and flowers from the bush. I was so proud to be part of such a great church family.

the catering team waiting to serve the amazing food

Instead of going weekly with Kidz Klub at Trenance we have decided to start one at Hamara farm and did a trial run 2 weeks ago. This Saturday we start for real! Samanga, the pastors wife, is a teacher at the school there and is very keen so has a great team organised which makes it easy for me. I plan the programme and they do it! We will do the same programme at both sites on a fortnightly basis, one week Hamara, the next week, Trenance.

Immigration have still not approved our permit yet so at the moment we are having to go to the offices every month to get our passport stamped, which isn't a problem, but with elections coming up (still no date fixed!) we're not sure if any decision will be made in a hurry! So the waiting goes on...
Is it my imagination or is this year passing quicker than ever? The leaves are falling and the mornings and evenings are cooler, so winter is definitely on the way. Perhaps spring will have arrived in jolly old England by the time you get to read this. Let's hope so..
 

H is for HAPPY!

The 'men', Taurai, Graham, Wilson, Dave and X talking business!



Happy Easter! A bit late, I know, but sincerely wished all the same! We had a lovely time at Graham and Sarah's on Good Friday, eating in the garden with some of the other Thembalezizwe leaders and families. The children loved the pool and it was great just to relax.

The children having fun in the pool

Happy Day! Then on Easter Sunday we had a guest service which Dave preached at. There were at least 15 guests and 4 responses to the Gospel. I had managed to make some blinds for two of the windows so  Dave could use the projector for a powerpoint presentation for the first time. The catering team did a great job of providing cakes and serving drinks afterwards too. A really powerful morning.

Samu with the children before the wheel came off!

 Happy Holidays are now being enjoyed by the school children here including the E.C.D. We have 5 weeks off in all! 

 

 

Dave and X off to the supermarket with cabbages and tomatoes

Happy children enjoyed a donkey cart ride the day we broke up and thought it was hilarious when one of the wheels came off the cart when they were half a mile away from the school and they all tipped sideways and had to walk back. It would never happen in England!!


Here we have some Happy farmers off to the supermarket with cabbages and tomatoes. To date Dave has sold 2 tonnes of tomatoes from the church site! At Easter we gave all the guys from the site lunch of polony sandwiches, chicken and coke, as a thank you for all their hard work  Happy workers!

 

Dave was very put out that in the last blog I forgot to say that he was my Hero. Just before Graham and Belinda arrived we were woken  one night by Izzy barking and barking. Dave went out to find a snake on the veranda. He bravely attacked it with the broom and killed it. Happy wife! It was only when we looked it up on the internet that we found out it was a Puff Adder, the snake that kills more people in Africa than any other! I'm Happy it's the snake that bit the dust and not Dave!! Dave insisted on keeping his prize for Graham to see but it got so smelly Graham ended up burying it...

 

Wilson and Anna with some of their children and a niece.

This Happy family photo is of Anna and Wilson with their children in their new home in St Peters. Anna featured in one of the earliest blogs with her ninth child William who is now 11 months old. We took Phil and Sarah Varley and their four children , who are visiting New Creation church from Kings Catford as they wanted to see how the people out there are coping with all the challenges they face. The families are really pleased with their 2 roomed houses as they can call them their own and be settled for the first time in their lives. Wilson is trying to start a vegetable garden and has found water by digging a well, but has lost a lot of his plants to white ants.

The latest Happy event in the church has been the arrival of Taps and Flora's little son Tinaye Micah Chizana on Easter Sunday. Haven't seen him yet but they are all doing well and the girls love him!!
Now Happy hour is upon us. No I'm not drinking! Just a reminder that now your clocks have changed, we are only one hour ahead of you instead of two... Just in case you thought of skyping..
Well I am now Happy to sign off as uploading photos onto the blog is such a challenge here and this blog has taken two days to complete!





Geeeee!

Relaxing at Hillside Dams

G is for Graham and Belinda, Jake and Beth who have recently been out for  a visit. It was so lovely to spend time with them and be able to show them what we have been up to. It was such a good time of sharing our hearts and being encouraged by them. But we are seriously missing them now! Gulp!!



Sarah singing happy birthday to Pieson

They really enjoyed visiting the gorgeous children at the ECD which has now been running for five weeks. The 24 children have settled really well and love playing with the toys. Many of them are from really poor homes so won't have had toys to play with or experienced structured activities before. We run the school very much like a reception class in he UK, so the children have free play, structured play and focussed activities based around literacy and numeracy. They have begun to join in the songs (sung in English) and love Ring a Ring o Roses which must be a bit double dutch to them!!    


X talking to the children about butternut seeds

G   is for gardening. Baba X spent some time with the children this week teaching them how to plant seeds and grow them according to Farming God's way.             
So far they have planted butternut and green beans and will be watering and weeding as well as eventually eating them as part of their education. X also talked to them about how amazing God is to be able to turn one seed into many as he cut open a butternut for them to see.


G is for more growing. The cabbages you saw growing at Lewis' have now all been sold. Many of them went to local supermarkets and here we are pointing them out in TM's! I think we look pretty glamourous! Since this, about 15,000 more cabbages have been planted  on the different sites.                                                    Our application for a renewal of our Residents permit Grinds on and on! We have been asked for more details in the last two days and are madly trying to get information together. The inspection of all the projects linked to the business took place last week and now we have to wait and see what happens. Its all quite exhausting and depressing as you get the feeling you are not really believed or wanted!

I will sign off here with a   GOOD NIGHT!

 

                

                    

Zim alphabet D,E,F

A...All is well, B...Bat safely removed. (see photo) C....Clearly its

Definitely better weather here than in the UK! Though the children (and teachers) who have been off school probably won't agree... The children here are back in full swing at school, although many of them have not been able to go as they can't afford the uniform, or the books, or the school fees and levies. I asked a lad who approached me as to whether I had any writing books at home, how many he needed to take to his new secondary school and he said 32!! He is desperate to go but his Gogo (grandmother) who looks after him can't afford the uniform or books that he needs.  His mum has gone to South Africa, a common story here. He is just one of many!!

E is for exciting news.. Hopefully the new Early Childhood Development centre will open next week. We have been busy visiting the families in the shacks that live nearest to the church building and collecting names of 4 year olds. We have a planning meeting next Monday and then its all systems go!! The school will be open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the mornings during term times. So that's retirement out of the window then!!

Dave playing ball with the children after church.

More exciting news is that the first of the houses at St Peters has been completed and the occupants are a man of 93 and his wife. The first house they have ever owned! We were there at church where Dave was preaching a few weeks ago and were amazed to find 33 children in the Sunday School too.

Hows this for cabbages!

Following a few heavy downpours the vegetables in Lewis plot are looking very well. (Many thanks for the prayers for rain but keep going as we still need more!) and Dave is beginning to supply the new supermarket near us regularly. It is called Food Lovers Market which is very Dave don't you think?

Tomatoes with maize in the background at 1BD

The 1BD plot is also progressing, though not ready to harvest yet. It has caused quite a stir in the community and they keep talking about what the white man is doing. Not exactly what we want!! F is for Fence thieves too! X arrived at the site one morning to find that the top two strands of barbed wire running the entire length of the site had been stolen. $200 dollars worth! The new wire has been daubed with paint and is now connected to the second strand. You learn from such mistakes!
F is for Finishing.. I have written this over a two day period as I keep getting interrupted, so I just wanted to add that this morning we were up at 4.30 to go to help pick beans at Lewis'. We picked 80 kg (that's176lbs, for the oldies who still work in old money) with the help of X and 3 others. The word that comes to mind is FOOL and now I'm Flipping stiff!
It is very satisfying, though and Lewis can't believe that he is now a producer of top quality vegetables. Now I'm falling asleep so until next time.....ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz

ABC of Zim

A  is for arrived safely! We had a good journey. Thanks to John Gwynne who delivered us to Heathrow, SAA who flew us safely and the ever faithful X who picked us up at the airport! What a great time we had in England, but it just flew by too quickly and here we are again suffering in the heat!!!! Actually it rained here the night we were travelling. Yippee!! So it was ideal for planting those tomatoes and cabbages, yesterday, that Dave was telling you about.

 

B is for bonjour. It was very sad to say goodbye to so many family and friends but it was also extremely encouraging to us to know that so many read the drivel I write on the blog and that so many people are praying for us. Bags and bags of thanks to all those who sent us off with gifts of money, so generously given to the work out here. We will keep you up to date with progress... B is also for the bat that has taken up residence in our living room and which I will have to send packing at some time, when I can pluck up the courage and find some gloves!

 

C is for Christmas, gone but not forgotten. We have such great memories and a few photos to remind us. What a wonderful church  and family we belong to! Worshipping in English with such quality musicians was such a blessing. We now face the big challenge of making things sustainable here, if its at all possible. C is for communication... On opening the blog (having got the Internet re-connected as we were cut off because we weren't here to pay the monthly bill)I found that the last one I wrote 3 days before we left Zim didn't send so Ive sent it with this one. The January sale 2 for 1! How good is that?

Counting down again

Praising under canvas

I know I said the previous post would be the last before returning to the UK, but I couldn't resist just updating you on this last week in Zim!

Last Sunday was a special one for the New Frontiers churches here in Bulawayo, as we had a combined service at the New Creation site in town. Scott Marques was down from Harare and gave a very relevant message about being content in God.

It was so encouraging to see everyone together and that TLZ was the largest group there!

After the meeting we all ate together of spit roasted pork and beef, sadza and cabbage, prepared by the ladies of TLZ- fantastic!

TLZ guys in the foreground, including Ezra in pink with Martha!!

There were then games for adults and a 'jumping castle' for the children. It was a great social occassion especially for those from the rural and semi rural areas. It was also a sad day for the city church as it was the last day in Zim for Claire and Phil Biggs and their girls Hannah and Sophie, who have had to return to Birmingham to start life anew.

 



The girls working hard while Taps waits for food!!

On Wednesday we had a lovely surprise as our life group had organised a secret party for us to say goodbye! they brought loads of


food with them and a big chocolate cake. It was so thoughtful of them and we were totally overwhelmed... One of the highlights of the year, I think!




 

Countdown!

Counting down.... U.K. Here we come! Not long now....

This will be the last blog before we get back because I will be packing!!! We are soooooo looking forward to seeing all our friends and family and.... getting water out of the taps, eating cheese, butter and lamb, driving on smooth roads with NO road blocks, not having to queue up to pay bills every month, buying with plastic! The list goes on but.... we're NOT looking forward to being COLD! Its in the high 30's here but still no rain of any consequence so the maize hasn't been planted yet and the optimum time is before the 25th of November, so please pray with us for that!

Some of the cabbages yet to be planted

Zenzo said this was worse than going to the gym! (aching legs)

Here you can see (from the left) Lewis,  Zenzo and Kilion planting 3,000 cabbages on Lewis' plot. The next day they planted bush beans, beetroot and carrots. Behind them is spinach which is just coming to an end. Its great to be able to go and pick fresh vegetables for ourselves and the workers, just like at home!

 

Last week I was able to visit Morning Star, a farm in the Motopos owned by Chris and Norma (surname unknown!) I went with Ruth Biddulph who has been out here for 18months with BMS. She and her husband have had their work permits refused and have their second appeal in to Immigration who seem to be refusing to make any decisions at the moment with elections pending. So poor Brad and Ruth return to The UK a week after us not knowing if they can return. They expect a baby in March so will not be back until June even if they are allowed. We will miss them alot as they come to Thembalezizwe and are great fun. Brad has also been invaluable to Dave in the building process, so we are really hoping we see them again out here.

 

Helping the sewing ladies.

At Morning Star, Norma has been running a sewing group with some ladies for the past 3 years, so I was picking her brains and loved seeing the things they have made. When we visited the ladies were making Christmas tree garlands using fabric, beads and seeds. They get a small share of the profits and really make a social occasion of their weekly get together. They are all HIV positive and bring their babies with them. They also take extra work home with them to sew by hand. I'd love to see a similar thing happening inTrenance in the future to empower ladies there. The most difficult thing is to find a market for what is produced as Bulawayo does not have any tourist industry to speak of any more and nobody has any cash. So it will need some thought and investigation.

The whole group plus babies



What a lovely blanket!

On her last trip home Ruth had collected some beautiful hand made blankets that her Mother-in- law had made with ladies from her village in Devon.

Here she is presenting one to a girl from the local



village. She is an unmarried mother of 17 and her little boy is 4 months old. This time last year she was still in school but had to leave in February.

Chris and Norma also do alot of work with the local schools and have won some funding from the Roger Federa Foundation for the next three years to upgrade the schools and put training in place for the teachers.

The farm is in a beautiful setting in the Motopos but they too are having difficulties with water as their borehole is very low due to the lack of rains in this area. In Harare they have had quite a bit already!

Pleased to say the children's shelter at 1BD is now complete and they have been using it for the past 2 Sundays.

The chicken at Edmunds are growing fast after a set back with diseased and are now on a countdown to Christmas! Which brings me back to the beginning........ We are definitely counting down!!
P.S. I am finishing this off on Sunday 25th and it is raining raining raining!!!