Zimbabwe Part Two

Youth for Christ Zimbabwe.

We finished out Smart Choices program with the Youth for Christ team on Monday. We had them prepare and teach all of lesson four and part of lesson five back to us. They are enthusiastic about the program and did a great job of teaching their sections. We are presenting the program to thirty-three students at an orphanage/private school called SOS. It is financed by a European organization, I think from Germany. It is a secular organization but the administration welcome Christian content programs.

Tammy and others from the Baptist Church go out there weekly to do activities with the kids at SOS and at least two other orphan care facilities. The Youth for Christ team that we trained are doing the whole program and we are just filling in a few spots for one of the team members that didn't show up. They are doing a great job of teaching and are all very enthusiastic about the impact that it will have on the community. It is now Friday morning and we have completed the whole program at the SOS school.

During our downtime in the morning we have visited several orphan care facilities. One lady who is originally from Australia has adopted four girls that live with her at her home in town and she is also responsible for another 96 children who are living at a Youth for Christ campground about 18 Km out of town. They are required to vacate the camp site by the end of this year so they are frantically searching for a location to move them to. They have found a hotel that is available and would be an ideal property but the owner wants $800,000 for it. The caretakers are hopeful that the owners would accept $500,000 and are prayerfully seeking financial support to come up with the money. All of the children that are cared for by this organization have been victims of some kind of sexual or physical abuse.

One family that we have met that also attends Jeff and Tammy's church have adopted fourteen children and are currently living in a three-bedroom house. He is English and she is Matabele and their place is spotless. Considering the children's backgrounds they are all extremely well behaved with wonderful manners and so friendly and welcoming to visitors. As soon as we arrived one of them grabbed each of us by the hand to show us all the shrubs and trees growing in the garden, then a tour of the vegetable garden, and than a visit to the chicken coop before getting a tour of their bedrooms.

It is time to start packing up and getting ready to head to the Bulawayo Airport for the long journey home. I will add some pictures to these posts when I we get back to California so come back and visit this blog in a few days time. Also plan on coming to be part of our trip feedback evening soon. We will let you now the exact date and time shortly.

Glynn Smith

Bulawayo Zimbabwe

After taking about two hours to get through customs at Bulawayo it was great to see Jeff and Tammy again. The departure and arrival terminal at Bulawayo is an old barn type building that has been acting as the temporary terminal for about 20 years. There is a nice new terminal building (well seventeen-year-old building) that has never been equipped and completed to serve as the new terminal. In spite of our two-hour encounter with customs because of 14 team shirts that I bought in South Africa for our Zimbabwe Smart Choices team and having to pay $84 tax and customs duty on the shirts it still feels great to be back in Zim. after thirty-six years.

We started immediately on Friday, August 26 to train the Zimbabwe team who were all recruited by Youth for Christ. Some of them are also from the Bulawayo Christian Bible League. We also had one Pastor who I mentioned in my last blog that we met at Zodwa's church in Soshanguve who is from Harare. After returning home from South Africa he immediately returned back to Bulawayo so that he could be trained. I provided him all the material that he needs to build a kit to teach the Smart Choices program, so we will see how successful he is at getting the program running in Harare.

On Sunday we attended three services at Jeff and Tammy's church, Bulawayo Baptist Church. Jeff preached all three sermons. The 8am service uses all hymns and one piano player for worship and is mostly attended by the older crowed. We all loved singing the old hymns and based on their gusto the rest of the congregation did to. The 10am service used more contemporary worship very similar to VCI's worship. TK is a very gifted worship leader and they made use of a keyboard, two guitars, drums, and four vocalists. I guess the church was about 80% full and I estimate about two hundred people. They have a great racially balanced congregation. The majority is African but there are a lot of Caucasians as well as coloreds (mixed blood) and even a handful of Indian families. Needless to say everyone we have spoke to just love Jeff and Tammy.

In case anyone should think that Jeff and Tammy are deprived or in danger or living under any kind of hardship in Zimbabwe, I want to put your mind at rest. They absolutely love being here in Zimabawe. Their church is thriving, vibrant and vital in the Bulawayo community. Their members are having such a huge impact on the community and the difficult aspects of their life which we in America might consider to be real hardships are nothing more than inconveniences to them. They simply love living in Bulawayo.

I will end this post here but will try and post one more tomorrow about the progress of the Smart Choices program before we start heading home on Friday.

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Glynn Smith

Beacon of Hope International

Phone: 949-305-1922

Cell: 949-795-0042

Web: http://www.beaconint.org/

Blog: blog.beaconint.org

Skype: africanson3

South Africa Wrapup

I hope that all who have been watching our trip blog have enjoyed all the blogs filed so far. Everyone else on the trip has filed a message so now it is my turn. Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 24 is our last day working in South Africa. You can tell by the messages that everyone has posted that they have all been touched in some special way by the experience. Christina and Anjuli are now safely home with their families. Hopefully they are well rested after a very hectic 12 days where we had very little time to relax. I know that Anjuli said that she slept for sixteen hours after getting home. Christina was not feeling to great when we checked them in through security at Johannesburg for their sixteen-hour direct flight to JFK. Thankfully Christina recovered from whatever was ailing her somewhere along the thirty-hour epic journey.

The report from Soshanguve North of Pretoria is a mixed message. When Mark and I first came here three years ago we were so impressed by the twelve or so team members that Zodwa had assembled and trained. The good news is that most of these young twenty somethings have now found jobs and another is going for an interveiw tomorrow. It seems like the Smart Choices program might be a good launching platform for these young folks to find jobs that are almost impossible to come by. The big challenge now is that all new trainers need to be raised up to fill the shoes of those who are moving on. We are teaching two classes of about forty students each this week. We will wrap it up tomorrow, say our goodbyes and head to the airport on Thursday morning for our flight to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

We spoke to Jeff and Tammy in Bulawayo this morning and they are about as excited to see us as we are to see them and to start the final leg of our trip. We met another pastor from Harare, Zimbabwe at Zodwa's church on Sunday. He is Pastor Shudas (Judas) Bhaudhi and he was very excited to learn about our AIDS prevention program and is planning to come to Bulawayo to participate in the training when we train the Bulawayo team on Friday and Saturday. So it seems possible that we might be able to get the program going in two centers in Zimbabwe. After doing the training on Friday and Saturday we will attend a church service at Jeff and Tammy's church on Sunday and then do a community outreach where we will teach the Smart Choices program with the new trainees to give them experience at teaching the program to others. Hopefully that will be enough experience to enable them to be confident about presenting the program on their own.

I am going to wrap this blog up here, add a few pictures and please look out for an update from Zimbabwe in four or five days' time. Blogging from Zim. might be a challenge as it was in Richards Bay because they do not have power every day so we will have to try and synchronize our blogging with power availability.

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Glynn Smith
Beacon of Hope International
Phone: 949-305-1922
Cell: 949-795-0042
Web: http://www.beaconint.org/
Blog: blog.beaconint.org
Skype: africanson3

Report from Mark

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Greetings from South Africa to all of our fellow partakers in the grace of God at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church.  Please accept apologies for not posting sooner, but we have just in the last couple of days gained internet access.  A special shout out to Ruthie Stordahl and our home group that meet at Paul and Nancy Thompson's home.

 

To date our team has taught about 380 kids and two of our group also taught several days the kids who attend the school located at the orphanage where we stayed the two weeks while we were in the Richard's Bay area.  There also was a team from Boston teaching the "Smart Choices" curriculum in Durban simultaneously while we were teaching.

 

We are now in Soshanguve in the northern part of the country and will begin teaching tomorrow, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  Thursday we will travel to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and be involved in teaching until the 2nd of September.

The response from the school kids has been very encouraging.  Many indicated on their response cards to agree to be abstinent and also to learn more about Jesus.  The African people are so welcoming and appreciative that we come so far.  Our prayer is that they will see the connection between our bodies as the temple of God and choosing not to have sex.  It seems that there is a disconnect between what they want to do and the fact that that behaviour is killing their nation via HIV/AIDS.  Please pray for them.  The heart is desperately wicked, who of us can know it?

 

Two of our team members flew home Friday the 19th and are now experiencing jet lag, and the remaining three of us get that experience in two weeks.

Thank you for your prayers, little by little, our message is going forth.

Mark

 

Belated Blog Posts and Busy Days

Hi All! Sorry for the late blogging on my part...it's been quite a juggling act with everything going on, but I know that if I didn't sit down to blog tonight, my mom just might strangle me through the computer (kidding, Mom). Anyways, I wanted to type out a few quick notes about the trip and what we've been witnessing that past 2 weeks.   This trip so far has been truly amazing. Mark and I worked primarily with Derrick while we were in the Richard's Bay area. The first class we met with contained roughly 120 students ranging in age from about 13 to 15. I have to say, I was pretty darn intimidated, having very little teaching experience (really when I say "little", I mean none), but I slowly became more and more comfortable as the time went on. I think the two main things that made me ease into it were the kids' attentiveness and Derrick's overwhelming passion for the kids. Seriously, I wish I was able to adequately described what I saw. Derrick and his team were so singularly focused on reaching this kids that their joy and excitement became infectious. I couldn't help but enjoy myself.   Besides Derrick's excitement, the kids also just capture your heart. Many of these kids put American children to shame with their manners and respect in the classroom. They not only respect you, but they're genuinely excited to see you, to be near you, and in my case, to run their fingers through your hair. "Personal bubbles" hold no meaning here, and I love it. I think that after you've been mobbed by no less than 40 kids who all want to touch any bit of you they can reach, you gotta ease up on the boundaries. Anyways, I have to say that I have absolutely fallen in love with the South African people, and primarily in our case, the Zulu population in the Kwa Zulu Natal province.   I'm not sure if I could really condense all that I've done or seen during the past 2 weeks into a blog post, but several other things that have made me fall in love are: 1) Kind and compassionate Clement and Thuli, who did everything from feeding us to cleaning our clothes and sharing in fellowship; 2) Incredible worship that you never want to end and will almost always bring tears to your eyes; 3) Kids. Kids kids kids on every side that love you unconditionally just for showing up; and 4) Sharing in furthering the Gospel with Christians from all around the world.   While we have since moved on from Richard's Bay and are now in Pretoria (north of Johannesburg) and are now working with different teams, I want to say that what has struck me this trip and what has brought me personally the most joy is to be able to share life for too brief a time with Christian brothers and sisters from entirely different countries. Usually, when one goes on a missions trip, it's to meet a need or to minister to someone else. In this case, however, I think I have been the one most blessed. I have seen firsthand that there are capable, joyful men and women serving the Lord each and everyday. These are the people who are truly laying down their lives for their neighbor. Many of these people have little resources or are spread thin in their commitments, but have answered the call to help one another and share the burden on a country rocked by HIV and AIDS. When I truly took the time to pause and just see what was going on around me, I was overwhelmed. Clement has opened his home and his wallet to be able to feed, clothe, and school almost 30 orphans. Derrick now works full time as a pastor partnering with schools and businesses in the area to teach this HIV curriculum. And Kenny has left his home in Nigeria to reach out to the people of South Africa and teach people from an entirely different culture.   It's been very humbling to see that there is much to be learned from Christians from other cultures and backgrounds if you are only willing to sit and spend time listening to them. I have been so blessed, and I can't wait to see what else the Lord is going to do. Until then...blessings!   -Branyn

Can't believe this much time has passed!

Today we left the orphanage.  It was hard to go.  I cannot believe it has been over a week and our time is done here.  The rest of our team goes on to Shangube, please keep them in your prayers!

We said goodbye to the kids at our home away from home.  The children were sad to see us go.  We were sad to leave.  I am so hopeful we can come back.  The children sent us off with some children's worship songs.  It was very sweet. 

This past week we spent more time helping teach at the school in the orphanage and going out to give the Smart Choices AIDS/HIV curriculum to the schools.  One school we travelled to was deep into the hills.  We went off roading in Clement's car which has serious alignment issues.  When we were driving behind him you could see the front wheels well to the right of the back wheels.  When we were driving with him I noticed that he drove with the steering wheel completely to the right.  Prayed and prayed.  Here they have very little concern for personal space and hitchhiking is a way of life.  We stopped to ask for directions.  The lady just jumped into the back seat to catch a ride and show us herself.  Unfortunately this pushed Christina out the other side.  So Christina had to jump into the front seat with me.  So we continued on the bumpy road with Christina scrunched up on my lap.  All new experiences!  The public school we went to was very interesting.  The buildings are very plain.  Nothing on the walls except a single chalkboard at the front of the class.  All of the students are wearing uniforms giving an illusion of structure.  Some of the kids were not wearing shoes.  It had been raining for a couple days and we found out that when it rains here they cancel school, since the roads are too muddy and flooded to walk on.  We gave the talk in a large room.  We had close to 200 students in the class.  They translated what we taught into Zulu.  We reached children as young as 4th grade, so we are hopeful that the seriousness of the issue really sinks in with them.

Back at the orphanage we noticed that one of the boys did not have black school shoes.  So we went out to the store and baught him a new pair.  I cannot explain the feeling that came over us when we saw his reaction to receiving his new shoes.  He was so greatful he didn't even know what to say.  He was so happy.  The next day we saw him in school.  Somewhere he had found an old suit jacket to put on over his uniform.  He was going around showing off his new shoes.  He was so happy.  When the teacher told him he had mud on his shoes he bent down and wiped it off with his hand to make sure they kept clean.  It warmed our heart!

Yesterday I taught some of the worship songs we do to Jana Alayra to the children.  They all loved it so much.  All the way to 9th grade they danced and sang.  Thank you to Dawn for donating the CD's.  The children were so happy!  

We have so much to say but so little time with internet access.  We are still filled with joy and are still excited to be here!  :)  I am sure we will all write more when we get home.  We love you all!

 

Anjuli :)

Forgot to note that the last blog was from me :) -- Anjuli