Zim V - Victoria Falls (At long last!)

Us in front of Victoria Falls

Sorry, folks, for the long delay in posting this. As mentioned previously, rainy season has officially begun, and the large storms (among other problems) have caused our internet connection to be extremely hit-and-miss over the past three weeks or so (well, substantially more miss than hit). Anyway, as promised, here is the reportage from our two days in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe:

After a few hours drive from Hwange, we arrived on Wednesday night at the beautiful Victoria Falls Hotel, a palatial 1906 English colonial estate built only two years after the railway to Victoria Falls was completed. The hotel had lush, expansive grounds with exquisitely manicured landscaping and breathtaking views of the Batoka Gorge, into which the water from the Zambezi River plummets to form Victoria Falls. The big, spacious lawns are a favorite stomping grounds of the local warthog and baboon populations, who pretty much have the run of the hotel's outdoor spaces (would you want to mess with them?). We arrived in time for dinner at the Jungle Junction restaurant, where a cultural presentation was in progress, featuring traditional drumming and dance (some with gigantic, flamboyant masks) from a number of Zimbabwean ethnic groups. The dinner buffet was a mouthwatering spread of meat (including crocodile), poultry (including ostrich), fish (including Zambezi River bream) and vegetables prepared in a dizzying array of styles.

A view of the Victoria Falls Hotel from the courtyard

A view from the courtyard of the Hotel, with view of the Victoria Falls Bridge, Zimbabwean flag, and warthog sauntering through

A gigantic male warthog that waddled by our lunch table to munch on some grass

The gang at breakfast : (clockwise from left) Rev. Dr. Fred Anderson, Dr. Jeff Miller,
Rev. Libias Boloma,Elder John Carr III, Rev. Don Wahlig, Elder Lauren Logan,
Elder Jack Hobson, and Rev. Pattison Chirongo

We woke up early on Thursday morning to go whitewater rafting on the Zambezi River with Don (MAPC Associate Pastor), Jack (MAPC Elder), and Jeff (member of MAPC's Zimbabwe Partnership Committee). When Don had made the announcement/invitation for this activity on the bus the previous day, he had simply asked, "Who wants to go whitewater rafting tomorrow?" He did not mention that the experience would include an exhausting hike down into and up out of the gorge. By the time we got to the bottom of the gorge and into our raft, our legs felt like jell-o. The rafting itself was amazing--we went through about 10 rapids, each with a unique name like "White Man's Grave," "The Devil's Toilet Bowl," or "Highway to Hell." Our rafting crew (the five of us MAPCers, an Afrikaans couple from South Africa, and our guide, Kazi) were impressively strong, if I do say so myself, as we did not capsize (flip over) even once. We remained in the raft when we wanted to, and we ended up in the river when we wanted to (a few times when Kazi said it was safe to swim). The afternoon ended with a lunch of burgers and grilled chicken, followed by the grueling hike up the gorge, at the end of which there were cold beers, soft drinks, and water waiting for us.

When we got to the hotel, we were informed that we would be going for a game drive in the bush before dinner; we should meet in the lobby at 4pm. Molly and I were so excited; we hadn't been on a real game drive since we arrived in Zambia, and seeing African animals in their natural habitat is a thrilling experience. We got to the lobby a bit early so we went out into the parking lot to look for the 4x4 or Land Rover that we would be taking into the bush. Oh well, it must not be here yet. When Fred got there, and headed toward the bus (the one we'd been using to travel around Zimbabwe) we realized, to our chagrin, that this was the vehicle we would be taking. Would this be safe?

The game drive started out as a rather bemusing experience: when we got to the entrance to the park, the rangers refused to give us a guide to ride with us. The Zimbabweans in our contingent were none too pleased with the idea of going into the bush without a guide, so a couple of them got out of the bus to talk with the park rangers, but to no avail--no guide was to be had. Neither did they have a map of the park to give us. They mentioned, however, that the road inside the park was a simple loop, so all we'd have to do would be to follow it, and we'd be fine.

The frustrations didn't end there. While Walter, our bus driver, was extremely skilled as a bus driver, he was no safari guide. He drove through the park at a speed a bit too fast for game viewing, and when we did manage to spot an animal, he'd already have driven past it. The frustrated Americans would then yell to him, "Back up, back up," whereupon the bus would go "beep, beep, beep," and scare away all the animals. This carried on for quite some time, until Walter evetually got a better handle on things and drove a bit slower.

Soon, dusk was approaching. "What a beautiful sunset!" our companions exclaimed, while I found myself thinking ruefully, "In about ten minutes the sun will have set, it will be pitch black, and we have no real clue where we are." In about ten minutes, that was indeed the case. We had realized, maybe half an hour before, that the road on which we were traveling was not actually a loop; it was a straight line, with a number of loops departing off of it, so that a vehicle could turn onto a loop, make the loop, and be headed in the opposite direction on the main road, toward the park entrance/exit. The problem was, we were already about 90 minutes into the bush by the time we turned onto Siyasamba Loop. While it was rather disconcerting to be traveling around in the dark on unknown roads, we figured that as long as we just followed the loop we'd be fine. Unfortunately, about halfway into the loop, we heard a thud and felt a big bump. The bus' wheels were sinking down into the sand, and we could not move. Despite the protests of the terrified Zimbabwean ladies (by this time we had seen multiple signs saying things like, "Wild Animals--Do not alight from your vehicle for any reason), a number of us got out of the bus and tried to push. It didn't work. We were stuck. We got back into the bus and turned off the lights--in part to conserve power, in part so as not to attract or disturb animals. "Just so you know what I'm thinking," said Fred, "I'm planning on spending the night in this bus. We will likely miss our flights home tomorrow morning. We'll make arrangements when we get back to the hotel. But for now, we're in a safe place, we have enough water--we'll just sit tight."

At that point, everyone was checking their cell phones to see if they could get coverage. Don even climbed up to the roof of the bus to see if that would help out. No luck. Suddenly, Lauren, who had been unable to use a Zimbabwean SIM card in her phone because she hadn't unlocked it prior to the trip, had an idea: "Well, why don't we see if my American AT&T SIM card will work?" It seemed a long shot, but at this point, anything was worth a try. She turned on her phone. "Well," I asked, "do you have signal?" Lauren couldn't tell. I took a look and couldn't believe my eyes: three bars! I tried calling Lamiel Phiri, a friend of ours who was back at the hotel, but the call wouldn't go through. I sent a text: "We r stuck in Zambezi Camp on Siyasamba Loop. Bus won't move. Need rescue. Plz confirm that u received this msg." About five minutes later, a one word message came back: "Confirmed." A sigh of relief swept over the bus. Nothing to do now but wait.

Since we were planning on spending the following morning debriefing the visit, and we hadn't yet found a quiet, out of the way spot in which to do it, Fred suggested that we start debriefing the trip in the quiet, out of the way spot in which we currently found ourselves. We did so for about two hours, and finally Fred closed in prayer. The end of his prayer went something like, "...and send us rescue in the time that is prudent within your will. Amen." As soon as he had said, "Amen," we saw headlights heading toward us on the road. It was Lamiel, along with the manager of the Victoria Falls Hotel and a park ranger. We piled into the van in which they had come, and began the roughly 2-hour drive out of the park. We finally got back to the hotel at about half past midnight.

Guinea fowl

Giraffes

A good-lookin' baobab tree

On Friday morning, it was time for the delegation to leave Zimbabwe and head back toward the US. Molly and I had a quick check-in meeting with Fred over breakfast, and then bid goodbye to our friends from MAPC. Kangwa, our supervisor at TEEZ, had come to Victoria Falls to meet with Fred as well, so after they were done, the three of us had lunch (crocodile Cesar salad--pictured below) and Molly and I headed to the Falls to get a glimpse of the for the first time. They were spectacular (enjoy the pictures below).

When we were finished seeing the Falls, Molly, Kangwa and I got a taxi to the border post, where we crossed back into Zambia. The overnight bus to Kitwe was full up, so we spent the night at a guesthouse in Livingstone and took the early morning bus back the next day.

Overall, our time in Zimbabwe was inspiring, adventurous, and fun. We're so glad we went!

The group in front of our trusty bus

The bus ready to head to the airport, proudly displaying a gift from the Hwange congregation

Our lunch on Friday: crocodile Cesar salad (note the classy Victoria Falls Hotel crest on the plate)

The Main Falls, Victoria Falls

Rainbow Falls during dry season--during rainy season this is a thundering wall of water

The Devil's Cataract, Victoria Falls

The area immediately surrounding the Falls is rain forest, simply because of the spray

A beautiful flower in the rain forest near the Falls

All but the area immediately around the Falls is rain forest; the rest is savanna

A rainbow over the Main Falls

Patched up!

Just wanted everyone to know our house is as good as new--perhaps better than before. The UCZ Theological College, whose property it is, did a great job repairing the roof. And cleaning up the yard and porch afterward.

The storm was on a Thurs, we stayed in our leaky house that night, and then Fri, Sat, & Sun, were put up by the Revs. Juliet and Paul Matembo, who live in our compound, just the other side of our office a little ways. We enjoyed their hospitality very much. But we were relieved to be able to go home last Monday.

We have had several storms since--it rains every-other or every day lately--and no leaks!! We feel fortunate that no one was hurt and are very grateful to be home.

One downside to the rainy season--the internet access in the TEEZ office goes from pretty reliable to somewhat sporadic. Thus the delay in blog posts. But stay tuned for some pictures from Victoria Falls--the last Zimbabwe post, I promise!

Zim IV-- Hwange

On Wed, 27 Oct, our third and final day of visiting churches, we drove 6 hours in the morning to the town of Hwange. The road was along the Hwange National Park, so we caught glimpses of some animals along the road--kudu, impala, guinea fowl, and lots of donkeys and cattle too! The city of Hwange is a coal mining town, with the Colliery still being the dominant economic power.

When we arrived in Hwange, the women of the CCAP Hwange once again out-did themselves with their hospitality. They prepared a feast for us for lunch, this time hosted at an elder's home. We ate sadza/nsima, plain rice, rice casserole w/ cheese and tomatoes, beef, fried chicken, beefstew, coleslaw, fried potatoes, soup/tomato gravy, carrots, green beans, water and softdrinks. I ate too much sadza and was stuffed! Don had served me, asking if I'd like a whole lump or half. I said a whole, not knowing how large the lumps were. They were HUGE--like twice the size of a large lump--maybe enough to fill a cereal bowl--maybe even 2-3 cups! Just when we were stuffed to the gills, they offered dessert-- chocolate cake and icecream and orange jelly (jello)!

Thus fed, we drove to the church building, where we had perhaps the most exuberant time yet, in perhaps the smallest building yet. I think because everyone knew this was the last church to visit, inhibitions were cast aside and almost everyone, even Fred was dancing!

Church members outside CCAP Hwange

Inside CCAP Hwange. Amai Ponchisi in front row in lavendar.

The Women's Guild sings a song about calling on God--some use their cell phones as props!

The Men's Guild sings from their hymnbooks.

It was a time of mixed emotions, as this was the congregation of the late Rev. David Ponchisi, former Moderator of the Harare Synod, prior to his death this summer. His children were in the choirs. His young son, Aaron, led the Sunday School choir, and sang a very spirited gospel-style solo. His wife, (I don't know her first name, as she was referred to as "Amai") was a leader of the women's guild. She had traveled with us from Bulawayo. Later in the day, we visited the cemetery, and had a short prayer service at David's graveside. By that time it was raining, and everyone's shoes were sinking into the mud. As we got back on the bus, we used sticks and puddles and whatever we could to get the caked on mud off our shoes. One of the Zambian men even used his handkerchief to wipe the mud from Fred's shoes. A contemporary sort of foot-washing.

The Hwange Congregation has big plans-- Their theme for the year is "Rise and Build" and is meant physically and spiritually. They are raising money for a large building project, for which a church "stand" or plot of land has been recently acquired from the Colliery. They have blueprints for a new church building, as well as a manse, resource center with library and computers, gathering hall, cottage, and toilet building. They are also planning an income generating project to support the growing number of widows, orphans and elderly in the congregation.

Some of the Zimbabewan women we traveled with all or part of the trip. From left: Grace Boloma (Gen. Sec.'s wife), Susan Chironga (Moderator's wife), Amai Ponchisi (Women's Guild leader, Hwange), Susan Phiri (Women's Guild Treasurer, Bulawayo), Stella Phiri (Women's Guild Chair, Harare), Maggie Banda (Elder, Bulawayo).

Ryan with Amai Ponchisi and two of her sons, outside their home.

We actually got to see more of the village this time; the church members were eager to show us the mine around which the village rotates, as well as the Kamandama Memorial site. It memorializes the 427 men who died in a mining explosion 6 June 1972. There is a statue with each miner's name and mine number. Among the well-kept grounds was also a garden of up-side-down rusted metal dishes, favorite eating-vessels never again to be used by fathers, brothers, uncles, sons.

Kamandama Memorial.

The Kamandama Memorial names all 427 men who perished in the mine.

Mountains of coal!

Coal travels on a long conveyor belt and finally is dumped onto a large pile in the processing area.

Coal mine area.

Zim III-- Bulawayo

Young girls meeting our bus at Sizenda CCAP Congregation, Bulawayo.

Bulawayo is home of the National Railways of Zimbabwe bc of its strategic position near Botswana and South Africa. Following economic collapse, many trains stand abandoned.

The second day of visiting Congregations of CCAP Gweru Presbytery, we spent in the city of Bulawayo. It is the second-largest city in Zimbabwe, after the capital, Harare. Similarly, Kitwe is the second-largest city in Zambia, after our capital, Lusaka. But Bulawayo is almost 3 times as populous as Kitwe. But Bulawayo, like Zimbabwe as a whole, is more developed and seems a bit more slick than Kitwe. Perhaps this is due in part because Bulawayo was founded about one hundred years earlier. Certainly it is due in large part to the fact that prior to independence, when Zambia and Zimbabwe were part of Rhodesia--and later the united Northern and Southern Rhodesia, respectively--the Brits focused development on the Southern sister, Harare even being referred to as "little London."

I have to admit, my initial reaction to Zimbabwe was surprise at what I found. First of all, since we came on the trip at the last moment, I had not done much research prior to visiting. Second, I had consumed by passive osmosis most of the US media coverage of Zimbabwe's economic crisis and political instability from 2005-2008. Hearing stories of no food on the shelves of grocery stores resulted in a naive impression of Zimbabwe as a generic African country with nothing. But after visiting parts of the country, and hearing more history from our Zimbabwean travel companions, I now have a different impression. Far from a place that had nothing, it is rather a place that lost everything.

What we found in Zimbabwe was a country in recovery--with food on the shelves, a stabilized currency (using the US Dollar), a working if tenuous political balance between President Mugabe and the rightfully elected President-made-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, entrepreneurs scraping out a living and slowly rebuilding the economy, and water and electricity flowing reliably (even though there are regular outages).

We visited 3 congregations in the city: Sizenda, Lobengula (both suburbs), and Bulawayo. As usual, the welcome was warm and enthusiastic, and the hospitality was abundant.

Downtown Bulawayo

Court building.

Sizenda Congregation

Women's Guild of Sizenda leading our bus down the street.

The Sunday School at Sizenda singing a song.

The Sunday School children sang really funny songs where they twisted their bodies and were singing with their tongues out by the end. The little girl in the green knew all the words to every song, even those of the adult choirs.

The MAPC Delegation. From left: Jack Hobson (unofficial photograher), Fred Anderson, Jeff Miller, Don Wahlig, Lauren Logan, John Carr III, Ryan Dowell Baum.

Some of our Zimbabwean partners/traveling companions.
From left: Mr. Elson Banda, Mrs. Susan Phiri, Mrs. Ponchisi, Grace Boloma, Susan Chirongo, Stella Phiri.

Lobengula Congregation
We had a brief visit with Lobengula Congregation, a very short time of singing and greeting in the church building, followed by a time to mingle and greet members informally in the courtyard, while lunch was being prepared.

The women who prepared our fabulous lunch. In the manse kitchen.

Don stirring the nsima/sadza pot.

Molly stirring the nsima/sadza. It's getting thicker!

Ryan stirring the nsima/sadza. By this time, it is very thick and very difficult to stir--like cement!

Bulawayo Congregation
The evening at Bulawayo was the main event, with all three congregations represented, and jointly hosting the program. We heard from each of the congregations and had many excellent choir performances and inspiring speeches all around. Followed by a late dinner in the manse. Most of the time, our delegation would be served in a room separate from the rest of the congregation. This was no exception.

Bulawayo Congregation was where Libias & Grace Boloma were serving prior to his appointment as General Secretary of the Synod of Harare. During that time, they had a "capital campaign" type fundraiser to purchase building materials. They raised 182 billion in cash and 69 billion in pledges--from which they were able to purchase one sheet of sheetrock!

Mr. Elson Banda, Secretary for Bulawayo, speaking about his congregation. Secretaries of the Lobengula and Sizenda congregations seated. Bulwayo youth guild in background.

Men of the MAPC & Zimbabwean delegation and congregation. (Women of the delegation were seated on the side--from the direction of the camera!)

Moderator Chirongo giving a speech. A man from the congregation translates into Ndebele--a language akin to Zulu, which has clicks!

Happy Rainy Season!

Well, it appears that the rainy season began in earnest yesterday afternoon, with a big storm that dumped a ton of rain on Kitwe. The storm blew over a tree behind our house, which fell on our roof, shattering a few of the asbestos sheets of which it is made. People from the Theological College arrived within an hour of the incident, and climbed up and put a tarpaulin over the biggest hole to try and prevent leakage. Still, our bathroom and places in our bedroom are pretty leaky, making it necessary to mop every hour or so. We think that the plan is to get the roof fixed today to see if that stops the leaks. If not, we may have to move (or "shift" as they say here in Zambia) to a new place. Pray for our poor house!

The front of our house.

The back of our house.

Zim II-- 4 churches & 279 km in one day!

On Monday, we headed out of the city of Harare to visit the churches of Gweru Presbytery. At each one we received a very warm welcome, with prayers and singing, introductions and speeches, exchanging gifts and refreshments. Everyplace had cold bottled water and soft drinks waiting for us. Some were serving us lunch or dinner, while the others would have an assortment of snacks--muffins, biscuits, cookies and potato chips.

We started later than we'd hoped in the morning, so we were increasingly later and later to each stop. However, our hosts were very gracious and forgiving, and SO excited to see us. Every church greeted us with singing, and some even met us on the road and sang and danced our bus to the church building in a fine parade!

First stop: Chegutu
CCAP Chegutu

John Mwale, Assistant Secretary (~Asst. Clerk of Session) of CCAP Chegutu

Chegutu's Choir

Rev. Libias Boloma, General Secretary of CCAP Synod of Harare

Members of CCAP Chegutu outside.

Second stop: Kadoma

The Women's guild greeted our bus waving branches, bougainvillea flowers, & brightly colored chitenge fabric.

Singing and dancing, they accompanied us all the way down the road to the church building, and even lay chitenges on the ground for us to walk on. Now we know how Jesus felt on Palm Sunday!

Inside CCAP Chegutu.

From left: Rev. Sinda pastor, Susan Chirongo, Grace Boloma, Libias Boloma, Patteson Chirongo, Fred Anderson, Don Wahlig, Lauren Logan, Jeff Miller, John Carr. CCAP Chegutu.

Third Stop: Kwekwe

Inside CCAP Gweru--lots of singing and dancing!

Lauren & Ryan eating with their hands! They fed us well. Our lunch consisted of the traditional staple, white maize meal boiled and formed into lumps called "sadza" in Shona or "nsima" in Chewa, along with many other vegetable dishes, chicken and beef, and of course, Coke.

Rev. Ashton Galanti, pastor of Kwekwe Congregation.

The outdoor kitchen where our lunch was prepared by members of the congregation.

Fred with Rev. Ashton and Rosie Galanti, outside the manse.

Fourth & Final Stop of the Day: Gweru

The delegation seated at the front of Gweru Congregation. From left: Jeff Miller, Lauren Logan, Grace Boloma, Susan Chirongo, Patteson Chirongo, Fred Anderson, Don Wahlig, Jack Hobson, John Carr.

Our Emcee for the evening works the crowd with a rousing call & response of "Alleluia?" "Amen!"

Notice the message on the wall: "Listen!! Open the door for Jesus & share a meal with him." It is based on Rev. 3 vs. 20, which says, "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me." It was a good message for the meal we shared together. Gweru congregation also fed us--at about 9pm, and we'd only had lunch at 4pm! It was wonderful to receive such generous hospitality. Again, we enjoyed a huge spread of traditional food, as well as cake and ice cream! Pastor Ndola said, just as there is cake at a wedding to celebrate the sweetness of the relationship, we shall have cake to celebrate the partnership of CCAP and MAPC.

Gweru Congregation's building. We returned in the morning for breakfast.

The women responsible for our lovely meals. Seen here washing the pots from the previous night's dinner.

Cooking breakfast--lots of eggs!