First, I want to apologize for not posting a blog for awhile. My team has had spotty Wi-Fi and I haven’t really had a ton of time to right one. Our squad had a 52 hour travel dayz from Bulgaria to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and we have been doing ministry since.
So, here are five senses of Zimbabwe from my perspective.
Taste: One of the local drinks is Mezoi which is a concentrate of citrus juice that you dilute with water. It is SO good and we have gotten it at our host home and the many house visits we do. The other thing that is offered to us (but I’m not a huge fan of) is sa-za which is mushed up maize (a form of corn). Another taste is chicken–our host’s family cooks a lot of chicken for our dinners. And fun fact, some of my team helped kill the chickens.
Smell: Bush fires, dirt, and raw chicken, and sweet-smelling flowers.
Feel: I feel cool breezes in the morning and the evening. I feel the African sun beating on my skin in the daytime.
Hear: I hear many tropical birds singing to each other. I hear horns honking from local transportation. I hear Kiwa (white person) called when we go admist large groups of Zimbabweans. I hear worship songs sang in their African tongue in church. I also hear them switch back and forth in English and their dialect in mid-sentence.
Sight: I see dirt everywhere. I see women balancing fruit, suitcases, baskets, and other things on their head. I see people dressed colorfully. I see children laughing.
Ministry: This month we are working with Hope Zimbabwe. They encourage believers and pastors, they help orphans, and more. The past two weeks we have done a lot of home visits to believers in the churches around this area. We ask them about their families, ask them how they became Christians (almost all of them have come from Christian families but made the decision on their own to be a Christian later), and pray for them. Home visits can be awkward, but also really neat as some people really open up to us. One family we talked to lost their father/husband just three months ago. One of my teammate’s shared about losing her father and I got to share with them James 5:8-11 that I had just read in my quiet time that morning. Other home visits are heart breaking and give you a reality check. One day a common theme I saw was many members of a family in one home-sometimes up to 10 members or more. Two other themes we have noticed through our house visits is the lack of men in the Christian homes and also the constant prayer request for money to cover school fees for their children.
Tomorrow our team leaves for Binga (a village) for four days for ministry and then we will get to go to Victoria Falls which we are all super excited for. However, it is mind blowing though because in 13 days we leave Zimbabwe and head to Swaziland: Meaning, we enter MONTH 10 of our Race!
