Sorry for the lack of pictures in this one. I rarely have my phone with me as I try to leave most electronics at our home site, so I have not even taken one photo here yet.
Country: Zimbabwe
City: Bulawayo
You can see Bulawayo on the left map, in the southwestern corner
Languages: English, Ndebele and Shona. Within the city, the vast majority of people speak fluent English, so it has been refreshing to be able to speak freely! There are a good bit of children in the rural areas, however, that have not learned it yet, so we sometimes need translators.
Currency: U.S. Dollar! This is a first on the Race for us, and we are loving not having to convert everything in our heads as we make purchases.The money here is extremely dirty and worn out. Hyperinflation issues caused them to retire the Zimbabwe dollar. The worst of the inflation occurred in 2008, with a rate estimated at 79,600,000,000% per month. This resulted in US$1 becoming equivalent to the staggering sum of Z$2,621,984,228,675,650,147,435,579,309,984,228!!! This obviously led to the abandonment of their currency.
The country is also literally running out of paper money. Zimbabweans often can’t withdraw money from the bank because there isn’t enough of it and banks have limited withdrawals at some ATMs. We had to go to at least 5 different ATMs within the city to finally find one which would let us withdraw money (mostly because the others were out) and it would only let you take out a $50 bill. (insert pic). (discuss inflation and old money)
Time difference: 6 hours ahead of EST
Weather: This is by far the best weather we have experienced all Race! This month marks the beginning of their winter here (May-August), so we were spared the extreme heat that Africa is known for. Currently, the lows are around 50 and the highs anywhere from 69-80. It gets quite cold in the morning and evening, but feels wonderful during the day. We definitely do not have the proper clothing for winter weather, so the mornings can be tough. We all just layer up until the sun heats things up. I bought a warm blanket from the market my second day, which is a life-saver during the night, as I sent my sleeping bag home at the end of month 3 :/
Local meal eaten recently: Seasoned beef with sadza and rice (with raisins in it) with a sauce made with tomatoes, potatoes and hot dog meat. Sadza is a staple for Zimbabweans and we have it at every dinner. It is a cooked cornmeal and can best be described as thick grits that have been sitting out for a while. The locals eat this with their fingers.
Sadza
We have been blessed to have our host family cooking for us this month, and they try to offer things they think we would enjoy. As a result, breakfast is always oatmeal with bread, butter and jam. Sometimes it is just a boiled egg and toast and we are often given plain cornflakes…but with hot milk! I’m not sure any of us will ever get used to cereal with hot milk.
Living conditions: We are staying with our ministry leader’s sister, Adelaide, and her family. She has a husband, 3 wonderful children (2 girls and 1 boy) and a maid, of sorts, that cooks for us all. Their home is on the outskirts of the main city area, but is a quick car ride to town. The boys share one room with 2 beds and us girls have another room with 2 beds as well (there are 4 girls on my team this month as we have Liz, one of the squad leaders, staying with us in Zimbabwe).
We have one toilet and one room with a sink and tub for the whole house. Mornings can get tricky as several people are all trying to get in the tub room to brush their teeth, wash their face, etc. Showers are not common here, nor is hot water. As such, the water is far too cold to simply get a bath (especially with it being winter), so we are all getting bucket showers. Thankfully, we are able to heat up the water for our buckets using the gas burner in the kitchen. So, that helps out a lot! We are also back to washing our clothes in buckets and hanging them out to dry.
My team ministries: We have 2 different teams from my squad here this month working with Scripture Union (SU), an organization that began in the US. SU is an interdenominational and international Christian movement that primarily works with children and youth within the school system, and in communities throughout the country. You can read more at their website here. Abraham, our ministry contact, oversees SU in Bulawayo. We begin every morning with a devotion that one of us leads, then we go out to different schools to lead programs or communities to lead a kid’s club. This often involves a series of games or sports followed by scripture, Bible lesson and/or testimonies. We are being pushed a little further this month as we must come everyday ready and willing to share a sermon as the need arises.
Our first week was unique in that it was the very first week of school starting back, so we did not have many programs scheduled. In addition to this, many Christian teachers and students did not go to school on the first day to boycott a new pledge that the minister of education here recently created. The new minister of education is Muslim, and this is the first time a Muslim has held this position. I have not been able to read the pledge myself, but locals believe the minister is slowly trying to change things, for the worst, within the school system, particularly in regard to religion. Some locals believe that requiring children to recite this vow, of sorts, is unconstitutional. There was an article written about the new minister of education and it apparently misquoted him stating that Scripture Union’s programs would be banned in schools. So, many of the schools SU partners with are hesitant to work with them this year. Our first week involved going around to various schools with SU staff to clarify and correct this misperception and see if they would allow us to come into their schools.
Interesting facts: Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe. It has experienced a sharp fall in living standards as a result of the economic crisis here and there is strong opposition to the government of Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe. The main problems in this area are poor investment and widespread unemployment. Since many businesses here have closed down, individuals are largely self-employed, selling items or services that many others already offer. So, it is difficult to remain competitive and bring home a steady and substantial income.
They do not typically have trash cans or trash bags in their homes, not even in the bathroom! They typically just have a trash bin or area outside somewhere. This is definitely something to adjust to. We have simply been using different plastic bags to use in our rooms.
Power outages are very common here. We have already experienced 2 in our host’s home in the past 4-5 days we have been here. When this happens, we simply light candles and make the best of it. It’s a good thing my team has cards and Settlers of Catan 🙂
They have different tribal languages which involve a series of clicking noises. It is quite hard to mimic.
What surprised me: The seeming lack of a schedule or sense of urgency about anything, even in a work setting. Ha! Literally every day, there are schedule/time changes. For instance, yesterday we were supposed to leave for a kid’s club at 12:30pm, but come 1:00pm, we were told we would be leaving within 10 minutes. At 1:30pm, we were told another few minutes. We eventually left for the club around 2:20pm. This is very common from what I’ve witnessed and is exacerbated since we are relying on schools, which can cancel or confirm at a moment’s notice. Even dinner changes nightly. It is supposed to be around 6:30pm, but we have often had it anywhere from 7:00-7:45pm. You just learn to release expectations and go with the flow. You often won’t receive clear instructions or directions either. Even when asking what is expected of us, you will often get a very vague and slightly confusing answer. Flexibility and patience is key, so it’s a great thing we are taking this on in month 9 and not month 1.
Off day opportunities: There are many different wildlife areas and safaris we could go on, but distance and money are limiting factors. We only have one off day each week, so that also makes it tricky. My main goal is to go to Hwange National Park towards the end of the month, hopefully on our way to Zambia for the next month.
