Croydon Episcopal Area Zimbabwe Link     Aug2007

In the light of the worsening situation in Zimbabwe, some people have suggested they would like more frequent updates in order to pray more effectively. So from now on we will try to send this newsletter bi-monthly, possibly with urgent updates in between. Please do share this information with your parishes and keep prayer alive over the summer.

 ECONOMY IN FREEFALL

Empty shelves

Perhaps the current situation can best be summed up by this news emailed a couple of weeks ago from a churchwarden of one of our link parishes:

          “Basic food stuffs like mealie meal for sadza, bread, beef or chicken have disappeared.  Many people cannot afford to get transport fares to  work and are therefore leaving jobs. Companies are either cutting down on workforce or simply closing down.  Salaries are no longer meaningful because you get paid but there is nothing in the shops to buy. (I have gone for a good 2 weeks trying to get some meat without any joy. The butcheries have simply closed down.)  The government has said the retailers should cut down on prices by 1/2 and they have simply kept the shops empty or closed down. We never thought things would go this bad. Honestly people are now starving.  With effect from 1 August the government is closing down on traders bringing in food stuffs from across our borders and so we do not know what will be happening after that.”

          What has happened so far is that things have just got worse. Around 7500 business people and shop owners have been jailed and often beaten for disobeying the government’s new price control laws. The inflation rate, officially at 4500% is in practice nearer 9000% Fuel is virtually unavailable and the medical service is collapsing.

   Hospitals in crisis

A report in last week’s Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed doctor in one of the country’s five central hospitals. He cited the case of a young girl admitted after a falling rock crushed her thigh and broke her shin:

          “I couldn’t clean the wound except with tap water. She needed surgery but there were no anaesthetic drugs. After three days we could operate but by that time gangrene had set in. We had no antibiotics and ended up amputating her leg. She is a ten-year-old girl.”

          He listed some of the items the hospital has run out of: penicillin, insulin, painkillers, bandages, hydrogen peroxide, gauze, plaster, x-ray film, sterile gloves, surgical blades and intravenous fluids: and added:

          “We no longer have a system… Most of the staff have left.”

 ENCOURAGING REPORTS

In the midst of  such devastating news, it has been great to get some encouraging reports from Bishop Ishmael.

Progress on Irrigation Project

Firstly he reports that the irrigation project at St Mark’s Lozane is progressing, that a borehole has been sunk and a good supply of water discovered. This project has been instigated by the priest and the head of the adjacent primary school in order to use mission land to grow vegetables and sell them as income to support the school and parish. Pupils, parishioners and the whole local community will be involved in tending the vegetables. Martha Mutikani and Hilary Brand were able to visit the site of the project in April, along with the Aids Co-ordinator Peter Kwarumba who is co-ordinating the project.

Peter Kwarumba (left) and Rev Shadza (centre) pointing out the site of the project.

  Books given to primary schools

We have also received news of books funded by our Croydon area being given to primary schools. A gift of books to St Patrick’s Primary School came from money collected at NutfieldPrimary School (see presentation below). 

One hundred books  were also presented to St Hughes Primary School in the rural area of Mazinyo, south of Gokwe (see below with school staff).  This was originally a mission school, taken over by the government some years ago, but the local authorities recently asked the diocese to take it back. It is, reports Bishop Ishmael, in a very poor state. “We hope to bring some sanity to this Community that has neglected an otherwise good School.”

 Work recommences on St Patrick’s Hospital

Many of you will know that those of us who went on the trip were disappointed at the lack of progress to the building of St Patrick’s hospital. We spent some time quizzing the newly-formed building committee and began to understand some factors involved: problems with local government inspections, broken-down vehicles, the cost of building materials escalating out of control, and also clearly a lack of project management. The forming of the new committee, a couple of go-ahead young priests together with the local building contractor, has obviously made a difference and it has been good to hear since our return of the work moving forward.

 NEEDS, RESOURCES & FRUSTRATIONS

During our visit, Bishop Ishmael and the other folks there were very gracious about our persistent questions and our very western insistence on accountability, and indeed grateful that it has opened up useful discussions for them.

          We concluded that there had been no corrupt misuse of money sent by us, although clearly now and then it had been diverted to other causes, for example, fuel and vehicle repairs. When you understand the vast distances involved and the state of the dirt roads you need to travel, this becomes a lot more understandable.  

          Our visit has enabled us to build up much stronger contacts across the diocese, to put in place better systems of feedback and to understand the needs better. We have especially identified the need for training in areas such as project management and leadership and are planning to make that a priority in the months and years to come. 

          The trip has also helped us to a better understanding of the immense difficulties of for the Diocese there of changing money where you have the choice of directly using the official exchange rate and getting virtually nothing for your money, or using other methods which are legal, but long and convoluted and take time.

           And it’s getting harder! So much so that for the foreseeable future sending money may be at the best impractical and at the worst impossible. We will continue to supply help in whatever way we can – and have found some means of doing so – but we are not an aid agency and these will only be drops in an ocean of need.

 PRAYER – THE VITAL LINK

And this is why prayer right now is so important. If like me you are a ‘doing’ person, you will read this news and be frustrated:  We ought to be doing more. And yes, we did. But sometimes we just can’t.

          One thing those of us who went on the trip learned from our Zim brothers and sisters was how they continue to depend on God when it seems all other hope is gone. So perhaps now we need to learn from them. We need to learn how to  stand with them in that patient dependence and to discover how God can work even when we cannot.

 PARTNERSHIP – THE LONG HAUL

We are a partnership link and we are in it for the long haul. As Bishop Nick said at our recent Sanderstead event, “We need to hold our nerve.” (Bishop Nick will shortly be sending a letter to all clergy about the needs of Zimbabwe to be read out in all parishes.) Even if we are frustrated in the little that can be done right now, we are looking to the future, believing that we will be soon be working together with our brothers and sisters to rebuild a new Zimbabwe and preparing for that day. In the meanwhile, the vital thing is to keep helping where we can and to communicate our concern where we can – anything that will help keep hope alive – but above all to keep praying.  

PRAYER POINTERS

Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.  Psalm 57.1

Please pray for:

• ·       Food supplies to enable St Patrick’s School to continue functioning.
• ·       Day to day survival for all our brothers and sisters
• ·       Wisdom for Bishop Ishmael and all the leaders of the church
•        The clergy as they meet for a conference in mid-August
• ·       The Link Team here as we develop our work in a changing situation
• ·       Those who work behind the scenes for political change
• ·       The UN and all those who have responsibility for refugees
• ·       Zimbabweans exiles who can only watch as their homeland is destroyed.