Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Yesterday was Africa Day, so we had the day off work. Rochelle stayed in Harare, but I travelled to Masvingo with the Territorial Youth Secretary to meet with the Divisional Commander, the Divisional Youth Officer and other youth leaders and representatives to plan the territorial youth councils happening there the end of June. Wow, there was a lot of official titles in that sentence. Anyway, Masvingo is over 390 km away, which is quite a trip if you're familiar with African roads.

Since the TYS doesn't have a vehicle (only Cabinet Secretaries have vehicles) and couldn't get one from THQ for the day, we had to take a bus to Masvingo. We left home for the bus terminal at 5:30 am and got on a bus at 6:30 am. We arrived in Masvingo around 10:30 am. It was quite a trip. I saw baboons, monkeys and breathtaking scenery. We stopped in Chivhu to stretch our legs and have some bananas. There was a large sign there that said: "In Chivhu, anyone can get HIV/AIDS, and anyone can prevent HIV/AIDS."

The DC and DYO picked us up in Masvingo and we went to the DHQ compound (includes DHQ, a corps and the home of the corps officer and DC). The DC mentioned that it's not safe for them to live there these days as thieves keep coming and stealing their property. The thieves came recently with knives and forced the children to open the doors, telling them that they would kill them if they didn't let them in. Many officers in this territory have been robbed recently. Please pray for the safety of Salvation Army personnel in this territory. (I thought that someone was trying to break into our home earlier this week, as I woke up in the middle of night to the sounds of dogs barking and the doors and windows rattling. It turns out that I was only experiencing my first earthquake tremors.)

The planning meeting was very fruitful, and I'm really looking forward to the event. There will be a prayer tent, all-nights of prayer, a march of witness, three or four open airs with door-to-door campaigns, six workshops, sports ministry (soccer and netball), praise and testimony meetings and holiness meetings. Youth are coming from across the territory, so we're renting school classrooms in the area where youth can sleep and have some shelter from the cold (it's winter here). There was a lot of prayer put into the planning, and I continue to be impressed and challenged by the spiritual maturity of this territory.

After the planning, we had a quick meal of sadza and spinach and then rushed to find a bus to take us back to Harare. But there were no buses. So we went to the main intersection leading out of town and waited for possible transport (ie hitchhiking). Don't worry, the DC waited with us to make sure we found a ride. After an hour, we found a driver with a pickup willing to take us. And 15 other people. The TYS and I jumped in first and got the prime spots with our back to the front of the vehicle. We were very crammed in, as people had groceries and belongings with them as well. After an hour or two, most people got off at their destinations so we had a little more room in the back.

Sitting in the back, I had a prime seat to watch a stunning African sunset. And then, once it got dark, to examine the multitude of stars in the sky. After a while, it started to get really cold. And I mean really cold. Shivering and shaking, I thought to myself: "I'm sitting in the back of a pickup truck that is driving fast along a bumpy African road on a four-hour trip and this is official Salvation Army business?" Life is very different here (I think this will be a recurring sentence in my blogs). It's unbelievable that this is how the TYS travels. I can't imagine Dave Ivany, my father-in-law and the TYS in Canada, having to do this.

The other man in the back of the pick-up truck kept pressing his body into ours to stay warm and shielded from the cold wind. At one point his face was pressed into my thigh. As we said goodbye, he said that he was sure we would meet again. He's probably correct, as in some cultures, we would probably be married now.

I made it home safely (I won't tell you about getting dropped off in downtown Harare and waiting to get picked up again as I'm just remembering that our mothers read this...) but what an experience. Tomorrow is the first day in a month where we have nothing planned (so far), and we're looking forward to the opportunity to just relax and unwind. There's a small gamepark about an hour's walk from us, so we might take an afternoon trip there.