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Safety doesn't always come first in Zimbabwe. Well, not even second or third. It's quite common to see people piling into the back of pick-up trucks or combies (buses) carrying twice as many passengers as they should. It's quite understandable, though, given the high cost of fuel. Sadly, there's been quite a few traffic-related deaths lately, which have proved even more tragic due to the number of people crammed into vehicles. With the frequent power outages, it can get a bit crazy during rush hour without the traffic lights. And the roads aren't that great either. Someone told me that the sober drivers constantly swerve around potholes, while the drunk drivers drive straight. And don't even ask about care seats for children.

I set my backyard on fire yesterday. I gathered up some old maize stalks and dried grass into a huge mound and then set it on fire. In just a few seconds I had a roaring bonfire going. As I watched the ashes blowing into a neigbouring field of dried grass and maize, I thought to myself: "Good Lord, I'm going to set my whole community on fire." But a few minutes later (and after stomping out a few small fires that started next door) the fire died out. I needed the ashes to sprinkle over my vegetable beds to help with the compost. It's very common to see fires everywhere you go, even in the city. You can be walking along the street and there's small fires going, burning grass and garbage.

We had about eight kids running around our home and yard yesterday, so I think we're now officially part of the community. While I was planting carrots and onions in the backyard, Rochelle was teaching the kids how to play Uno and Kaboodle. A couple of the boys later discovered that I have "boygame," so no doubt my Gameboy will now be seen a communal resource in the community. I'm planting green pepper, strawberries, garlic, tomatoes and chillis this evening, so will hopefully just have to focus on maintaining the garden after that. It's been hard work preparing the soil, but the experience has really brought passages of Scripture alive for us in a new and meaningful way. We also discovered that we have a small avocado tree in the unoccupied home next to us (we live in a duplex), so we will start taking care of that now. It's not in great shape, but if we care for it, the tree should start producing fruit in two years. Well worth the wait, considering the number of avocados we eat in a week. We can't wait for mango season to come.

With the inflation rate so high and school fees rising, many families are struggling to send their kids to school. We had some people ask if we had any friends or family members who would be willing to sponsor their children's education. I'm still working out how much it would cost annually (not much by Western standards - $150-300 CDN), but will let you know soon in case you're interested in helping out. Drop me a line at communications_service@zim.salvationarmy.org if you think you might be interested.

We attended two events on Saturday. The first was a gathering of officers kids and the second was a music and gospel arts festival that lasted nearly five hours. One of us will post tomorrow about the events (still recovering). On the way to the first event we travelled through an area of Harare we had never seen before. It was inner-city Africa with thousands of people crammed into tenement housing. I haven't been able to get the images out of my mind since. We want to find out more about the area and see how we can start working and/or moving there. We've already been told that it's not safe for us to go there by ourselves, but we'll have to see. 614 Harare? Who knows.