Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Yesterday we went on a THQ retreat to Mbizi game lodge. It was good to be with people from our office in a different setting - out of uniform, out of stress, just out enjoying nature. Food makes or breaks an event in Zim, so thankfully there was LOTS of food on this retreat. As we had our 2 lectures we ate bananas and apples, and then when the lectures were finished (and people woke up!) we all stood around the 2 braai stands (bbqs) and took pieces of freshly slaughtered and cooked meat. We had beef and pork, and there was lots of it. After gorging on meat, they announced lunch. A truck arrived with huge pots - full of more beef, chicken, rice, potatoes, vegetables, soup, salads, crates of coke... People were happy, and I saw a few slipping pieces of meat into lunchboxes hidden under the table. Hey, why not?

After lunch we went on a game drive, and saw some giraffe, zebras, impalas, tsesebe and elands. Supposedly there used to be hundreds of animals, but due to meat shortages, people have been poaching for survival, and there are hardly any animals left. I did learn something about impalas. They have an ability to predict when a drought season is approaching (atmospheric change) and if they know it's coming and they are pregnant, they eat a certain type of poisonous tree and inflict self abortion. They don't want to have children when they know they will not survive. Interesting...

We also had the chance to go canoeing. Most people had never been on a canoe before, so John became the second guide (there was only one staff member at the canoes), offered to skip the game drive and took about 12 groups of 3 people out for a little ride on the lake. People were nervous, but there were no incidents... until the end of the day. Four men went out on a canoe without John (but with the "official" guide, and one didn't wear a lifejacket. Major C is a very large man, and said the lifejacket would not fit over his head. Their canoe capsized. John and I were on shore, and started hearing "uyai! uyai!" (come, come). Two men (including the official guide) were holding onto the capsized canoe. Major C (the man without a lifejacket) was just flailing about in the water - he didn't know how to swim and he was panicking. He was trying to grab hold of Mr. N - who is much smaller, and was trying to stay afloat. John immediately jumped into a canoe, and paddled to them as quickly as possible. By the time he got to them, Major C was spending more time underwater than above it. He got them to reach for the paddle, and then hold on to the side of the canoe so he could paddle them back in. If he'd tried to get them into the boat, it would surely have capsized. John is very good in emergency situations, because he speaks calmly and confidently and makes others calm down. They all arrived back on shore, and the two men who almost drowned collapsed, spit out water, and thanked God for their lives. And everyone else - who had been watching the whole thing from shore - started thanking John and calling him a hero. And he is a hero! He literally saved 2 people's lives! Death is so common here that it would not have been extremely tragic/shocking for us to come home from the one-day retreat with 2 casualties. But it would have been tragic and shocking for us! Good thing he didn't go on the game drive! I'm so thankful these 2 men are alive, and I'm so thankful for my husband - the hero!

Everyone knows I'm madly in love with my husband, so I will resist the urge to make this a mushy post about my undying love for John. I will also resist the urge to bemoan our lack of chocolate this holiday. I know some is on the way...

This morning I was reflecting back on our first valentines as a couple. It was a Sunday, and so we planned to meet for a romantic brunch before church. Unfortunately, I was so caught up in what outfit to wear to this momentous occasion (forgive me - it was our FIRST valentines!) that I arrived an hour late. So we went to McDonald's. It's not the most glamorous, but I can still taste those hash-browns! I did bake John chocolate chip cookies in the shapes of the letters of his name that year. That won me some bonus points!

I was joking with men in the combi last night about not forgetting Valentine's. It's not really a practised holiday here, but people who have satellite t.v. know about it from South African commercials. The men said that since this is a leap year, it's the women's turn to take care of their men rather than the other way around. I'd never heard of this tradition! Sounds like a scam... :) I know a lot of people hate Valentine's and get depressed at this holiday, but hey... just try to spread some love today!

- Home-made chocolate chip cookies. My friend Sophie sent us a mix. All we needed to do was add milk (powder). We made these Saturday and ate them all within a few hours. Yum!

- Running. Keep it quiet, but we skipped our divisional farewell of the T.C. on Sunday. We've already been to several farewells, including the big territorial one. The vice president of the country was in attendance at that one, and John's white face snapping photos was making her security agents quite nervous. But yeah, we skipped another gift-giving opportunity and ran 18kms on Sunday! John said that after such an athletic feat we both deserved a FULL package of Kraft Dinner. What a splurge!

- Waking up laughing from a dream. This happened to me the other night. My brother Joel was being SO funny that I woke myself (and John) up laughing.

- Electricity. We had power ALL weekend. It was glorious. I did laundry, ironed, cooked, read at night, watched movies... (Life is intense in Zimbabwe, so sometimes you just need an escape from reality - like a comedy).

- Bakeries. When we were home for Christmas, I had this habit of just walking around Toronto with a big goofy grin on my face. Particularly this one day when I passed by a bakery - FULL of bread. I had to double-take and go in. I just stood in the midst of all of this bread and was smiling. The lady asked if I was ok and I said, "it's just so good to see bread in a bakery." I may have told you that one before, but trust me, it was a memory I've been feasting from! :)

- Flip flops on Mt. Royal. Before we left for Zim, I went to visit my sister in Montreal (now she lives in Vancouver) and we hiked Mt. Royal. She wore flip flops! This past Christmas I convinced her to walk from Yonge & Bloor to U of T and then down to Harbourfront. And she wore high heel boots. I love my fashionable footwear sister so much!

- Toilet paper. I know, I know, it's bad for the environment, and a luxury item, but I just like it.

- Sick days when you're not TOO sick. I stayed home yesterday - exhausted, headachy and runny-nosed. I watched "Eve & The Firehorse" (great Canadian movie) and read "The English patient" (great Canadian novel). I guess maybe I was homesick as well as being home sick...

- Milk straight from the bag. Yep - I had to add this one, because we just got back from lunch - and we found FRESH MILK in the shops - so we came back to the office and drank it straight from the bag. Mmmm. :)

Back in Harare. The orientation is done - praise the LORD! Wednesday morning I arrived at Pearson to meet the students and one of the leaders came up to me saying we had something to discuss: "Rochelle, just so you know, we've run out of food." What???!!!!??? Literally - nothing in the pantry. I had no cash on me. There were 32 people to feed. I panicked, wept and cried out to God for about an hour begging my almighty father to send us some food. I thought it was an appropriate way to start Lent! Food did arrive. A lady donated some pumpkins (did you know that pumpkin leaves are really tasty?) and then another man finally brought potatoes that we'd paid for the day before. So we ate pumpkins and potatoes, and then John arrived from the city in the evening with some money to purchase some items for the next day. I've got to admit, it was a horrible feeling to think that I was responsible for a large group of people and I had no idea how to feed them. Being part of the youth leadership school is always teaching me new things about leadership. I don't like it when leaders micro-manage and take charge of everything. Delegation is good, and we've always delegated food to others on our leadership team. But it doesn't always work out, and at the end of the day, a leader has to take responsibility. I think it's ok to panic/cry/be frustrated at people who didn't follow through for a while, but then you have to make a plan. I still have so much to learn.

Wednesday the youth did an amazing programme for the kids at a near-by school. It was good to see the kids having fun. Most of them don't have shoes to wear to school and their uniforms are ripped, and yet they have this joy... Thursday all of the ZSYL students hiked through the mountains for about 7 hours. It was tough, but amazing too. Yesterday was the last day, and in the afternoon we had a prayer time. I was really praying for reconciliation amongst the girls in our group. We learned that the girls have divided themselves along class lines - the "rich" or "urban" girls (who have nicer clothes and brought extra food like biscuits) sleeping separately from the others and telling the others to wash their clothes in the river, etc. This broke my heart - it's such poor leadership and so anti-Salvation Army. So we took some action and spoke with the girls. Last night I noticed some improvement. Things aren't perfect, but at least they were laughing together, sitting together, etc. I read the evaluations last night and one person had written, "this school should only be for boys. The girls are always late and they seem to hate each other." Ah, girls...

Speaking of leadership... did you hear that Simba Makoni is running for president of Zimbabwe in March? He's already being trashed as a Western puppet in the state media. He used to be the finance minister. Could make for an interesting election...

Finding food is one our biggest challenges for the Zimbabwe School of Youth Leadership. For the Z.S.Y.L. we ask all of the Salvation Army divisions to contribute by bringing food items. This means that the students of the youth leadership school can eat for the 2 weeks or 1 week that we gather. Unfortunately, most divisions brought cash instead. It's hard to eat money! Of course, in a normal situation, you could just take that cash and go buy your items, but although some food is finding its way back into the shops, there are still some very bare shelves. The other problem with cash in Zim is that is loses value every day. OK, to be precise, in Zimbabwe we don't actually have money/cash, we use bearers' cheques, but you know what I mean. John and I decided that we would contribute the peanut butter for the week. Peanut butter (dovi) is used in porridge, vegetables, etc. So yummy. There is an officer who is raising orphans and selling peanut butter to supplement her income, so we decided to buy our 16 bottles from her. The price was $7 million, but last Monday she only gave us 13 bottles and said the other 3 would be coming. Last night I went to go pick them up. "Sorry, the price has gone up to $15 million per bottle. Can you give the top up?" Now, this is actually not an unusual situation in Zimbabwe - the price of an item more than doubling in a week. But when you already paid and agreed for last week's price? Seemed a bit shady to me... Sometimes it's hard to determine what's "normal" here never mind what's "fair."

I'm not all that "domestic." I admire people who love cleaning, but I'm not one of them. In fact, in our first year of marriage, whenever I would be scrubbing the floor or the bathtub, John would be subject to (what I had thought were internal) rants about the subjection of women in the institution of marriage, etc. Obviously they were not fair rants since my husband does all the cooking! :) I digress. This morning I woke up at 6am and the power was on. I was so excited because I got to iron. Ah, the gentle hum of the iron, the sweet smell of the steam. People here are very particular about neatness ("smartness") including always wearing pressed clothes. I was laughing at myself for my delight in ironing, but I was honestly thrilled. Even yesterday, I did 2 loads of wash by hand (which is a lot of work!) and then our electricity came on at noon for a few hours and I did some more laundry with our machine. I was so happy! John's getting used to the whole idea of HAVING power once in a while. Yesterday for lunch he started pouring gel into our little cooking stove, when I reminded him that we could use the real stove - the power was on!

P.S. New figures released by the government: inflation is at 24,470%. That's pretty high! We got a good deal on bread yesterday though - only $1.7 million per loaf!

I'm in Harare for the weekend before going back to Mazowe for the Zimbabwe School of Youth Leadership orientation. We have a great group of 22 students this year. They are eager to learn, happy to be here, and already showing amazing potential. My favourite student names are: Temptation, Never and Obrain. As usual, we have struggled to find food for the students. We are serving sadza and green vegetables for most meals, and tea breaks have just become breaks, but no one has complained. I really respect that. We also have about 6 divisional youth officers who have joined us, and it's really good to see them participating in everything, out of uniform, just enjoying and being "equal" with the students. The team-building has been fun to watch. Last night the students had a dance party - going all-out crazy with moves - all the while singing memorized songs from The Salvation Army songbook (no electricity, so no luxuries like a CD player!) They want their own flag and t-shirts. They want to study hard and care about others and be good leaders. It's inspiring.

I'm big on education, and have been pretty much considered a geek my whole life for how much I love school and learning. But here, learning is a privilege - not a right, and having the chance to go to school is something people take seriously and with joy. Yesterday we were at a primary school and we saw all the pupils on "Thursday afternoon worksections" cutting grass with long metal poles and going to fetch water from the borehole. Most of them had torn uniforms and no shoes, but they were just happy to be at school. The other day I was watching the girls singing and dancing and the boys kung-fu fighting at recess, and I nearly cried. It was so good to see them so happy! This morning we were in a combi that was dropping off children at another primary school. As we approached the school, all the kids started smiling and cheering. They were absolutely jubilant! I asked why and the lady next to me said, "they're just really happy to be on time, because if they're late they miss some of the teaching."

I have taken my education for granted way too many times. Not any more. I am SO thankful that I got to go to public school and especially to university. I know so many young people here who would love the chance to go to university, but will never have it (in contrast with so many first-years in Canada who spend their whole year drinking, failing and wasting their parents' money!) I am so thankful that I always had clothes and shoes to wear to school and a packed lunch and snacks. Education is so valuable.

P.S. I wrote a Psalm from Zimbabwe and it was published on the Rubicon this week. It's a bit depressing, but straight from the heart...