Zimbabwe 2007

For a short video about my trip, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=stoYKzSaerU

I know it's been a few weeks since I got back, but now I've finally got time to write a blog about it.

From Feb. 3-14 2007 I went on a missions trip with my school to Harare, the capitol of Zimbabwe. It's a city of about 3 000 000 people, 50-70% of which have AIDS. Because of this and some other factors, 65% of the population is under the age of twenty. This adds to the economical problems, which have caused an inflation of 1100% per month. Last year the government knocked three zeros off the currency, yet the exchange rate on the parallel market was at ZIM$7000:£1:CDN$2.35 when we were there.

As can be expected, the country has an immense amount of orphans. The ministry of our team was focused around schools and orpans. Usually we went to two schools and two orphans every day. In total, we ministered to over 16 000 kids. Most of what we did consisted of loving kids that weren't getting love anywhere else. We got to hug them and hold them, play with them, tell them we love them, and more importantly tell them that God loves them and that they have hope. We also gave out shoes, clothes, and food to a lot of orphans.

At this point, I'd like to include a few selections from the journal I kept while there.

Day 3
Today we went to one school and two orphanages. The two things that touched me most were:

When we spent ten minutes in a swarm of hundreds of kids, shaking their hands and hugging them. It took half a second, touching a child’s hand, to genuinely touch the child’s life. Three different kids said “I like your face”. It’s never been so easy to show someone love before.

At the second orphanage today, we got to hang out with the kids in more of a one-on-one style. There was a little boy, probably about three years old, sitting under a table by himself, watching everyone else. I went and hunched under the table and sat with him for about half an hour. He didn’t know any English. He barely responded to me at all the entire time, even though I had my arm around him. I kept telling him how much God loves him, and how valuable he is, hoping he would get some encouragement from my voice. He was sick, and spent the whole time sniffling and coughing. I wiped his nose with my hand. I think he was in pain. I gave him some candy, and helped him open it. Near the end, he started playing with my nametag. Every once in a while he would look at me, but the entire time he never showed any emotion. I don’t know if I impacted him or not. I can’t wait to see him in heaven and find out if I actually made a difference in his life. I could see that he’s a thinker, and has so much potential. I really hope he doesn’t have HIV/AIDS, but he probably does. Please God, take care of him.

Day 4
The highlight of the day was definitely when Alan threw $1 000 000 in the air, while teaching that money won’t bring you happiness. The boys didn’t even move to catch the money. Also, I had a great time at the first orphanage today. It’s wonderful to see so many kids singing their hearts out, honestly, for God.

Day 5
Today we reached about 3500 kids. I got to look at about half of them in the eye and say something to them individually. My favourite part of the day was when we spent 30 minutes saying goodbye to a queue of over 1000 children. I looked each one in the eye and sincerely said “goodbye”, often getting some sort of response. One of the orphanages we went to today had the best kids yet. One little girl named Primrose is the cutest child in Africa. All the boys wanted to climb on our backs. I got to carry three of them around. What really amazed me was how much these children already know about God.

Day 6
Today we reached 3500 kids in 3 schools by 11:00am. It was incredibly hot. The headmaster in the first school was fully devoted to loving the kids and sharing the Gospel. He was an encouragement to us all. After lunch we went to an orphanage. We painted kids’ faces and sat with the kids while they ate. They sung some songs for us, and we all had a good time. Before we left, four of them presented poems to Alan’s wife, “Mother” Dorothy. They said how they couldn’t have made it without her support.

Alan and Dorothy minister to about 40 000 kids each month. They share the Gospel with all of them. They love and encourage all of them. They pay school fees for well over a thousand orphans. They give out shoes and clothes to any child that needs them. They give food and money to the orphanages. The Zimbabwean history textbooks written in 20 years will mention them. In downtown Harare, children constantly yell out “Pastor Alan!” as we drive by. If it is possible for one couple to double the size of the Kingdom of God, they are doing it.

* * * * *

Despite how amazing all of that was, the best moment in the trip for me was definitely the lion at the end. The last day we were there we went on a safari, and got to ride elephants. We saw ostriches, buffalo, zebras, and alligators. At the end of it, we went to see the lions. The only thing between us and them was a relitavely small chicken-wire fence. We got within inches of them. I think we all came quite close to soiling ourselves.

The team I was with was amazing. I think because it was the most expensive trip, everyone there had paid to enjoy it so we all put a lot into it. We got really close to each other over the 10 days, and learned a lot from each other.

I'll leave you with a picture that summarizes the trip for me, yet didn't quite make it into the video that's on youtube (see link above).