Into Zim - Part Three (Out Of Zim!)

Well, I've described to you guys something of the journey to Zim and the Church and prayer and fasting. Let me tell you a little about the journey home, what happened after, and show you a few more pics.

While most delegates were staying on for the Friday and Saturday with Dave Devenish for Cross Cultural mission training, we were leaving right after breaking our fast so all our stuff had to go to the church on Friday morning. Though it was a short stay, it was a long trip, and there was a reasonable amount to carry - especially with the obligatory fat camera bag! After the session finished I went to where I had left all my stuff and noticed though that one of the bags wasn't there. For the most part I wanted to find it because I wanted the spoon that I had in there so I could eat the food everyone was being served after not eating for a day and a bit. I couldn't find it, nor could I find Josie whose car I was betting it was in, so eventually I had to just settle down and eat with my fingers as all the Africans did out of choice! We had a stiff maize pulp type stuff called pap, served with a bit of meat and vegetable stew - with the bones and such still in there, of course. The idea is that the pap is strong enough to allow you to scoop up some of the rest of the stuff, but I think I needed some more practice.

Anyway, after chowing down I was thinking I'd have to leave my bag. It wasn't a big deal - Drew could always pick it up and bring it home with him and all that was really in there was a spoon, a map, blanket - non essentials. Just as we were about to leave I spotted Josie and we looked in her car and found nothing. The bag must have been left at her house, but again, Drew could get it, and at least now Josie knew what to do with my things.

So off we went. Phil, the FYP from Mtubatuba who had organised the trip, was resourceful enough to get some money changed and picked us up some big, flavourful donuts from the Spar across the road. Zimbabwe didn't seem so bad any more! I felt a little more at ease to get my camera out, mostly because I knew what to expect, and shot a few things from the moving vehicle. Occasionally you'd see a policeman, or worse a soldier, and you'd quickly hide the camera, but for the most part you could snap if you just were very aware of what was around you. At one point I almost didn't notice some soldiers, but did spot them in time to drop my camera out of sight. Going past the Zimbabwe Broadcast Commission though one of the ex-Zim guys told me, "Here you don't even want your camera to be seen, let alone be seen taking pictures. In a coup the first thing people go for is the media, and they're very touchy about it here." I obliged, knowing it wasn't just my own neck on the line with all this.

The black and white picture is a township type area we passed on the outskirts of Harare. Inner Harare is fully urban, even if some of it is a bit run down (though most of it looks quite respectable), but in the outskirts you do get some of the more cramped, smaller, simpler housing.

With petrol in short supply and expensive it's not surprising a lot of people ride bikes, and you can see a couple of seperate occasions where I saw people just fixing bikes, seemingly with little or no tools.

The folk in white are devotees of what are called aposotolos, or something like that - an equivalent of apostle. They're a quasi Christian group who have a "holy day" on either Fridays or Saturdays, and they just gather a small group in open space and teach. They incorporate a lot of traditional and tribal African spirituality into the Bible, as many groups of people do here. Biblical Christianity is often viewed as a white man's relgion with a white Jesus. Lots of people have latched onto biblical elements that fit better with their own culture, e.g. circumcision, sacrifice, etc, and so have an OT type thing going on along with belief in the "ancestors" and that sort of thing. Breaking the stereotype that Jesus is some western God is one of those major things one has to deal with in evangelism here, even among a culture that has a lot of churchgoing and Christian influence.

You can also see a picture of a typical crowd. There didn't seem to be any clear reason for people to be there, but people were getting on and off buses, hitching lifts, selling stuff, etc. I think it was perhaps the last junction before the open road out of Harare, but there they were in their droves, both sides of the road, in the middle of the road, etc. Absolute anarchy as many people clamber for the few means to get a ride out of Harare and back to wherever they might have come from.

After a few hours of driving we stopped for a break and to refuel at a layby. There in the layby were simple stands containing hundreds of sculptures of various sizes, and we had passed a few similar roadside traders. Mostly things were sculpted from rock, but there were some wooden ones, some things made with rusted metal, and insects with coat hanger legs. Some of them were very good though and full of detail. Most of them were very cheap too, so we all picked up a few things we liked, and the guys were very glad to receive our custom. I asked how long it takes to make one of the pieces I bought (about 25 cm high), and I was told nonchalantly, "About a week". Looking at the vast numbers of things (though made by about 5 different people) even at half that time there must be years of work sat there in front of us. We asked another guy about the process and he said they locate good rocks wherever they can and increasinly have to go further away. They then borrow someone's truck, maybe giving him a statue, or sometimes just hard cash, and go pick them up from up to 50km away! Then begins the long process of shaping, getting finer and finer as the stages go on. Thing are then heated to toughen them, and for the dark ones several layers of shoe polish are applied. The whole lot is buffed and the shoe polish colour remains through the heat, but comes out a sort of greyish brown that looks really good. In any case it's a lot of work and I picked up three different things for a tenner! What was crazy to see though was how flexible they were with payment. One guy didn't have money, but bought something for three cans of coke! He even traded a couple of items of his clothing and some soap for other items as well. Anything goes in Zim!

Meanwhile refueling was going on. We had done it a few times (when I say "we" I mean Phil, who was very keen) and had to siphon fuel from the contaniners we'd brought with us into the van. What it involves is sticking a piece of hosepipe into the fuel and giving it one good, hard suck. That creates a difference in pressure between the hose and the atmosphere and, so long as the fuel is higher than the fuel talk, the fuel will continue to flow into the tank until the pressure is equalised by either running out of fuel or filling up to the level of the fuel in the container. On the way there we had to use more than one container and so it was unavoidable that Phil got some diesel on his lips, though he seemed to quite enjoy that! I was content to just know how to do it so that I can if I ever need to!

At Masvingo Shane pointed out some cannon that I simply had to take a picture of. So he pulled over and I jumped out, ran over to the thing, took a pic, and ran back. I never felt so conspicuous in all my life, especially as in this part of the world people don't run when just doing everyday things! Even now I don't know exactly why I have a picture of it, but I do. Again, you can see people just loitering, with not much to do as the economy has largely ground to a halt.

For all this Zimbabwe is a beautiful country and we did get glimpses (at 100mph) of some of the hills and wildlife. Unfortunately we were never anywhere near the famous Victoria Falls. If you want to join the Newfrontiers team planting into Livingstone, Zambia, then you can go and live very nearby this world class nature spot. I'll have to find my own way there one day.

Zimbabwe is also very dry at this time of year too. Though it was raining most of the way up you could tell it had not done so for a while in Zim. Even for them it was a dry period and very drove over a number of river bridges that almost need not have been there - the bed of the river was bone dry. In this last picture you'll hopefully be able to see the dry river bed that should be flowing with water. Zim does enter its rainy season soon though, so hopefully people will get what they need.

Just to add to the adventure coming back we almost hit another cow! I don't know quite how we missed it, particularly as a lorry was coming the other way. Some reckon the cow went just alongside us but got hit by the lorry, but either way it was very very close!

We got back to the border without incident though the queue was very very long. After a while of waiting around though a guard showed us some favour and let us go ahead (because he knew we'd be quick through) and that saved us at least an hour. Then customs just waved us through as well, again saving us some time. It was now about 10pm and we had a long drive back across SA. As much as I loved being in Zim, I had never been so glad to be on South African soil!