The interviews took place after the group had assembled at the Mothers’ Union Centre to participate in their weekly Wednesday morning service. The service was led by Fr Issels Ngweyna, the priest of Holy Family St Clare’s, Nkulumene, whom we had met when we visited St Clare’s where he is also priest.
Bishop Richard delivered the homily on the gospel reading, which was the parable of the Prodigal Son. He said that this was many people’s favourite parable because it speaks of the fact that God never gives up on us and how important it is for us all to know this.
Following the service we had tea – as Soneni said – it isn’t possible to leave a Mother’s Union event without a cup of tea. It was accompanied by a piece of chocolate cake. Now, I love chocolate although I am not a lover of chocolate cake. Amazingly, I have not eaten a single piece of chocolate in the last two weeks and so I was really looking forward to this. But, I wasn’t quite expecting the cake experience that Felicity’s cake brings. Felicity and her husband Clyde are Annie Kurk’s hosts and Felicity makes wedding and birthday cakes to help to supplement their income. Having eaten a slice of her cake I can understand why people come to her!
Resisting a second slice and interviews completed I joined the others in looking at various things that were for sale in the Centre. I now have to see how to get a very beautiful, but rather large, round basket for bread; a new table cloth for our dining room table and four mugs commemorating the Diocesan Mother’s Union. (These are one each for members of my Department - Communications and Resources … sorry folks it won’t be a surprise now but I thought I’d tell you about them just in case they don’t make it home!)
After we had all bought the things that we wanted, but probably can’t carry home, we got back into the minibus and were off to St Aidan’s Farm. The farm was given to the Diocese of Matabeleland in c 1952. There was a church and a school on the site which moved closer to the village during the years in which there was fighting for independence. The farm has not been used to raise crops in over fifty years and we were able to photograph the first crop of maize that was grown last year. The farm has been re-fenced and the two workers now employed on the farm patrol the perimeter to protect the land from squatters. Last year they planted 4 hectacres of land to begin with and then a further 4 and this year they hope to plant double this amount.
We were able to see a large water tank now filling with water from a bore hole powered by a national pump which USPG provided. The tank is on a piece of land which was beginning to be prepared for cultivation. Once a second bore hole is working the land will be further prepared and irrigated so that it can be used to grow vegetables.
We saw the fields in which the maize grew and will grow again. Then it was lunch time and we were treated to some traditional food. There was maize and beans and goat’s meat and liver with sadza. This was followed by maize and watermelon boiled together which was really nice.
After lunch we went to see the bore hole which works with the national pump powered by diesel. This is the pump which sends water into the water barrel. Then onto another bore hole which the Kingston Area Link has helped to fund. This is the bore hole which Bishop Richard and the late Bishop Wilson Sitshebo spent a great deal of time searching for in one of Bishop Richard’s earlier visits. Sadly, it is blocked and so the water cannot be pumped up yet. The Diocese is working on unblocking the hole and, if that fails, it will drill another bore hole right next to it as they know that there is a great water table full of water there.
It was amazing to see how they were looking down the bore hole using a mirror to reflect the light in order to peer down to see what was causing the blockage about 12 metres down. It is a very sensible and logical way to bring extra light to the hole but it was extraordinary to see someone carrying a large framed house mirror across the open land far away from any sort of house!
The drive back to the Cathedral was my last one on the bumpy back seat of the mini bus. I have enjoyed the company of Les Wells and Annie Kurk on the back seat of the bus but I really won’t missed the constant jolts and bone juddering. Still it was a better place to sit than the seat in front. You see there is something to lean against in the corner at the back of the bus unlike the seat I occupied briefly one day. When I fell asleep there I also fell off the seat and slid gracefully to the floor before waking up and trying to get back onto my chair before anyone noticed. But, they did of course, and so I returned to the back row the next day – which was better for taking photographs anyway!
Dinner was at the Cattleman restaurant and it was good to spend a last evening with the entire group and our hosts and to be able to thank them for the help and support and fellowship that they had offered in the last few days.
My trip to the two Dioceses in Zimbabwe has been tiring and informative, fascinating and challenging and I am sad to be leaving. The people here have been so welcoming and helpful and they have an important story of faith and hope which I hope to be able to tell when I get back home.
I’ll post another blog when I make it home and have had time to reflect a bit on the whole experience.
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