Settling in - Saturday 16 July

Our programmes were slightly different on our first full day in Zimbabwe.   The men folk i.e. those hosts whose guest was otherwise occupied, the men from the Croydon group, Bishop Christopher and Bishop Ishmael went off to White Water for a time of fellowship and a braai (a kind of barbecue).  Apparently they took a boat which Bishop Christopher says they would have tried using on the dam if there had been enough time.

Paul and I went with Archdeacon Gordon and Rev Simba Basvi, their hosts, to the unveiling of the tombstone of the daughter of a former Mayor of Kwe Kwe who had died in 2008 leaving a husband and four children.

The Mother’s Union sang as everyone waited for the service to begin and then during the service.  Their love of music and ability to weave one song on another and harmonise seemingly effortlessly seems to be setting the tone for much of the rest of the visit.

Hilary, Sue and Ann went to the Mother’s Union meeting at Gweru Cathedral and I joined them following the unveiling of the memorial.  (Paul and Archdeacon Gordon went back to the meal at the family’s home which followed the unveiling.) The Mother’s Union meeting was a lively day full of singing and dancing and spontaneous expositions of the story of the Prodigal Son, followed after lunch by a fashion parade of many different Mothers’ Union uniforms.  A young Mothers’ Union Choir sang for all those there before the Diocesan President sent everyone off with prayers and good wishes.

It was interesting then for Will and I to go to St Luke’s Kwa Kwa to talk to a group of parishioners from that church about their experiences and reasons for making the trip to Zimbabwe.  Will spoke of training to be a youth worker and his work with the young people at St Margaret’s Chipstead and I was quizzed about being a woman priest.  Questions focused around what happens when a woman priest gets pregnant and what women priests are called!  (Were they referred to as Mother in much the same way as male priests are known as Father.....)

Then it was back to our hosts houses once again and I experienced my first power cut.  Simba and his wife explained that they usually have power cuts from around 5pm until 10pm on a Saturday evening as the national grid tried to power save.   Going back through the potholed small streets to Simba’s house was a nerve wracking experience because although it was extremely dark there were still a great many people wandering around the streets and needing to be avoided.

This week we were fortunate and the light came on at 9pm, but it had been another long day and not long after that it was again time to sleep!