Sunday 17 July

The visitors went to the services in which their hosts were to be involved and in most cases preached on the reading of the wheat and the tares, which was appointed for the day. It is hardly necessary to say that everyone’s experience was different;  there was a service which began in a freezing cold (partly built – no roof) Church at 7.30 to the confirmation of 43 at the remote church of Holy Trinity, Silobela West. The Revd Mthobeli Malisa, who is the priest there, has been ordained for two years and priested for one and has 11 outposts to which he also ministers.

Far into the rural area of the Diocese of Central Zimbabwe along unmade and very bumpy roads this journey gave a very real sense of the size of the Diocese and the perils which face Bishop Ishmael as he travels around his Diocese to confirm and minister to his parishes.  On the way to the church Bishop Christopher and Bishop Ishmael passed the spot at which Bishop Ishmael had had  a near fatal accident earlier in the year and were able to give thanks to God for his safety.

At Siobela there were two baptisms before the 43 confirmations and the service was conducted mostly in Ndbele with Shona bits!  Bishop Ishmael presided and Bishop Christopher preached and confirmed. His preaching was ably interpreted by Mthoblie, the priest, causing us to wonder yet again at the facility of those in Zimbabwe to switch between traditional Zimbabwean languages and English.  Bishop Christopher noted that 43 was the number of candidates that he confirmed when he first became a Bishop in the Woolwich Area of Southwark Diocese, just a few weeks after he had been consecrated and so it was a special privilege to be able to confirm so many young people in one of Southwark’s link Dioceses.

The Confirmation was a further example of the joy and strength of the faith of those in the Anglican church in Zimbabwe. The half built church, in a remote village, formed the backdrop for the Mother’s Union to lead the singing again and to help the whole assembled congregation to praise God and to thank God for the many blessings which they had received. 

It is hard not to reflect that we who live in the more materially wealthy north have much to learn about joyful faith and giving thanks to God from our brothers and sisters in the church in Zimbabwe.

Many had walked many miles and set out very early to be at this service, some will have carried their food with them.   They came from homes that may not have access to electricity or running water and the things that we take for granted.  Even those who live in housing which does have electricity and a water supply will find themselves subject to frequent power cuts in order to ‘power save’ because Zimbabwe, like other countries, is running out of the natural resources which provide the electricity.

Following lunch the Bishops and I returned to Gweru via Kwe Kwe with a squawking chicken in the back of the Bishop’s car – a gift from the church.   More food followed for those who had the room for it before we all set off for St Patrick’s mission.

St Patrick’s is about 19 kilometres into the countryside between Gweru and Kwa Kwa but it is 19 kilometres of unmade road with huge potholes and the convoy of cars were not able to keep up with the Bishop whose car travelled these types of roads more frequently and was more able to cope.

St Patrick’s Mission has been running for well over 50 years.  It has a clinic, a school, a pig farm and is the home to the Sisters of the Holy Fire. There is also the new Diocesan Centre there.

We said Evening Prayer in the beautiful chapel which is finished except for the lighting and so we struggled with our torches to read the words.  Bishop Ishmael welcomed us all to our base fro the next three days speaking of the value and work of the mission and how good it would be for us all to be able to see the progress that they were making on the various projects.  He said too that they had been encouraged to do a lot of work ion the Diocesan Centre, kitting out the rooms ready for our visit.  After dinner we sat around the log fire in the seating areas before an early bed ahead of another busy day.