This post got lost between Zimbabwe and here so I am just adding it - thanks to Alison who was on the Matabeleland trip and pointed out that it was missing - but I can't get it into the right place chronologically as they appear by the date they get onto the blog - not the date you are writing about...
Tomorrow is St James’ Day and so it is fitting that we have spent much of the day at St James School. We set off early to make it to the school for their big St James’ Day Service. I’ve seen a number of schools since arriving here in Zimbabwe and on Tuesday will see the third of the Secondary schools here in Matabeleland Diocese. St James’ is an all girls boarding school and like the other boarding schools we have seen the site is huge and this one is hugely sandy too. It felt as if I carried around half of the sand on the site with me in my shoes for most of the day which made walking around it enormously tiring. But, that having been said, it was a great place to visit.
The celebratory Eucharist took place in the sports hall – not that you would have known that this was what it was. In fact if I am honest it took me a few minutes to grasp that this is what it was. It was completely full of chairs and there was a wonderful backdrop behind the altar.
The seats gradually filled up as parents and groups from surrounding churches arrived after long and often hard journeys. As the guests we were given front row seats just in front of the choir which was made up from the local Mothers’ Union. There was another school choir on the opposite side of the hall and the music reached the very high standards which we had come to expect. Soon after the service began Bishop Richard was invited to introduce us.
The service was full of wonderful music and in his sermon Bishop Cleophas recalled that he had been pleased to be at St James’ last year too. It is obvious that he enjoys visiting the schools and speaking, as he did today, about the opportunities that education can bring.
Gradually the viewing gallery behind the sports hall filled with more students many of whom carried umbrellas to protect them from the sun (I couldn’t help but grin to myself at the thought that we rarely have the luxury here in England of using an umbrella to keep the sun off us!).
Once the service was over the girls were basically free to spend the rest of the day with their families or relaxing. We went off on a tour around the school seeing the chapel, classrooms, dormitories, clinic an kitchens. We saw the loaves of bread which would be used in the school in one day. I didn’t quite get time to count them to see how many there were but the entire table was absolutely full. Lunch followed and we were treated to a view of the largest victoria sponge cake I have ever seen, made in the Bishop's honour in the shape of the Diocesan Crest with the Bishop’s mitre on the top. Once we had finished eating our lunch the two Bishops cut the cake together and pieces of it were served to us and just about everybody else.
After lunch we were able to talk with some of the girls about establishing a link between their school and St Mark’s School in Mitcham and they asked some interesting questions about how the link would work and its benefits.
Wandering around the site it was good to see the girls relaxing with their visitors or listening to music and chatting. We were all a bit gobsmacked to hear that they get up everyday at 4.30am. I spent quite a lot of the rest of our tour wondering what could take them so long to do that they needed to get up so early! But, whatever they need to do, they all seemed to be thriving on the 7 and a half hours sleep that they get each night.
Then it was off to the Sisters House for tea. These are the same order that the Croydon Group had spent time with at St Patrick’s Mission. It was good to be with them and to say Evening Prayer with them in their little chapel which also gets used by the girls from the school for private prayer.
After evening prayer a group of the girls came to sing for us and then it was dinner time. I can honestly say that I have rarely been so frequently and well fed! Full and tired after a long day we said our goodbye’s and thank you’s to the Sisters and to the Headteacher of the school who had shown us around all day and made our way back for the journey home. I’m looking forward to a really good rest ready for our rest day tomorrow when we are going to the Matopo Hills.
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