I went to a dinner on Tuesday night, which was the most interesting dinner I’ve had since I’ve been here (and I’m not talking about the food). I was invited to a dinner with an MP, the Bishop, a Dr. of Theology and a parish priest. All well respected members of the community and all worried about the same thing, the state of the Anglican Church here in Zimbabwe. The MP was invited to ask for advice as well as what became a bit of a grilling about his party and what is happening in government. I still don’t understand why I was at this dinner but it was a real eye opener and an inside to what government here is really like. The MP was asked if there was a way he could help the Anglican Church move past all the political problems that prevents them from using their church properties. This past Sunday, all churches were instructed to go back to their buildings, the courts had passed a ruling that stated that CPCA (Central Province of Central Africa) had the rights to all the buildings and property and that Konoga had to go. Sunday arrived and people went to church, what they found was police barricades and strict orders not to enter. Some churches obeyed and went elsewhere to say mass, some had had enough and tried to storm the block. There was tear gas and arrests made including the Dean and his assistant. These unfortunate people were sent to prison. Some were released later that day, some not until Tuesday afternoon. All were released because there was no evidence of wrongdoing. The MP was upset by this news and made an appointment with for the Bishop to meet with the Prime Minter, Morgan. I learned that Zimbabwe has the highest enfant mortality rate, the lowest life expectancy in the world. That last year 17, 000 women died in childbirth, that people are literally dying of stress. For instance, an active member of the MTC party lives on a farm with his wife it was burned to the ground. They were literally left with nothing and no money, family took them in and their children supported. The wife died a few months later from the stress and upset of loosing her home and her lively hood. Her husband is still an activist for the party and says, “What have I left to loose, if I stop now, they win”. Questions were asked about the up coming election, the sanction lifting, the new () act, and the healing and reconciliation team. All in all it was an interesting evening. At the end the Bishop asked me if I would be interested helping him build a church for the Anglican Theological College. He started to build while he was the principal but it’s just a round cement foundation. They want it to be built like a stadium so that many people could fit in a small space I told him, we work on it.

I went into Mutare (the closest to Penhalonga) on Tuesday before I came back to Harare. The sister’s had taken me to met with the bishop but he had been called to Harare. Instead I met 5 priests from the area. One priest remembered me from a brief meeting in Bonda with Doug and wanted to know if the project was up and running, hearing this another priest who in now in charge of Bonda asked if there was a possibility of helping him renovate an abandoned building into a primary school library for the Bonda Elementary School and help him find a way to fill it with books. Literacy in the rural areas is very poor due to lack of resources, funds and remoteness. He would like to correct this problem and encourage reading. In some schools you must be in Grade 5 to be allowed in the library and take out books. The thought behind this is that at by grade 5 you know how to care and handle books correctly. This means that if children don’t read or have books at home they don’t practice what they learn in school.