I went to my first live Cricket match this weekend. I have watched a few minutes on tv here and there, but it’s not a Canadian sport and not something I ever took and interest in. So when I was invited to watch the final games of a week of tournament, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I was told that a Cricket game could last days, so I was a bit worried. The stadium was packed! I couldn’t believe it, and parking was impossible. When got to our seats and the first match was between 3^rd and 4^th place. I had to ask a lot of questions to find out the rules and such of the game. Like any live sport in any place in the world, the fans were cheering, doing “the wave” and had their team chants. The first game lasted about 3 hours. It was more of a learning experience. The second game was for 1^st and 2^nd place. This game was much more exciting. The friend that I went with had family playing on one of the teams. This is the game that people had come for. This game was much more exciting. The general gist of the game is to get as many points in 10 wickets as possible. A wicket is like an inning in baseball. The first team hit 105 points in 10 wickets; the second team (the one I was cheering for) hit 107 points in 1 wicket! This game lasted about 4 hours. The weather was temperamental, it would pour with rain for about 10 minutes then it would be boiling hot and sunny and then it would rain again. However, we had hotdogs and ice cream and enjoyed the day. It took us about 30 minutes to finally get out of the parking lot and then home to bed! I hadn’t noticed since we were under a tent and there had been rain, but somehow I managed to get some sun. The church that I go to here is trying something different for Lent. They have house groups here, which are study groups made up of people in your area, they are like a support network. Anyways, during Lent, each house group takes turns leading evensong on Sunday evenings.

Well I’ve been here almost a week and it’s like I never left. ZESA is still scattered, candy is still given as change, and 20 people get on a 15 passenger combie. There is one big change and it was almost a reason not to come back….IB coffee shop closed. Now this may sound ridiculous but they made the best cappuccinos EVER! It was my one vice and now I’ll have to find somewhere else. Also unlike at home a regular size cappuccino here is $1! The weather is hot and there hasn’t been any rain to cool things down. The glasses, medical supplies and school supplies were a HUGE hit as I knew they would be. I’m in Harare at the moment getting things sorted like a car and supplies before I head east. It’s been nice to catch up with people and find out what I missed while I was home. You might have read in the paper that the Zimbabwean Government passed a law which is in effect March 1^st that stipulates that all companies with a net worth over $500,000 have to have a 51% Shona ownership. The companies have 5 years to put this into practice or they will be arrested and shut down. There are mixed reviews about this, some are worried that this will prevent foreign investment, others are worried that it means that Shona people who aren’t qualified will take over because it’s deemed necessary. General consensus is that it will take a generation to put this into practice not 5 years. Maize is in full bloom, however with the lack of rain, the crops aren’t what they should be and food programs have already started. Some farmers have a second crop but that seems unlikely. ZESA has been particularly bad these last few weeks, some say it’s the worst it’s ever been. Power will come on only for a few hours each day if that. More people have invested in a generator but the cost of fuel makes it expensive and people are only using when absolutely necessary. It turns out there are 4 turbines that generate power, only 1 is working. Coal is unavailable and the train system doesn’t work anyhow to transport the fuel. Where the majority of the power comes from is a dam in Kariba. This dam was created in the 60’s and is on the Zambia boarder. There is a tower on the north side for Zambia and a tower on the south side for Zimbabwe. It’s a deep dam, which was originally a canyon but since the rain has been limited there are concerns that it won’t last.

I am officially back in Zim and it wasn’t as easy this time, I really had to work for it. It all started on Friday before I left. My passport hadn’t come back from Ottawa where it was at the Zimbabwean Embassy being assessed for a visa. I had paid to have it sent overnight. Recent experience had taught me that it wouldn’t take long, Murphy’s Law would prove otherwise. Friday morning it still hadn’t arrived, so I decided to track it online, well the number wasn’t in the system so I called the 800 number and after 15 minutes on hold I was told that it had just left Ottawa and would arrive Monday morning before noon. This would make things tight but not impossible. I was suppose to spend the weekend with nana before I left and mum said that her and dad would wait for my passport and I could still go to nana’s. Nana’s was as always a good time and I enjoyed some quality time with her. Monday morning came around and I called home at 9 to check and big surprise it wasn’t there yet. I called every 30 minutes to get an update. The fantastic things about mothers are that when it comes to their children they don’t take any nonsense from everyone. In true mummy fashion, my mum called everyone from the post office to dispatch to the man in the truck to tell them that her daughter was leaving for Africa that night and needed her passport to go. She ended sending my dad to get it from the dispatch office and in true dad fashion he went. It was about 1pm when I got a call saying that she had the passport and they were going to try to catch the 3pm ferry. They arrived at nana’s just after 5 where we had a fantastic roast dinner followed by a mad dash for the door and airport. We made it and I said my goodbyes and got on my first flight. I had never flown KLM before, I would highly recommend it, it was one of the nicest planes and the service was brilliant. The plane was empty so many of us had a whole row to ourselves. I had asked for the ER exit row as they have more room, thinking that it would be nice if there was a full flight. I got the row but the arm rests don’t go up since your tray is in the arm so I couldn’t spread out. Amsterdam has a nice airport, I had about 6 hours to kill before my next flight, I had a brilliant idea that I would go online, send some emails maybe watch a movie….. Well that didn’t happen, I had put my computer on sleep and the battery was in the red zone, I thought I would just plug it in and everything would be gravy but I couldn’t find an outlet anywhere. I went to the internet café and there were no outlets everyone was just using their computer battery. So I walked around, drank coffee and relaxed. My flight to Nairobi was packed! I was able to get some sleep and watch a movie. My ticket gave me a 50 minute window to get from one gate to the next. I was a little nervous, and was happy when the flight attendant read out a list of flights and gates while we still were on the plane. My flight was leaving from gate 14. I landed and I was able to get off the plane pretty quickly, and went to gate 14, well my flight wasn’t leaving from there, I started to panic, so I ran around looking for a screen with a list of departures, my flight was infact leaving from gate 8. I walked to the gate and people were already boarding and I checked in. I also found out that it was making a stop on the way to Harare in the Congo. So I have spent 50 minutes in Kenya and 50 minutes in the Congo. I made it to Harare still intact. Bev met me at the other end and we drove to her place. It’s like I never left, we got to her place and surprise, surprise there was no ZESA. She had to go back to work and I passed out on her bed until about 7. I woke up to chicken and fries. We had a visit and I called home and reported that I had made it and that I would email as soon as I could. So that’s the last few days in a nut shell, it’s hard to believe it’s already Thursday, I feel like I’ve lost the week.

I know it’s been a while since I lasted updated my blog so here’s what’s happened in the last 2 months.

I was staying with a couple who have 2 dogs, a rooster and a hen. Nonnie is a small terrier who is a firecracker, she’s small but feisty like Tiger. Axe is a black lab and is like a little old man. He’s quiet and reminds me of Eyore. In Nonnie’s life she has killed 22 chickens and this week made 23. The rooster was standing n the doorway to the house, Nonnie believes this is not acceptable and attacked. Feathers went flying, however everyone survived (or so we thought). The rooster spent the next few days perched in the fence (never moving) and yesterday he fell off and died. Many would see this as sad, however on Tuesday we went to a National Park and took him with us. This park is a drive in the wild where you see Africa’s finest wildlife. We saw rhinos, impala, zebras, ostrich, warthog, giraffe, baboons and various other animals I have never heard of. We chucked the rooster out of the car and wished him well. I was also able to see cave paintings which were interesting. I learned that there are NO natural lakes/rivers in Zimbabwe. The Victoria Falls of course are natural. Zebras can kill a lion with a kick of its legs and the reason a zebra always looks a little on the chubby side is their body has a weight balance. If that balance is off, they die. This isn’t a starvation thing either. When I left Zimbabwe this morning, customs checked my passport with my travel visa, which she decided was invalid. My visa runs out Jan 22, 2010 and I left December 9^th. I was told that my visa had to be stamped once a month for my entire stay and this was not done. I had the letter from the Zimbabwe Consulate in Canada with me and pulled it out, it said nothing of this rule. Anyways I was told to pay $150 or be arrested. I really just wanted to get on the plane and come home. Luckily for me I had $153 with me and so I handed over the money and traveled 45 hours home on $3. Now you may be asking yourself “Why just not use a credit card in Jo’burg or London?” The answer is that our house was robbed in Harare and I didn’t have a visa. So I called the bank of mum and told her my situation, God bless wire transfers! She was able to send money to Heathrow airport that I would pick up at a money exchange. Although this was sadly not to happen as when I got there, I didn’t have the merchant number, I was told that I only needed my passport, the woman behind the desk said “I have the money right here but I can’t give it to you.” Needless to say I survived and arrived home in one piece.

Christmas was spent at Meghann and Richards. I was able to see their new home AND my new niece and nephew (2 puppies). I spent a few extra days with them and was asked to babysit while mum and dad were at work. After 3 days of new puppies I have realized that dogs and children are not in my near future!

New Years day we drove to Vancouver and spent a few days with my mum’s family. My uncle celebrated his 60^th birthday and we had a party for him at the Sheraton in Richmond. It was fantastic to see all my family together and while I was home.

So the new plan is to go back at the end of January. I still have work to finish over there and my time just isn’t up. Even though the first few months were hard, I know that I can survive anything and I’ll be ok. I’ll be spending my time in more rural areas when I go back, which I am looking forward to.

I’ll post another update as soon as I have all my ducks in a row.

The weather here reminds me of Prince Rupert, the driving rain. The days are blistering hot and the afternoons and evenings pour with rain to cool everything down. I spent the weekend in the Eastern Highlands. It's a beautiful part of the country, the scenery is unlike anywhere else. I came back on Sunday in a bus that looks like it should've been sent to the garbage dump years ago. It was pouring rain and the roof was leaking so we were all getting soaked. As a true West Coast girl I bring my rain coat with me EVERYWHERE and was the only one able to stay dry. I drove up on the Friday with a friend of a friend who is now a friend (that was a confusing sentence). It's a newly married couple who spend 2 weeks in the city and 2 weeks in Bonda (a mission village). The husband's family owns a plot of land that he and his wife are turning into an orphan camp. As we were talking he asked me if I knew how to shoot a rifle. I was a bit concerned at the question and said that I had been to a range once with Richard and had shot a few rounds. He said that baboons had become a HUGE problem in the fields. That someone had to stay on guard 24/7 to make sure they didn't eat the plants and dig up the field. I thought this was interesting as in Canada it's deer that eat people's gardens and other animals that eat in the fields. I also thought monkeys or baboons were cute animals you saw at the zoo, apparently not! In Penhalonga there are monkeys that run around the mission, the sisters even have their own who has taken up residence near them. When we got to their house, the floor had flooded and it reminded me of our house in Rupert where the basement flooded on a regular basis. Although people here don't have pumps or wet vacs, it all has to be mopped and dried by hand! The roofs here are metal sheets and lots of times there is nothing between the metal and the ceiling (if there is a ceiling!) Tomorrow I am going to an animal park for a picnic. This will be my second one. The parks here are different, it's the people that are in a closed off area and the animals are wild and free on the otherside of the fence. I like this idea much better and now I know what it feels like to be the one in a cage!!!!

Saturday I spent put Christmas packages together for the AIDS Task Force. There are 54 families that did. People throughout the year donate clothes, books, toys etc. that we use to make the Christmas parcels. The problem comes in when there aren’t enough of a certain age range to create a proper package. This is why I see so many boys wear girls shirts and pants. Also some of the clothes were huge and most if not all of these families are thin. The next AIDS Task Force is this Saturday, I would like to go back and do another session. It is so humbling and a very moving experience. Last month I was feeling sorry for myself and knew I needed to get my mind off things. I went to the ATF and you totally forget yourself and your heart goes out to these families. And the real shocker is how happy they are, they put on their best Sunday clothes and travel from miles around for this one Saturday. It’s a shame they are only able to do this once a month. They have a vet as one of the GP’s. I know this sounds wrong but in fact he’s one of the best doctors I’ve seen around here. I remember him telling me that the meds are the same the dose is what’s different. The 54 families are divided among the group so you become involved and bonded with your families. This project has been going on for 12 years. How they have managed through the worst of times in the country I will never know. They have sent children to school, have gotten ARV’s for AID victims and showed them that there is life after infection. This week I have been helping out at the local church office with IT and admin skills, the lovely woman that works here God love her is so slow that what I can do in a morning takes her the better part of 2 days! The weather has been hot but with the full moon comes ever needed rain. Even thought the rainy season has started it’s not every day. It rains for a few days then is blistering hot for a few. I went to a lecture on soldiers from Zimbabwe who were in the first and Second World War. They specifically focused on Bomber Harris. Who lived in Zimbabwe and South Africa, but was originally English. There was a talk, slides and a movie. It was put on by the historical society. Saturday afternoon I went to a birthday party for a dear friend here Bev. She turned 50 and her family put on a great do. I got to swim in a pool, eat food that wasn't sadza and just relax. Bev should really have birthdays more often. :P

I’ve had my first experience with the private health care system in Zimbabwe this past week. Relax it wasn’t me personally but a visiting doctor from England. No he wasn’t volunteering in the hospital but a patient. Kal Wells came for 3 weeks to volunteer to work in clinics and in orphanages and ended up being the one needing help. Saturday night started like any other evening, there was no ZESA like most Saturday evenings so we were all just relaxing in my room and chatting. Kal had been at another children’s home, Danai, for a party and his stomach was feeling a little upset. What started as diarrhea quickly turned in to vomiting, sweating, and passing in and out of consciousness. He told me it would pass but I knew something was wrong. I called a dear friend, Bev to come and collect us to take us to the only private hospital with trauma and ER. I called Kal’s insurance to let them know and ask them if Avenues Hospital would be alright. The lady on the other end of the phone said they had no specific ties with any hospital in Zimbabwe and to take him where ever they could help. We arrived at the hospital just as Kal began to have seizures. They took him into ER where I was asked to fill out forms and pay a consultant fee of $51. As the night wore on and I talked to the front desk and his insurance, I found out that Zimbabwe doesn’t recognize any insurance but their own and I would have to pay for all his fees. This was find until the doctor decided that he had to be admitted to the HDC (high dependency unit). The deposit for this was $1200! At 12:30 at night where was I going to get $1200. In any other country I would pull out Visa and say “charge it”. Unfortunately, visa isn’t “all you need”. In a country that works on a strictly cash basis, and where no bank would be open I began to panic. Fortunately, Bev could find the funds by using the Diocesan Pastoral money that she had in her desk. So she zoomed to her office and picked up the money and we were able to “check him in”. To make things more interesting when she got back, I was handed an envelope with 2 tubes of blood and was asked to take them to the 24 hour lab and pay the fee to have them run. So we got into the car and drove down the street to the lab where we paid $55 to have the tech run 2 tests. He told us the results would be ready in 30 minutes and he would report back to the hospital. Kal was in rough shape but when we came the next morning to collect him, the doctor said his white blood cells were double the normal count and his potassium was extremely low. The doctor said it was food poisioning, gave him 2 perscriptions and said there was nothing else to be done and sent him home. We took him to Richard and Venetica’s, a lovely couple from church for a little R ‘n R. Sunday came and went and Monday showed up. Monday afternoon Kal relapsed. Needless to say it ended up that Kal was airlifted to Jo’burg where his insurance could pay for the health care he needed. Kal is doing well and on his way back to England. There is only private ambulance Zimbabwe and it costs $300 which they ask before they take you to the hospital. Luckily they agreed to be paid by his insurance and took him to the plane and then to Jo’burg. I have never been so thankful for the health care system in Canada and will never complain again! The care he received at Avenues Private Hospital was fantastic, unfortunately the administrative side was horrid and as a result Kal was take to South Africa.

On another note, I leave for Penhalonga tomorrow. Penhalonga is on the east side of the country. It is an orphanage and hospital that was started by the CR (Community of the Resurrection). It is still Anglican but no longer run by the CR. It is one of the poorest orphanages in the country if not the poorest. We are going to help out and visit for the week. Penhalonga is in the diocese of Manicaland. This Sunday, Manicaland is concreting their new bishop. He was ordained as a priest 3 months ago. He is making history as the fastest concreted bishop ever. Manicaland like Harare has had problems with their previous bishop and the political troubles. Manicaland is a rural diocese and has had more trouble spreading the word of what is going on. Also rural areas are more inclined to Mugabe and to be more conservative. This concretion has been a long time coming and I am looking forward to taking part of this historic moment.
PENHALONGA
I went to Penhalonga this week for the first time. It is on a mountain top. Carl and I had to take a bus from Harare to Christmas Pass which is about 3 hours away. Christmas Pass got its name as it was discovered Christmas Day some 100 years ago. From there we had to wait for a Combi to take us to the turn off to Penhalonga. This was about a 30 minute wait which I am told is not that long. This combi only took as far at the turn off to St. Augustine’s Mission. It was another 30 minutes to the mountain. From there we hiked up a steep path with our backpacks. Had I known what this climb would’ve been like I would’ve packed much lighter. This took us to the mission. Penhalonga is a village, which is centered around the school and hospital. The sister’s were happy to see us, we got settled in the guest cottage as the sister’s live in the cloisters and visitors aren’t allowed in. We had tea and a much needed rest. For the rest of our time there is rained. This was very good news for the sister’s but bad news for us since it limited what we could do. We spent the Friday morning planting maize seeds in the fields with Sister Elizabeth. We spent the afternoon at the orphanage with the children. School runs differently here, the children go to school for 7:30 and finish between 12-1. This allows them to help in the fields during the afternoon. We had brought them toys and colouring and gave them out. This orphanage has nothing, they eat sadza and beans or cabbage everyday. When there is no sadza they eat bogart which is an awful food that looks and tastes like hay. It is considered the bottom of the heap as far as the food chain. Their orphanage is leaking all over the place, and smells of stale urine. Even in these awful conditions I have never seen happier children. It is absolutely the most humbling experience. All they want is to play and talk and just be with you. They are so happy that you’ve come to visit. Saturday I was able to sneak a peak at the church. This church was designed by the same architect as the CR church in Mirfield. It needs some renovation but the structure and bones of the building are stunning. The diocese of Manicaland has had the same problems as the diocese of Harare with their bishop. Bishop Jacazi left and came back 2 years ago. He is tied to the Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF. He took the buildings and all the assets that the church has. The bigger problem for Manicaland is that is a rural diocese and so communication is bad and hard. So the news that Jacazi wasn’t the Anglican bishop didn’t spread and the trouble he was causing wasn’t know. So the split was more even. As well the rural area is more conservative and sided with Jacazi as he is more conservative. The original reason for leaving was the issue of Gay rights but was also dealt with white people. Saturday while Mother Betty was in town she read in the paper and was told that the courts had sided with CPCA (the Anglican Communion side). This mean that Bishop Jacazi had to give back all the buildings and assets, as well as pay back all the money he had taken and pay all legal fees and that he was no longer the Bishop for the diocese of Manicaland. This was a huge success for the diocese and came just in the nick of time since the new bishop was concreted on Sunday. This also meant that there wouldn’t be any trouble during the concretion on Sunday as people feared there would be. The Sister’s at Penhalonga make communion wafers. They haven’t made it for some time since there hasn’t been a market and no money to buy flour. I went and bought some flour and Sunday evening Sister Elizabeth taught me how to make communion wafers. It is a long tedious process but I was surprised how far 2kg’s of flour can go. I made 2000 wafers and 200 priests hosts from 1 kg of flour. It took 7 hours to do. The Sunday night we made the batter and pressed the shapes, we let them sit over night. Monday morning we cut them out and packaged them. I took 1000 wafers and 100 priests hosts to bring home to show and use. I was quite proud of myself and impressed with how they turned out and it is all done by hand! The rest of Monday I walked around the village with the children and Carl and I met with children who live in the village but are specifically orphaned. They live with either parent or grandparent. There are 9 of them who come to this group. We told them about projects we were working on and projects we were implementing at Penhalonga. There was a girl who’s 14 and had to drop out of school because her grandma couldn’t pay for her school fees. The new year starts in January for school not September so we told her we would pay for her to start in the new year. High school fees are $90/year and primary school fees are $30/year. There is so much to do in a place like Penhalonga and all they really need or want is time. They just need to know that someone cares and wants to help. We read to the children Monday night and said our goodbyes because we had to leave Tuesday morning while they would already be at school. Tuesday morning we climbed back down the mountain. From the top of Penhalonga you can see Mozambique which is really unbelievable. We were able to catch a combi from the crossroads that took us right to the Christmas Pass turnoff. Luckily some friends were coming back from Mutare and we were able to get a lift.

CONCRETION
Sunday morning we were up at 4:30am to get down the mountain and catch a combi to get into Mutare to be at the school to begin the procession to the Show grounds for the concretion at 8:30. This concretion is a historical moment. It’s the first time in history that a man who had only been a priest for 3 months was to be concreted. Julius Makoni is known around the world as Asland because he is seen as a savior. This diocese has been waiting for him for 2 years. There has been a tremendous split, people not knowing who to trust or who is in charge, well today that was made clear. There was lots of talk during the service about the struggles this diocese has been through and how all that was going to change because now they had a leader who was going to take charge and lead them into the future and give them the possibility of a future, one without fear or retribution. We walked from the school to the show grounds, 3000 people walked and sang as they celebrated a new beginning. What made the service moving was how people we so happy for this to happen and relieved that was taking place. Elderly women were dancing in the isles, people were clapping, cheering, singing and chanting. I have never seen a community come together and bond like I did on Sunday. They have been waiting so long for this that it was hard to believe the day had finally come. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are from a concretion of a bishop is the same in all places. When the time for gifts and homage to be paid to the new bishop people brought everything from communion wafers to maize to goats. I could only think “Only in Africa would someone bring a goat”. Bishop Julius spoke and I truly believe he will be an amazing bishop. He spoke well and spoke like a leader and a shepherd. When he was robed and given his ring, his staff, his mitre and his cross; he really looked mighty and like a bishop. He’s a very humble man, silent and deadly. As I was got to the show grounds I was asked to walk in the procession with Carl; I went into a room to see bishops and priests getting dressed. Bishop Bacari came up to me and said “I saw you walking in the procession, I noticed that you walked with purpose and meaning, where did you learn to do that?” I answered “A lifetime of walking with a bishop”, he laughed and said “Are you a daughter of one?” and I said yes. He told me I would make my dad proud. Bishop Bacari was the interim bishop in Harare during the 2 years of trouble. He is now semi-retired and works as a bishop without a specific diocese, he goes where needed. He presided over the service. He’s one of those people who when you are in his presence know that you are with a great man, someone spiritual and wise. I also met the Bishop Chad, the bishop of Harare. He was lovely and asked me to drop by his office sometime. He had just come back from the House of Bishops in Niagara Falls. He had a great time and enjoyed the falls. It was a long and wonderful day, we took a combi and walked up the mountain back to Penhalonga and I slept like I had never slept before.