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Zimbabwe – Day 4

Day 4 was spent in Magwgwe North with Pastor Fibion and the Free Methodist Church.
When we first arrived that morning, Pastor Fibion took us out behind the church to show us an empty piece of land. But this land won’t be empty for long! With the help of Forgotten Voices International, the church is building a pre-school for the young children in the community. The dry & desolate land will soon be filled with a school house teeming with laughing children! It’s hard to picture it now, but just IMAGINE the possibilities…

Trevor, Fibion & Horace discussing the plans for the pre-school

Trevor, Fibion & Ryan envisioning the future

After praying in the field, we set out for some more home visits in the community. Our first stop was the home of a little girl who had very recently lost her mother after already losing her father. We spoke with her and her Grandparents and uncle, and prayed with them as well.

The little girl was so beautiful and so sweet. She sat there listening to everyone talking about her, and she just remained quiet and mostly looked at the floor. When they started talking about her mom, she got tears in her eyes and had to leave the room to cry. My heart just ached for her. It’s so wonderful that the church is able to help her go to school and is making such a difference in her future, but a child is never the same after losing a parent. While I’m encouraged about this girl’s future, it broke my heart to see the pain she is feeling right now.


Her Go-Go was a vibrant woman, with so many expressions…




Her Grandfather was also very quiet, just like his grand-daughter. His health is failing and their family worries what will happen if he too should pass away.


Her Uncle comes by the house from another town as often as he can to check on her and his parents. He told us that he used to worry a lot about her future, but now that she has been able to return to school he is more hopeful.


The next home we visited was yet another GoGo taking care of her orphaned grandchildren. And yet another strong woman withstanding the hard realities of life in Zimbabwe with children to care for.




After the home visits, we went back to the church for a youth event with the local kids. There were so many kids there, and it was a lot of fun playing with them, and watching them play, and then worshiping with them afterwards. It made for a fun afternoon!





As we left Magwegwe, the most wonderful thing happened… RAIN! It was short-lived, but such a blessing! When you think of Zimbabwe, please pray for rain. They are suffering from a drought and every drop helps!!


On our way back to town, we stopped at the Eskimo Hut for some “ice cream” (or a frozen yogurt-type product, rather). There was only one flavor available, and only one topping. Mmm, vanilla with chocolate “sauce” (or chocolate water, whatever you want to call it). It was no Dairy Queen, but it definitely hit the spot. You’ll notice in this picture there’s just about nothing on the shelves or in the fridges at the Eskimo Hut. I don’t know how they stay in business, but we were happy to do our part!


After Eskimo Hut we went to dinner at the Bishop’s house. It was a fun evening, full of laughter! You know you’re off to a good start when you show up for dinner and the Bishop asks if you enjoyed your ice cream… Busted! He’d apparently driven by on his way home and saw us getting our snack. Good thing he’s got a sense of humor and good thing we still had big appetites for dinner! It was great spending time with him and his family – they are such sweet people. I felt perfectly at home with them, and that was really nice after a few hard days!



Next up, Sunday at The Rock Church…

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Zimbabwe – Day 3, part 2

After we left the Bishop, we headed out to Magwegwe North (a suburb of Bulawayo) to visit one of Forgotten Voices’ partner churches. The pastor there is a guy named Fibion. Fibion is awesome – such a servant’s heart! He lives at the church with his dog , Fluffy (not what I would name a giant german shepherd, but whatever). He loves his church and takes such amazing care of the people God has entrusted him to shepherd. He is a good man, and a hilarious one at that! It was an honor spending the day seeing how God is using Fibion and his church in this community.

Fibion, maxing & relaxing in his office while we interviewed him a bit before we went out into the community to visit some families.


Now he’s getting fired up!


Fluffy


This is the oldest member of the church. I think he’s just about the cutest old man I’ve ever seen! And even though he looks like he’s scowling a little bit here, believe me, he got quite a laugh out of me taking his picture so much :)


Walking through Magwegwe North was pretty entertaining. More than any other place we went in Zimbabwe, it is very rare for the people of Magwegwe to see white people walking around. It’s kinda like “the hood” of Bulawayo. So, everywhere we walked, kids were running after us, shouting “Makiwa!” – which means white person. Ryan (our fearless leader) is just a 6-foot tall 6 year old, so he entertained our following of kids by making crazy faces, stupid jokes, and asking them all to race him. I’m pretty sure most of them thought we were nuts, but these 2 girls were particularly enchanted by him.


This is Horace. Horace is a leader at Fibion’s church. He’s a great guy and does an amazing job helping Fibion and leading the youth. He went with us on all of the home visits that day and you could tell that the people in the church really love him.


Our first home visit was to the home of a GoGo (Ndbele for Grandmother) taking care of like a dozen grandkids! This woman is incredible! In this picture below, you can see her brood. I count 12 grandbabies, but I believe some her children live with her as well. Most of these kids have lost their parents, her children, to AIDS. It’s amazing what people do for their families – what they endure, what they give up, how they survive. The church helps this GoGo by paying the school fees for her grandchildren. In a country where food is hard to come by, this is probably the only reason that most of these children are able to go to school at all.


Look at her face. She’s one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. You wouldn’t imagine that she’s a grandmother caring for 12 kids, would you?


We had the opportunity to pray for each family while we were in their homes. It was really cool to watch this crowd of kids (mostly boys) settle down and get quite as we prayed.


One of the kids playing outside as we were leaving.


During this trip, we met many children who were orphaned by AIDS, and we met quite a few who were actually born with HIV. Children. Born with HIV. It isn’t fair. It isn’t easy. But, it’s the reality of life in Zimbabwe. Check out the statistics…

* One hundred babies become HIV-positive every day in Zimbabwe
* A child dies every 15 minutes due to HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe
* One in five Zimbabwean children are now orphans (1 million from HIV/AIDS)

The next house we went to was the home of Doris & Dennis. Doris & Dennis are orphans, living with their Grandparents. Their parents died of AIDS, and Doris was born HIV positive.

This is their GoGo, who cares for them.


And their Grandfather (yet another cute old man!)



Doris & Denis in their home with their GoGo. The church pays for their school fees so they can have a chance to get ahead in life.


Ryan racing, and losing to Denis out in the street


Doris watching us skeptically



A little boy across the street


A mob of kids checking out Adam’s video camera


Trevor listening to Pastor Fibion outside the next home



The last home we visited that day was the home of a little girl named Blessed. Blessed’s mother has HIV, and her father has already passed away.


Blessed’s mother is very proud of her. She made a point to show us her homework so we could see her good grades. Her mother feels grateful that the church is able to pay for Blessed’s school fees. She wants a better life for her daughter and believes that this will help.



In talking to the mother, it was quite clear that her greatest fear is what will happen to Blessed if she gets ill or dies. She seems comforted in knowing that the church will be there to help take care of her.



A view from the streets in Magwegwe



After visiting homes, we went back to the church for a worship service. Here, Pastor Fibion is singing along with the congregation.



They invited Ryan up to share a word. Ryan shared the story of Gideon and reminded us that God said to Gideon, “Go with the faith you have and the knowledge I am the one that sent you!”



A child at the worship service, who seemed to be a bit distracted…



After the worship service, they fed us from what little food they had. This is, of course, their custom. But, it made us feel horrible, knowing that we could afford to get food on our way home and that they would literally go without in order to feed us. Pastor Fibion explained that the saying goes that a visitor will never eat all your food. The idea that no matter how little of it you have, you should share with a guest because they won’t take it all. These are generous people, I tell you.

All in all, it was a long and exhausting day, but a good one.

More from Magwegwe North coming up in the next post – Day 4.

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Zimbabwe – Day 3, part 1

It’s been 2 months since I returned from Zimbabwe! I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone – it’s just insane what the holidays will do to you… Anyway, I’ve finished my first round edit of the entire 2-week shoot – and I’ve narrowed it down from almost 10,000 images to under 7,000. I wish I could share all of the pics with you, but, um, you’d probably get bored after the first 1,000 or so :) So, instead, I’m going to go back and finish telling you about my trip. I’ll pick up right where we left off, with Day 3…

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On day 3 we headed into Bulawayo to visit the Christian Leadership Resource Center. The CLRC is dedicated to equipping local pastors. They have a library of books & videos, AIDS education resources, computers (sometimes with internet connection), and a staff to assist. They even have a section where the general public can come to get information about AIDS/HIV. It’s a partnership of the Theological College of Zimbabwe, and supported in part by Forgotten Voices International. It’s an excellent resource for the church leaders in the area.

The Christian Leadership Resource Center


The Library


And this is just the cool address marker out front

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After we visited the CLRC, we stopped by the Bretheren In Christ Church offices downtown to visit Bishop Danisa Ndlovu. Ryan calls Danisa his Zimbabwean Father. This man is not only the Bishop of the BIC in Zimbabwe, but he’s also a devoted family man with a contagious smile and an awesome sense of humor. It was great to meet him and talk with him a bit about the BIC’s ministry throughout Southwest Zimbabwe.

Bishop Danisa Ndlovu


A map in the Bishop’s office marking 2 of the BIC missions South of Bulawayo – Matopos & Mtshabezi. We visited the Matopos Secondary School briefly on Day 8, on our way to spend a few days at the Mtshabezi mission. You’ll see tons of photos from Mtshabezi in upcoming posts…


This was an incredibly busy day, so check out the rest of the story in the next post…

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Shelton, Margret & Concilia – Zimbabwe Day 10

Ok, Ok! So, I’m going out of order – so sue me! :) The truth is, I can’t go any further with this without telling you about Shelton, Margret & Concilia. When I think about my trip, I think about these 3 kids. When I pray for Zimbabwe, I think about these 3 kids. And when people ask me “how was your trip?” – I think about these 3 kids.

So, here’s the story…

When the team was in Mtshabezi, at the BICC Mission, we did quite a few home visits – meeting with many of the people who they work with at the BICC AIDS Project. This particular day was quite hot, long, and emotionally challenging. We met with 4 families that day, and attended one funeral (which I’ll share about another day). After the funeral, we went to one of the local primary schools, and picked up Shelton, Margret & Concilia so we could see their home and interview them. I have a hard time photographing and being a good listener, so I have to admit that I don’t have all of the details on these kids – but that’s what video’s for! Hopefully my team can fill in some of the gaps (or correct my mistakes)

Shelton (8) & Margret (10) are brother & sister, and Concilia (11?) is their cousin. The three of them live in the home they used to share with their mothers, who were sisters. And they live alone. Shelton, as the “man” of the family, is the child head of household. Their Grandmother lives nearby, but they actually live alone. I think that both of their mothers died of AIDS, and now the BICC AIDS Project helps them by paying their school fees, providing some food when possible, and sending them to pscyho-social support camps during school breaks. The AIDS Project is supported, in part, by Forgotten Voices and is making a huge difference in the lives of these kids, and 1700 others in the area.

This is their homestead, which includes a kitchen (on the right) and a small bedroom (left) and no bathroom or other sheltered space.

The girls leading us onto the property.

This is their kitchen. Notice that there are no chairs, no tables, and gaping holes in their roof. Please also note that it is now RAINY SEASON in Zimbabwe…

This is absolutely the thing I think about most when I think about these kids. See that bowl of greens in the photo below? Those are weeds they’ve gathered from the bush surrounding their home. That’s all that they eat when they’re at home. Thankfully, their school is able to provide 1 meal per day because their school is supported by a project through World Vision. The meals at school don’t include meat, and this is all they have outside of school. This is what I’m thinking about while I’m eating my dinner, and when I see food being thrown into the garbage. And this is what makes me think that while we’re doing a lot to help these kids, we aren’t doing enough yet.


We interviewed them in the kitchen and asked them all sorts of questions about their life and about what they want for their future. I can’t for the life of me remember what they each said they wanted to be when they grow up – but maybe one of my team mates can leave a comment below letting us know? I was so distracted by that bowl of weeds that it was all I could do to keep taking photos and not start bawling – so apparently I didn’t listen to the whole interview.


After the interview, we were also able to pray for the children, and then take a tour of their homestead.

This is the room that they share – which has a leaky roof as well. The girls sleep with Shelton in the middle (on a pile of blankets on the floor), and the oldest sleeps closest to the door. You can see how much they protect and take care of each other.


And this is their garden.

With very little rain so far this year, and seeds hard to come by, you can see that not much is growing in here.


Near the garden, just outside the fence of the homestead are 2 graves. The kids’ mothers are buried here.


But, these kids are still just normal kids. Laughing, playing…

The girls thought it was HILARIOUS when Obert (who works on the AIDS Project, and who you’ll hear much more about in another post) tried jumping rope too.


But these kids don’t just get to laugh, and play, and do homework and have fun – like most kids in America. These kids have to take care of one another, take care of their home, do all of the chores, gather food, collect seed pods to use as candles, bathe themselves, wake up on time, walk 2 hours to get to school each day, and know that their parents are gone.




My heart aches for these kids, and I pray for them every day. Would you join me in praying for them as well?

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Zimbabwe, Day 2

On Day 2 in Africa, Adam & I arrived in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. We were both a bit nervous about going through security & customs with all of our gear. The Zimbabwean government doesn’t like journalists very much, and we were just praying that they wouldn’t think we were journalists. Praise God, we made it through without any trouble!! Ryan & Trevor met us outside customs and welcomed us to Zimbabwe. It was nice to finally arrive at our destination after 40+ hours of traveling! Ryan & Trevor had been in Zambia checking out some potential new projects, and had just driven to Zimbabwe the night before – so they were pretty excited to be there as well.

Ryan drove us into Bulawayo and explained that we couldn’t photograph any government buildings and should be careful not to let anyone see our cameras. Anyone in the CIO (Zim’s version of our CIA) could be on the streets in plain clothes, and would probably assume that we were journalists. So, for the most part, I kept my camera down and I never really got many shots of the city :(

Our first stop was at a friend’s place, where we gassed up the car and exchanged some money. Check out this fat wad of cash he gave us!! Don’t get too excited – that 50,000,000 Zim dollars only equates to $50 US! It was just crazy carrying around that much cash – even though their largest bill ($200,000) is only worth about 20 cents! Zim is currently at something like 13,000% inflation! It’s just nuts!



After a quick lunch, we headed to the Theological College of Zimbabwe (TCZ – or TCZed as it’s called in Zim). TCZ’s Hilltop Campus is located in an old hotel and includes housing for some of the students. It’s a very cool facility, and the college and its graduates are the core of Forgotten Voices’ work on the ground in Zim.


Ryan had a meeting with the president of TCZ, Victor Naka and John Stomboli. So, Adam & I got straight to work, filming and photographing everything that was going on. They talked for a while, and then took us on a tour of the campus. Out back behind the housing, they’ve begun a garden based on the principles of Farming God’s Way. FGW was started by a man named Pierre (who you’ll see later in the trip), and is an amazing farming technique that produces an insane amount of food in a small space. It’s TCZ’s goal to teach their students Farming God’s Way so they can take it back to their churches and communities. The gardens can then be used to feed families, and even make money on crop sales. It’s a geniusy plan, if you ask me.

Adam at work:
Victor Naka:
Ryan, Trevor, and John touring the Farming God’s Way plot (check out the sweet light and the crazy sky – it was gorgeous!!)
After our visit to TCZ, Ryan took us “home.” We stayed at his friend Warren King’s home outside Bulawayo. We like to call it the “King Compound” since Warren’s parents and siblings also have homes on the property. It is a gorgeous place (more pics later) and was a welcoming and warm home base for us while we were in town. The Kings were still in South Africa when we arrived, but their housekeeper, Miriam made us feel very welcome and made us a delicious dinner. That night, we were able to relax, charge batteries, rest and even have a bit of fun. It was a good first day in Zimbabwe.

Here’s a shot of Ryan playing in the King’s backyard…

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Zimbabwe… where to begin?

I’ve been trying to blog about this trip for days now. I just have no idea where to begin! I guess I’ll just start at the beginning…

I left for Zimbabwe on Tuesday, October 23rd. I flew first to JFK in New York to meet up with my friend Adam. First of all, let me just say that I do NOT like the JFK airport! Hello? Signs would be helpful for directing passengers to other terminals & such! Geez! Anyway, I made it to the flight just fine, and got to catch up with Adam a bit before the flight. He graciously gave me the window seat and we set off on our 18.5 hour flight!

Thanks to my old friend, Benadryl, I slept almost half the trip. And the rest of it was spent chatting with Adam, and a couple of ladies across the aisle, watching Harry Potter 5, and playing MahJong on the interactive screen above my tray table. South African Airlines rocks!! I was so entertained, I didn’t open up my laptop or a book once :)

When we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, we had about a 16 hour lay over. Ryan’s friends, Steve & Michelle Lockwood are missionaries in Jo-burg and they picked us up at the airport and took us back to their house. It was so great meeting them, and their 3 adorable kids. They gave us dinner, comfy beds, and warm showers – it was wonderful! They also shared with us quite a bit about their experiences in Zimbabwe – they had lived there for quite a few years before moving to South Africa. It was great to hear their perspective and their stories. By the time Steve took us to the airport the next morning, they seemed like old friends. I just wish I hadn’t been too tired to take more pictures! Thank you so much Steve & Michelle for your hospitality! That overnight stay made all the difference in adjusting to Zimbabwe time.

And that was day 1…

up next, day 2…

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Back in Bulawayo!

Wow! No internet access for over a week! I’m going through withdrawl – this is a great quick fix :)

We’re back in Bulawayo today. We left here last Monday and went to the Matopos and stayed at a place called Shumba Shaba. It was BEAUTIFUL! I can’t wait to show you the pictures! We stayed there for a couple of days with some of the pastors that work with Forgotten Voices (or the other way around, really). It was great getting to know them and enjoying the scenery.

We left Shumba Shaba on Wednesday and went to the Mtshabezi Mission/Hospital. This is one of FVI’s biggest partners. It was an amazing week with them. They were so gracious and took such good care of us there. It was overwhelming. We visited the Primary School there, and interviewed some of the children who’s school fees are paid by the Mtshabezi AIDS Project. It was so encouraging to see how much hope these kids have for their future now that they are able to go to school. We also visited some of the kids in their homes out in the villages over a couple of days. That was incredibly humbling. To see these kids surviving on next to nothing – literally eating weeds for meals – and then to go back to the Mission where they prepared such great meals for us. It was just hard.

On Thursday we were supposed to visit a woman who is cared for by the AIDS Project, but she died during the night and so we ended up going to her funeral instead. Her name was Setty, she was 28 years old. Her only child had already died of AIDS, and we aren’t sure what happened to her husband. Her family was so welcoming, and allowed us to film and photograph the funeral. These are some of the most powerful photos I’ve shot – I hope to post them soon after I get home.

I’ve shot well over 5,000 images so far – so I’m going to be BUSY when I get home!! Wedding and Portrait clients will have to come first – so I hope you can be patient waiting for some images from the trip. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise!

I’ve got a great story to share without about an interesting run-in with the “police” but I think I’ll wait till I get home. I’m not that worried that the Zim police are checking my blog, but just in case… :) You’ll just have to wait!!!

I’ll be home on Thursday and will try to reply to emails then. If I get the chance, I’ll blog again tomorrow, but who knows? Please continue to pray for safety – especially getting through the airport on Thursday. I hope all is well back home! I can’t wait to get back and hug my niece & nephews and see my friends & family!!

kg

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all is well

just a quick note to say that all is well! we landed in bulawayo yesterday and made it through airport security with no problems. Praise the Lord! We’re touring around bulawayo, meeting lots of people and having a great time so far. I’m really looking forward to this afternoon because we’re going to go do some home visits. It should be a good day!

ok, gotta go get some pizza :)

please keep praying for us!

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I’m in Africa!

After 24 hours of travelling, door to door – I’m finally in Africa!! My friend, Adam (videographer) & I are staying at the home of a lovely couple who live here with their 4 kids. The Lockwoods have fed us and are giving us warm beds and hot showers before our flight to Bulawayo tomorrow morning. They are such a blessing!!

The trip has been good so far – pretty uneventful (which is just the way I like it). I slept quite a bit and even got to watch Harry Potter 5 – so all in all it was a good flight :) We’re still praying for an easy time getting through customs tomorrow in Zim – so lift us up if you think of it.

Ok, off to be a nice social guest again! I couldn’t resist the internet access while it was available :)

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I’m on my way to Zimbabwe!

Holy Cow! I’m actually sitting in the airport, getting ready to go! I can’t believe it’s finally here – I’m finally going to Zimbabwe! I’m so excited, can you tell? There’s been so much happening in preparation for this trip, I don’t even know where to begin…

First of all, I’ve got some amazing news! This trip now has a double purpose. First and foremost, I’m going to be documenting the work of Forgotten Voices International in Zimbabwe. We’re working on a documentary as well as taking photos for that FVI can use to share their story and raise support. I love what FVI is doing and I’m so thrilled to be a part of it. And if that’s not reason enough to be excited about this trip – there’s more!

Ryan of FVI met a woman a few weeks ago who has an amazing vision. Lisa‘s vision is a series of children’s books that would tell the stories of children from various countries. Each book would represent one child, one country, one theme (i.e. hope) and would hopefully be used by parents and teachers to encourage, inspire, and teach children about other cultures. Her vision is just amazing and even extends to eventually doing a book on every country in the world! Well, she has decided to do the first book with FVI about a child in Zimbabwe. And, she just happens to need a photographer to supply the art for the book. So, Ryan sent her to me and as it turns out, she loves my work! (*blushing*) So, my second purpose for this trip is to document the story of one child and create the art for the first book!! Lisa wants consistency throughout the series, so I also may have the opportunity to do more of these. That means, I’m really going to get to travel the world and photograph children with amazing stories! It just blows my mind that this is happening! I have been praying for an opportunity like this for FIVE YEARS and now God is providing the way! It’s just the most amazing thing EVER! Thank you Lord!!

Well, now I’m REALLY excited – I just got myself all pumped up for this trip! Too bad it’ll be another 40 or so hours before I get there :)

I’m going to try to update this blog as often as possible with news from Zimbabwe, so stay posted!!! Thanks so much for going on this journey with me – and for all of the incredible support you all have given me! You all are such a blessing!