In June, I had the privilege of visiting our partners in Zimbabwe, and it was a rewarding time with the Associated Churches of Christ Zimbabwe (ACCZ), Showers of Blessing (OSBT) and Khayelihle Children's Village (KCV).
Zimbabwe is facing economic and environmental challenges, and our partners are carefully navigating them. The country's inflation rate rose to 57% in April, and 90% of the population is out of work. Combined with the recent drought, which has been a reality for many since October last year, this worsens the situation. This was the backdrop for my visit, and many locals expressed their frustration and desperation.
On the first Sunday we were there, we travelled a few hours south of Zvishavane to a small village called Murarezi. Only a few hundred people live there, and due to their sense of hopelessness, many of the men out of work have sadly turned to alcohol. But ACCZ hadn’t given up on this community. Since October, we have been visiting to share the gospel and hold Sunday services in the community hall.
When we visited, about 100 people filed into the service, joyfully singing, dancing and clapping. This was a surprising response from a community confronted with so much hardship. We participated in worship, Bible readings and communion and the youth acted out Bible stories (mainly in Shona and with little English). After preaching, we had a time of prayer and asked God to heal people who had suffered from bad dreams, injuries and strokes. Excitingly, two men chose to follow Jesus that day!
As we shared lunch with the village Chief, I was informed that the two men who responded to Jesus were considered the “town drunks” and that 74 other people had been baptised there over the past nine months. He cried at the transformation he was seeing in the lives of his community.
Of course, our partner's work is both spiritual and physical. ACCZ works hand-in-hand with Showers of Blessing who dig boreholes and provide clean water to remote villages and communities. To date, they have dug 280 “bush pumps” (hand-held cranks that draw the water).
A highlight for me was seeing the transformation in the community of Gewmvurachena, where OSBT has introduced solar-powered boreholes. These are gravity-fed into large water tanks (10,000 litres), allowing even more people to access water and to utilise this for growing vegetables in a cooperative garden and watering livestock. There are also future plans for a community laundry. The joy among the people here was clearly evident and overwhelming as they shared stories of how this project had dramatically changed their lives.
All this is thanks to the leadership of our partners and the unwavering generosity of our supporters. Your contributions have made these life-changing projects possible, and we are deeply grateful for your continued support.
May God continue to bless the work of our hands, whether it be preaching, digging or giving! We all play our part in God’s big transformation project.
John Lamerton,
Chief Executive Officer