Croydon Episcopal Area Zimbabwe Link
January 2010
In this edition:
NEWS FROM ZIMBABWE
Continued persecution
Economic hope but fear of drought
REPORT OF THE RECENT LINK VISIT
Clergy Conference: on the agenda –
sex and money!
Opening a mortuary – not your
usual tourist experience!
CROYDON COMMUNICATIONS
Event
Posters
Sharing our news with Zim
PRAYER DIARY
NEWS FROM ZIMBABWE
Diocese of Harare – Trouble, persecution and
faithful witness
Although Bishop Chad Gandiya was consecrated
as Bishop of Harare in July 2009, the former
Bishop, Nolbert Kunonga, continues to make
trouble for majority of congregations which
wish to remain part of the Church of the
Province of Central Africa. Recent court
rulings have decided that, where there are
two congregations, they should share church
buildings, but Kunonga’s supporters are
flouting this ruling, keeping the buildings
locked and harassing the worshippers with
the help of the police. Bishop Chad has had
to lead services on the roadside rather than
in the church. During one confirmation
service, a student from Bishop Gaul college
was arrested and charged with ‘criminal
nuisance’ for taking photos of the
congregation.
But in spite of the challenges, they are not
downhearted. Bishop Chad reported:
“We had our open air confirmation service
which in itself was a tremendous witness to
passersby. The singing was out of this
world! The confirmants were not disheartened
at all. When at the end of the service our
congregation of over 600 sang “Taropafadzwa”
(we have been blessed) – there was not a
single person seated. Everybody had their
hands in the air and smiling as we sang with
great vibrancy! I am greatly encouraged by
the faith and courage of our members at this
Church.”
Economy looking up . . .
Zimbabwe's year-on-year inflation stood at
-7.7 percent in December 2009, official
figures showed on Friday. The adoption of
multiple foreign currencies by the unity
government earlier in the year ended
hyperinflation, which peaked at 500 billion
percent.
The economy is showing signs of recovery,
but it is hampered by owing $6 billion in
international debt. Finance Minister Tendai
Biti announced that Zimbabwe will seek
highly indebted poor country (HIPC) status
to have its debt cancelled to help spur
economic growth.
Zimbabwe has enlisted the support of the
African Development Bank (AfDB) to draft a
debt relief plan that would unlock access to
international finance. To qualify for HIPC
status, a country's debt has to be
considered to be beyond its ability to repay
from its own resources. The country will
also have to commit to sound economic
management and institute broad reforms.
. . . but drought threatens hunger
Rainfall is predicted to be lower than
average in Zimbabwe’s southern provinces in
2010. Such provinces as Midlands,
Matabeleland North and South, Manicaland,
and parts of Mashonaland East and Central,
and Masvingo have have been experiencing
long dry spells with some areas having last
received rains
before Christmas.
This means that more than 2.2 million people
in Zimbabwe are expected to need food aid in
the coming year. The situation is made worse
because of the lack of agricultural inputs.
New constitution delayed
When President Robert Mugabe and Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai signed the
power-sharing deal in September 2008, they
agreed to write a new constitution within 18
months. The current constitution dates back
to before independence.
The programme to do this has currently been
suspended, due to funding problems and
differences between the parties on who
should be collecting views on the
constitution.
The form of the new constitution is a major
point of contention between the rival
parties in the unity government, and
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) has previously said Mugabe's ZANU-PF
was not committed to the drafting of a new
constitution which could usher in democratic
reforms.
VISIT WITH A DIFFERENCE
In November three members of our Link team:
Rev Charles Bradshaw, Hilary Brand and Rev
Steve Gendall, visited Central Zimbabwe. It
was a short visit, just a week, and focused
on two events: a clergy conference and the
opening of a mortuary.
We noticed a change in the general
mood of the country as soon as we arrived –
people seemed more purposeful and upbeat.
All we spoke agreed that 2008 had been their
worst year ever, but now that the economic
situation had improved were much more
positive and hopeful. They were well aware,
however, just how fragile and unpredictable
the political situation remained.. Just a
few weeks before our visit, when Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the
government, effects were felt within 24
hours – fuel became scarce and water and
electricity interruptions increased. The
leaders of SADAC moved quickly to restore
the situation and people were reassured.
Purposeful priests & sacrificial service
The Conference, for the 35 clergymen (yes,
all men) of Central Zimbabwe and their
wives, was a first in many ways. The most
obvious was that it was for clergy and
wives, something that had never happened
before. It was held in a new
lodge/conference centre just outside Gweru,
an unusual treat for most couples. One major
focus of the conference was the idea of
couples in ministry together and this
included a session on marital relations, by
a minister and his wife from the Lutheran
church – unusually frank by any standards!
Also talked about were the financial
arrangements for clergy and we began to
realise just what a struggle it is for many
of these couples. The Diocese is working to
put in place some sort of pension scheme and
medical insurance, but at present these
things do not exist, and there is very
little money to implement them.
Of all the churches, only half
are full blown parishes which pay their own
way. Many of the others in rural areas are
still ‘mission districts’ which means that
they need to be subsidised. We also began to
understand how hard it is for the young
priests, most of whom start off by working
in the rural areas for a few years, often
with a young family and often coming with
only experience of town life. For the wives
too, the demands are high – the traditional
idea of a ‘vicar’s wife’ is strong there -
it is automatically assumed, for example,
that they will become Enrolling Member of
their local Mother’s Union.
Bishop Ishmael has a great team of
clergy, with many excellent new young
priests, and is trying hard to do his best
for them, but the pressure on all concerned
is immense. Some of the urban priests look
after a congregation of a thousand and also
have full time jobs. Some of the rural
priests have up to 12 small outstation
congregations as much as 50km apart.
We felt humbled and in awe of our
Central Zim colleagues - extraordinary
people doing amazing things – but concerned
for the many tensions and difficulties they
face.
Dignity in death & hope for the future
We soon discovered that the Saturday of our
visit was to be a major event – the opening
of the new mortuary at St Patrick’s Clinic.
Getting there was a struggle, heavy rains
had made the roads like rivers, but on
arrival there was almost the atmosphere of a
fete. Music was playing, bunting adorned the
clinic, special guests were given button
holes, the school choir stood ready to
perform in immaculate uniforms, and a large
crowd of villagers from the local area and
all the clergy and wives and many others
from the diocese had also arrived. Guests of
honour were the local Chief, who actually
cut the ribbon on the new building, and a
representative from the District Health
Authority.
After some introductory speeches
from the veranda of the clinic, the Bishop
processed down to the mortuary a few hundred
yards away, preceded by servers with incense
and followed by everyone else – singing
hymns of course. Having prayed over and
blessed the mortuary outside and in –
including the 9 ‘berth’ refrigeration unit,
and almost being crushed by everyone else
who wanted to come in and have a look, we
then proceeded a quarter a mile or so to
where a new manual borehole had been drilled
to provide extra water supplies for the high
school. This too was prayed over and
ceremonially opened. By this time
heavy rain had set in again, so we all
processed to the High school hall, a huge
empty shell where chairs, tables and PA were
hastily set up, for a ceremony with lots of
speeches and presentations of gifts. We
handed over a suitcase full of dressings and
painkillers for the clinic, while others
brought disinfectant, mops and buckets for
cleaning the mortuary. All was finished off
with a huge feast for everyone –so big that
rice and sadza were served from dustbins
(clean ones) and beef and chicken from
buckets!
Celebrating a mortuary might seem
strange to us, but as we reflected we
realised why this was such an important
event.
Firstly it fulfils a desperate
need. There are no mortuaries anywhere in
the area including the main district
hospital in the town. With the heat, the
death rate from AIDS and other diseases
remaining high, and the practice where
bodies are often taken out to their rural
homelands to be buried, this is a major
problem.
Secondly, while the hospital build
is progressing, it continues to do so very
slowly. The opening of the mortuary was a
statement – yes, we’ve actually completed
something (and in the context of the
difficulties of previous years this is a
huge achievement), and it’s only the
beginning. Yes, we can build for the future
and we intend to do so.
Pigs, planting & future plans
While at St Patrick’s we were also able to
see something of the High School – the choir
is brilliant and the academic standards are
high, despite conditions in classrooms and
dormitories that are woefully basic by our
standards.
We were also delighted to see the
developments on the farm – notably the new
pig unit – 39 pigs at the time and a further
20 due to be born by Christmas. We also saw
the maize grinding machine in action and
heard of plans for vegetable growing there
and on other sites. We also heard a lot
more about the problems. Rev Phanuel
Kagwende the priest now in charge of St
Patricks has made great strides in working
to bring the different aspects of the
mission site together and in developing the
agriculture – he recently passed his
agricultural training course (funded by
USPG) with flying colours. But he has to
contend with unreliable staff, suspicious
neighbours and a certain reluctance for team
working across the whole site. He certainly
needs our prayers.
We had little time for visiting
the clinic, but one development to thank God
for is a new doctor who is giving his time
for free to visit the clinic. The Doctor had
recently been confirmed by the Bishop and
wanted to give his service back to the
Church as a thanksgiving to God. He can only
get there just one day a fortnight – but
this is a major leap forward.
We also heard of many other
projected plans – a vegetable growing
facility at Harben Park, a site just outside
Gweru, developing new buildings on the site
of the Diocesan offices, a building
dedicated to the Mother’s Union to be used
for meetings, pastoral care and training.
The Diocese of Central Zimbabwe has big
dreams and massive determination, but they
are working against the odds.
Supporting, serving & stepping back
The Diocese of Central Zimbabwe needs
finance for all these schemes – as well as
educational materials, support for orphans,
and for clergy and their families and
ordinand training. We want to help them as
best we can and as strategically as possible
– also bearing in mind that they are
fiercely determined to be as self-sufficient
as possible! Their main stated need the
moment is for training. This is needed in
many areas, but their stated priority at the
moment is for project management training.
That is why five priests will be coming over
for dedicated training in this area later in
the year. At the moment we are encountering
problems on the timing of this – please pray
this will be resolved.
IN THE CROYDON AREA:
Dance Zimbabwe raises £400 for St Patrick’s
School
On 4th December, dancers young
and old joined together to put on a
fantastic performance to raise money for
Zim. The event, held at De Stafford School,
brought together families and young people
from the local area, raising over £400. Many
thanks to Vicky Cronk, her family, and the
World Awareness group at St Mary Caterham
for all the hard work.
Zim Link event at St Mary Caterham, 6th
March: book a place now!
There will be a link event at 6:00pm on
Sunday, 6th March. This will be a
chance to hear from those who visited
Zimbabwe, and catch up with the latest from
the Diocese. The event will start with
worship led by the Free Spirit worship
group, and will include a meal and a glass
of wine. Cost is £5 / £3.30 concessions. To
book a place, email
alison.33@hotmail.co.uk.
Posters for your parish –
Keep awareness alive
If you didn’t download the set of four
different A4 posters sent out in November,
all is not lost. They can still be sent to
you as email attachments or printed copies.
Also available in the next couple
of weeks will be a new A3 poster showing all
the current clergy and wives with updated
information on where they are working. This
is to accompany the map of the diocese that
most of you should have in your parishes.
If you would like any of these
items please contact Hilary Brand on
brand@btinternet.com
or 01737 821900
Sharing your news
One thing we attempted to do on the recent
visit was to share with our brothers and
sisters some of the struggles we face in our
own parishes. It is very easy for them to
have a perception that all is successful and
easy with the ‘mother church’ and that the
UK streets are paved with gold! Often we are
so busy praying for their many needs that we
forget to share our own.
At the conference, they were
shocked to learn how small many of our
congregations are in comparison to theirs,
how the average age is spiralling upwards,
how undisciplined and wayward many of our
young people are compared to theirs, and how
much further ahead they are than us in terms
of faith, joy and pastoral concern.
So for those of you who have
parish or personal links with any one in Zim,
please tell them of your needs and
struggles. Please ask for their prayers for
us – truly we need them!
And please do persevere in trying
to communicate. In the course of the visit
we discovered many attempts at communication
by email or letter that had failed to get
through in either direction. From what we
could discover it seemed that nearly all the
priests now have mobile phones and many
parishes have access to email – so these
will be the most reliable forms of
communication. Do contact our Parish Links
Co-ordinator Steve Gendall if you are
experiencing problems, as he may be able to
advise. Phone Steve on
01342 832021 or email
stevegendall@btinternet.com
One of the Parishes here that has received
the mobile number of Priest in Zimbabwe said
it has totally changed the communication of
the Link – so there is hope and we thank God
for this development.
PRAYER DIARY
Give thanks for all that has
been achieved in Croydon and in Zim –
successful events, completed projects, and a
deepening partnership.
Pray for the political
situation and the economy in Zimbabwe, that
they continue to improve. Pray for wisdom
and peace in the country’s leadership, and
for good judgement by all the organisations
working with Zimbabwe.
Ask God’s blessing on the
priests who are travelling to the UK in the
next month, that the time might be
beneficial for them and help them gain the
skills they need. Pray for their families
left behind.
Pray for the parts of the
Anglican church in Zimbabwe where there is
trouble and difficulty, especially in the
Dioceses of Harare and Manicaland.
Pray for all the projects
being carried out by the Diocese, for all
the leaders of the projects, and for the
work that they do. Pray that the workers and
the projects may be a witness to Christ’s
love for all people, and that through them,
Zimbabwe may be blessed.