Friends,
Amanda and Joan are home now. It is a bit lonely here without them. Amanda had a difficult time leaving. She was anxious to go home but knew she would miss the children. There were a few tears at the farewell.
A recent morning a mother came to the clinic. She had walked a very long way and lives outside the area where we are working. The woman brought a child that appeared to have a broken arm. The mother is a widow and is obviously mentally retarded. She has five children the youngest is only six months old. The baby was nursing an empty breast and looked up at Beauty, our nurse, as if to say, “Can’t you do something?” They had, had nothing to eat and had no food supplies. We have such limited resources and yet how can we let an innocent child suffer. The thought keeps rolling through our minds, “What would Jesus do?” The x-ray machine at Murewa is broken and the cost of repairing it is out of sight. A new x-ray machine is desperately needed. In order to have x-rays taken it is necessary to go to Motoko hospital or Musami Mission Hospital both are about 40 km from Murewa. There we will have to pay for the x-rays. Murewa Hospital had been doing x-rays for our orphans for free.
Sunday, August 1, Ralph and I were invited to worship with the congregation at Chitungwiza. Rev. David Mushayavanhu, the pastor, had invited us to come. Chitungwiza is a bedroom community of about two million people. There is little if any infrastructure. Electricity comes and goes. We were told that running water is available only a couple of times a month. People have to fill buckets, tubs, barrels etc. with water to carry them through until the next time the water is turned on. This area has a high rate of water borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid etc. Garbage and trash are stacked everywhere. Sewage runs in the gutters. We saw children playing in the garbage. In spite of that, we saw small gardens in some places showing that some are making the best of a bad situation.
A major concern for the church is the need for water, not only for the church but the community that surrounds the church. The session talked with Ralph for some time about their need and a way forward. We plan to have a well sited.
Some encouraging news is that the grinding mill at Nyamashato Primary School is showing a nice profit. The four schools that have an interest in the grinding mill will be able to pay school fees for 71 orphans when the new term begins in September.
This is a first important step in making this community self-supporting and the way forward for the future.
The second school term ended last week. The children are on holiday now until September 6 or 7. It is rather quiet around with no children coming to school. However, a number of the very talented children, who have been going to Boarding School, have come back for the holiday. They have all come to see us and to show us their report cards. Some have written letters of thanks that they gave to us. All are very appreciative of the special chance they have been given.
Yesterday, just as Ralph sat down for a very late lunch, a woman came to the door asking for transport to the hospital for a woman relative that appeared to be having a stroke. Beauty, the nurse, had given her an aspirin and said that it was urgent that she get to the hospital. Albert had gone with the truck on an errand and we were the only ones with a vehicle. Ralph left at about 3:00 for a rough trip over these roads to the hospital. He indicated when he got the woman to the hospital the Doctor had gone for the day. The Head Nurse admitted the woman and said that the Dr. would see her in the morning. Nothing in this country is considered an emergency. This is an example of a need for an ambulance for this community. It would have to be on call for Ward 1 and all of the surrounding four wards with a population of 35,568 people.
In a little over a week we will have visitors coming for a short stay. We are looking forward to their arrival. Deanna, Todd and Carol from New Hope Church will be joining us for an opportunity to learn more about the mission and seeing the plans for the future. There are so many things that need to be done.
Ralph and I are in Harare trying to get a number of things accomplished. I am going to close this message for now so that I can send it while I have access to the internet.
In closing, we ask for your prayers that God will guide us in the decisions we have to make so that we might carry out His Will.
In His Service,
Ralph and Roberta