We made it to the end of a year!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Apologies for the layout of this blog entry - had real problems with everything!!!  All photos are clickable to make them bigger sadly the text is tiny!

Well can’t believe we have actually done a year of the A-level Scholarship programme!  It’s been a roller coaster ride and Mark and I are pretty exhausted but at the same time feel quite proud.  We have now broken up for the holidays – our summer holiday and will be kept very busy with recruiting the new 8 for next year, setting systems in place for our new Administrator and moving over to Makomborero Zimbabwe – accounts, trustees etc.  So lots to keep us busy!!!  Hopefully all in place before little one makes its appearance on 6^th January – my c-sec date!  You will laugh – each day is mapped out with 5 days holiday over the next 6 weeks and who is working what day and doing what!!  I love things like that and Mark is learning to see their value – ha ha!!!

This has been our song this year!

Through it all you are faithful

Through it all you are strong

As we walk through the shadows

Still you shine on

So many broken promises

So many empty words

God of love and faithfulness

Have mercy on this world

You never turn or change

You never break the faith

Yesterday, today and always

Through it all you are faithful

Through it all you are strong

As we walk through the shadows

Still you shine on

God of unbroken promises

Always you keep your word

Glory, grace and holiness

Forever to endure

You are faithful

Jesus, you are faithful to the end

You are faithful

Jesus, you are faithful to the end

Matt Redman

So what has the rest of this term held for us!!

Internal Exams were written towards the end of term and the students did well.  Mark feels they are getting into the swing of A-levels and are beginning to reach their potentials.  We are so glad we gave them time before writing their AS levels.

All our students aspiring to become doctors were accepted onto a volunteer project into the big government hospital in Harare.  They work on the Children’s ward – which has been an eye opener to all of us.  Some of the children have been there for years and years, some are orphans who never get visits etc.  So it is wonderful to see them serve these children.  We have put together a little bag of goodies for them to take a long each week to do things with the kids and are looking forward to having some books to read to them too (coming in the palette from the UK – see below).  Our students have loved the opportunity to give back!

Excitingly our students have also been accepted onto a preparation for scholarship programme, which prepares you for entry into the top universities in the states.  We feel that probably only two of our students are potential candidates to receive a scholarship but the lady who runs the programme here will work with all our 15, building their confidence in application writing, interview process etc.  We are very excited about this and the prospect of possibly two of them making the grade!!!  What an opportunity for them!!

A wonderful little local church in Harare sponsored our Christmas Party for the students this year – Kingsmead Chapel you have been such an incredible support to us this year – thank you!!  I was able to buy each one of them a present and we had a fabulous evening out eating Pizza and wearing silly Christmas hats.  For many of them this will be their only celebration of Christmas and it felt so special to do something with them.  It was also great having some of their teachers share the evening with us.  Matt and Zoe were on a high all evening, especially as they had helped to wrap the Christmas presents and were my little elves handing them out!!

The four of us on the night!  In typical Mark style he was trying to compete with my tummy!

The last day of term we held our Prize Giving at the boarding house and invited special guests and teachers to share in the occasion.  It was a very special morning, filled with lots of emotion.  Mark and I struggled to hold it together through the event, as I think the reality of reaching a year (having started with not enough money for the first month) - God’s faithfulness has shone through!!  It was wonderful to acknowledge their achievements over the year, give out some funny prizes too and be able to celebrate the 15 and how proud we are of them.  For the main subject prices we said they could chose something off Amazon to the value of 7 pounds and someone coming out to visit will bring the prizes back.  I have loved seeing what they have chosen and the excitement of actually being able to choose something off the internet!!!! 

We were recently donated four bikes for the boarding house! Here are some of the students collecting them from our house!! It has meant greater freedom for them and quick runs to the shops for bread etc! We hope to add to our little fleet!

The big job of selecting the new 8 for next year has begun.  Mark and I have started the process of reading through the applications and trusting God that we are able to discern quickly in this initial stage who to invite for further testing and interviews.  There are 250 applicants and lots of work ahead for Mark!!  Pray for wisdom for him!

We have also hired a wonderful young lady called Hope who will be our Administrator from January - freeing me to be a mummy to a new born and Mark to do project work and teach at his new job.  We are looking forward to having her as part of our team.

We have also registered as Makomborero Zimbabwe and will be operating under this title from January.  We have appointed a local board of Trustees.  This will help us facilitate the administration of the Trust better.  We will continue to work with KST as some of our local sponsorship is through KST and this will be forwarded onto Makomborero Zimbabwe.

Wow it has been a busy few weeks with fundraising for the project!!! 

Movember Fundraiser – look at these crazy men who all grew moustaches for Makomborero to raise money for us – how humbling!  They are all ex-collegues of Mark’s from Benenden and we so value their efforts!  Thank you guys – you are fantastic!!  Also Steve Mansfield’s – one of the men pictured – his house did a Movember day and the girls all wore Moustaches in an effort to raise money for Makomborero.  We feel humbled!  Isn’t the picture of them fantastic!!!!  Steve thanks for your friendship and support of us – it is sooooo appreciated!  We miss the Mansfield’s lots!!!

Norris house!

An ex-student of Mark’s from Benenden – Steffanie Ho and some of her Uni friends have done a few  fundraisers to raise money to send out a pallet of books for us!!!  The first event they held was at Sainsburys, where they packed peoples groceries for them and raised 162 pounds in 5 hours, they also sold Krispy Kreme donuts - all 30 dozen in 3 hours and raised about 180 pounds then.  Their last event for the year will be a Christmas dinner held back in their home land of Hong Kong and proceeds will come to Makomborero!!  With the money raised the fundraisers will pack a pallet of books and ship it off to Zim they hope before the end of year.  We are so proud of them for their efforts, especially as they juggle uni life!!  Thank you all for your incredible support!

Another Zimbabwe fundraiser was held a few weekends ago organised by Ange Smith again!  It was an event for Mums and Daughters – a pamper morning.  It was a huge success and was wonderful to see mums and their daughters spend such special quality time together!  Thanks again Ange for all you have done for us this term!  You are amazing!

We have another special friend in Australia doing a fundraiser for us!  Helen Allott will be shaving her head to raise support for Makomborero on 17th December!  We are so proud of her!!  An amazing wife and mummy of 3 - who misses her home Zimbabwe so much!!  Thank you!!

We have some very exciting news - some very special friends from Malaysia, have arranged a substantial level of support for our project through YTL (a Malaysian Company)  This takes incredible pressure off Mark and I and helps us to focus on raising money for the current 15 and some of the big things we need to purchase for the project.  This support took us by total surprise and we feel incredibly humbled.

As ever thanks for all you support, love and prayers over this past year!  We could not have survived this year without it!!  The lives of the 15 students, Dinnis (House Mom) and Johannes (Handy man) have been transformed by all your efforts!

Family news!

I’ve had two fairs during the month of November for Zimbaby – the first was not so successful but the second was brilliant – an exclusively baby expo.  Hoping to generate more sales through those and am in the process of setting up a little shop at home so that things will be easier once baby is here to run from home!! 

The rains have come!!  We’ve had one lot of rain that came for about 5 days so hoping that the rains have arrived and that we will get more soon!  Things just transform and turn green so quickly – it really is beautiful and so hoping we can grow some grass!!!  Struggled on the really hot days, so it is a huge relief when it has rained!

On 9^th December I will have been married to my best friend for 11 years!  I can’t believe where the time has gone but in other senses can’t believe we ever were apart!!  Mark, each year I become more proud of you and thankful to God for you!!  You are an incredible husband – especially during my pregnancy – your patience and love is amazing, you are also the best dad in the world and I love watching you father our children!!  We have been blessed beyond words by some special friends who have given us a night away at a lodge just outside Harare.  So we leave Friday and return Saturday for 24hrs without kids.  We can’t wait and the kids will stay with my folks – which they are sooooooo excited about!!!  We have loved seeing such a special bond develop between granparents and our kids!!!  The kids love spending time at their home - especially swimming in their pool!!

I love Christmas time!!  We have something incredible to celebrate and also time to acknowledge all God has given us and see the blessing of family!!  I love it when the tree is up, Christmas music is playing and any excuse to do Christmas crafts with the kids.  It will be a quiet Christmas for us this year – just us 4 but will be fun!!!  We built a tree house for the kids Christmas present – which looks so lovely

and have treated ourselves to building a little shaded area off the front of the house so that we can enjoy sitting on our verandah without baking in the sun!  As a family we also took part in a city wide Orphans project – a huge party that was being thrown for Orphans in Harare.  Our church had to make 600 crackers (with a toy and sweets in each cracker).  We took our kids along to be part of the cracker making process and were proud of our 25 crackers we managed to make before their concentration disappeared.  It was lovely doing something with them that had a deeper meaning and Matthew definitely gets it.  He is very aware of orphans in this country and especially the orphans we have in the boarding house.  Precious caring boy!!!

I’m doing a Christmas craft morning for a few kids in a two weeks’ time before Christmas – which should be fun and hope to do some fun Christmas baking with our two kids too!!  It is our first Christmas in 9 years that we haven’t spent with other people, it feels weird but at the same time exciting to establish some of our own family traditions!!!!

We welcomed a new nephew into the world today!!!  We are so so excited.  It is Rich and Anni’s first little one and we can’t wait to find out his name and see pictures of the little fella!!!  My Dad and Mum have clocked up 6 grandchildren, with another one in a few weeks time!!  What a great Christmas present for our whole family!

My mum has been terribly ill this last month with a lupus flare up which took us all by surprise and she was touch and go for a few days in hospital.  Was a very emotional time but praise God she has come through and is responding well to the medications!  She is a brave and plukey lady and Dad is an incredible nurser and husband to her!!

My pregnancy has gone well – been tough on all the drugs I’ve been on to stop pre-term labour but also that has had its benefits as some of the other struggles I’ve faced in previous pregnancies have not happened due to the medication!  It is also the first pregnancy that I have gone without being hospitalised by 34 weeks – so that is definitely something to celebrate!!!  Mark has been incredibly patient and loving with me as the effects of the medication have had a huge knock on effect on the family.  I have my c-sec on 6^th January and Mark starts his new job on 9^th January.  So hoping to be home on the 8^th, so that we can be a normal family as quickly as possible.  Mark’s sister arrives on the 9^th to give us a hand – we can’t wait to see her – been nearly 2 ½ years – way toooooooo long!!!  We are thrilled at the miracle of life in me and can’t wait to find out what God has blessed us with!!!!

We are living a nappy free life at the moment!!  Zoe is potty trained and it was such an easy road - amazing how different each chid is!  Been so proud of her.  Matt is learning to ride his bike without stabilisers and is so excited about it!  Growing up too fast the both of them!!!

We've had another addition or rather additions to the family - 4 chickens - 1 hen and 3 babies!  They peck around our garden and then go to the coop each night and mummy produces an egg a day!!!  The cat hopefully will leave them alone - thankfully the babies are growing fast and will be too big to be of any interest soon!!  Can't believe how much they have grown since these photos!

Thanks to all of you for your love and support over this past year – we did it!!!  Just need strength and vision for the coming year!!!  You’ll only hear from us again once we’ve found our feet in the new year and introduce our new little one to you!!!  So I suppose the best way to end a year is to say – have a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year!!!  For all of you in England - eat loads of mince pies for us, enjoy mulled wine, cheese boards and cranberry sauce!!  All things we will miss this Christmas!!! 

A few photos!

Oh Mum, we love chocolate pudding!!!!

Matthew wanted to be an earth worm for his end of term concert.  We feel so sad that his two mornings a week at his playgroup has come to an end - he has loved it.  Zoe will be going two mornings there next year and Matt will be going 5 mornings a week at his new place - I feel sad that he is growing up so fast but I know he will love it!

Matthew at his church concert!  Can you spot him!!

What does it mean to live in Zimbabwe?

Just over a year on from moving here and my thoughts have been on ‘What does it mean to live in Zimbabwe?’ - A country crippled by aids, unemployment in the 70% region, hunger and starvation etc. It is an odd place to live – on one hand you live a very normal middle class life, safe in the haven of your own home and lives but you get bombarded by the reality of the lives of 80% of Zimbabweans on a daily basis and can either harden your heart and just get on with life or it totally cripples you at the reality of some peoples lives or you find the middle road. 

What I find weird is that to survive here emotionally you have to harden yourself to some degree and accept that God has called you to a specific need in Zim (what we are doing with our 15 students) and that through that we are doing our bit in Zim (a drop in the ocean) and leaning on His leading as to what other lives He wants us to touch too. But then some days that hard exterior is penetrated and I find myself crying – tears rolling down my cheeks as I drive along at the reality of a persons situation – generally to do with not being able to afford health care, starvation, abuse etc. Hearing my son say in the back seat – ‘Mummy it’s so sad that people die because they can’t afford a doctor.’ He has a soft, kind gentle heart that is very aware of the hardships faced by people here and a desire to see lives changed. I love it but also know as a parent he’s too little to have the weight of the world on his shoulders – so it’s teaching him that God has called us to something specific and that we can touch and change a few peoples lives but sadly not everyone and it’s learning as a family how to choose. We will continue to shed many, many tears for the lives we see, face and touch on a daily basis that we can’t change/help. The stories are endless and heartbreaking!

We are also learning that even when you do help sometimes the people receiving can have the wrong hearts and it can get a little messy, you feel used etc but God is teaching us that these are all people worth something – whether they appreciate what God has given them or not and that we are to keep going even when faced with disappointments and human let downs.

So what does it mean to live in Zimbabwe? – it is a daily reminder of the blessings God has given us and a reminder that we are to be good stewards of what He has intrusted to us – giving our time, finances, heart and love to people who have less and find themselves in terrible situations, etc. Living in Zim comes with a responsibility and some days it feels a little overwhelming but most days we can hold onto what we are doing and feel like we are making a difference, other days it feels so small and insignificant! This country is our passion, it’s people our people!! We want to see lives changed, hope and dignity restored and people able to dream again! I can see it happening in our 15 and we feel privileged to be part of that! It’s good to step back from the reality of the business of trying to keep our heads above water, making this project work and really see what is happening here!!!

Thank you to all of you who support us and make this all so possible! We feel incredibly humbled!! 

Talking about Zim I can’t help but mention our second home – England!!! So, do you want to know the things I miss about England – some are so fleshly, I find it a little embarrassing to admit!

Here goes!:

1. Our precious special friends – top of the list – my heart still aches for my special friends!! Times as families together! Not sure we’ll ever get over this one and the tears still flow some days!!
2. Our wonderful church – you taught us what true community was and we miss that community so much!!!

Now this is where the list deteriorates a little and becomes a little fleshly!!

1. The NHS – what an incredible blessing the medical system is in England – yes it has its flaws but oh my goodness for everyone from any walk of life, income background etc to be able to access free health care is incredible!!
2. Crisp Autumn mornings!!
3. Living in the countryside, walking etc!
4. Humous (sp)!! – and homemade just does not beat a good tub of lemon and coriander from the supermarket!!!
5. Good cheese!!!
6. Multi purpose Antibac wipes!!! Ha ha!!
7. Children’s books, Libraries etc
8. Shopping on line!
9. Customer service
10. Living a comfortable life!

Sorry no pictures in this post!!!

Here is a link to our UK Church magazine that has just done an article on us!  Thanks guys!!

http://www.newcommunitychurch.org.uk/images/novdecmag.pdf

Plans for next year and some news!

What a great start to the 3rd Term we have had! It has been extremely busy but good!!! We are now in a position to fill you all in on our plans for next year. A lot of thought, prayer and question asking has gone into these descisions and we hope you are able to share in our vision for next year. Lots of writing but please persevere through it!!!

2012?? What happens next?...this has been a question on our minds for the last few months. We want to see the scholarship programme become sustainable year-on-year but increasingly felt that the students would be best served if they were fully integrated into a school. Mark decided to approach independent schools to see if they could offer full scholarships to a few students each year. This would mean that we would then only have to cover Uniform and Boarding house costs and then be responsible for pastoral care of the students, rather than taking on the academic teaching too as well as be restricted by only teaching sciences. We were blown away with three of the independent schools response. We have been offered a total of 8 full tuition scholarships (worth in excess of US$50 000) at three different independent schools (St Georges College, Hellenic Academy and Gateway). This has felt like such a confirmation of what we are doing, that this past year has been worth the risk.

So where does this take us?
The current 15 will continue to do lessons at Gateway in the afternoons and complete their second year of A-levels, following the same structure as we have done for this past year. Mark will teach Maths and Physics and three other teachers will continue to cover the Chemistry and Biology. Our 15 students will continue to live in the rented boarding house and have a full co-curricular programme.

We will recruit 8 students to start their AS levels as fully fledged students attending one of the three independent schools starting in 2012. Ideally we would start a second boarding house to provide the pastoral support, but we are considering going the route of finding families close to the schools that would be willing to provide accommodation/food during the week for these students. We would pay them an amount to cover these costs. It this happens we will have combined games nights, bible studies and anything else fun that we do with the boarding house. At the end of the 2012 the 15 will move out of the house and we would then put these 8 in the house, together with the third intake of approx. 7 students starting in 2013. i.e we want to run one house with two year groups and a total of 15 students. We hope that this will become a process that repeats itself year after year. With full tuition scholarships this reduces the costs quite substantially – these students would cost about $2200-$2500 each year to look after compared with the current 15 who cost roughly $3600 each year.

Coupled with the above plans, a new baby on its way and various other factors, Mark has accepted a job as Head of Mathematics at Hellenic Academy as of January. It was a decision we came to after much careful deliberation and soul searching. The school is fully aware of Mark’s commitments to the scholarship project and will adjust his teaching load accordingly so that he can teach the pioneer group of 15 next year as well. We see this as a positive move in trying to make the project sustainable and hopefully open more doors for getting the project more exposure. We will keep assessing how things are going – we do realise that it will be very busy, particularly in January (new job and baby...zim does not do Paternity leave!).

With a new baby due in January, I will be unable to do admin for the project and Mark will not be able to play the role he has played with a full-time teaching post and teaching the 15, we will be looking to hire someone to fulfil this role, which is likely to grow with the nature of the second intake. I will help to manage/oversee this person. We hope this person will help with the Zim fundraising side of things too.

Mark still has the vision to work within a disadvantaged community setting (…with an A-level focus), and hopefully once the scholarship programme is established (2-3yrs) we will turn our attention to establishing an A-level centre within the communities from which we are drawing these scholarship students.

Ok so that is our plans for next year – we hope we have been able to explain it as clearly as possible and that you can see how we feel the pieces of the jigsaw are coming together and this project is becoming more sustainable!!

General News
The 15 students have loved being back in the house and are working hard. We so enjoy our time with them and really do feel like we have got to know them well. We continue to run a full co-curricular programme and included this term is swimming (much to all their delight) – my main aim is to have them all able to float at least by the end of the term!! We have continued to run games evenings, which are always a source of much laughter and fun. Mark and I felt it was important to introduce a bit of English Literature to help improve their English. We have a volunteer who takes them every two weeks for discussion and reading of a book – called Mpho’s choice. They are also writing their own poetry and sharing it at these sessions. They continue to have computer lessons, music lessons and we look to introducing choir lessons (requested a few times as something they’d like to do as a group). I also continue to run my bible study on a Thursday and as always love this time with them.

We have scheduled a Christmas dinner for the end of term – an evening out at a Take away Pizza place – they are so excited, as for many of them this will be a first. Our last day of term has been set aside for our Prize Giving!!

The students continue to work hard with one or two that have needed to be pushed a little but on the whole all of them have an incredible work ethic! Not a lot of sleep happens in the house! They start their internal examinations tomorrow.

Mark and I are looking into a team building week or few days away for them as we feel this will be a valueable experience for them. It's just trying to find one that is reasonable and beneficial!

We welcome another ex-pupil of Mark's from quite a few years ago back to spend time with the students. Gladman was out from the states for a few weeks. The 15 loved time with Gladman and we all nick named him 'Mr T'. He is a Physics teacher so was a valuable asset on the revision school team as well as giving the students a lecture on studying overseas.

We also had our first big handover of support from a local company - a Zimbabwean Bank - ZB Bank. It was a great occasion and real break through for Mark on the local fundraising front - they have sponsored two pupils for two years on this current scheme. Mark continues to furiously fundraise locally for the new intake next year and the current 15. It can be at times soul destroying but really trusting God for some more break through soon!!!

We have a special friend who organised a fundraiser which we helped with at the beginning of term - a Dad's and Son's camp out - it was hard work but brilliant fun! Lovely to see some of our students interacting with young kids. We have another one this weekend for Mum's and Daughter's but is a pamper morning! We so appreciate all the effort Ange puts into these events, we benefit financially and the parents benfit from quality time with their kids! Thank you Ange!! You are such a blessing!

Mark has started the incredible task of recruiting next years intake. Between him and my Dad they have visited 35 township schools and handed out application forms. The forms are in the process of being collected and then the task of narrowing down 300 applicants to about 80 that Mark will further test and interview to come back with 8! So please pray for us during this process. It is a long process that starts in October and only finishes in February!!! It has been wonderful to go back to the schools where we ended up taking our current 15 from and seeing the heads support and appreciation of what we are doing!

Personal News
We are all well!! Poor Zoe’s tooth saga didn’t end last entry!!! Sadly the filling fell out (which we suspected it might as she had wriggled so much during the putting in of it in that the dentist wasn’t sure how long it would last). It lasted 2 months and then she woke up one Sunday morning with a huge abcess again and in terrible pain! So she was pumped with antibios again and surgery was booked for the following week. She went under a general anethetic (which is always hard as a parent watching them put your little one under and leaving them sprawled on the operating table) and had a root canal done! The dentist was so sweet he even did a cap at no extra charge – we only paid for a filling and he did a root canel and cap!! So she looks like a normal 2 year old – only with a slightly smaller front tooth!!! She was so incredibly brave!! It cost a fortune to have her tooth done this way – theatre fee, anaethestist fee and dental fee.

We loved having Mark’s folks to stay – they were at the end of a stint of 12 weeks of visitors. We loved having a full house for those few weeks but have enjoyed just being the four of us again, with the odd person staying here and there!

My dad celebrated his 60th birthday in style. He had a brilliant party thrown for him and loved every minute of it. Happy 60th Dad we love you!

My brother, who I have not seen in two years, came up with his wife and 3 boys. What fun!! The cousins all got on like a house on fire and I just loved reconnecting with Pee and Jo again. It was also special to be there for Dad’s 60th together – both being able to share what he means to both of us. Sadly my younger brother Rich could not make it but I was able to read his speech out! The value of family has really hit me and I hope that it won’t be two years before I see my brother and his family again!!!

My pregnancy is going well. The preterm labour stuff I have suffered with in both previous pregnancies did kick in at 20 weeks but thanks to prayer, trying to take it easy and the horrible drugs they have me on, my body is holding onto little one a bit better now. Sadly the drugs are quite debilitating and I have found this extremely tough to deal with at times. I am now 28 weeks – babies have a chance from 28 weeks here but trusting God I will get to 38 weeks!!! It is very precious to see the two kids talk about baby and what we are going to all ‘it’. They have also been so sensitive about me not being well at times and I value having them a little older this time round!!! I am an incredibly blessed mummy!! Mark has been a great support, friend and bearer of many a bad mood, as well as my folks who have blessed us with meals. I also am blown away by the support and love from the new friends I’ve made over the past year!!! Learning to be vulnerable and ask for help!! So little one – stay in mums tum a few weeks longer!!! Mark’s sister has offered to come and give us a hand the week I have my c-section – we can’t wait to see her – it will have been just over two years!!!

We closed the boarding house for two days for half term. So Mark and I and the kids took the opportunity to disappear to a part of the country Mark has never been to and I was last at when I was 9! We spent 3 nights in Chimanimani – manimani as Zoe says! It is in the mountains and is so beautiful, unspoilt and remote. To be honest there was not a lot there but it was a great time to be just the 4 of us. Haven’t been away the four of us since April 2010! The kids had a ball swimming in rock pools and under water falls, going for walks and just being together!!!! The days for some reason started very early thanks to Zoe’s little clock (5am) which meant by 9am we’d had a pretty full day already!!! Ha ha!!

We’ve also been able to entertain a few times for the first time in months – feels like we can fit it in and it has been great spending time with people – even if it’s just a picnic somewhere!!!

The rains came twice this month and it was glorious – a prelude of what is to come in November!!! I can’t wait as without water our garden is just red dry dust and the kids are just filthy – so to get some grass going will be amazing!! This time of year is my favourite – like English spring – spring is in the air. Things are flowering and signs of life!! Even more so once the rains come though. But the best part of this year are the Jacarandas (I wrote about them last year) they are just breath taking (covered in lilac flowers – my favourite colour) and the kids and I just love driving around spotting the best roads, the beautiful carpets that form under their branches etc. I love it that Matt and Zoe have picked up a love for nature too!! The ‘Reach for the Skies’ tree (yellow flowers) are also flowering! Harare is so so beautiful!!!! Our garden even has a Jacaranda!!! It has been incredibly hot this last 10 days - over 36'C! I don't like heat at the best of times and have found nights the worst!!!

We haven't had water for 3 weeks and entering our 4th week now. This has been quite stressful at times and burnt the element out on our boiler as it was empty and we did not realise! Thankfully we fitted a 5000L tank which keeps us going for just under a week (we have a cottage on our property too that uses water) but best of all our amazing next door neighbours will our tank once a week for us for free!!!!! If we had to buy water in it would cost us $50 per delivery!!!! The kids have had two bad sicky bugs over the last month and we have produced so much laundry which has used so much water to wash!! I can live with powercuts any day - they are irritating but water I can't live without!!!!

Zimbaby is going well - I have two fairs in November and have placed an advert in a local magazine - so trusting sales will pick up and I'll soon be able to pay off my loan and make some money!!!

Well hope that has put you all in the picture a little!!

Here are a few pictures!!
Me and my precious kiddies!

Helping Grandad open his presents

With all their Grankids - two more to join the crowd in the next few weeks!

Matt is learning the African way of loading vehicles!

We've just made the full armour of God to help Matt with his nightmares and to realise the weapons God has given him in his mind! He really got it and haven't had a nightmare since!!!

Our precious kitty - who the kids adore - is growing up quickly!!

Fun with Paint!!!

Photo of us about 9 weeks ago with a 20 week bump!

August News!!

Seeing as August has been such an action packed month we thought we should do another update sooner than later!!!

We have continued to have a house full of people – Sophie and Fi, Stu, Jane and Eva, Mark’s folks and Bryan and Jane. It has been great fun getting to spend time with all these people and have had some special memories over the last few weeks!

Revision Schools!
August has been the school holidays. It is a 4 week holiday and we planned 3 revision schools during that time.

The first was in Mufakose Township to the south of Harare. We were at the number 2 senior school, where we had recruited 3 of our 15 students from. The head teacher welcomed us back with open arms and was so grateful for the assistance with lessons. We focused on Maths for the week. Mark and Stu were able to teach together again and I know Mark loved having Stu back as a teaching companion. They taught 120 O-level students Maths revision classes and 70 A-level students revision classes. I think the most amazing experience was to watch our 15 students throw themselves into one-on-one tutorials with the O-level students and love it. Especially the three that came back to their school. They all felt so passionate about giving back to their community!! Jane and I took the kids out one day so that we did not feel like we were missing out on too much and we enjoyed a morning with everyone. Sophie and Fi again were invaluable and we felt it was a lovely way for them to finish their trip to Zim.

Our second revision school was held at Mabvuku High School another township to the east of Harare. What an incredible school. Just shows that good leadership makes such a huge difference even though they are working in such tough conditions. Again were teaching a large number of O-level and A-level students. Jane and I went out for one day with the kids and it was so special to feel slightly a part of what was going on. Jane also got to spend an afternoon at the High School and Stu and her interviewed our 15 students. Hopefully some of this video footage can we used to promote what we are doing!!! Mark also had a past pupil from many years ago (Gladman Taranhike - nicknamed Mr T for the week)come and teach - Physics - which was brilliant! He is a teacher in the States and was here on holiday. The school welcomed us with such open arms – it was humbling. Here is a letter from the Headmaster received a few days after we had finished the week –

Dear Mark

I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the service you rendered to my students. This event will remain indelibly imprinted in their minds and the impression will last forever. I have always wanted my students to strive for academic excellence and with your program I feel the Lord is answering my prayers. Please give the whole team my appreciation and we as a school will always cherish your support for the disadvantaged communities. I hope our partnership will continue to inspire my students. I am deeply grateful and indebted. May the good Lord continue to shower you with the selfless spirit you have shown. We will always remember you in our prayers.

Thanks
I remain
Joe

Our third revision school was a short one day event held at our boarding house purely for our Biology students and a few invited students from Mabvuku High School. Jane Hall is a fantastic Biology teacher who came out for two weeks with her husband Bryan. She led this day and we know the students benefited greatly from it.

We feel like the hard work and long nights that went into the revision schools was so worth it. I think what Mark and I loved most to see our 15 students serve in these schools – some of them it was their old schools. They all seem to have caught the heart of giving back to their community, especially now that they have been given such an opportunity. Destiny, Terrence, Brian and Tinashe R went beyond the call of duty and ran their own revision school at their old school. They ran Maths clinics from 7am to 8am for two weeks. They got resources and stationary from Mark and that was the extent of our input! We were so proud of all of them!

The revision school team:

Visitors!
We were so sad to say goodbye to Sophie and Fi, as they had really become part of our family but we know we will be welcoming them back again one day! We had a games night on their last night here with the 15 students and it was lovely to hear the students voice their love and appreciation for these two young ladies, as well as hearing Sophie and Fi’s love for each one of them!!!! Our kids (Matt and Zoe) particularly miss them – all the cuddles etc!!!! They were easy visitors in our home, thoughtful and very servant hearted!!! We miss you guys!!!!

It was wonderful to share our home with Stu, Jane and Eva! What fun for Zoe to have a little play mate her age – they got on so well and most of their home time was spent on the trampoline. Stu and Jane threw themselves into our lives for the 2 weeks they were here and were able to participate in the two revision schools. I know Mark loved teaching with Stu again!

Between the two revision schools we were able to squeeze a one night trip to where we lived in the rural areas and stay the night on the floor of our old cottage!! What fun it was to share the beautiful place we lived with them, as well as taking them to meet Peter’s family!!! Stu was able to share about Peter’s commute with our 15 students and Peter’s family and they got T-shirts and bracelets too! We had a lovely morning visiting Peter and were even taught how to make bricks! The local community is trying to rebuild the high school and each household has to produce 2000 fired bricks!! We were watching the initial stage before they got fired. We know that our 15 students were inspired by what Stu shared with them about Peter’s commute and were also amazed that people would actually do something like that to raise money for them. The quote they used for the comute was ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world'. They presented a beautiful canvas with the quote printed on it to hang in the boarding house to remind them to keep going!!!!

Meeting Mrs Banga - our house mother!

We also climbed Domboshava with them and visited a local private game park.

I took Jane on a shopping trip into the crazy bit of town and she loved the experience of picking up some bargains – all fabric to make things!!! The kids had a ball together and it was just so wonderful to spend some family time together. We managed to pack loads into just two weeks. They brought loads of stuff out for the project, shared their hearts and I think at the same time leave a little of their hearts here in Zimbabwe. Their openness and hunger for more of Zimbabwe was wonderful to see. They truely wanted to capture the hearts of the people and what Zimbabwe life was really about!! We love you guys and wish the distance wasn’t so big!!!! Thank you!!!

Bryan and Jane arrived just before Stu and Jane left and they had a whirlwind tour around Zimbabwe for 10 days. We met them up in the mountains at the end of their trip for 3 nights together. What a special time to get to know them better and also share another part of Zim with them. I love the fact that they kept saying that they will be back too one day!! Jane came out 4 years ago and did a revision school with Mark then and we loved welcoming her back but with her husband Bryan this time. Our kids fell in love with them both and we were spoilt rotten by them – not only personally but also by all the equipment they brought out for the project. Jane thank you for your time with the students on your last day here!!! We loved getting to know you guys better and know that this is not the last time we will see you both!!!

Mark’s folks have arrived for 3 weeks and it is wonderful for the kids to have their other grandparents around and special for us to have them around too!! They also came up to Vumba (the mountains) with us! We look forward to the next 2 weeks with them!

Fundraising
We will be doing another big push with companies in Zimbabwe over this next term to try and secure money for next year and we have a presenation of a big cheque from a local Bank next week. They have sponsored two students!

A special friend in Zimbabwe has arranged a fundraising event at her childrens local school this coming weekend. It is a father and sons campout. We will be helping with the running of this event and the proceeds will come to the project. Thank you Ange for all the time and energy you have put into this, we so appreciate it!!!!

Family News!
Unfortunately, Mark was robbed at the office he sometimes uses two weeks ago. Three men tied him up and locked him in the office. They had knives and asked for keys to a safe which they thought must be in the office. They took his laptop (….lots of very important stuff!), some money from his wallet, mobile phone and most upsetting his wedding ring. They robbed seven other people having a prayer meeting in the same building. Thankfully no–one was hurt. Good thing is it has made us more vigilant with locking our front and back door come 6pm and keeping the front gate locked at all times!!! Felt a little like we’ve had a few big things to deal with over the last few months – particularly pertaining to Zoe’s health – so your prayers for protection would be appreciated!! We also were unsure about sharing this as crime in the country is so different to other countries particularly South Africa for example. Amazingly Mark has felt quite peaceful and matter of fact about the whole thing and we are just both thankful he is safe!

The kids are all doing well and loving having varied visitors around!! I’m feeling baby move regularly now, which is lovely and all seems to be progressing well!! Matthew particularly loves feeling baby move and the baby is often rocked to sleep by Zoe's chubby little hands gripping my tummy and rocking me!! Very precious!!! The medication I’ve been put on for preterm labour has made me feel terribly exhausted and dizzy but hoping I will adjust to it soon!

Zoe celebrated her 2nd birthday in August! She so knew it was her birthday and loved every minute of it! We took them to a little theme park in the morning and then she had a birthday tea in the afternoon. We love her so much and feel so blessed to have her in our lives!!! She was whispering from her bed the other morning to Matthew – saying ‘Matthew, I love you’! She has a big, courageous heart!!! We all love you too Zoe!!!

We continue to see God’s hand on our lives and look to him for our strength and stamina!!! We hope to update you in our next blog entry on our plans for next year!!!

A few photos:

It's getting hot - do we really have to wear clothes? They both had their welly boots on at one stage!!!

Finding a little place to get away from it all!

Johannes and the kids having a little fun in the garden

Zoe and I in our Spanish aprons from the Mansfield's!

3 Chefs!

Day out with Stu, Jane and Eva

Steamtrain visit with Granpa and Granny!

Sleeping beauty!

Sharing the motorbike!