On behalf on the Rubatsiro Board, Joy Davidson has recently visited our Rubatsiro Partners during a trip to Zimbabwe. This update is a report of her time there.

When I arrived in Zimbabwe in November my first thought was, “what has all the fuss been about?”, the people walking around appeared well fed and well dressed, there were cars driving to the shops, and everything looked 'normal', sure there were more potholes and soldiers walking around but it didn't seem that bad! ...It's funny how first impressions can deceive, each day as I met more and more people and heard more and more stories my mind was opened up to the true and horrifying story of Zimbabwe today. However, behind the chaos is a force of people quietly working to impact their community and bring change to the country.

Zambezi Grocery Distribution through Central Baptist Church – Harare

Rubatsiro Ministries has been working with Harare Central Baptist Church (CBC) since November 2007, and started sending grocery parcels there, via Zambezi Groceries, in June 2008. In November I had the privilege of going out with the CBC Social Concerns Coordinator, Tom, to visit some of the people receiving this food support. The food situation in Zimbabwe has reached critical levels, food is available in some foreign currency shops, for a small fortune, and in some Zimbabwe dollar shops, but with the maximum daily withdrawal limit at Zim$500 000 and one loaf of bread costing Zim$1.5 million many people now just look at the food but have no way of buying it. Below is a representative sample of some of the recipients visited. (To right: grocery packs delivered to CBC)
This family had been brought into contact with the church by one of the ladies in the Social Concerns team who lives in their neighbourhood. The Father has died leaving the Mother to provide for 8 children! A number of them showed signs of scurvy and none of them are at school, as there are “no teachers”. Many government schools have just ceased to operate due to lack of funds to pay teachers. One thing that struck me in Harare was the number of children just playing in the streets or sitting at home. One child we met lost both her parents and is being looked after by her grandmother who works in the fields for other people, and sells tomatoes to try and take care of her. They have one room in a building that looks like it used to be a farm storeroom. CBC is helping her grandmother with food whenever they can. The stories of AIDS orphans are the story of Africa. Many grandparents or older children are left with numerous children under their care as the generation of 20 to 50 year olds is being eroded by AIDS. UNICEF Statistics put 8% of 0 – 17 year olds as AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe, well over a million children! (UNICEF, 2005).

The third recipient we visited was an old pensioner, Dave. His only income was coming from some part time clock and watch repairs he was doing. Dave also has stomach ulcers and has been unwell at times as medications are either not available or sold in exorbitant US dollars. He shares all the food given to him with his neighbour and maid. Pensioners are a population being hit hard by the current situation in Zimbabwe. Government pensions come to nothing, and those receiving pensions from outside the country are largely unable to access these. There is no government social support for these
people who are left to rely on churches and families for food.

Yvonne is another pensioner we visited. Yvonne lost her husband due to post-operative neglect after a routine surgical procedure earlier in
the year. The medical situation is one of the most shocking with medical care and medications almost non-existant! Graeme, a man living in Yvonne's garage, came to see us and ask for food, he had a piece of string tied around the top of his pants to keep them up as he had also lost so much weight! It is so tragic seeing people so hungry and just desperate for anything that can be given to them, but, as Tom told many of them, God remembers and He is providing for His people through churches like CBC.

It was incredible to see the life line that the food parcels are! Most of these people totally rely on hand-outs or swapping things they have for food. Food programmes like the above are intended to be supplementary feeding, but for many of these people it is all they have! The work CBC is doing is incredibly inspiring, people who hardly have anything are helping those they can, and people in need are everywhere you look!

Fathers' Love Ministries supporting Mawabeni Primary School – Matabeleland South

I began fundraising for Fathers' Love Ministries (FLM), which is supporting Mawabeni Primary School, in October 2007 and this project was brought under Rubatsiro Ministries when I joined as a Trustee in March of this year. It was very exciting and special for me to visit the school and be able to meet to the Headmaster, who is a real visionary and inspiration amidst the decay of government education in Zimbabwe. Rubatsiro Ministries has been sending support to the school which has been used to pay school fees and provide food packs for the over 250 AIDS orphans at the school (the school population is over 800 children). Stationary was also purchased for the school when I went down in November.

From left to right: Mr Cele (Headmaster) is determined to see the school thrive while many are closing down. He has managed to retain many of the teachers, though asked for support in providing the teachers with food packs, his heart for the children of the school amazed me. Mrs Chuma (Head of AIDS Action Club) does what she can to provide food, clothing and school fees for the AIDS orphans at Mawabeni, it is a privilege for us to be able to assist her in this. Susan and Sharky Masuka are the incredibly inspiring couple who run FLM in Bulawayo, they receive funds, buy and distribute food and supplies and pay school fees (the equivalent of NZ$0.65 per student per term!) for over 300 of the children.

A grade 2 ( 6 and 7 year old) class in progress. Most of the classes operate with few, or in the majority of cases, no text books. The cost of one text book is about half of the total school fees are per term, making it impossible for the school to purchase their own text books. Simple things like pens and paper are also out of reach for the majority of students at the school. The teachers at Mawabeni do amazingly well with the resources that they have and Rubatsiro, through FLM, recently made a donation of stationary including pens, pencils, exercise books, dictionaries, posters, chalk and black board paint for the new year.

Mr Cele told me that in a recent survey carried out by the school 20% of students reported having not eaten in the last 24hours. The impact this has on their ability to learn is massive. Talking to people organising school based feeding programmes I discovered that 'whole school' programmes are able to provide one meal per day at the cost of NZ$2 per student per month!

Mawabeni Primary School. Started over 100 years ago by Methodist Missionaries, the school is in a state of disrepair. Roofs leak, furniture and windows are broken and there is no power. The vegetable garden planted by the AIDS Action Club was destroyed by cows and goats that got into the garden that is protected by a fence desperately needing repair. There is much that could be done at the school and I have faith that with Mr Cele as head of the school and the school receiving support from overseas it can become a stable sanctuary for the children of the Mawabeni community.

I feel very privileged to have again been able to visit this beautiful country, and also privileged to be in a position in which I can play a part in the rebuilding of Zimbabwe in some small way. My visit confirmed to me that Rubatsiro is going in the right direction! There are people on the ground in Zimbabwe doing amazing work, who are very ‘street wise’, know the situation well, and have proved to be wonderful stewards of resources they have received from Rubatsiro. However, they depend on people outside the country to be supporting them financially. The most important thing we can be doing is continuing to partner with people there and send them as much support as we can. I have no doubt that the Lord Jesus is using Rubatsiro for His purposes in this country and I hope and pray that we can expand our impact in Zimbabwe over the coming year!

During my time in Zimbabwe I visited a further five projects, out of many, requesting for help, I urge you to be a part of the work in Zimbabwe by committing to a monthly gift to Rubatsiro for the year of 2009 and by committing to pray for those working in Zimbabwe. You can now find information on Rubatsiro off our website www.rubatsiro.org or e-mail us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

On behalf of the the Board of Trustees I would like to thank you for your support of Zimbabwe and of us as a Ministry this year. We wish you a joyous Christmas and look forward to partnering with you in the future.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” - Jesus