South Africa

          South Africa has not disappointed in terms of beautiful scenery, fascinating history, cultural diversity, and the prevalence of the church.  As Erin mentioned in the last post we briefly spent two days in Johannesburg then traveled to Lesotho for a week, before returning to South Africa.  Upon our return, we rented a car and headed into the the Drackensberg Mountains for a brief reprieve.   The freedom that came with having our own wheels, as compared with depending on public transport or other people, was welcome.  After six weeks on the road and constantly interacting with people we took a short mid trip break to relax and to recharge.  We enjoyed driving through the beautiful countryside passing through a couple national parks and several quaint mountain towns.  The much needed rainy season started which was great for the crops, but a little unfortunate for us as we spent a day hiking in the rain and cold.  The rain only lasted a couple of days and we enjoyed some more sunny hikes at Sani Pass where we also drank  a beer at the “Highest Pub in Africa.”  The Kwazulu Natal region was home to several battles during the English and Boer War and we visited a couple of the battle fields in order to learn more about the history and culture.   After our time in the Drackensberg we drove three hours to Durban and spent the afternoon on the beach boardwalk.  The next day we returned the car and flew to Cape Town. 

            The amount of development and infrastructure in South Africa is even greater than I imagined.  The World Cup contributed greatly to this, with the addition of new airports, soccer stadiums, shopping centers, and hotels.   As walked in fancy shopping malls and drove on a six  lane freeway I often felt like I was in the U.S.  After being in Zambia for a year we have especially enjoyed driving on the South African roads.  But with more development comes an even a bigger gap between the rich and the poor.  Cape Town is probably the biggest example of this with extravagant homes on the beach and thousands and thousands of people living in shanty towns on Cape Flats.   It is difficult to know what to make of the extreme poverty amongst such abundant wealth and we are continuing to wrestle with this complicated issue.

            We have been here since Oct. 20^th and it has been a great few days.  We have been staying with our new friends Casey and Sarah Prince who have been very gracious and generous hosts.  They have gone out of their way to make sure we have made the most of Cape Town and their beautiful two year old daughter Kieren kept us entertained.  They live in Ocean View which is a colored township just south of Cape Town.  Sarah is an associate pastor at a Methodist church in Ocean View and Casey is leading a youth soccer ministry called Ubuntu.   We enjoyed spending time with them and experiencing their life and ministry in Ocean View.  We were also able to see many of the great sites in Cape Town including: Table Mountain, wine country, the waterfront, Cape Point, and the penguins in Simons Town.   

            This morning we flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg and are currently in the Jo’burg airport waiting to catch our flight to Madagascar.  We are excited for our adventure to Madagascar, as it is much different from the Southern Africa countries we have visited thus far.  More to come on that later. 

In Soweto on our bike tour

Brent's new friend on the bike tour in Soweto

Sunset in the central Drackensbergs

The top of Hodgsens Peak in Sani Pass, 3256 meters

The windy road leading up Sani Pass

The highest pub in Africa, 2875 meters

Our Friend Kamesh on a cheetah encounter in Cape Town

With Kamesh at the downtown waterfront in Cape Town

Wine tasting with Sarah, Casey, and Keiren Prince

On top of Table Mountain in Cape Town

Lions Head and downtown Cape Town from on top of Table Mountain

The view from Signal Hill with Table Mountain in the background

Sunset on Lions Head

Sunset on Lions Head

Table Mountain at sunset

Sunset from Lions Head

Erin, Casey, and Keiren at the beach

Cape Point South Africa

Cape of Good Hope

Erin attended Sarah's womens Bible study

Lesotho

After a fantastic visit to Zimbabwe we headed to Johannesburg for a brief two day stay.  We lodged at a backpacker hostel in Soweto and found ourselves in the midst of a neighborhood of history.  Soweto was formed around 1900 as a racially segregated township for the black working force and later became home to many blacks who were forced to leave their homes, as a part of the Apartheid’s forced removal law.  In 1976, police opened fire on students protesting against Afrikaanas as the official language for education.  Hundreds of students were killed.  However, several anti-Apartheid activists came from Soweto, including Nelson Mandela, is now home to Desmund Tutu and today its residents see their township as a beacon of hope for others who resist injustice.  An excellent way to see Soweto is via bicycle which is exactly what we did, along with others and a Soweto native who gave us a great history lesson.  We also squeezed in a visit to the Apartheid Museum and were blown away by the widespread injustice and violence of Apartheid, but also moved by the courage of the resistance movement captured in the story of Nelson Mandella.  

From Johannesburg we headed south to the mountainous country of Lesotho.  Lesotho is an island country in that it is surrounded, on all sides, by the country of South Africa.  The Basotho found refuge in the mountains during war and continued their herding way of life in the mountains.  Lesotho is a gorgeous country with majestic peaks, green valleys, and of course beautiful people.  We spent a few days hiking at Malealea Lodge, a day in Morija visiting the birthplace of the Evangelical Church of Lesotho, another day driving through the mountains to view Mohale Dam and a final two days with the Dimmock family in the capital city of Maseru.  The Dimmocks are PC(USA) mission co-workers who have lived in Southern Africa for over twenty years, some in Lesotho and some in Malawi.  Frank works throughout several countries as the Africa Health Liaison while Nancy works closely with orphans and adoption in Lesotho.  Lesotho has the highest percentage of orphans in the world and has the third highest HIV infection rate.  These statistics became real when Nancy took us to the MIS Orphanage.  We were taken aback at the number of orphans in just one orphanage, not to mention the other orphanages in Lesotho.  We are grateful for our time with the Dimmocks and the experience and wisdom they imparted to us, the delicious home cooked food we shared and their Christ-like hospitality.  We hope to back someday to visit again.

At Malealea with the Dimmocks

Panoramic view at Malealea

Hiking in Malealea

Herd boys in Lesotho

A typical mountain village in Lesotho

Evangelical Church of Lesotho in Morija

The guest house in Morija

MIS Orphanage in Maseru

MIS Orphanage (I didn't even plan on putting the cross in the background)

MIS Orphanage

Mohale Dam

Zimbabwe

Rev. Nedson Zulu dropped us off in Harare on the 28^th of September where we were graciously hosted by the CCAP Synod of Harare who are in partnership with Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.  Harare is beautiful this time of year, with the Jacaranda trees in full bloom.  We stayed at the home of Dr. Lamiel Phiri who recently received his Ph.D. in Servant Leadership.  Lamiel was an incredible host.  While in Harare, we conducted a three day workshop on entitled “Training of Trainers.”  The course was scheduled to be held at Rock Haven CCAP Conference Center, but due to water challenges we held the course at Mbare Congregation in Harare, where we were generously hosted by Rev. Juma.  We trained lay leaders from CCAP churches all over Zimbabwe.  One participant even travelled 800km (500 miles) taking him 12 hours via bus to reach Harare  The courrse was similar to the courses that we taught with TEEZ in Zambia, but with more of an emphasis on preaching and leadership.  Many of the participants were leaders in their churches, but had little formal training and therefore were very eager to learn, and were full of good questions.  English varied among the participants and we were very impressed by the way they helped each other translate the material.  We had a lovely closing ceremony and we were able to present each participant with a certificate of completion. 

Lamiel kindly showed us much of Harare and on Sunday took us to a CCAP church in the small town of Chegutu, about an hour outside of Harare.  I preached and after the service we went to a nice lunch with several of church leaders.  Chegutu Congregation just expanded their building and is a thriving congregation.  We really enjoyed our five days in Harare and were grateful to meet the people with whom MAPC has established a partnership.  In less than a week, a group from MAPC will travel to Harare to continue this partnership.  We know they will have an enjoyable and blessed time.

After finishing the course in Harare, we boarded a Greyhound Bus on Monday October 4 and reached Johannesburg, South Africa 18 hours later!  The bus was really nice compared to the buses we took in Malawi; we had assigned seats, there weren’t any passengers in the aisles and the bus was chicken free.  However, no matter how nice the bus it was still a long ride to Johannesburg.  We will write more on our time in South Africa and Lesotho in our next post. 

CCAP Mbare Congregation in Harare

Brent teaching in Harare

Erin eating lunch with one of the participants

Rev. Juma giving us words of encouragement at the closing of the course.

Receiving our gifts from the participants

Group photo with all 24 participants

Brent preaching at Chegutu Congregation

With Dr. Lamiel Phiri's family

The Jacaranda trees in Harare

A close up of a Jacaranda tree

Three Weeks, Three Countries and Thirteen Beds

         Someone told me that our trip sounds like the Amazing Race, and in some ways that is true.  Each leg of our journey brings about its own set of adventures requiring creativity, patience, humor, and some collaboration between Brent and me and with locals who continually prove to be extremely gracious and helpful. Eventually, there’s a reward when we get to where we’re going, even if the reward is that we get to take our packs off and take a cold shower.  A recent leg took us from Blantyre, Malawi through Mozambique and onto Harare, Zimbabwe. 

            Monday, September 20 we met up with Reverend Nedson Zulu, a wonderful man who works for the Outreach Foundation; an organization seeking to connect Presbyterian churches in the US to Christians in developing countries.  Nedson, a Zambian by birth, works specifically in the Tete region of Mozambique, located in the northwest corner of a rather large country.  Nedson graciously offered to show us some of what he has been up to for the past ten years, as well as take us to eastern Mozambique where we visited some folks who work with New Tribes Mission. 

            Mozambique felt different than Zambia and Malawi, the major reasons being:  one, Mozambique was colonized by the Portuguese, rather than the British, who were notorious for leaving their colonies in shambles after independence.  It’s said the Portuguese poured cement down wells, burnt buildings to the ground, destroyed factories, and tore up phone lines as they left.  Two, after independence in 1975, the country’s first president had communist tendencies and subsequently expelled all religious institutions.  Third, Mozambique was ravaged by a civil war that lasted over ten years, finally ending around 1994 whereby communism was rejected and religion was invited back into the country.  Mozambique is fervently trying, with some success, to build back into the country an infrastructure that was literally destroyed by the war, as well as to welcome back and provide for the refuges that fled during the war.  In the way of religion, the Christian Church is young and floundering to sink roots and to grow.  For these reasons, Mozambique is a country New Tribes Mission is currently focusing on with the hope of sharing God’s love, peace and hope to a country previously tormented by war.

Matt and Debi Zook, along with their four year old daughter, Melody, and their nine month old son, William, live in Derre, Mozambique amongst the Lolo people.  Derre is a small town/village that was abandoned when the war brutally swept through. Because the war was between two party groups that were interweaved into communities, neighbors killed neighbors and friends killed friends, causing most people to flee to neighboring Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.  Upon their return, the Lolo people are trying to establish a livelihood they remember from the past.  The Zooks, fluent in Portuguese and Lolo, have lived in Derre for five years and are committed to sharing God’s love and peace with the Lolo, as well as translating the New Testament into the Lolo language; an admirable task.  The Zooks built a brick house, powered by solar energy, and dependent upon on rain water that is collected into a large holding tank, then pumped up to their roof from where it is piped into the house.  They have chickens and pigs, mango, banana, coconut and cashew trees, some kind of bean tree and a large garden.  I was fascinated by their life of simplicity as well as surviving on what is locally available and grown.   

From Derre, Nedson, Brent and I drove east to Quelimane, a city on an inlet of the Indian Ocean.  There, we met some other inspiring New Tribes folks preparing to move to a remote area several hours south of Quelimane reachable only by boat or motorcycle.  I had, for dinner one night, the largest shrimp I have ever seen – they were 4 inches long – marinated in Mozambican coconut milk; definitely one of the food highlights of our trip. 

What struck me most about New Tribes Mission is their commitment to language learning.  Although it takes years, what language learning communicates is that God is not a God of English, Western culture, or white skin.  God is not limited by culture, country or race.  God is a God big enough to embrace all culture, languages and people.  English is not a prerequisite to Christianity. 

Tete was an 11.5 hour drive from Quelimane, to the west.  If you can imagine, we went south from Blantyre to Derre, east to Quelimane and then west to Tete.  However, in order to reach Tete we had to drive a few hundred miles south, and then a few hundred miles north, within 100 miles of the Malawi border, so we ended up making a big circle.  Tete is HOT, on the mighty Zambezi River and is developing like crazy. 

The Outreach Foundation realized the great need in Mozambique that resulted from the civil war and has worked to, in cooperation with the Mozambican people, to build churches, schools, clinics, to drill wells and provide training to a young and fledgling church.  We visited several of these churches and wells, and visited a newly opened clinic and renovated school.  Nedson, who is intricately involved in each building, well and training explained to us that this ministry is holistic and works to encourage sustainability and ownership among recipients.  In other words Outreach does not  build a church or drill a well to attract people to the Christian faith, rather because of what it means to be a Christian and how Jesus calls us to live, they share what they have which results in a cooperative effort between Outreach and the local people to build, say, a school.  This is drastically different from ministries whose goal is to provide food, water, a new church, or clothes in exchange for listening to a sermon.  When the food is gone, so are the people, and when the well breaks or the building needs to be repaired no one fixes it because it was never theirs.  Of course, when a community gains a well that provides safe water people experience God’s love which hopefully transform their hearts and lives. 

I can’t adequately explain what a humble, patient and servant minded man Nedson is.  Brent and I learned so much from him and are still processing all that we saw and talked about.  I am fairly confident that my view of partnership, “mission projects” and development will forever be influenced by the week I spent with Nedson Zulu. 

Erin, Rev. Zulu, Mrs Zulu and their grandaughter

In front of an old Catholic Church in Quellimane, Mozambique

Dinner in Quellimane with the Schaffers, Ruby, Arnie, and Nedson

Brent speaking with Nedson translating at a Presbyterian church in the Tete region

A deep well constructed with help from the Outreach Foundation

Beautiful faces in the crowd at a Presbyterian congregation in the Tete region

A newly constructed Presbyterian church in the Tete region

Nedson dropping us off in Harare