Thing One:
You can now click here to go to devozine's Web site to read my "I Dream of Africa" series of articles and blogs. One article and one blog are online now. The remaining six stories will be added over the next few months. Devozine is a teen devotional magazine published by the Upper Room.
Thing Two:
A Facebook group I joined is organizing a prayer vigil of sorts for Zimbabwe as they approach the June 27 presidential run-off election. Reports coming from the country are describing increasingly desperate and terrible acts being committed against people to keep them for voting against the current leadership. Whether you "officially" join the vigil or not, please pray for God to intervene in Zimbabwe. What I heard while I was in Zimbabwe last fall is that the people of Zim really don't want a war. The current administration continues to commit physical atrocities, though. How are people to defend themselves? There are many Christians in Zim. Please support them by praying for their country, praying that they will get good leaders. The message below offers some specific ways for praying.
We are inviting you to join us in the Zimbabwe Global Prayer Network for the Zimbabwe Presidential Runoff Election. The purpose of this network is to mobilize God's children to set aside time to pray and intercede for the nation of Zimbabwe. The prayer network will start on 8 June 2008 until 27 June 2008. To be part of the spiritual movement all you have to do is follow 3 simple steps:
1. Choose any time of the day which you will pray.
2. Specify your 5 minute interval of prayer.
3. Send us your details - Our goal is to have 1 million people praying for Zimbabwe all over the world at any given moment in time. In order for us to keep a record of all those committed to this movement we need to know:
1. Your name
2. The interval of prayer that you have committed yourself to
3. Your location
So please email this information to us at presidentialrunoffelection@gmail.com or presidentialrunoffelection@yahoo.com ors us on +27 78 323 3579.
Please encourage your friends and family to set aside time and pray for restoration to be brought to the nation of Zimbabwe.
PRAYER POINTS
1. Successful, peaceful and conclusive presidential runoff elections (1 Timothy 2:1-2)
2. Economic and social restoration and prosperity of the nation of Zimbabwe (Jeremiah 29:11)
3. Reconciliation of all tribes, races and political parties leading to all Zimbabweans living in harmony (Psalms 133:1-3)
4. A spirit of forgiveness where the lives of the people are rebuilt in a constructive and empathic manner to achieve national unity (Luke 4:18)
5. restoration of human dignity and respect for human life (Genesis 1:26)
6. The ability for every individual to have the choice and access means and resources to achieve their God given purpose. (Philippians 4:13)
7. A peaceful transition after the elections (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
Showing posts with label zimbabwe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zimbabwe. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
updates all around town
Greetings! Sorry again for a long delay here. I still have nearly-finished posts that were started in Africa and that I've not been able to complete yet. Some day, perhaps. Some day.
In the meantime, please continue praying for Zimbabwe and for Kenya. Here are a couple sources of info that I've recently discovered:
The Zimbabwean (I think it's published from the UK)
Rising from the Ashes: A Kenyan pastor who lost his home in post-election violence models forgiveness (from AIM, one of the organizations I overlapped with in Kenya)
In the meantime, please continue praying for Zimbabwe and for Kenya. Here are a couple sources of info that I've recently discovered:
The Zimbabwean (I think it's published from the UK)
Rising from the Ashes: A Kenyan pastor who lost his home in post-election violence models forgiveness (from AIM, one of the organizations I overlapped with in Kenya)
******
Life is full these days as I work to be fully present here while preparing for the next stops on the road. I have two big hurdles of tasks to get through before I can dig deeper into plans for Haiti. Please pray with me that those things will be completed within the next week. It's time for Haiti planning to begin. I hope I'll be able to be mentally and prayfully prepared for that trip and not let it get lost in the larger and probably much more long-term impending move to England. With food prices rising around the world, the poor in Haiti have been among those suffering from rising grain and rice prices. Please pray for God's provision for them. Things feel unsettled enough here in the US with our ghastly gas price increases, but imagine the bit of fear you feel as you watch the price increases you can't control applied to your staple, and previously cheap, food for your family.
And speaking of being present here, I'm about halfway through an eight-week commitment to help with an ESL (English as a Second Language) class for a group of Somali Bantu refugees living in Nashville. I tried to help out with a class last summer but just couldn't squeeze out the time to do it. I was excited to find that the dates for this round of classes fit just right with my Nashville months. It's fun to have an Africa connection here. The woman teaching the class is from my church, and it's great fun to have the chance to get to know her better. And it's great fun to welcome and help some new Nashvillians.
Many Bantu people from Somalia speak a language that's never been written down, so in addition to learning English, which would be hard enough on its own, many of them are learning to read and write any language for the very first time. This makes language acquisition, at least in a culture that places a premium on literacy, infinitely harder. Please pray for them as they try to learn the language that will make their transition here easier.
Thanks, folks! More later!
Friday, April 4, 2008
keep Zimbabwe in mind
Hey, friends...Just another update on Zimbabwe's elections. If these news reports are correct, everyone (opposition and ruling party both) recognizes Mugabe didn't win the presidential elections, but apparently the opposition candidate didn't win enough votes to take the presidency outright. Now there is to be a run-off election, and it sounds like the ruling party may be up to their old tricks of intimidating voters and worse in order to stay in power. It seems Zimbabwe's on the brink of change, so let's pray with the Zimbabweans that change will come without more suffering and that those who need to be courageous will be.
The country is a beautiful place and the people are great. There is much bad stewardship of the place in these days, with land and infrastructure and people not being used well.
This photo was taken from the yard of the bed & breakfast I stayed in while in Zimbabwe last October.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
zimbabwe's recent elections
It's quite a moment for Zimbabwe right now. Their elections were held on March 29, and, surpisingly, it seems there's a chance Robert Mugabe, the country's dictator/president of the past 28 years, is on his way out. I've had a hard time finding Zimbabwe news since I've been back, but the recent elections and the wait for results has the country back in the news. If Mugabe does leave power, who knows if the new regime will be any kinder to Zimbabwe's people and economy, but perhaps there's hope. Please join in praying for the people of Zimbabwe, that things will remain peaceful, that change will come that releases them from the terribleness they've been living in.
I was cautioned by friends and relatives against going to Zimbabwe last fall, mostly because the news reports suggested the place was in chaos. I'm so glad I still went because I found a different situation than I anticipated. Life for me, a visitor, was fine. I had plenty to eat and never, ever felt unsafe. In fact, I generally felt more safe and at ease there than I did in many of the other cities I visited. However, it was clear even in the briefest conversations that life has been terrifically hard for the people of Zimbabwe. When you ask someone how they're doing, it wasn't uncommon for the reply to be: "Half-half. So-so. Things are really bad here. This used to be a good place to live." Someone commented that things were better when the white farmers were still there. With the astronomical inflation rate, students at schools and universities were receiving extra tuition bills part way through the semester because the amount they paid at the beginning of the semester was no longer enough to cover the school's expenses.
What struck me, though, is that somehow people were making it. Somehow they were soldiering on. And that is to the credit of the resilience of Zimbabwe's people. In spite of the heaviness, people still laughed and smiled and welcomed a stranger into their midst.
The part of Zimbabwe I visited is located near the border with Mozambique, so it's possible things were even more dire in the Zimbabwe's interior than what I experienced. The people on the eastern edge of Zimbabwe could go over to Mozambique and down to South Africa to get the supplies and foodstuffs that had stopped being available in Zim. People in the interior would be less likely to be able to do that.
Here are links to some election news:
Zimbabwe bloggers react to delays
Deal 'close' for Mugabe to leave
Zimbabwe opposition leader: no talks
I was cautioned by friends and relatives against going to Zimbabwe last fall, mostly because the news reports suggested the place was in chaos. I'm so glad I still went because I found a different situation than I anticipated. Life for me, a visitor, was fine. I had plenty to eat and never, ever felt unsafe. In fact, I generally felt more safe and at ease there than I did in many of the other cities I visited. However, it was clear even in the briefest conversations that life has been terrifically hard for the people of Zimbabwe. When you ask someone how they're doing, it wasn't uncommon for the reply to be: "Half-half. So-so. Things are really bad here. This used to be a good place to live." Someone commented that things were better when the white farmers were still there. With the astronomical inflation rate, students at schools and universities were receiving extra tuition bills part way through the semester because the amount they paid at the beginning of the semester was no longer enough to cover the school's expenses.
What struck me, though, is that somehow people were making it. Somehow they were soldiering on. And that is to the credit of the resilience of Zimbabwe's people. In spite of the heaviness, people still laughed and smiled and welcomed a stranger into their midst.
The part of Zimbabwe I visited is located near the border with Mozambique, so it's possible things were even more dire in the Zimbabwe's interior than what I experienced. The people on the eastern edge of Zimbabwe could go over to Mozambique and down to South Africa to get the supplies and foodstuffs that had stopped being available in Zim. People in the interior would be less likely to be able to do that.
Here are links to some election news:
Zimbabwe bloggers react to delays
Deal 'close' for Mugabe to leave
Zimbabwe opposition leader: no talks
Thursday, January 17, 2008
a bit of published material
I'm holed up in my parents' house in Kansas for a couple more weeks, trying to push through a long list of writing assignments without a desk and without coffeehouses to use as writing haunts! Eventually, I'll recreate the post below that was lost, but there's no time for that at the moment.
In its place, I'm offering a link to one of my Africa articles that's available online now, so you can see a bit of the "official" fruit of my Africa labors:
"Zimbabwe economic crisis cripples mission station" from the United Methodist News Service's site
In its place, I'm offering a link to one of my Africa articles that's available online now, so you can see a bit of the "official" fruit of my Africa labors:
"Zimbabwe economic crisis cripples mission station" from the United Methodist News Service's site
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
my first african birthday
My birthday was such a nice day. In addition to receiving messages from so many friends and family, I still had a birthday party! My fellow guests and the folks who run the B&B I'm staying at managed to put together a real party complete with presents in just 24 hours! What nice new friends!
Delicious lemon poppyseed cake created by Lucia, the chef who runs the B&B. The electricity stayed on just long enough for Lucia to bake this!
Hmmm, what did I wish for?
The party crew: Lucia, me, Andra (my Africa University contact and Lucia's sister), Julia (guest lecturer from Memphis along with husband Chris--who's taking the photo)
The beautiful jacaranda tunnel on the street the B&B is on. The mountains in the background remind me of home.
Jacaranda flowers, are you ready for your close-up?
Delicious lemon poppyseed cake created by Lucia, the chef who runs the B&B. The electricity stayed on just long enough for Lucia to bake this! 
Hmmm, what did I wish for?
The party crew: Lucia, me, Andra (my Africa University contact and Lucia's sister), Julia (guest lecturer from Memphis along with husband Chris--who's taking the photo)
The beautiful jacaranda tunnel on the street the B&B is on. The mountains in the background remind me of home.
Jacaranda flowers, are you ready for your close-up?perspective
For various reasons, I didn’t get to go to church this past Sunday, so I’ve been particularly looking forward to the Wednesday morning chapel service at Africa University. As I walked up the chapel steps, strains of “Rock of Ages” greeted me. Ah, something familiar.
At the end of the opening prayer, together with people from all over Africa I prayed the Lord’s Prayer. With them, I prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We prayed this while standing in a country in which that very thing is hard to come by. To pray for daily bread in a place where actual bread is scarce brings the whole of the Lord’s Prayer alive in a new way. Profound.
I’ve had similar experiences other times these past two weeks as I’ve read passages of Scripture, usually in the morning. It’s amazing how much your physical location can change the way you hear God’s words.
This morning – 2 Chronicles 7:13-15
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”
Does this apply to such a place as Zimbabwe with the problems that plague it? Are the problems here man-made? Is that different than God sending locusts? What would happen if the people of God in this place began a movement of prayer? Would he respond as He told the Israelites He would?
Last week – Matthew 6:25-34
“’For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“’So do not sorry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’”
The imagery alone of this passage reads differently for me after spending almost three months in places that are alive with flowers almost everywhere. And birds, too. And I even think of grass differently now. When we were in the village of Kisaba in the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, we entered the church building where the Jesus Film services were being hosted. We were greeted by a floor covered with a thick, soft, light green carpet of freshly cut, sweet, sweet smelling grass. Such a wonderful, fresh, gentle scent. But, eventually that grass will get old and have to be thrown out and replaced.
And then to read the words about worry and trust while sitting at a breakfast table in a country where people don’t know how much further down they must go before they reach the bottom and begin to climb again. It already seems impossible to go lower, short of some sort of war. Yet in this place, too, somehow Jesus’ words must be true. Today and tomorrow and the next day.
This morning’s service ended with a second song, this one in Portuguese, by the Africa University Choir, filled by beautiful voices from all over Africa. I could have sat listening to them for a very long time.
At the end of the opening prayer, together with people from all over Africa I prayed the Lord’s Prayer. With them, I prayed, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We prayed this while standing in a country in which that very thing is hard to come by. To pray for daily bread in a place where actual bread is scarce brings the whole of the Lord’s Prayer alive in a new way. Profound.
I’ve had similar experiences other times these past two weeks as I’ve read passages of Scripture, usually in the morning. It’s amazing how much your physical location can change the way you hear God’s words.
This morning – 2 Chronicles 7:13-15
“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.”
Does this apply to such a place as Zimbabwe with the problems that plague it? Are the problems here man-made? Is that different than God sending locusts? What would happen if the people of God in this place began a movement of prayer? Would he respond as He told the Israelites He would?
Last week – Matthew 6:25-34
“’For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
“’So do not sorry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’”
The imagery alone of this passage reads differently for me after spending almost three months in places that are alive with flowers almost everywhere. And birds, too. And I even think of grass differently now. When we were in the village of Kisaba in the Ssese Islands in Lake Victoria, we entered the church building where the Jesus Film services were being hosted. We were greeted by a floor covered with a thick, soft, light green carpet of freshly cut, sweet, sweet smelling grass. Such a wonderful, fresh, gentle scent. But, eventually that grass will get old and have to be thrown out and replaced.
And then to read the words about worry and trust while sitting at a breakfast table in a country where people don’t know how much further down they must go before they reach the bottom and begin to climb again. It already seems impossible to go lower, short of some sort of war. Yet in this place, too, somehow Jesus’ words must be true. Today and tomorrow and the next day.
This morning’s service ended with a second song, this one in Portuguese, by the Africa University Choir, filled by beautiful voices from all over Africa. I could have sat listening to them for a very long time.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
teaching school
Greetings! I’m in Zimbabwe now, celebrating my last day as a 31-year-old! :-) Thanks for all who prayed for my travels here. Everything went super-smoothly and easily with my entrance to the country. I’m staying in a really nice B&B and am not personally experiencing any real ill effects from the things that are affecting so many of the people in this country right now.
So far I’ve mostly had to focus on finishing my writing work from Uganda, so I haven’t been able to explore this place much yet and haven’t had enough free space left in my head to ask people too many questions yet. Still, people talk and it’s hard to avoid gathering a few impressions even when you’re trying not to. Those will have to wait for another blog post, though.
Instead, I’m going to try uploading some more Uganda photos. These are from the one day I sort of took off after nine straight days of gathering info (hence, the full head). My good friend Mary’s sister happens to be studying this semester in the Uganda Studies Program. The program is run by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. They have a bunch of great semester-long study programs. I was a student in their American Studies Program my last semester of college. They’ve added a bunch of new options since then. USP is hosted by Uganda Christian University, a vibrant-seeming school where students look much more professional than they do at most American colleges and universities.
I met up with Annie, who reminds me lots of her sister and so seemed like an old friend immediately, and chatted for a while before heading out with her and another USP student, Kelly, to their service project at a local primary school. They’d only been there once before to meet the headmaster and get a tour of the school, so they didn’t really know what to expect on this day either.
Well, the headmaster wanted us to use some Child Evangelism Fellowship materials he had and each teach a class. So, after about five minutes or less of glancing through the materials in my hand and choosing to do the lesson on Jesus’ trial, I entered the class of 56 P3 students (probably equivalent to 3rd or 4th grade or so in the US; the education systems are different, and I never completely figured it all out) while Annie and Kelly were introduced to their P1 and P2 classes. After introducing me, the teacher and headmaster left the room, and I was left with the help of the P7 student, Miriam, who was my translator.
So, it was quite an experience, as the lesson in the book was WAY too long to read and have translated the way it was written. I did a lot of summarizing and ad libbing. The first “example” story was about a kid whose sister spilled ink on the carpet but let him take the blame for it. I haven’t seen carpet in two months, so I imagine most of those P3 kids had never seen it. But, we made our way through and had a good time, and the kids asked really good questions at the end. It felt like quite a moment of responsibility to answer “Why did Jesus die on the cross for us?” and “Why did the people want to kill him?” and to make it translatable. As far as I can tell, though, Miriam did a really great job translating, and hopefully the kids learned about Jesus.
After the 45 minute class, Annie, Kelly and I were supposed to take our classes together to the church and do something with them!? We scrounged around in our heads for songs from our youth, especially ones with motions. We got the kids to sing a few of the songs they knew. And still there was lots of time before they were supposed to be dismissed for lunch. So, we dug deeper into our shallow bags of tricks and decided to have Annie be the narrator for the story of Noah’s ark while Kelly and I acted it out. Let’s just say, we’re glad there weren’t any video cameras around. :-)
After we returned to campus in a downpour, I got to sit in on Annie’s African literature class. It was fun and interesting and now I can’t remember the name of the book they were reading. It was Mission to ?? and it was originally written in French. All in all, it was quite a nice day off. It was also neat because the USP students arrived in Uganda about the same time I arrived in Africa, so we’re on about the same schedule in our Africa semester and are absorbing some similar things. It was fun to chat with them.
Here are photos I took of “my class.” To keep the photo session from turning into mass chaos, I asked them to stay in their seats while I took a picture of each section of the class. See if you can find the student who managed to get into all three pictures anyway! :-) (here's a hint: you can see him best in the third photo. there might be more students who did this, but I’ve only found one so far.)
Miriam, translator extraordinaire
Annie and me (notice the water running off the roof behind us!)
Kelly and Annie, Noah's Ark actors extraordinaire
p.s. I think it’s perfectly appropriate to leave birthday greetings in the comments section of a blog. (that’s a shameless hint, in case you didn’t notice! :-) I think I’m relegated to a virtual birthday party this year. :-) )
p.s. #2: Stay tuned for a post entitled “pictures that make me laugh!"
So far I’ve mostly had to focus on finishing my writing work from Uganda, so I haven’t been able to explore this place much yet and haven’t had enough free space left in my head to ask people too many questions yet. Still, people talk and it’s hard to avoid gathering a few impressions even when you’re trying not to. Those will have to wait for another blog post, though.
Instead, I’m going to try uploading some more Uganda photos. These are from the one day I sort of took off after nine straight days of gathering info (hence, the full head). My good friend Mary’s sister happens to be studying this semester in the Uganda Studies Program. The program is run by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. They have a bunch of great semester-long study programs. I was a student in their American Studies Program my last semester of college. They’ve added a bunch of new options since then. USP is hosted by Uganda Christian University, a vibrant-seeming school where students look much more professional than they do at most American colleges and universities.
I met up with Annie, who reminds me lots of her sister and so seemed like an old friend immediately, and chatted for a while before heading out with her and another USP student, Kelly, to their service project at a local primary school. They’d only been there once before to meet the headmaster and get a tour of the school, so they didn’t really know what to expect on this day either.
Well, the headmaster wanted us to use some Child Evangelism Fellowship materials he had and each teach a class. So, after about five minutes or less of glancing through the materials in my hand and choosing to do the lesson on Jesus’ trial, I entered the class of 56 P3 students (probably equivalent to 3rd or 4th grade or so in the US; the education systems are different, and I never completely figured it all out) while Annie and Kelly were introduced to their P1 and P2 classes. After introducing me, the teacher and headmaster left the room, and I was left with the help of the P7 student, Miriam, who was my translator.
So, it was quite an experience, as the lesson in the book was WAY too long to read and have translated the way it was written. I did a lot of summarizing and ad libbing. The first “example” story was about a kid whose sister spilled ink on the carpet but let him take the blame for it. I haven’t seen carpet in two months, so I imagine most of those P3 kids had never seen it. But, we made our way through and had a good time, and the kids asked really good questions at the end. It felt like quite a moment of responsibility to answer “Why did Jesus die on the cross for us?” and “Why did the people want to kill him?” and to make it translatable. As far as I can tell, though, Miriam did a really great job translating, and hopefully the kids learned about Jesus.
After the 45 minute class, Annie, Kelly and I were supposed to take our classes together to the church and do something with them!? We scrounged around in our heads for songs from our youth, especially ones with motions. We got the kids to sing a few of the songs they knew. And still there was lots of time before they were supposed to be dismissed for lunch. So, we dug deeper into our shallow bags of tricks and decided to have Annie be the narrator for the story of Noah’s ark while Kelly and I acted it out. Let’s just say, we’re glad there weren’t any video cameras around. :-)
After we returned to campus in a downpour, I got to sit in on Annie’s African literature class. It was fun and interesting and now I can’t remember the name of the book they were reading. It was Mission to ?? and it was originally written in French. All in all, it was quite a nice day off. It was also neat because the USP students arrived in Uganda about the same time I arrived in Africa, so we’re on about the same schedule in our Africa semester and are absorbing some similar things. It was fun to chat with them.
Here are photos I took of “my class.” To keep the photo session from turning into mass chaos, I asked them to stay in their seats while I took a picture of each section of the class. See if you can find the student who managed to get into all three pictures anyway! :-) (here's a hint: you can see him best in the third photo. there might be more students who did this, but I’ve only found one so far.)
Miriam, translator extraordinaire
Annie and me (notice the water running off the roof behind us!)
Kelly and Annie, Noah's Ark actors extraordinaire
p.s. I think it’s perfectly appropriate to leave birthday greetings in the comments section of a blog. (that’s a shameless hint, in case you didn’t notice! :-) I think I’m relegated to a virtual birthday party this year. :-) )
p.s. #2: Stay tuned for a post entitled “pictures that make me laugh!"
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