Zimbabwe: Land of Contrasts

The Zimbabwe border is somewhat famous for being difficult to pass through. As we got closer (driving from Lusaka, Zambia), I found myself growing increasingly curious about what we would encounter. Contrary to my expectations, our passage through the border was easy and fairly quick (about 45 minutes, which is a lot faster than it usually takes me to cross into the US at the Peace
Arch border). This seemed to set the tone for a series of surprises.

The four hour drive from the border to Harare was beautiful, sometimes breathtakingly so. Hills, rivers, a massive plain stretching for many miles to a distant mountain range. We were driven to a beautiful home on the hill overlooking Harare; in fact from there we could see the president’s residence. This was not what I expected. The contrast with our accommodation the day before in the urban slum of Nkwazi was almost disorienting. I thought of the apostle Paul and how he wrote about learning to be comfortable in the midst of both plenty and scarcity.

Zimbabwe is a country in turmoil. It has an unemployment rate of over 90%. Its currency totally collapsed last year (I was shown a one hundred trillion dollar bill that would briefly buy a loaf of bread). It has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in Africa. Yet in the city, there was a certain order; many shops were open and were stocked (although few people have the money--US dollars– to make purchases), banks and government building were in operation. But as I would learn over the following two days, most people were scrambling just to get food; a small minority are living very well indeed.

We went to Zimbabwe on the invitation of my friend Langton Gatsi. Langton is a national leader, known by politicians, business people and believers all over the country. For a number of years he has had a prominent weekly radio show. On a number of occasions he has been invited to meet with President Mugabe. Langton and I met over three years ago when he joined us on a Journey of Compassion in Thailand. While we were meeting in his office, Langton received news from one of the many rural churches that he overseas that two members had been eaten by a lion. I was amazed to hear this; lions seemed so incongruous with what we experiencing in this capital city. After our initial meeting, David, Steve and I went with Langton to a prayer meeting; they were on day 18 of a 40 day fast. To my surprise, there were more than 300 people in attendance; there was not even enough space for everyone to sit. For two hours, we experienced being in the midst of fervent, powerful prayer. Langton will tell you that without this kind of daily prayer (they also have a permanent daily one hour morning prayer meeting), they would never be able to move forward in the political and spiritual climate of Zimbabwe.

The next morning we went to see Foundations for Farming (formerly Farming God’s Way). I have connected a number of times with the director, Brian Oldrieve, by phone and email over the past three years. This was my first time to see their headquarters. Brian is traveling to other African nations right now, but we had an excellent time with another staff member, Craig Deall. Besides a fascinating tour where we saw the remarkable results they are getting with all kinds of crops--corn/maize, soy beans, various vegetables, medicinal herbs. At some point in the future, I write more about the amazing work they are doing around Africa; for now if you want to know more go to http://www.foundationsforfarming.org/. They have been getting outstanding results for more than 25 years. The Zimbabwean board of education has now included their material into the national high school curriculum. We have now connected our friends in Nkwazi with FfF; they will send two of their young men to the center for a month to learn the principles and then to, in turn train many in Nkwazi. This will mean a huge increase in the productivity of the land that they have. This is the great key with Foundations for Farming: with increased crop yield, the poor can, for the first time, move from substance to sustainability; in other words, there is enough left over after meeting their food needs to sell their produce at market.

This is me standing in front of corn/maize that was planted less than seven weeks ago. No irrigation, even though the area is in drought. The corn in that we saw in other areas was less than half as high.


Secondly, I connected my friend, Kennedy Nyagudi, with Craig. (For more information on Kennedy, see my article, Goodbye Kenya, Hello Zambia). If we can bring Foundations for Farming into Kenya, it will make an amazing difference. Kenyan agriculture has been devastated by climate change. There have been many articles over the past five years describing how once fertile land is now useless. Or so it seems. With FfF, land can become fruitful again, even without irrigation. And Kenn is just the right man to facilitate this. As I wrote earlier, God has elevated him to a place of great influence. We have already talked about the possibility of an information day for key government leader. I will be meeting Kenn in Uganda in a few days; hopefully we can move this forward. And his 10 hectares of land along the river in west Kenya would make a perfect pilot project.

God did so much in less than 48 hours; I can hardly get my head around all that took place. Stay tuned for part two of what happened in Zimbabwe.