More visiting to an orphanage and school

Wow - we had a real driving experience today going out into the rural area to visit a school where orphan children go. The roads have been rather washed out by rains in a lot of places and we had to be very careful and slow driving around the rocks and gullies. It seems like most of the pastors/bishops that contact us and say they have orphanages actually just watch over the children who have lost one or both parents and live with a grandmother in most cases. They help them with needs and school fees and feed them one meal a day after school. This place we went today is quite needy and we could help them with almost anything.

the road to Pastor Mataya's school

more crazy washed-out road

Pastor Mataya took us to see this lady today who cannot walk. She crawls everywhere and has her knees wrapped with cloth. She came crawling out of the corn patch where she was weeding and picking some sugar cane. We will consider her for a wheelchair but her house is not at all accessible but she could get around her yard and if someone pushed her she could go further down the road. She is far from anything though, really. If we give her a chair we will deliver it and take pictures of the event. (If we dare go on that road again!!)

the road to the house of the lady who needs a wheelchair

she can only get around on her knees

Some pictures from the school we went to today:

students in school class

students from a school in the rurals

On our way out of the rural area we saw our first African animal - a Zebra. We got a good picture too -- there was a fence between me and him!!

Our first African animal sighting!

tall grass along the side of the road

huts in the countryside

Love, Elder & Sister Bullock

Zimbabwe

We have been busy so far this week. We get phone calls from the Pastors and others than are running facilities for children and they want us to come and see their places of operation. It is good for us to go so that we can see exactly what their needs are and decide how we may be able to help.

Tuesday we went to "Trust in the Lord Orphan's Care" where Lettie has 10 children that live with her and they have about 150 children that come after school and they feed them a meal. It was a small house that is very old but it was clean and the surrounding yard (mostly cemented) was swept clean. They do their cooking outside over a fire, as do most people here. Bro. Spencer, who owns a grocery store here supplies them with a lot of their food, at no charge. (maize, cabbage,
etc.)

The children started arriving and are very polite. Jim entertained them with a finger game (Tommy, Tommy....) and tried to teach them to whistle with their hands. They liked that. He played a song-game that he used to do with the kids at school patrol camp and that got a lot of smiles.

Then the kids sang to us and danced some. Their songs are always about God and Jesus Christ and how wonderful They are and how blessed they are. They are happy -- they don't know any different. Most of these children have lost parents but live with grandmas or aunts/uncles or single moms.

Wednesday we went with Evelyn to visit "Just Joy" (a bridging organization). They are a big organization that help about 2000 children. They try to have sports and other things that keep the kids occupied. They pay the school fees and cost of uniforms for some children (through donations) so that they can go to school. Lots of the children are not in school and have nothing to do. They try and give each a toy at Christmas. Often then are left home alone while the parents go to sell veggies/fruit of whatever they can get on the street corners to try and make a little money. The area was high density and extremely poor. (I will try and send a picture or two). There were people everywhere and the homes were horrible with 3 and 4 families in a small apt.

She took us to one home where a grandmother is taking care of 6 grandchildren as the parents have all died (probably of aids). The grandmother is very sick (they said she has cervical cancer) and so 3 of the children are with neighbors (one is a baby) and will eventally end up in an orphanage, I'm sure. The grandmother was laying outside on the cement with a blanket - she couldn't get up. Apparently someone else has taken over the house and she sleeps in a corner with the 3 grandchildren or outside. I'm not sure who feeds them - perhaps this organization or neighbors. I didn't have the heart to take a picture as I didn't want the grandma to feel any worse than she already does.

apt. building in high-density area

apt. building with garbage in front

Now for some good news: two of Pres. Nield's daughters and some of his workers -- he employs about 25 people on his property so he can take care of them - he feeds them and gives them and their families the basic essentials -- anyway, they were sorting out boxes from the container that he received from the U.S. There was some food, blankets, hygiene kits, etc, etc. There were boxes and boxes of clothes and shoes donated by someone (not Deseret Industries). We went out and helped them for about 3 hrs. We sorted clothes into boys/girls/men/women/babies etc. We didn't get finished and had to put the boxes back into the container before it got dark. When I saw all those wonderful things that people had sent it brought tears to my eyes. There was so much but never enough for the needs here. It will help many though. We have a container due next week from DI with more of the same.

Just an example of how desperate these people are - and keep in mind that these are people that Pres. Nield brought to help because he trusts them for the most part. They all know that when they are done they will be given a set of clothes for each member of their family. However, after they had been sorting for a little while someone took a walk around and there were clothes hidden in the corn patch, under the container, along the fence and anywhere they could hide them so they could retrieve them later. Rachael, Pres. Nield's daughter really got after them and told them - that is theft, and we don't do that in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The items were gathered up and put back. The people were all moved to the other side of the container where they could be watched more closely. They want anything they can get -- they can sell them on the street for money.

Container sorting - big job

sorting clothes by container

About driving in Zimbabwe: what an experience. I told Jim yesterday that this is a good way to get over noticing everyone's illegal turns, stops, etc. etc. There really are no rules or if there are everyone breaks them. Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way. If they did the cars would never move. Like I said before the traffic lights (robots) hardly ever work so intersections are a 'take your best chance' crossing. On top of that people are everywhere - crossing streets anywhere and everywhere. Our first impulse is to stop for a pedestrian but they do watch and stop for the cars. Often they are standing right in the middle of two lanes waiting for their chance to run across - at home you might think this would be rather dangerous, but not here. When we were in the high density neighborhood yesterday people were really everywhere - it is amazing that cars can even drive through and that no one gets hit.

people going to town

We have no water pressure again so we are heating our water on the stove. At least we has Zesa (electricity) for now. The phone bills here have been about $10 a month but last month apparently they went to ridiculous prices of about $200 - 400 (as much as $2000) and people refused to pay them. They paid a little bit so that they couldn't disconnect them. Now the Internet isn't working a lot because they say people refused to pay their bills and they needed the money. Crazy methods.

One other thing I wanted to tell you was that there are little bonfires all over (yards, side of the road, etc.) because that is how they cook their Sadza (corn maize) or their field corn on a cob. There are patches of corn growing everywhere and wherever they can. That started because of the shortage of food grown on the farms here. That is why we have the `Prophet's Garden´ (as it has been named) here on the church property. People have plots here and are suppose to keep them up - some do better than others. Mostly they grow corn and a green vegetable that they make a relish type sauce out of. That is pretty much all they eat and they like it just fine - usually one, maybe two meals a day.

Jim went to Marondera today with Elder Taylor, to do the branch audit. They will be back about noonish. I am sorting through some information hoping that it will all make sense one day soon. Last night we joined the Taylor's in their flat next door and we watched the first `Love Comes Softly´ movie. They enjoyed that and so did we - we haven't seen it for a long time. They had a stressful day and wanted to relax - it worked.

spider on our ceiling

Must get back to my paperwork. Love to all.

Orphanage Visit

Dear Friends and Family,

I don't want to break any hearts but.... this little girl's parents died recently and she has been taken to Letti's orphanage. Isn't she beautiful? I wish I could send her home to you.

We visited the orphanage this afternoon. They have 10 children that live there full time but they feed 150 every afternoon after school. A member of the church owns a grocery store and he gives them a lot of food - corn maize, beans, cabbage etc. I took some really good video but I don't know how to send it - besides the internet is so slow I don't know if I could. I will try and send some pictures though but I haven't been having a lot of luck with that today either.

We enjoyed our visit - the children sang to us. Their songs are always about God and Jesus Christ and how good they are. Jim teased them and played a couple of games with them. They loved it. His school patrol training camps were good training for this.

Our truck parked in front of our flat.
LDS Charities Logo

making Sadza at the orphanage

Giving out soap and blankets (Jim in back)

View from our backyard

Close up view of our backyard

Love to all, Elder and Sister Bullock

Dear Family and Friends,

I am writing this on Sunday evening in the flat and will copy and paste (I hope) tomorrow at the mission office. We have just had supper with the other two couples and a single sister who they have been friendshipping. Nice supper of fish (Tepia), potatoes, butternut squash, green beans and rolls. Tomorrow night we all go out to a restaurant for Turners final night.

Thursday we drove to Mutare. Apparently it is about the prettiest place in Zimbabwe and I must agree. It had hills/mountains and the area was very green and pretty – especially with the rainy season. We have 3 or 4 chapels there and the District President is President Chadambuka. He is a really good man. He met us and took us to the senior’s home. The youth (age 18-24) were already there and had been doing some service work on the grounds. They were all wearing the “Helping Hands” T-shirts that the church uses on such projects. We were given a tour of the facility – it is pretty old. Each tenant has a room with cement floors and walls and a door to outside that faces the middle of the complex. They each had a single bed and maybe a chest of drawers. Very meager circumstances. The tenants were gathered under a wooden frame canopy structure and we were introduced and Jim was asked to say a few words - basically telling that we are with LDS Charities etc. Then the youth passed out two blankets and a bar of soap each. (Note: the blankets and the soap are purchased here in Harare. The soap is about 4” X 12” and can be cut into bars. We keep a supply of these things in a container in the garden by the mission office. The container is the type that you would see on a train. We are trying to get another 1 or 2 containers to keep things in – it has been approved I believe. They seal nicely against rats, thieves, etc.

The oldest tenant at the home was a 91 year old lady, Mary. She couldn’t come out of her room so we took it to her. She wanted to kiss us all and hugged the blankets to her face. She offered us some of her Sudza (food) from her cup – we declined! I will try and attach a picture. She was very small. There were a total of 26 seniors there. They appreciated the help.


From there we went to a school for handicap kids and gave them each two blankets (the reason we give two is one for the bottom and one for the top of their beds). The school is in desperate need of anything we could do. They have 20 students coming in May that live there for the term. They mattress pads were pretty much demolished and conditions overall were horrid. We may write up an ‘initiative’ for covered foam mattress pads and submit it to SA (South Africa) for approval and then give more blankets and soap to the students when they come. The children sang to us and then we sang “I am a child of God” to them.

The next morning we went to an orphanage run by some nuns. It was up the hills in a village. The road there left a lot to be desired – similar to driving up in the hills above Mt. View when I was a kid (only I think this was worse). Luckily we have a truck. The “Helping Hands” youth were with us again. We had our introductions again and a tour and then each child received 2 blankets and soap. Sad conditions - but the children seem happy – big white smiles. Mostly all these people eat corn maize and a sort of relish they make out of green leaves. The orphanage people wanted the youth to move some bricks for them with Pres. Chadambuka’s truck. We tried to drive up to where the bricks were and after the road getting narrower and going across a couple of streams – there was a tractor on the road and no one to move it so we had to turn around. While doing this the youth found a guava tree and picked a few fruit – so we tried our first guava. It was good!

On to the next orphanage about 15 km away. It looked nicer than the last but we didn’t get a tour as the head person was not there yet and we couldn’t wait because we needed to get home to Harare before dark. Pres. Chadambuka and the youth waited and did some work cutting down grass etc. We did play with the kids for a little while after they got brave enough to come close. They wanted candy, biscuits, or popcorn but we didn’t have any of that. They were all quite young. They held my hand and would rub my ‘white’ hand and arm – they don’t see white people much. Jim started playing and flipping them over – they all wanted turns. They are really cute kids.

We are already seeing that there is SO much that we could do here and we have to decide what we can do and for whom. There is just no end to the need. We have to try and help the neediest of the needy!! People hand us letters asking us to help them – one asking for a wheelchair for his friend, a motor for a maise grinder as theirs was stolen, mattresses, water pump, etc. We have a few wheelchairs in our container and may be able to do that if it checks out. We have to be careful because people ask for things and then may just want to sell them.

This couple of days in Mutare did give us a taste of what we will be dealing with over the next 18 months. It is nice to be able to give what we can through LDS charities. There are some initiatives in the works and we will find some of our own to do. Anything less than $15,000 can be approved pretty quick through the area welfare people in SA but if they are more than that it must go through Salt Lake. Lots of paperwork. (I will learn more about that tomorrow).

This mission will definitely change how we look at things. We waste so much in America. By the way, we did get our first shower in Mutare at the motel, however, it was in the dark because the power was out!! We had candles and an oil lamp. Our toilet in the flat here has a problem today. The drain pipe going out the back wall has corroded away and there is a hole – so when we flush – quess what happened!! Yup, it was on our floor! Luckily we have 2 bathrooms – we will just have to carry our bucket of tub water to the other bathroom so we can flush. The mission will get it fixed. (Monday: They checked it out today and will fix it. We will move over to the other flat on Tues. Or Wed.)

We went to church today here in the Harare Highlands Ward. Lots of people there and a mix of whites and blacks. (Note: native whites are called Rhodesians). Most wards or branches are all black. There are some really good strong members.

Monday: can’t get the internet to come up yet. Just had a couple of ladies come in asking for some help. They have 13 of them in two enclosures and have no roof to keep the rain out etc. One of them will come back on Wednesday and we will go out and look at their place and see if there is anything we can help them with. We don’t do building with LDS charities but we can perhaps give them some plastic or some scraps from a building that they are redoing here by the gardens. We did give them each 2 blankets, soap, a little sugar, some water tablets and a bit of maize that the gardener had harvested last week and was drying. That will help them a little. We don’t generally give food but had the maize. They seemed happy with anything we could do to help. I think what we will see on Wed when we drive out could be heart-wrenching. One lady had a baby on her back.