Visitors, Safaris, and Victoria Falls

As Erik has eagerly jumped right into medicine here in Zimbabwe, the kids and I have taken time to adjust to living in a completely different culture.  To be honest, the adjustment has not been difficult at all!  It’s actually been quite enjoyable to slow things down a bit as we jump into Zimbabean life and get on “African time.”  Everyone at Nhowe has been so helpful with us getting settled.  We truly feel like we’re at home.

This last week, our home was filled with many sorts of blessings as we hosted visitors from the

States!  We were honored to have Dr. Steve Lemons, Chris Lemons, and Roy Van Zant come to continue their work with the hospital and the Zimbabwe Orphans Program (ZOP).  Erik was able to take some time off from the hospital to travel around to many of the ZOP sites with them.  The kids and I were able to tag along to one, also, at Igava where generous donations have now started construction of a new church building and large area for feeding orphans as this location has many!  The building will be multipurpose and can be used by the school, too.  I have such a heart for orphans and I am so inspired by ZOP and the work they do for the orphans of Zimbabwe. Currently, they are supporting over 4,000 orphans with school fees, uniforms, pencils and paper, etc., as well as finding foster families.  In addition to the assistance with physical items, ZOP also employs numerous ministers and many of the students become Christians.  ZOP changes lives daily and I’m looking forward to working more with ZOP students during our stay.

(Click on the picture to see it better)

We traveled to Victoria Falls this week with our visitors from the States!  This was perfect timing for us to go into Botswana and renew our visas, too.  We also enjoyed going on safaris and some pool time at the hotel.  It has been so fun and educational to see God’s glorious creativity with long-necked giraffes, funny-looking hippos, enormous elephants, and powerful rhinos, but we’re also looking forward to getting back to Nhowe tonight.  While our visitors were here, we made a big master to-do list for the hospital, orphanage, and school and the kids and I can help with many of those things, so we’re anxious to get back to work.

Here are some pictures from the last few days…

Adventure awaits!

Up up up and away!  These kids are going to be pros at flying!

Greeted in Victoria Falls with a beautiful sunset!

Safari day in Botswana...

Boat cruise safari with Dr. Lemons, Roy, and Chris 

Fishing bird (forgot the name) that sits like this to dry out its wings.

Rooftop views of the hippos and another crocodile!

After the boat cruise and lunch, we were off on a land safari...

Dr. Lemons, Roy, Chris

Victoria Falls...

Elephant Back Safari...

All ready for our elephant back safari with our safari guide named AFRICA!  Warm ponchos for a cold morning.

Dinner at the Boma - a traditional Zimbabwean dinner experience...

Everybody ate a "worm" that is actually a caterpillar!!!  We received official certificates!

If you are interested in supporting the Zimbabwe Orphans Program, or would like more information on how you can help, please visit the website.  This is an amazing program that is truly making a difference in Zimbawe.  There are orphans in every country, but let me paint a picture with a few statistics.

The population of the United States is right around 321.4 million people.  Out of those 321.4 million people, there are around 400,000 orphans; that's 0.1%.  Let me point out that almost all of these orphans in the US are in the foster care system and even though it is sad that they don’t have their own family, the country does a pretty good job of taking care of its orphans.  The country of Zimbabwe has a population of around 15.6 million people.  Out of that 15.6 million people there are 1.6 million children orphaned because of AIDS - 10%!  Note, this statistic does not include orphans not affected by AIDS as things like malaria, tuberculosis, heart disease, and trauma have also produced orphans in this country.  It’s also important to note that there is no foster care program here.  There are no organizations or churches that rescue the orphans off the street.  Children are literally starving to death everyday here in Zimbabwe (some of you have heard the story about Simba).  

If you are looking to truly make a difference in someone's life and to support a Christian-based program where every dollar you donate goes directly to the children, please, please, please consider supporting ZOP.