Overdue Update

Maida,T, Klaas, and Sko during a sunrise hike at Nhowe

 As we have discovered, being a missionary means that there is always work to do.  This post has been written and rewritten several times.  It seems like there are just not enough hours in the day.  Internet data is a challenge, too, so we apologize for the lack in postings.  I actually had a post all ready to go a week ago, but it accidentally got deleted and it’s been hard to find the time to rewrite.

Nhowe kids smiling through the new basketball hoops Erik hung.

Kids in Harare

When I first wrote the original draft of this post, we were in the middle of a power outage.  As I wrote, I reflected on the situation we were in with no electricity.  The orphanage (the “hostel”) was in the middle of a five day power outage and almost near a “water crisis” because of it.  I often think about friends and family back in the States who have been without electricity for a period of time and how detrimental they feel it is.  Perspective is funny.  Here, people can go WEEKS without power – and that’s completely NORMAL – daily life continues on as it normally would.

Shopping downtown Harare with Simba. This sweet lady
showed me how to tie him on my back!

A couple Saturdays ago, we attended a farmers market in Marondera (a bigger city about an hour from our home).  We gained a whole new perspective there as we gathered stories from locals.  As much as I love my little Nhowe community, I also love getting out and exploring the rest of the country.  It is so valuable to reach out and get to know others.  We have made many connections throughout this country and it’s been a blessing to hear of life that is so different than I will ever know or completely understand.

With Restoration Hem

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of hosting an amazing group of people in our home.  Restoration Hem found us through Facebook connections and contacted us when they found out that we were here at the same time they were here.  I was so inspired by their stories of how they ended up serving in Zimbabwe and I was especially intrigued by their mission here.  It’s so wonderful to see people changing this world for the better.  Restoration Hem brought their business model and products to the Nhowe Mission School and we’re hopeful that through the connection, we will be able to get help for Nhowe girls very soon.

4th of July party

All the American kids living in Zimbabwe

We spent the majority of the 4th of July sitting in the immigration office.  We prayerfully attempted renewing our visas and despite how difficult it can be to renew, our family was approved to stay here for another month, at least!  4th of July festivities weren’t skipped, however, as our family was invited to attend a 4th of July party at the US Embassy on the 8th of July!  We made many new connections there while we had a potluck-style picnic with many other Americans living here in Zimbabwe.  It was so inspiring to meet other people who have given up the American lifestyle to live here and serve others.  I was surprised to see so many families with kids here, too!

With the group from Connecticut: Patrick, Shannon, Haylie, Diane, Carl and Linda

Butchering live chickens at our house potluck for the elders,
deacons, and their families!

Our 1st goodbye to the Connecticut group!

Cleaning out hospital storages.  We made $2,000 for the hospital.

Our last week has been spent hosting a group from the Manchester Church of Christ, which is located in Connecticut.  We got a ton accomplished while they were here and it was so nice to have company!  The group was able to give tons of encouragement to various groups at Nhowe.  They held question and answer sessions with the upper school boys and girls, they spent time with the orphans, visited patients in the hospital, attended a funeral for an elder’s father, held several devotionals, delivered gifts from the States, and helped Erik and I clean out our last storage area.  It was so nice to have help and I enjoyed having someone to have coffee with several times a day!  We first dropped the Connecticut group off at the airport to fly home on Friday, but their flight time had been moved up without notification, so they had missed their flight.  After lots of negotiating and planning, they were able to get a flight out first thing on Saturday.  So, we enjoyed one more night with the group in Harare where we got family-style Chinese food!

Mukuvisi Wildlife and Environment Centre

We saw so many African animals on our ride!

Erik and the kids and I took the weekend off to do a little traveling.  We spent Saturday exploring in Harare.  We found a peaceful little environment education center in the middle of the city where we went on a horseback safari!  Maida was especially happy about the horseback ride and now all we hear is all about her horse Shine and how she reeeeeeally wants a horse when we get back to the States.  On Sunday we headed to Chinhoyi where Erik preached for the church there.  We also were able to meet up with Restoration Hem to go through the Chinhoyi Caves.  It was so beautiful!  It was a refreshing weekend away.  Our trip home was eventful, as always.  We decided to take the scenic route home to see other parts of Zimbabwe.  It was all fine and dandy until we almost ran out of gas.  As we drove down the road with the empty warning light on, we would stop to ask a local walking down the road where the next service station was and it seemed like they all told us to go about "six more kilometers" up the road!  Ha!  We eventually found the gas station, but couldn’t fill up all the way because the “swipe” wasn’t working, so we couldn’t use our credit card.  Cash is really hard to get here.  Even when people have a ton of money in the bank, they still can only take out a certain amount every day.  So we are conserving our cash as much as possible.  We put a few dollars of gas in the car, but down the road when we needed gas again, there was no gas station.  Long story short, after stopping at several gas stations that wouldn’t take a swipe (and only running on fumes), we finally found a station where Erik recalled gassing up a few days earlier where he used a card.  The only problem: the gas station was closed!  There were workers inside, though, so Erik knocked on the door.  He explained our situation and they reopened the gas station just for us so that we could make it home.  (They were apparently supposed to stay open for another 3 hours, but they closed and shut off the lights because they were suspicious of robbers just before we arrived...)  People here in Zimbabwe are so nice.  I have never met more genuinely nice people and because of them, our time here in Zimbabwe has been so wonderful.

With Nhowe kids on their lunch break

We’re back at Nhowe today and back to somewhat of a normal life.  Erik has been at the hospital all day and the kids and I have been catching up on laundry and cleaning.  Maida and Skogen took a break from homeschool to learn knitting! The Manchester Church of Christ sent over knitting needles and yarn!  It has kept them busy most of the day.  Skogen is now teaching Klaasen as I write.  Life here is so different, yet so blessed.  I cannot imagine not being here and doing this.  I feel like the luckiest family in the world!

Erik purchased heaters for all the wards!  This was much
needed as it sometimes gets to 30 degrees here at night.

Thank you to everyone who has sent support.  We recently got word that taking all the expected monthly financial contributions into consideration; we have reached our financial goal for this trip!  We couldn’t be more thankful for how you all have supported us on this journey – financially and prayerfully.  God is so good and we have seen His hand through everything here.  I almost feel as if it’s a bit unfair, though, because I get to be here, experiencing this all firsthand!  I wish you all could join us, too.  The invitation is open!  God-willing, we will be able to complete our time here, and plan to head home at the end of October.

Visiting Restoration Hem's office while in Chinhoyi!

In our new Restoration Hem headbands!

Village Living

The boys with the hospital laundry staff as we were looking for projects around
the hospital. 

Now that we’ve settled, I have been trying to pinpoint exactly where the kids and I can be the most useful.  With the school, church, hospital, and orphanage all in need, I feel pulled in many different directions. We have found the mornings best for home-school and try to attend the hospital morning devotional once or twice a week with Erik. At tea time (10am), the kids and I head to the orphanage to see some of the students and spend time with the orphanage staff.  Our afternoons have been very inconsistent and in the midst of trying to come up with a good plan for our afternoons, I have come to realize that God has already been at work.

Fresh raw peanuts - YUM!  They
were given to me by the hospital
chaplain's wife after I taught the
Thursday women's worship.

The Nhowe school children get out of school at 2:30pm. Many times the children gather at our house after school to play.  It is still taking some time for me to get used to this whole village living.  The children here have no regard for boundaries or privacy.  It seems that everyone is welcome anywhere they want at any time they want.  Looking in others’ windows isn’t even viewed as a no-no.  I often feel like we have a lack of much-needed privacy and there are days when just feel like closing the curtains and hiding in our house.  It has been a learning experience as we learn to accept the village in and around our house at all hours of the day or night. It has been humbling for me as I have caught myself being selfish with our space or impatient with our time and had to openly admit my wrong and ask for God's guidance.

Torsten and his monster-sized grasshopper,
which made for a fun home-school day!

My children, on the other hand, are usually more than happy to have a neighborhood of playmates available whenever they want to play. Many of the older kids have taken time to show our kids around, teach them about snakes and other dangerous animals, insects, or plants, and have begun to teach them Shona!  It has been a blessing to see relationships build and I have especially loved watching Klaasen make friends.  He is finally in an environment where he can just be himself and he doesn’t have kids thinking he’s weird or adults making more rules for him because he's a little different.  It’s nice to see him “free” and happy.

It's also been a blessing for me to witness my children openly and freely ministering to their non-Christian friends.  Of course, that's the whole reason why we've come here, but it just seems to come so naturally for children.  I found it ironic last week as I felt pulled in many different directions of work here,

Video chatting with cousin Kinley and realized her toothless
smile matched Skogen's!

yet couldn't settle on just one place of focus, God was already at work through my kids and in the examples they were setting.  This was quite apparent to me on Sunday morning when three of Klaasen's friends showed up at church, all three around 6 years old.  They had come without their parents and were a bit hesitant to come in the door, but when they spotted us, they very happily came to sit with us. This week, another friend asked if he could join us at, too.

Erik and his translator, school chaplain, Farai

This last Sunday we traveled to Wedza (about two hours away) where Erik preached for a small congrecongregation there.  He had an inspiring lesson about being ambassadors for Christ!  It was an appropriate lesson for me to hear as I have recently been learning to share my space and time.  It was also a great reminder for our kids and for the Nhowe Football Club (FC).  Nhowe FC is a soccer team from the Nhowe Mission community that focuses on ministering and sharing Jesus with the other teams they play and some of their own players, as well.  I am so thankful for these soccer players and the examples they have been for our children.  This was the third game we have been a part of and it's great to see athletics used as a ministering tool and so wonderful to see so many ambassadors for Christ!

Worship at Wedza.

After church here in Zimbabwe at every congregation, everyone leaves the building,
gathers outside, and has one more prayer together.

The ladies of the Wedza congregation cooked us all lunch!  It was a traditional
Zimbabwean meal of sadza, tomato gravy, rice, and goat stomach wrapped in goat intestines.

Erik's sweet tan lines after the four hour worship service with no roof!

Everything else here in Zimbabwe seems to be going well.  We truly feel settled and at home here at Nhowe.  Erik is loving being at the hospital and being involved in the health care side of things.  He has also been teaching and preaching whenever he can!  He always says he's not a preacher, but his lessons are always so great and his words so appropriate.  He has such a gift of reaching out and touching others.  I am so thankful for this long-term opportunity to serve here in Zimbabwe.  I look at Erik here and truly feel like he is living out God's calling.  He happily, and without hesitation, has embraced this culture and is always willing to pitch in to help whenever and wherever.

Simba Zino Scharrer - 7 weeks old

One big change for us in the past week has been our new addition!  We got a puppy!!  It was a tough decision, but the kids were missing our dog, Camber, back in the States and I was very intrigued by the different types of dogs they have here in Africa that aren't as common in the States, like Rhodesian Ridgebacks (Zimbabwe was formerly called Rhodesia).  We ended up finding a Boerboel in the Zimbabwe classified ads (which made me feel like a true resident!).  He was seven weeks old and his name is Simba Zino (meaning strong/powerful fang in Shona).  He's super tiny right now, but Boerboels can get up to 150-200 pounds!  Boerboels are a native breed to the neighboring South Africa and were loyal guard dogs to defend the farms against lions and hyenas!  It is going to be so fun to watch him grow since we all want a BIG dog. :)  He was very sick when we first got him and I even wondered if he would actually survive, but after a few days of homemade chicken broth and rice and a round of antibiotics, he seems to be doing much better.  Hopefully his illness didn't stunt his growth.

Thank you so much for all the prayers!  We feel very covered and supported by many of you.  We were just talking about all our financial supporters this week, too, and how thankful we are for you, also.  We couldn't have asked for a better community of support back in the States and wish you all could join us here in person to see and experience this beautiful culture!  In fact, you should come!

A few more pictures of our first week with Simba... 

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.