Before arriving in Zimbabwe, I was thrilled to hear that the house we would be staying in would have a couple security guards each night that would look after the several houses on the hospital campus, keeping us all safe. This was especially comforting to me as I had feared for our safety after hearing of a couple break-ins to the house we were planning to stay in. After being in Zimbabwe for a week, and getting accustomed to the culture, I had to laugh a little when on the first night of our stay at Nhowe, we discovered that our security guards were in our own garbage pit, digging out things they wanted. The two guys who I was fully trusting to keep us safe were actually stealing from me! (Well, taking my trash, anyway.) Poverty. A country with no money. Starvation. People are left to do what they need to do to survive and it is very sad.
Before going to Nhowe, we spent a week in Harare, sorting out details of our stay. One of the things we needed to do was buying a car we could use, but it had to be functional for the hospital to use after we leave. Buying a car takes a lot longer in Zimbabwe than it takes in the US!! We were so thankful to be staying with an elder and his wife, who not only drove us all around town for whatever we needed, but they helped us work out the car purhase, provided nice beds, running (warm!) water, and cooked us some amazing meals. It was a great transition to Zimbabwe. We will always be thankful for Washington and Alice!
We have now been at Nhowe for two days. Everyone has transitioned well and I honestly can’t think of a single bad thing to say. The "Guest House," where we are staying, has been fixed up beautifully and we really feel at home here. We have quite a bit of unpacking to do to be completely settled, but getting our beds made and clothes put away was a good feeling. I have even cooked my first two meals here! The first night was spaghetti with green beans and tonight was fried corned beef, raw fried potatoes with onions, and white rice. I will be thankful when I can get more comfortable shopping and cooking here. Living 45 minutes from the nearest store is not something I’m used to planning for!
The kids are doing well. Maida and Skogen feel back at home again and have enjoyed showing Klaasen and Torsten around. They spend most of their time outside. The boys love to dig in the dirt and make tracks for their cars or play soccer. Maida likes to sweep the sidewalks or rake the grass. I think she’ll start joining into the soccer (‘football’) games soon, too. Today she made a hideout out of the freshly cut grass (that was way over her head before it got cut, so the clippings were able to be stacked pretty high!). Klaasen has done great with the move here, but still really struggles with the social interaction piece, which is very common with autism. We are trying to help him through social situations, and people here are really understanding, but I know it’s hard for him. He wants to play with the other kids so badly, but just doesn’t really know what to do once he gets their attention! I’m praying these six months will be a wonderful experience for him and that he will continue to make improvements while we’re here. He’s come a long way, but like we saw at the airport in Harare when we first arrived and he got upset, slapping me on the face, he’s got a long way to go. While that is an example of his struggles, he also provides unintentional endless entertainment as he doesn’t display normal “expected” behaviors so he always keeps us on the edge of our seats, not knowing what he might say next to his new friends.
Erik is planning to travel back to Harare tomorrow where he will partcipate in a free clinic day that one of the churches is hosting. He is very excited to be able to jump in and help wherever he can and will have a great time tomorrow learning more about medicine in Zimbabwe! The free clinic is actually an outreach ministry to plant a new church in one of the more poor districts in southern Harare, and we are just fascinated by the vigor of the church here in Zimbabwe. Saturday includes short public health talks about HIV, malaria, diabetes, hypertension, healthy diet, and then a clinic with evangelism and feeding everyone a hearty meal.
We’ll try to update the blog more often, but for quick, more frequent updates, please follow us on Instagram. Many blessings to all of you and a huuuuuuge thanks to everyone who has supported us! We feel so blessed to be here.
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