Back to school

sorry this first section is a bit late. It came while I was away and I simply forgot to blog it!!
29/8
We are coming to the end of the school holidays and most children will go back on Tuesday. Most children would be dreading this and keen to stay on holidays but not here. They are all very eager to go back, they understand what a privilege it is. How ever for the caregivers it comes with the stress of again finding $4 chool fees.
1/9
Today is a land mark day. No we don't have rego yet, Bek however has made it through her first winter in 8 years without getting bronchitis. Praise God!!

Awsome God reminds us He is here.

Its been another busy 2 days in Harare. however for a change they have been very successful. Thanks to the donations from people in Australia we were able to get fans for the houses and also some supplies to make soe mini soccer goals for the kids. Thanks to everyone who continues to support Vana.

This is totally random but so totally cool. Last night we were taking dinner to the Guards as we have every night since we got here, we noticed somthing for the first time in 5 months. When the moon is in the right spot, the shadow from the satelite dish on each house is in the shape of a cross. truly we tell you, God is here.

The generousity of strangers

A whole ago a friend's friend noticed we were eating peanuts so she gave us a small bag of them. Today we were given a big bag from the same person. We don't really know this person and ahve been reflecting on how rare it is for a pserson to give a gift to someone they don't even really know. This lady (Lucia) is a great reminder of how we can be truly generous.

Half way mark

We are fast approaching the half way mark of our time here in Zim. So far its going really quickly and everyday we are reminded that before we know it we will be on our way home. We often feel like we have to have an amazing story or event to Blog each week, but in reality life in Chivhu has its routines and many days look just like the day before.

Changing traditions

Its quite normal to see the women sweeping the church groujnds with grass brooms early Satureday, but today I saw a very strange and rare thing. Teenage guys sweeping! I had to get the camera. Aparently the youth now have to help the ladies with the cleaning duties, which I think is great. There are very traditional roles here so its nice to see the young men helping out.

Each month Vana is donated 200gk of mealie meal (used to make sudza) of this we only use about 50kg a month. This puts us in a great position to help needy people. On sunday we were able to give 250kg to 15 families in the church who currently have none at their homes. Sudza is a staple food here and its horrible that many people can't even afford such a basic food. It makes me wonder what they are eating.

After 5 weeks without hot water our hot water system finally has its new thermostat and we can again have a nice hot shower.

My apologies for the lateness in posting this blog. My week has been a bit that way, if you know that I mean. There are two messages, recieved close together on the 4th. I know, today is the 7th, all I can say is Sorry!! Susan.

W have had uninterupted elictricity4 about 36 hours now. This should make us happy but sadly like any othe rime we have had power for this long it is a result of a bus accident that filled the morgue. There has been 2 in the last 4 days. This is the same road the prime ministers wife died on last year.

Well, it's been nearly 4 days if you don't count the 2 hours it went out sunday night.

Another step forward

This week the paper work for the registration of the orphanage was at long last taken to the regional welfare office. From there it will go to the head office. This is a big step forward towards getting kids in!
The porridge we were given by the WFP expires @ the end of August. We still had 325kg and ther is no way we would use it in 4 weeks so we gavie it away :) 3 needy families were given a 25kg bag each, the rest was shared out to 100 families. It was a busy afternoon but nice to see the food would not go to waste.