Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. We are indeed in Mutare and staying at LaRochelle which has wireless internet but I've had some difficulty logging in -- and when I do, for some reason most of the websites are in German!? Hmmm... the manager thinks the server or the router must have come into Zim from Germany.
Anyway, I seem to be able to log on tonite! So here is the long overdue update:
On Thursday, on our way to Mutare, we stopped and spent the afternoon at the Imire Game Park. It was fantastic!! I go the chance to see many animals that I didn't get to see here last time: lions, hyenas, zebra, giraffe, and the extremely endangered rhinoceros (both black & white.) Imire is one of the only places in the world that breeds black rhinos. However, the rhinos they have now are too young to breed. They had several adults, but in 2007 all 9 were killed by poachers in a horrible act.
We arrived at LaRochelle on Thursday evening. On Friday, we made it to Project Tariro! Wow! What an incredible experience to see the project officially up and running now. (In 2009, I visited what was at the time the support group of the VCT that was subsequently ended when its funding ran out and was then going to be restarted as Project Tariro.) And the welcome we received was amazing -- the members of PT singing a song of welcome including each of our names. Then they sang it the second time with our names they invited us to join their group and sing & dance along. Wow. I just can't put into words the emotions this evoked in me. I'm tearing up now just recalling it all.
To see the members of Project Tariro -- officially -- was incredible after knowing all the planning and effort that has gone on for years (before I was even aware of it) come to life was amazing. Later as we ate lunch the members then shared poems & testimonies of how Project Tariro has affected their life for the better. How they no longer felt ashamed to be HIV+. How they had regained self-esteem. How they had learned many practical skills (sewing, gardening, etc) to aid them in wholistic care. Again, incredibly moving. I felt my heart being "strangely warmed. ;)
And then the most surprising thing that happened took place at the Old Mutare Mission Hospital right by PT. While we were taking a tour and visiting the patients, especially those struggling with HIV/AIDS, all of a sudden I heard my name being called, "Gregory," in a voice with the wonderful British-Zimbabwean accent. I turned around and I saw a woman running towards me and my heart jumped. It was Elisa who had been a staff member of the VCT and with whom I'd spent a lot of time talking and comparing notes. We had been so excited to meet last time I was here as we discovered we both did the same job! We'd talked about how it was counseling in both of our settings and running support groups. We'd had a ball talking last time. She was one of the people I had really hoped I would be able to see. And it just turned out that it was luck that she was there as she now has a new job in Mutare proper in a maternity ward. She had just been there visiting. Another awe-some God moment. I had brought picture of my last visit with me and gave her a copy of us meeting two years ago and her eyes just lit up. But to be thousands of miles away from home and to have someone recognize you and call out your name. It was amazing.
The first day at Project Tariro -- and it was already filled with the movements of the Spirit.
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