Trips Blog

by Ebralie Mwizerwa, for the team

We woke up today to a beautiful sunny Sunday. Staying on a campus that trains church leaders here in Southern Africa means that you enjoy participating in a variety of conversations with students. This morning before breakfast, the bell rang calling students to a sunrise service. Justo Mwale University does not hold a worship service on campus but encourages students and campus residents to have a morning prayer time. Later one of the students, Naomi Daka, explained to me that the bell was to remind the students that it is time to gather. They actually rotate gathering in homes of fellow students for fellowship. But each student also goes to a particular congregation to worship after that short prayer. Some groups gather in the evening and others in the morning.

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by Ted Wright, for the team

Saturday dawned a little bit earlier; the sun keeps moving toward the south. Sue met a worker near the Booth Center kitchen who had remembered her from 2005: “Weren’t you here before?”

Turns out, Purity belonged to a posse of teenage girls who used to come and play Uno. Now 23, she has a child of her own. Another from the group connects with Sue via Facebook.

Shortly after breakfast, Naomi Daka appeared to complete an interview that Ebralie had requested. Rev. Daka serves as coordinator for her fellow Presbyterian students at Justo Mwale University. Energetic, devout, unmistakably authoritative… she has a bright future in my opinion.

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by Ted Wright, for the team

My day began at 05:30 with prayer and sermon prep. This time of year, it’s the nicest hour. Local people rise early, so I am hardly alone.

Our day began at 7:30 with worship in the Justo Mwale University chapel. The guest pastor spoke about Christian identity as being expressed through love. I appreciated his insight on the disciple Peter, often characterized as impulsive. Using African cultural keys, he showed that Peter actually had wonderful intentions, but tried to love Jesus in misguided ways. Aren’t we ourselves quite capable of the same?

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by Sue Wright, for the team

It was a clear, beautiful day with a comforting breeze. We woke to a symphony of birds… and the kitchen staff preparing breakfast. The Booth Center where we are staying consists of ten rooms: five on each side of a courtyard. The kitchen is at one end and a conference room at the other. Its main purpose is for training lay evangelists who come from for 3-week stints. This is a significant Outreach project in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Evangelists work under pastoral direction to plant and/or sustain “prayer houses:” new worshipping communities.

We spent the whole day on the campus of Justo Mwale University: “a leading Christian University in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Originally founded to train pastors for rapidly-growing denominations, JMU has recently expanded with advanced, specialized, and online degrees.

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by Jennifer Ellis, for the team

Dear Outreach friends, 

A lovely breakfast this morning and chat with an American missionary living in Siavonga was followed by a short drive to the Reformed Church in Zambia, hosted by Obusa (Reverend) Charles Ngoma and his congregation. Rev. Ngoma is a 2013 scholarship graduate of Justo Mwale University, a seminary of the Reformed Tradition located in Lusaka. This congregation has been his first assignment as a new pastor, along with his wife Memory and their two year old son Zyteca (which means “Possible” in Shona).

The church was inducted as a congregation in 2004, and now stands at 160 members. In our meeting the church leadership expressed to us that it has been very difficult to evangelize when the people of Siavonga have such great physical needs. Church members live on very little personal income and although over half are contributors, offerings usually bring in less than 200 kwacha (20 dollars) a month. But their hopes and dreams for growth include construction of a guesthouse to host visitors, and the start of a microloan program to help those less fortunate than themselves.

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by Frank Dimmock, for the team

Dear Outreach friends,

Greetings from Zambia. We have spent today visiting the Namumu Orphanage Center (NOC) near the district town of Siavonga. The area lies along the shore of Lake Kariba and forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. People in the district have relied mainly on the fishing and tourism industries for economic support. Unemployment here is very high and the times are challenging for them.

The Outreach Foundation has been partnering with the Namumu Orphanage Center since the early 2000s to support vulnerable and orphaned children with residential care and education. There are currently 23 children (13 girls and 10 boys) from grade five through secondary school.

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by Ebralie Mwizerwa, for the team

We arrived in Lusaka last night from Harare. We were warmly received at the airport by Rev. Victor Chilenje, former Moderator for CCAP Zambia. We were delayed and Kenya Airways had canceled our flight but transferred all five of us to Emirates airline. What a joy it was to finally arrive in Lusaka and meet our friends!!

This morning we visited the House of Moses and delivered some supplies, held babies and visited with House of Moses staff. The House of Moses is one of two crisis nurseries managed by Christian Alliance in Zambia. House of Moses receives vulnerable babies, even newborns. Some of them may be critically ill but thankfully the ones we found today are very healthy. House of Moses has a capacity of 30 children, all under two years old. When they reach two, they are transferred to the Bill and Bette Bryant Crisis Nursery not far from House of Moses.

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by Ted Wright, for the team

This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

We five did rejoice – along with 300 +/- at CCAP City Church in downtown Harare. People had gathered from near and far to celebrate its formal dedication. Founded in 2011 as a prayer house adjoining Harare Synod headquarters, this worshiping community has now achieved the status of mpingo (congregation). Its brick-and-steel structure resounded with joy as choir after choir brought songs of praise. Some had come from as far as Bindura: more than 100 km (62 miles). In local vehicles on Zimbabwean roads that’s saying a lot.

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by Sue Wright, for the team

The British called Masvingo, Fort Victoria. It is a clean city with wide boulevards through the center of town. All types of shops line the streets – small department stores, trendy clothing stores, auto supply shops, drug stores, groceries and open-air vendors on the sidewalks. The jacarandas are blooming in beautiful purple, though it is very dry and dusty.

We arrived at a very large government high school where we joined a massive gathering of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa. Three large tents had been erected to protect the participants from the sun. It was a sea of black and white uniforms of the women’s and men’s guilds from many congregations.

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by Jennifer Ellis, for the team

Dear Outreach friends, 

Our morning started with a trip to Nyabira CCAP primary school. Nyabira is a poor community of displaced farm workers. We were accompanied there by the Moderator of CCAP Harare Aston Galanti and the General Secretary Kingstar Chipata. On arrival, we were met by the Head of School Ms. Asnath Gondwe, who hails from Malawi and has been working at the school for seven years. She is a single mother and lives in housing on the school compound with her family, along with 28 teachers and three student teachers.

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by Frank Dimmock, for the team

Dear Outreach friends,

Our first full day in Harare was busy. We were eager to learn about the impact of recent national elections and the economic situation on Outreach church partners. How are they coping with challenges of high unemployment and widespread poverty? How is the church nurturing God’s Kingdom in Zimbabwe, building hope and demonstrating compassion? Our team began by meeting with the new officers of the CCAP – Synod of Harare at their office.

The Synod’s geographic coverage extends beyond the nine congregations in the Harare area, with a total of 26 within four Presbyteries. In addition, there are many prayer houses (i.e. with less than 100 members), evolving into new congregations. Currently there are 23 ordained pastors and 43 lay evangelists that minister in these locations.

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by Ebralie Mwizerwa, for the team in Harare

Dear Outreach Friends,

Greetings from vibrant Harare – Zimbabwe, where we arrived last night. Our Outreach team of five (Ted and Sue Wright, Jennifer L. Ellis, Frank Dimmock and Ebralie Mwizerwa) was well-received by friends from our partner denominations (POZ and UPCSA – not pictured but present was the General Secretary of CCAP Harare Synod). Our friends braved the rush hour to greet us – not fun in Harare these days! It took us an unusually longer amount of time to drive from the airport because of all the traffic but we finally arrived at the hotel where we are staying.

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