Here come the runs . . . .do do do do. :-)

It’s been almost two weeks now since we have left and our second week in Zimbabwe has been just as eventful as the first (although maybe not as traumatizing) And amidst the events of this week, yep, we both got the African cold – the runs (clever title huh….you know like that song….here comes the sun….do do do do). Anyway, here’s the rundown of the last week’s events (no pun intended, I’m just on a roll right now). Last Tuesday and Wednesday were really fun. On Tuesday, we visited a support group for women with HIV and I (Krista) got to do some encouraging there (talking about where we find our identity and worth). We went back this morning to the same group and lots more people came this week which was super cool. That afternoon, we also got another cell phone and air time for both of our phones, so now we can call people here and even call back home! That night we had dinner with Lucia and her four youngest children who live at the house. It was like family dinner. We even ate a traditional African meal (no, not cow liver…thank goodness), sadza (a white, cornmeal concoction that is thick and THE staple food of Zimbabwe, greens, and chicken. We even tried eating some of it with our hands like they do, but aren’t quite there yet. I mean, at least give me a napkin if I’m going to eat with my hands. The whole no napkin thing is still a bit strange (they go the whole meal and eat with their hands and then wash them afterwards with water and a towel). I have to admit, I used my clothes occasionally during that meal.
Then later on that night, Justin got….. the runs and was up a good portion of the night with that loveliness as well as a cough. I slept great, minus Justin’s occasional coughing fit that would wake me a bit :-) (this came back later to haunt me). So on Wednesday, we went out to another area of Harare, Highfields, to a church there where the women gather every Wednesday afternoon to play some soccer and hang out with one another (so cool!). And of course, soccer here is just a big dirt field and some posts on either side. I got to play some soccer (not very well, but that didn’t really matter here, I fit right in) and Justin was the ref…he called a handball on me once which was so not cool, but I think the other ladies then knew that I wasn’t going to get any special treatment. He felt a little better by this time and was a good sport running up and down the field. After the soccer match (my team lost…boo), Justin and I had some time to speak to all the ladies and encouraged them to continue to meet together and be in community (and to continue playing soccer too). After that the pastor of that area took us to his little home and we had coca cola with him and his wife and kids. They also gave us some popo (a type of fruit kinda like a mango…it was okay). It was really cool to see his little house and hear his plans for future investments in real estate….quiet the entrepreneur/pastor.
Then that evening, after dinner, I started to feel a little weird…..and then that night…. I got the runs. Although, I beat Justin because I also got a 100+ fever. It was not fun and I was pretty sick that night… at one point, I even used a lot of my air time to call my mom (Justin had taken a Tylenol PM and wasn’t very supportive at 1:00AM ;-)), but who else do you want to talk to when you’re feeling really sick? My mom told me exactly what to do, even from across the world.
The next day we were supposed to head back into the “bush” for 5 days, but since I wasn’t feeling well (still had a fever and the runs and slept pretty much the whole day), we decided to postpone the trip. Later we found out that the car we were going to use broke down and they learned all kinds of problems it had, so probably a good thing we didn’t take it 10+ hours away (I can’t say I wasn’t too disappointed we weren’t going back to the hotter than Hades bush, although I would rather have not been sick).
I started feeling better the next day (Friday), so we joined up with a team of missionaries from Iris Ministries that was in town for a few days to distribute seed to orphans and widows in the rural areas around Harare. They are staying at the same house that we are staying at and working with Tatenda and Lucia to find the poorest of the poor to give to. So, we spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday with a super nice Englishman and a couple of pastors and caregivers here going to rural areas where there are lots of orphans that are in the orphan program started by Tatenda and Lucia (same one that I have done some counseling work with). We even camped out on Saturday night at one of the orphanages 3 hours away (the Englishman had a super cool pop-up tent….so this time, not too hot). At this particular orphanage (Mt. Darwin), the kids have used seed that they received last season to plant a large garden. They are not only becoming self-sufficient and growing their own food, but they are also now the ones selling their vegetables to people in the village (people come to them for help!). We are told that this has totally changed their confidence level and has empowered them to succeed in other areas of their lives too. So, at each place, we distributed lots of maize seed and fertilizer, and then at night we would show the Jesus film. Several people made decisions to follow Jesus for the first time and many were physically healed (it was awesome and something pretty new to both of us!). Spending the three days with this team was really cool.
Yesterday, we rested a lot in the morning, typing a lot of this up so as not to spend an eternity at the internet café, oh and we bought a toilet. I know random huh? One of the guest toilets here at their house is cracked and leaking onto the floor of the bathroom (not the most hygienic of scenarios, especially since they have so many visitors from all over the country in this place), and so we went out with one the team members from Iris who had the idea and bought a new cistern for the toilet. It was pretty nuts…we went to this huge market (like miles long) in the city where they sell everything and bargained our way down to a $40 toilet! After the toilet was in hand, we went to the grocery store for a few items (still weird to see a cash register full of U.S. dollars). We got some staples to have just in case we have the runs again….bread, crackers, tuna fish and Mac and cheese!! Oh and I’m eating a Cadbury chocolate bar right now (totally easy to find here)!!
Talk about a change in attitude from last week huh? A lot can happen in a week in Africa. You can go from hating life and wanting to totally leave, to thinking eh, it’s okay, to getting really sick and wanting to totally leave again, to loving every minute of it, to being really glad you are here, but hesitant about what the next 9 weeks still hold (which is where I think we are right now). We are excited for Tatenda to return to here tomorrow (he’s been in South Africa since we’ve been here), to see what our schedule and some projects will look like for the next couple of months. And as we settle in more, meet more people, and learn more Shona, it’s a lot more fun. This weekend we are actually going to get to go to an African wedding!
We’ll try to get on again next week with another update and some pics.