Maka

 Greetings my family and friends

Happy Easter to all.

Surprise.  I know it has not been long since I posted but just felt today as though I needed to share.  I walked out simply to go to my office and an eery silence struck me.  The college is earily silent.  Yesterday our grads had their end of term party.

The government has forced shutdown of all schools, colleges and other institutions.  And no, it is not due to Covid.  The government has called for a country wide sensus and all citizens are to go to their respective homes.  This means our college is litterally shut-down as all our boarders had to leave.   This was sudden and we had to change our schedules to accomodate the order.  As a result, our semester had to be shortened, classes crammed in and our exam dates moved up.  Wednesday was our last 'special chapel' with the entire on-site student body.  I was privieged to lead a communion service.  Pictured below is the on-site student body along with staff present for the sevice.

So, on-site classes are now finished and it is strangely quiet.

Good news...our young sponsor girl, who now is not so young as she is eighteen.  Time has indeed passed quickly.  Maka was in grae four, if memory serves me correctly and now she has just gotten confirmation that she has passed her 'O' level course...equivelant to our grade 12. We are so proud of her!  Maka, her mom Linda and her borther Panashe are coming to spend Monday with me and we will celebrate her accomplishment by going out for dinner to one of her favorite places.

Today is Good Friday and I chose not to go to the Easter Conference and instead spent the day marking exams from yesterday.  

I did attend the Easter conference on Saturday and Sunday.  The conference was certainly a time of renewal and celebration of all that Easter represents for us in the Christian Community.  But, alas, sadness struck and just as the conference ended a young 1-1/2 year old boy was run over in the parking lot and killed.  How sad for both families involved; and indeed for the entire PAOZ family.  I attended the burial.  It was a rainy day and it seemed as though God was weeping with us all.  I have been doing some grief counselling as the community struggles to deal with the tradegy.

May 6th, 2022.  Well, another couple of weeks have passed and perhaps I should finish this blog.  It has been a busy time with final exams and marking papers and the like.  I finished marking for the semester and then took a break and went to Bulawayo to spend a few days with our friends, the Mullers. It was a welome break.

Since I last wrote, Makanaka has been accepted into nurse-aid training with the Red Cross.  That will give her a taste of nursing and then it is her goal to enter registered nursing.  Indeed, we are so proud of her!.

Inserting here a picture of her when we first met her and a picture of the beautiful young lady she has grown to be.

    

We have two graduations upcoming.  Our PACC grad on-site will be on the 21st, and then we will travel to Kwekwe for our Distance Ed certificate graduation the following weekend.  Will try to blog following those events and post some pictures.

I'll sign off here.  Will be in touch before I return to Canada. Blessings to all who are following my blog.

Marj

 Greetings to all my family and friends back in Canada and the US.

Wow!  Already more than a week has past since I arrived here at PACC in Zimbabwe. 

I can hardly believe it has actually happened and that  amidst all the chaos in the world, I am nowhere on the other side of the world.  The trip was rather lengthy but I arrived here with no huge obstacles.  I left my Canadian home on March 27th to travel to nearby Kelown to accomodate the requirement of Covid-testing at a costly price tag of $350.00.  Ouch, that hurt, but you do what you have to do to accomplish the goal.  

Prior to leaving for Zimbabwe, we, Glen and I managed to join our dear friends, Bob and Bernice Kurtz for lunch and the opportunity to remenise our joint expereinces in Zimbwe. It is always such a joy to share our experiences with friends who have lso been there and done that. 

Glen and I then stayed overnight in Kelowna as my flight was 6:00 am on 28th and so allowing for the three hour post-flight requirement meant I had to be at the airport at 3 am.  Arrived at the airport only to discover that my Alaskan Air fight was cancelled.  Dilema...what to do??? I have a connecting flight out of Seattle and then another connection out of Doha.  It is now 3:30 am and I know my travel agent will not be available at this hour of the morning so I contact Alaskan Air direct.  they were very helpful and booked me on Air Canada; same time but with an exta leg including Vancouver.  With long layovers in both Seattle and Doha, I finally arrived at Robert |Mugabe Airport in Harare on March 30th at 12:00 noon.  All in all, other than the 3 day journey, there were no obstacles.  I thank God for computer and internet connections at the airports and on planes these days.  It certainly helps one to pass the waiting time.  

On arrival I was met by PACC principal Rev. Munaki and his wife Charity who have become good friends. It has been awesome to reconnect with the many friends we have made over the years and with  my colleagues here in Zimbabwe. 

One hour after my arrival I was already sitting in a BOA meeting amd then teaching an inperson class the very next morning.  No time for jet lag and I am grateful that I don't normlly suffer much from that aspect of travel.

The transition from on-line teaching to in-person is a rewarding experience.  Although on-line teaching has certainly provided an important alternative, especially during Covid-19 shut-downs and restrictions, I appreciate the face to face contacts with my students.

I am still living on campus but in a different place from before.  I am now in a little guest house and having a bit of reno work completed for comfort sake.  Simple things like having the shower fixed and a bit of clean-up and painting. 

Am attaching here a couple of pictures of the grounds here at our college.  The rains have cetainly made everything green and beautiful.  We will be having grad in May and once again it will be outdoors.  the grounds crew under the direction of my dear friend Nellice, are already beginning to prepare the grounds for that event.  The first picture below is of the creativity of Nellice and the second one is just the beauty of our surroundings.

All is well and I look forward to the rest of the journey ahead and the opportunities for further teaching and ministry.

I will try to send further updates by month's end.

Blessings to all.   

 Wow!! Indeed, it has been a while since my last blog.  Covid-19 has changed how we do things.  I have been home in Canada since June 2021 and now am looking forward to returning to Zimbabwe...God willing!

While home here in British Columbia, I have been busy teaching on-line.  Courses for the 2nd semester for 2021 have just wrapped up with PACC (Pan Africa Christian College) and all papers and exams marked.  On-line has been necessitated because of Covid for Africa just as it has been around the world.  This has been a learning curve for me, as I'm sure it has been for many.  It certainly has allowed our students to continue their studies, but in all honesty, I much prefer being on site, and interacting in person with my students.

2021 has been a challenging year for British Columbia.  Fires, floods, mud and rock slides have all been disastrous for many in our province and in many places around the world.  We, here in the South Okanagan have definitely been among the fortunate as other than roads all around us being closed, we have escaped all the disasters, including Covid-19.

Next week starts our new semester at PACC and I will be facilitating three courses.  I will begin those on-line and, hopefully, will switch to in-person when I arrive back in Zimbabwe.  My plan, God williong, is to leave Canada the end of March and be in Zimbabwe only for two months this time.  While I am there I will continue to completion the three courses started on-line in Canada, attend a graduation and offer two teacher training courses to teachers and potential teachers from both the AOG  (Assemblies of God) and the PAOZ (Pentecostal Assemblies of Zimbawe).  That is the plan and we'll see how things unfold. 

I have kept fairly busy while home here in British Columbia.  I do some counselling in the capacity of 'District Approved Counsellor' and some guest preaching, in connection with a number of the churches in our district.  As well, I am involved with METP which is a ministry essentials training program offering training to people in remote areas who do not have the opportunity to attend theological colleges. My role is to review all course material with a view to constantly update and improve how we do things.  It is an exciting new challenge!  

Covid-19 has certqainly restricted what we do and how we do things.  It has been two years since we have seen our son and his family in Texas.  Glen and I have tickets booked to travel to spend a week with them beginning of February.  

I so appreciate the prayers and support of so many family and friends as I travel to the mission fields of Zimbabwe.  Indeed, that is my second home and I look forward to returning there.  Although I am in constant touch with colleagues and friends there, being physically on the ground is so much better.

Till the next time, and trusting that I still have some readers out there where-ever.

Blessings to all.

Marj