Flooding and relief

Friday was John's birthday. Unfortunately, I missed most of it, but thankfully we celebrated Thursday night. We totally splurged by taking 2 friends out to the best restaurant in Harare - "Amanzi." Our "wallets" (as if we could use wallets in Zim!) are $3billion lighter, but it was an amazing meal - even according to John (who is a bit of a food snob!) I must admit that I never pictured myself a billionaire by the age of 30. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!!

Friday I left Harare at 5am with a team from THQ. We were going to Muzarabani to distribute food relief. On the way we stopped at The Salvation Army's Howard hospital. We went to a few of the wards to pray for patients. It broke my heart to see the over-crowding in the women's wards and so many women lying on mats on the floor. I cried. A few hours later we arrived in Mt. Darwin for breakfast (it's one of the nice things about traveling with important people - you get food served to you everywhere you go!) We had bread for breakfast, which was nice since it's scarce these days (people at the Association of Bakers have been imprisoned again for trying to sell flour at a fair price). Mt. Darwin is a ZANU stronghold, and they were having a political rally that day. We saw a lot of people wearing t-shirts and dresses with the President's face printed on them. Elections are less than 2 weeks away, so campaigning is going strong. We always hear the 3 helicopters overhead - one for the President and 2 for his bodyguards (is 3 helicopters in a country starved for fuel an unfair campaign advantage?)

After breakfast we made our way through the mountains and into the lower Zambezi valley to Muzarabani. The scenery was amazing, but I don't have photos because I was squashed in the middle of two large women in the backseat, and that did not allow for grabbing my camera (some of it reminded me of the island from LOST though...) Muzarabani was flooded from heavy rains in January. 27 people died, as well as almost all livestock and crops. People have been resettled temporarily at an old farm. The Salvation Army was donating mealie meal, sugar, cooking oil and kapenta (dried fish) to the people. The local authorities had a list of residents and ensured that the food was given out fairly by the Salvation Army volunteers. We all gathered under a tree (the area is very hot) for speeches, food distribution and a drama from the residents about the flooding. The people were so happy to receive the food. They started singing and dancing, waving the kapenta and cooking oil over their heads. As for myself, I was a big source of entertainment for the kids. The brave ones shook my hand and then stared at their own hands afterwards (to make sure non of the white had rubbed off).

One lady told us that she finds it hard to even drink water now, because it reminds her of how she lost everything; she she's had to start her whole life from scratch. Last night, John and I sat in our warm, dry, candle-lit house listening to the thunderstorm outside and discussing rumours we'd heard about a cyclone coming. And I imagined the fear and helplessness of being flooded and watching my life wash away. Let's continue to pray for people affected by natural and man-made disasters.