Back from Zimbabwe

The smiling customs official leant through the open car window. "Do you have enough food for yourselves? There's no food over there where you're going!" he warned, nodding towards Zimbabwe on the other side of the Limpopo River.

I was taken aback by this, probably the most bizzare greeting I'd ever had from a border official and I've had a few). The irony of it: just a few years ago we used to drive from Mozambique into Zimbabwe to stock up on food supplies - and now we were driving up from South Africa with a vehicle heavily laden with food parcels for our Zimbabwean YWAM friends.

Zimbabwe, once the bread-basket of southern Africa, is now bankrupt with hyper-inflation and empty stores. "There's been no coke, beer, eggs, fuel, salt... nothing for weeks" Butch (yes, that was honestly his name), our host, later complained. A friend overheard an elderly Zimbabwean lady reminiscing about the horrors of the 1970s independence war: "The war was terrible days, but better than these days. Then we knew who our enemy was, but now we don't."

The small YWAM team struggles to maintain a foot-hold in the country. Doing any type of ministry is hard when the daily fight for survival is such a challenge. Regular food deliveries over the last couple of years have been vital. When we met with Simon, the national leader, he joked that "We Zimbabweans like our 3 meals a day, but now if someone has one meal in a day they think it's been a good day. It's not necessarily that people don't have money - it's just that there is simply nothing in the shops". Simon reminded us of the period during the 1980s when Zimbabwean YWAMers sent food parcels to struggling colleagues in Mozambique; now it is their turn to receive aid. "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord" Kobus quoted from Proverbs, “And he always repays", he added with a smile.

Introducing the Team - Martial

Martial joined YWAM in 2000 and he already had a background in communication. Coming from French-speaking Benin, he lived and worked in Nigeria for four years where he got experience in photography and video production, as well as learning English. Later he volunteered as a translator with Mercy Ships when one of their hospital ships visited Benin, and he knew that his next step would be to enrol in missions full-time. He joined the crew after doing his Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Noepe,Togo.

On board with Mercy Ships Martial helped out in all sorts of ways, but his heart was for communications and he ended up taking various courses in journalism and graphic design. Then he joined YWAM in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and worked with their communication team for three years.
Though working on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean he
never forgot about his home and the continent of Africa. His vision is to build communication bridges among the nations of Africa and also between Africa and the rest of the world. Martial came back to the 'Mother Continent' in 2005. After doing the Leadership Training School (LTS) with YWAM in Muizenberg he joined the AfriCom team in January 2006. As a 'bridge builder' his passion is training and equipping young people around the continent in all kind of multimedia and mass media skills.

Martial is a real soccer fan (both on and off the sofa!) and he also likes to hike and watch movies. He recently got engaged to his beautiful Swiss-German girlfriend, Lea.

Zimbabwe

This afternoon Tim flies to Pretoria where he will meet up with Kobus van Niekerk, YWAM's acting Field Director for Africa. Together they will drive to Zimbabwe where they will meet up with the few YWAM staff who are left in the country. They will also be transporting food for the team, since there is so little available to them there. Amazingly YWAM Zimbabwe has continued to offer residential discipleship courses throughout the ongoing troubles but this has been incredibly challenging. Recent visits by international outreach teams have ended badly, with their vehicles being flagged down and impounded by police. In the last month a Member Care team was able to visit and offer the staff a weekend of loving support, along with good food, counseling and debriefing. There is hope that this experience can be repeated before too long.

We are trusting that as far as this trip goes there will be no mishaps at the border or along the roads. Kobus has made a number of similar trips and may be known to some of the security forces ... which could be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on who deals with them at customs. This is a bit of a mad dash - they will be gone just 48 hours - but we trust that support like this can make a difference to the YWAM staff there, strengthening them to persevere through the circumstances.

Introducing the Team - Tim

Tim Heathcote has been part of AfriCom since the communication team for YWAM Africa was conceived in 2002. Tim's background is as a history teacher and he brings to the team a gift for research into the cultural, social and spiritual stories of nations. He continues to love teaching and can often be found in some far-flung location, teaching on a Discipleship Training School or in a little church somewhere. Most often he teaches on Missions or Worldview, both subjects he loves. He recently completed his School of Biblical Studies and would enjoy the opportunity to teach on this school in the near future.

Tim is an avid reader and has been known to find weighty theological tomes 'relaxing'! He's most at home when enjoying the great outdoors and loves to run, cycle and climb. Tim has been traveling since he was a small boy and still finds it fun to be on board a rickety old bus bound for an out-of-the-way location. Look out for him popping up somewhere near you!

Team AfriCom is blogging

Last week team leaders Miranda & Tim Heathcote returned from their time of furlough in Europe; it is great for the team to be reunited again. Not only have we been celebrating having AfriCom all in one place but also the engagement of Martial with the lovely Lea from Switzerland.

This week Martial has been helping out at the Muizenberg base, offering his interpretation skills for a Spanish speaker on one of the schools. Pam has been completing some articles for the YWAM website and the Heathcotes have been finding their way through all the office admin that piled up in their absence.

More introductions to AfriCom team members soon!