Food Hampers and Return to Zimbabwe

Food Hampers

We sent food hampers last week to the families and they were very thankful to the Lord, as usual. They told us about all the different people they were able to give their second food hamper. They gave food to widows, orphans, and church friends, all of whom have little to no income. Some split theirs to give to multiple families. The picture below is of a family who received a food hamper from one of the women. When they received it, one of the children said to the mother, "Tonight we will have enough sadza to eat." We were told the family had been rationing their last amount of food, because they had no money to buy any more.

Most people in the country are really struggling to feed their families and what a blessing it is for the women to be able to have food in their homes, as well as have the opportunity to be a blessing to others who are in need and spread Jesus' love in this way!

We would love to be able to continue to bless these families with $80 food hampers every other month. We're in need of 31 more people to give $40/month to help cover the cost. Please prayerfully consider being a part of the gift of filling their stomachs, so Jesus can fill their hearts!

Return to Zimbabwe

Covid is still quite high in Zimbabwe, with Chinhoyi being one of the hotspots. Since we regularly communicate with the women in our groups, we know that each of them has at least one family member and also one friend who has died from Covid. There has been much pain and hurting. We have seen multiple videos of hearse after hearse arriving at cemeteries throughout the country.

With that being said, things have recently opened up within the last few days, so that we can now return! For many months, we had been planning to return in August, but as we shared in our last blog, the regulations were preventing us. We just had a board meeting this week and our board officially approved for us to return, so now we will buy tickets and, Lord-willing, leave the first week of September!

The US Department of State has travel advisories for every country in the world. The advisories range from Level 1 (exercise normal precautions), Level 2 (exercise increased caution), Level 3 (Reconsider travel), and Level 4 (Do not travel). Under normal circumstances, Zimbabwe is usually considered a Level 2 country, but it's at Level 4 right now. This may usually be a cause for concern for us, but with what we have planned for the next few months (as described below), we feel like we will be in a position to stay as safe as possible.

Previous UK Regulations:

• Must arrive with a negative Covid test
• Americans must quarantine at preferred location for 10 days, regardless of vaccine (if caught away from location during quarantine, then may face a $14,000 fine)
• Americans must take 3 at-home Covid tests during quarantine (test kit for each person costs $280)

New UK Regulations:

• Must arrive with a negative Covid test
• No quarantine necessary for vaccinated American travelers
• Only 1 Covid test required in the first 2 days for Americans (test kit for each person costs $30)​

Previous Zimbabwe Regulations:

• Must arrive with a negative Covid test
• Americans must quarantine at a specified location for 10 days (the cheapest option was $100 per person per day, so $2,000 total)
• All intercity travel banned (no one may travel between cities)

New Zimbabwe Regulations:

• Must arrive with a negative Covid test
• Only travelers arriving from India need to quarantine
• Personal vehicles can drive between cities. Only public buses and taxis are banned from driving between cities.

As you can see, previously, we could have arrived in Harare and spent $2,000, only to be stuck in Harare. We have been able to get so much more work done being here up until now, rather than had we been in Zimbabwe. So the idea of going back and to be stuck in Harare just to spend $2,000 seemed like being poor stewards with resources. Now, we can return for much cheaper and stop to visit Yolanda's mom on the way! Praise the Lord for the blessing of being able to finally return and to save so much money at the same time!

Since Covid is so bad, we won't have our groups meet right away. In fact, large groups are still banned. That will be ok though, because we want to get going on the roof and solar panels as soon as possible. The rainy season begins in November and we would love to complete those projects before then. Of course we know that everything takes longer than expected in Africa, so we will want to get started ASAP. We will be able to provide some much needed employment to the men who will be doing the work, so that will be a blessing for them. And it will be a full-time job for us to keep our eyes on the workers to make sure everything is going as planned.

Visiting Individuals

Since visiting all our supporting churches, we have enjoyed visiting with some individual supporters who don't attend those churches, such as my 5th grade science teacher in the picture below. Last year, 83% of JM2Z's total support came from individuals. We are obviously extremely thankful for each one and have been greatly blessed with your generosity!

Zim Olympians

Zimbabwe has had 5 athletes in the Olympics this year. We made sure to watch them compete in their events and it was obvious how excited they were to be there and participate. It was great to be able to see a few Zimbabweans take part, even though they didn't have a chance at any medals. They all had good showings.

​The swimmer below is 17 year old Katai, who won her preliminary heat of the 100m backstroke.

Below is sprinter, Ngoni, who won his 100m preliminary heat on the track.

Prayer

We would appreciate your prayers in the next few weeks as we tie up all the loose ends before we return. Please also be in prayer for us in the next few months as we transition to life back in Zimbabwe. We are sure there will be ups and downs and we know that the Lord will be with us every step of the way!