After 3 hours in Dulles Airport, 17 hours in the air, 90 minutes attempting to get through customs and 3 more hours in a car to Eden’s Children’s Village, we finally arrived at our first destination.
This culture…I want to dive in the middle of it and be immersed and learn all about it. In just one short day, I have found so many beautiful and wonderful things about these people. It was like taking a bite of a warm, just out of the oven chocolate chip cookie. Then taking a drink of milk only to find out it is sour. It seems as if the more of God’s work one can see, the more the sin and Satan can be seen.
On one hand I witnessed a beautiful community of people all over the world working together to pursue God’s will. God is woven into everything they do. Agriculture, Education, Family Development, and Medicine. The leaders of Eden’s have a daily morning devotions together and the teachers lead a devotions in the classroom. The orphanage is set up in such a way that the children will have a mother and father in each home. The idea of community is truly understood and lived out here. “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” (Acts 2:44) It’s beautiful.
They live a simple life, not because they want to but because they have to. This is where the lines get fuzzy. This is when we take a drink of the sour milk.
Jude and Rory told us stories about going to 1st world countries and how disgusting it is about how much we waste. In the U.K., Jude washed out old milk bottles only to get asked “What are you doing?”. She watched them throw out these milk bottles. In Zimbabwe, this is not how it is done. They keep everything. They use everything. Over. And over. And over again. Every cent spent matters.
In the U.S., being hipster and eco-friendly and vegetarian is the ‘cool’ thing to do. Yet to achieve all these ‘cool’ things, people spend thousands of dollars. If you want to really learn what it means to be hipster, eco-friendly and vegetarian, come to Doma for a few days. The chicks are bought and raised to produce eggs. When they quit producing eggs they become meat chickens. We ate chicken that were killed earlier in the day. Then, the leftover chicken was used in the stew. Meat is a delicacy here, you are lucky if you have access to meat. So if you want to give it to someone, they would be more than glad to have it. And eco-friendly is no problem; electricity stays on for no more than 12 hours of the day and internet is spotty and there is no electricity. They also don’t have much access to modern medicine so they do herbal treatments. Yes, my friend, eco-friendly indeed.
My compassion swells when we drive down the road. Difficult decisions isn’t what makes this situation heart breaking, because it is obvious that we can thrive through difficulties. It is the poor decision making. The worst of their cultures has mixed with the worst of Western culture. The people walking up and down the sides of the roads in suits with cell phones…who knows where they are going. There is no purpose. They compromise basic needs for status symbols and desires. Life is very about the appearances. People want stuff they don’t need and it takes advantage of their lives. I have never seen this so vividly until here.
After leaving Doma and returning to Harare, we went to eat. I already am very aware of the reverse culture shock I will face when we return. We sat down to eat in a very nice restaurant in a nice neighborhood. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought we were in a 1st World country. But I have seen the need. It is literally right outside the door. In the States we confine them to small areas so that we can ignore them or choose to be ignorant to them. I won’t be able to be ignorant. And this I realize after only one day of touring. What will it be like when I truly interact? All I know now is when Jesus said “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13) he was calling us all to unending mercy and love. The transformation has begun.
-Ann Clawson
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