We have arrived! All four of our flights left and arrived on time and we had no checks or fees on our luggage in Victoria Falls customs, which was a great relief after stories from a congregation from North Carolina who had to pay large amounts of import taxes on gifts they brought into Zimbabwe last Spring.
We were warmly greeted with hugs and handshakes at the airport by Bishop Rhodes from the Northern Deanery, Rev. Fortune Nyoni, pastor of a Vic Falls congregation, and Mr. Dube, General Secretary of the ELCZ who drove the four hours from Bulawayo to meet us. Bishop Shava is currently in Stuggart, Germany at the LWF conference and he will greet us later. We were also warmly greeted by Daisy, a member of a Vic Falls congregation, when we arrived at the hotel (see picture). There was joy in meeting old friends for Bishop Jerge, Pastor Jim, and Nan Bader. It was an incredible feeling of welcome for the rest of us.
If people have pictures of departures from home, they can sign on and add images if they have email accounts compatible with the blog (google, etc.) or they can email them to use at rbowsend@rochester.rr.com . We will be adding to the blog from Zimbabwe as we have internet access.
First impressions: Everyone here is friendly and very accommodating. There is a strong British influence in the drinking of tea, the formalness of meals, the use of sir and madam in addressing us. Victoria Falls is a tourist area and an indicator of the health of the rest of the country. As people arrive to spend foreign currency for ecotourism and site-seeing, the money trickles down to the layers that support those ventures. Young people wanting to be part of that growth must go to college for 2-6 years to study other cultures and religions, learn about the history of the country and the flora/fauna, and develop communication skills. They in turn feel invested in their country which adds to the overall sense of hopefulness.
The main road is paved but there are many dirt roads that lead off to small villages. The sun rises later and sets earlier than at home because we are closer to the equator. The sounds that woke us up included the snap and crunch of elephants knocking down branches and trees to eat leaves, the call of monkeys and baboons, and the screech of birds. Once in awhile, really big insects buzz by. It is like an Arizona winter here. Some of the trees have shed their leaves, things are dry, the mornings and evenings very cool (45 degrees), and the aloe and bougainvilleas are in bloom.
We will be in Vic Falls for a couple of days, meeting and planning, getting over jet lag and doing some site seeing. We should have internet access during that time and welcome questions.
One of the topics we have discussed that will be a focus for our visit here is how to facilitate the twinning process, including the pairing of congregations. The number of congregations and members in the Upstate NY Synod has decreased since 2005. The number of congregations and members in the ELCZ has grown immensely to a point where we do not have enough congregations in NY to twin with all of the congregations here.
I will attempt to include a few pictures. We walked down by Victoria Falls this morning. The immensity and grandeur of this wonder of the natural world makes Niagara Falls look like a plumbing leak. We also had elephants directly behind our hotel this morning. There is an electric fence that keeps them from the grounds of the hotel. We toured a nature preserve and saw zebra, giraffe, rhino, lions, baboons (which will come inside if you leave the door open) and much art work.
It is late here, so I will write more later.
For now: Heavenly Father, thank you for all we have seen and heard today. Thank you for Victoria Falls and for bird song, for elephants and giraffe, for beggars, school children in uniform, and nature guides. Thank you for the hope of these people. Keep us and our families and friends back home, safe from harm. Allow us to sleep well under the southern constellations and wake refreshed for tomorrow. Amen.
We were warmly greeted with hugs and handshakes at the airport by Bishop Rhodes from the Northern Deanery, Rev. Fortune Nyoni, pastor of a Vic Falls congregation, and Mr. Dube, General Secretary of the ELCZ who drove the four hours from Bulawayo to meet us. Bishop Shava is currently in Stuggart, Germany at the LWF conference and he will greet us later. We were also warmly greeted by Daisy, a member of a Vic Falls congregation, when we arrived at the hotel (see picture). There was joy in meeting old friends for Bishop Jerge, Pastor Jim, and Nan Bader. It was an incredible feeling of welcome for the rest of us.
If people have pictures of departures from home, they can sign on and add images if they have email accounts compatible with the blog (google, etc.) or they can email them to use at rbowsend@rochester.rr.com . We will be adding to the blog from Zimbabwe as we have internet access.
First impressions: Everyone here is friendly and very accommodating. There is a strong British influence in the drinking of tea, the formalness of meals, the use of sir and madam in addressing us. Victoria Falls is a tourist area and an indicator of the health of the rest of the country. As people arrive to spend foreign currency for ecotourism and site-seeing, the money trickles down to the layers that support those ventures. Young people wanting to be part of that growth must go to college for 2-6 years to study other cultures and religions, learn about the history of the country and the flora/fauna, and develop communication skills. They in turn feel invested in their country which adds to the overall sense of hopefulness.
The main road is paved but there are many dirt roads that lead off to small villages. The sun rises later and sets earlier than at home because we are closer to the equator. The sounds that woke us up included the snap and crunch of elephants knocking down branches and trees to eat leaves, the call of monkeys and baboons, and the screech of birds. Once in awhile, really big insects buzz by. It is like an Arizona winter here. Some of the trees have shed their leaves, things are dry, the mornings and evenings very cool (45 degrees), and the aloe and bougainvilleas are in bloom.
We will be in Vic Falls for a couple of days, meeting and planning, getting over jet lag and doing some site seeing. We should have internet access during that time and welcome questions.
One of the topics we have discussed that will be a focus for our visit here is how to facilitate the twinning process, including the pairing of congregations. The number of congregations and members in the Upstate NY Synod has decreased since 2005. The number of congregations and members in the ELCZ has grown immensely to a point where we do not have enough congregations in NY to twin with all of the congregations here.
I will attempt to include a few pictures. We walked down by Victoria Falls this morning. The immensity and grandeur of this wonder of the natural world makes Niagara Falls look like a plumbing leak. We also had elephants directly behind our hotel this morning. There is an electric fence that keeps them from the grounds of the hotel. We toured a nature preserve and saw zebra, giraffe, rhino, lions, baboons (which will come inside if you leave the door open) and much art work.
It is late here, so I will write more later.
For now: Heavenly Father, thank you for all we have seen and heard today. Thank you for Victoria Falls and for bird song, for elephants and giraffe, for beggars, school children in uniform, and nature guides. Thank you for the hope of these people. Keep us and our families and friends back home, safe from harm. Allow us to sleep well under the southern constellations and wake refreshed for tomorrow. Amen.
