NEWS FROM ZIMBABWE
In Britain, If we pay our stamps then most of
us will receive a state pension. For Mercy, living in a high density housing
area in the capital of Zimbabwe, Harare life is not like that. Her husband died
many years ago and she bought up their three children on her own, whilst still
working full time. There was never any money left over to save, so now she has
no money on which to live in her retirement. Getting a job might be an answer
as she speaks Shona, English and Ndebele but that is not easy in a country
where unemployment is over ninety percent. So today she keeps herself active
with Church administration and work with the local community. Other people sell
what little they can at crossroads and in markets to make a few dollars.
To live, Mercy relies on money from her
children. However, last month they did
not approve of how she spent this money and so they stopped it. Mercy laughed
as she explained that she often uses the money they give her to buy presents
for her grandchildren and children. Imagine being so beholden to your offspring
that you don’t know when they will decide to start the payments again. She
seemed to take it in her stride; “The Lord will provide for me,” she said.
She is now behind with the rent and water
bills. Her electricity is free because one of her sons works for the company.
“You can come and bake as many cakes as you like in my oven, she said, “Just
bring all the ingredients and take home the washing up.”
Happily this state of affairs has now ended
and Mercy is again receiving money. She is typical of many elderly people who
find themselves without work and therefore no income. It is only with the help
of family that they can survive. With no care homes families usually care for
parents at home. However this often means leaving them on their own all day and
lacking basic hygiene. This contributes to the low life expectancy of 34 years
for women and 36 years for men. With a whole middle generation lost to
violence, poverty and AIDS one wonders how communities will cope in the future.
But Mercy continues to get the most out of
life, changing from a recent present of a new pair of tights into an old pair,
she heads for a ‘Kitchen Party.’ She and a friend are off to give marriage
advice to a bride to be, a week before her wedding. Now that is an interesting idea!!!
On another issue, as poverty is so bad in Zimbabwe
students sometimes resort to prostitution to survive, says a new booklet by
Christian Aid partner the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe. SCMZ is
publishing the booklet in a move to speak openly and freely about what
Zimbabwe’s young people have experienced during the last decade of the
country’s decline. It contains stories of students struggling through their
studies on a meagre budget, which will be mentioned in future editions of
Stories for Change.
From Commitment for Life May Stories for
Change, no 53
PRAYER
FOR OUR URC CHURCHES
Our Wessex Synod has produced a book of
prayers for each church in the Synod. We are asked to remember two or three of
them every Sunday this year. The following churches in our area are among those
to remember in June and July.
The Church at Totton says: As the moon
affects the daily movements of the tides, which in turn very gracefully but
often with immense visible power wash over and shape our land, so Lord may your
love daily wash over us and visibly shape our ministry here at Trinity to your
glory.
The Church at Andover
gives thanks for the whole church in the community, the ministry to the world
of work, the enthusiasm of the congregation in uncertain times. Pray for the
church in 2010 as it may not have any form of pastoral oversight, for the
people contacted on ‘Back to Church Sunday’, for the Sunday engagement with the
disabled, educational and economic communities, the rescue agencies and road
safety personnel.