5/20/98: Both of us tired and nursing a head cold. The harried pace of the past couple of days caught up with us. Enjoyed a cultural orientation class with Nancy E…
5/21/98: Bus into town to run errands. Local currency at an ATM. Kenyan embassy for visa to our next stop…
5/22/98: Groceries. Laundry. Review notes from cultural orientation class…
5/22/23: The first few days in Zimbabwe were slow-paced. We would be working with folks from The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) in both the capital city of Harare and at a mission hospital called Karanda in the far north-east, near Mt. Darwin. They took their work seriously and had a brief but important orientation class for all volunteers who came to work with them. It is so important to remember for any expats working in country, and especially for short-term volunteers like us, that we are guests in the countries we visit. Socio-cultural arrogance must be left at the door, and humility and respect must be practiced. Besides the benefit of avoiding offending people, learning to be aware and sensitive makes the experience much richer! We didn’t become experts in couple of hours of orientation or in a few weeks of living there, but we gained an appreciation of different ways people live their lives and view the world.
As a British colony, Zimbabwe and its neighbor Zambia were formerly known as Rhodesia. Cecil Rhodes, who endowed the famous “Rhodes Scholarship” was the colony’s namesake. More on him in a few weeks… As a former British colony, English was widely spoken among indigenous people groups, but in our orientation class we got to learn a few phrases in the Shona language, since our work was primarily in that tribal region. Learning simple phrases was not only helpful, but revealed a bit about different worldviews. In Shona “Mangwanani” is a common way to say “Good Morning.” But the literal meaning would be something like “Did you wake up?” And the response is “Yes, I woke up.” The Shona greeting for “how was your trip” is more literally like “Have you arrived?”, and the reply is “Yes, I have arrived.” I don’t remember all the phrases we learned back then, but I still remember that in the Shona language there was this sense of built in reflection and appreciation in the basic greetings.
Another thing we both appreciated about arriving in Zimbabwe was the lovely climate. The Jacaranda and Frangipani (plumeria) trees were in full bloom, so the air was filled with the tropical scents that Ruth grew up with. Several of the streets of Harare and the neighboring suburbs were lined with the Jacaranda forming tunnels of rich purple that were dazzling to the eye. We did not actually take any photos during those first few days in Harare. So, the photo above is one I took of a Jacaranda tree, upcountry in Kula on Maui, the island where Ruth grew up.
I was introduced to what is now one of my favorite flavors of world music while in Zimbabwe too! Oliver Mtukudzi, or “Tuku,” was a popular chimurenga style musician from Harare. One of the songs on regular rotation in my playlist is “Hear Me Lord.” You can watch a live performance below.