Zimbabwe Update

This week we received the following email from a Bishop of one of our partner churches in Zimbabwe that brought new disturbing and desperate news.

It really seems the horror is not stopping.  Day by day we hear stories of people whose mouths, limbs, arms have been cut off for voting wrongly, that is, having voted for the opposition.  It is horrific.  Some have had their IDs taken away from them so that they do not vote in the next presidential elections.  People in rural areas are subjected to fear that is constant.  People are no longer free in their own homes.  They are invaded, accused of voting for the opposition and forced to attend meetings where those accused are beaten up openly.  It is really dehumanising in most of the cases.  Those who seek refuge are rounded up and forced to go back where they came from.

We are praying that God won't wait any longer watching his people being terrorised in this manner.  Things that are being done can not be tolerated in a normal society.  The recent violence in South Africa mostly on Zimbabweans there adds to the confusion at home.  Those who run away from the fire in Zimbabwe end up in a frying pan in South Africa.  Zimbabweans do not deserve what they are going through. 

Those who have remained in Harare and in other small towns have evaded police because they have been staying with relatives.  Those who have been kept in camps or offices of the opposition parties have been rounded off and send back home.  These end up staying in mountains.  Its terrible in this day and age to see people going to stay in mountains in this cold whether.  It is the beginning of winter here and it is promising to be very cold this season.

Instead of only providing food we are also contemplating giving out blankets.  We can afford a few with what we have.  Surely goodness and mercy should also follow Zimbabweans.  What have we done to experience all this suffering? 

Sorry for empting myself to you.  I should be saying all this to God Himself.  I am doing that every day.  But you know what, there is something in me which says, "All will be well soon, jus watch."  Maybe this is my voice and not God's.  I have all the confidence that God is in control but the question I always pose is "Why all this suffering in the first place?"  I know God is with us.