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Good Morning,

I would like to thank Rev. Jim Todhunter, Rev. Sandra Dodson, the Church Deacons and the whole Christ Congregational Church for giving me this opportunity to stand before you and talk about the Mbare Church in Zimbabwe. I feel honored to be here this morning.

Our Bible reading today says, "Ask, and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.”

I am here today to ASK, AND KNOCK ON YOUR DOORS ON BEHALF OF MBARE CHURCH of the United Church of Christ, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary this month.

My late husband the Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and I were members of this Church for a long time.  Rev. Sithole was in fact one of the founding Ministers of this Church in the 50s. It was close to our hearts and remains so for the faithful people who make it a Church. The membership of the MBARE CHURCH comprises mostly widows, widowers and pensioners. Most of these elderly people take care of their grandchildren as most of their children have died of HIV/AIDS related causes.  

Rev. Sithole and I promised people of Mbare that we would always help whenever we could. And for two years, we actually did - We gave ten percent of the produce we harvested from our farm, to the church at Christmas.  We carpeted the Altar and employed a good number of Church members to work at the farm. And we had plans to do a lot more for our church, because it was our church.   However, due to our political involvement in Zimbabwe, the government permanently confiscated our 650-hectare Chulu Farm, leaving us destitute and unable to not only help the church, but ourselves and our families.  Though my husband has passed on, and I am no longer in Zimbabwe, I still consider Mbare Church my home church. And therefore feel obligated to help. 

The major challenges in this poor neighborhood include shortage of food, clothes and utility bills owed to the Harare Municipality. These challenges are for many orphans in Zimbabwe and especially our United Church of Christ as a whole in Zimbabwe.

The main Church was established at Mt. Selinda in 1896 as American Board of Missionaries, and this is where I went to school.  Mt. Selinda is in Chipinge and is bordering Mozambique. The people there speak Ndau which is a dialect of Shona. This Church later became the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe. We celebrated the centenary of Mt. Selinda in 1998.

Life was tough during my early years there.  Because we did not have beds, we had to create them by putting two wooden planks together. To make a mattress, we would fill two sacks with straw and then sew them together and place them on top of the wooden planks.  We worked hard in the school garden to supplement our vegetables and maize (corn) for our mealie meal to make sadza – a staple food in Zimbabwe. It is like thick porridge. The teachers were good and education was the best one could get.

Most of the poverty and hardship I and my fellow Zimbabweans experienced were as a result of the segregation we as Black people were subjected to under the leadership of the white minority rule of then Prime Minister Ian Smith.  I knew from a very young age that I did not want to live like this forever.  At the age of 19, I decided to join the armed struggle. All I wanted was to be treated like anybody else in the country of MY birth. I left my nursing training and went into the unknown, starting off in then Tanganyika, known today as Tanzania.  In my book I describe the difficulties I faced while I was out there. My wish is to you to by my book so I can distribute these books for free in Zimbabwe. I strongly feel it is the history people of Zimbabwe should know about liberation they fought and died for.

I feel sad standing here before you all today, asking you to help my church members at Mbare Church.  Despite the sacrifices people like myself made for Zimbabwe to be free, Zimbabwe is today worse off than it was before we got our independence.  Once known as the bread basket of Africa, today Zimbabwe is classified as one of the worst performing economies in the world.  Inflation stands at more than 1,000-percent. HIV prevalence, though reportedly on the decline, at 18-percent it is still one of highest in the world, and the number of deaths estimated at nearly 3-thousand a week.  More than 1/2 of the population is estimated to need food aid within the next few months. 

My faith in God had taken me out of the toughest of situations…When I was weak and hopeless he lifted me up. When I was sick he cured me. I am proud to sand before you today because GOD HAS A REASON FOR ME TO BE ALIVE TODAY.  I have every reason to praise the Lord because he loves me. With your prayers, I am sure things will be better for all Zimbabweans.

I humbly ask this CCC to help where you can these MBARE PEOPLE.

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