One summer afternoon stroll..................... by Andy Hills

Kadoma, Zimbabwe, Saturday 4 August 2001:
Wellington and Kelvin are taking John and I for a visit to the poorest parts of Rimuka. It's at my request. I don't want to leave without seeing for myself the living conditions I've only really seen from a distance - arms length as it were. We take the video with us and embark on an eye opener. As we enter the back alleys we're greeted by smiling faces - children, loads of them - not with the gaunt haunted expressions of faces suffering malnutrition, but those happy and excited to be visited. They shout in surprise: Murungu! - white man! They don't come here. We spend a few minutes smiling back at them, watching them play with their string bound plastic bag ball and move on.

Wellington explains the rows of terraced houses here are one roomed, originally built for single men but now home to families of up to ten. No gas, no water - electricity is just available. I look in disbelief. How? I ask. Wellington speaks gently to a middle aged woman sitting on the ground mending some linen - she smiles and beckons us in. The room is smaller than a Grace Way double bedroom. The parents' 'bed' is separated-off by a make-shift curtain from the rest of the room where some of the children sleep and everyone uses as living quarters. The other children share a dilapidated corrugated outhouse for their bed space. It's smoke filled, with nothing but a pile of embers smouldering in the middle, as by day it's the cooking space.

We absorb the sight to the detriment of our eyes and make our way out, thanking the lady with traditional small gestures of hand patting, humbled by her openness; no embarrassment, no excuses here. We leave.

Past row upon row of these inferior dwellings, squashed with people between their walls. But where's the water, the toilets, the bath? Wellington looks at Kelvin as if to say 'do they really want to know'. We're led to a break between the terraces - a block which I guess might be communal latrines face us. Kelvin leads the way and shows us the one shower that serves goodness knows how many people. He explains how people queue up for their turn each day, particularly before going to church on Sunday mornings! He walks past the entrance to the lavatories - I point to go in and am met with blank stares - I enter alone. The stench is severe, the sight is revolting - it makes me heave. I leave rapidly hand over mouth and nose with thoughts of disease rushing my

mind. Wellington explains the latrines cannot cope with the amount of use they receive from the mass of adults and children they are now called on to serve.

We cross the dirt track road, stepping over the overflow from a sewer which runs down one side, no longer able to cope with the flow demanded of it, bearing witness to Kelvin's explanation. On past the vegetable and fruit sellers, past the man skilfully making sandals from old tyres - amazing! Past the woman selling pieces of termite hill as a source of minerals, apparently much favoured by pregnant women! John puts a piece to his tongue - he wished he hadn't! We cross into another block - more run-down. Wellington gestures us over to a shack oozing with smoke. He holds up what looks like a dead mouse dangling by its tail. We go in. Next to a woman kneeling on the floor is a cooking pot - six skinned mice float on the heated water and Wellington assures us its a delicacy to be eaten with Sadsa. I'm not sure whether he's pulling my leg - one thing for sure though, they are on the menu for these folk tonight!

The thought keeps crossing my mind - how do these people keep smiling? How do they continue to cope? The last hour's walk has been a living sermon, a testimony to hope in the face of appalling conditions. These folk are not down-cast - 'give thanks in all circumstances' - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 seems to have some reality here. I can't help feeling that the words of Paul in Philippians 4:10-13 could come off the lips of so many here in Rimuka - oh that I could learn and share in that secret too - in the comfort of my New Town home!

Andy was visiting Rimuka, a township adjoining Kadoma, one of the towns Stevenage is linked with. He was there with other members of Cornerstone, helping to establish 'Project 5000' with Sungano - the young peoples inter church group in Rimuka. Rimuka is probably the size of one of Stevenage's neighbourhoods such as Broadwater or Shephall. It is home to around 40,000+ people. The high density housing is slowly being replaced by low density homes with all basic services. There's an extremely long way to go and the present economic situation is hampering what can be achieved.