CHIPENGE, ZIMBABWE, CLOVERHILL FARM

This bombed out farm shed was the site of one of our open air clinics. It was all happening on the other side of the building.

This seriously ill lady almost made it but collapsed against the back wall.

I told Nurse Kath about her and she immediately came to her side and gave her the help that saved her life.

Sometimes we can't save the lives--this time we did.

ZIMBABWE: TONGOGARA CAMP

Joy!

So much food...

MOZAMBIQUE/ZIMBABWE BORDER

A typical bush clinic registration office.

Keth Neville was a recipient of the Rotary Club's Paul Harris Award--like the one Mother Teresa got.

She spent the last years of her life serving as the only available medical care for about 30,000 people.

ZIMBABWE CHILD HEADED HOUSEHOLD

At 15 years old Shepard was forced to be the caretaker and provider for his siblings.

This bright, honest young man gratefully accepted our help and developed into a leader in the church. He is now assistant pastor in a new church and CarePoint in Zimbabwe.

Anybody that meets this young man senses he really does have a "shepherd's heart."

CHAMBUTA & TONGOGARA, ZIMBABWE

Teaching wage-earning skills is a vital part of relief ministry.

Sewing
Carpentry
Bricklaying

These important skills open doors to the future.

(Sad note: The greatest demand for product from our carpentry classes has been coffins--most of them child-size.)

UMZILIZWI, ZIMBABWE

After days without food, these children were overwhelmed by so much mealie meal in one place. They buried their hands and arms in it in awe.

It really felt good to know that we did that.

CHAMBUTA AND TONGOGARA REFUGEE CAMPS, ZIMBABWE

A Godly friend friend named Wayne Shreeve personally paid for 1200 pairs of shoes for some of our Children's Cup kids.

Most had never known the feeling of wearing shoes.

It had immediate impact on the attitude of the kids like they were saying, "I'm not just a barefoot bush kid now, I have shoes."

FOTHERGIL ISLAND LAKE KARIBA, ZIMBABWE

My brother Don and I spent this night in terror in this hut.

Two lions came in trying to get to a packet of biltong (jerky) in my flight bag.

Only God kept them from harming us.

You can be sure I was "prayed up" for my sermon the next morning.

ZIMBABWE

When we gave this man his new artificial limb, you might say we gave him "a leg up."

It changed his life.

TONGOGARA REFUGEE CAMP, ZIMBABWE

Almost the same feeling as being surrounded by our grandkids...

BULAWAYO, ZIMBABWE

We constructed this church in a high-density suburb of Bulawayo.

CHIPENGE, ZIMBABWE FROM EAGLE GROVE, IOWA

Have you ever seen a happier smile?

Our dear friends from Eagle Grove, Iowa, Bill and Kathy Warren, gave us their accordion for this man.

Musical instruments are precious gifts to Africans.

ZIMBABWE, VICTORIA FALLS, PASTORS DINO AND DELYNN RIZZO

It has been a grand pleasure of my life several times to host our USA pastors Dino and Delynn Rizzo from Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, IA., on the mission field.

This site of the David Livingstone monument is very significant to us all.

ZIMBABWE: DAVID AND SHELLY MEYER WITH CHILDREN'S CUP CHILDREN

David, his wife Shelly and son David speak to some of our 600 children at Tongogara.

Standing behind them is David Mlambo--a bold witness for Christ.

Mlambo is the seventh generation grandson of the infamous Shaka Zulu--Africa's deadliest leader ever.

Mlambo's bold witness encourages other believers to stand tall in their faith.

ZIMBABWE: HWANGE SUNSET

Sunset is when the African bush comes alive.

One of my favorite things to see.

ZIMBABWE BUSH

Healing Place Church Pastor Dino Rizzo in the Zimbabwe bush.

Should we tell him the elephant is coming?

ZIMBABWE: CHAMBUTA REFUGEE CAMP

We called them "Glory Grinders." They ground the maize (corn) into mealie meal which was their staple diet.

Local farmers would bring their maize to the camps to be ground. The machine's efficiency meant they got about 20% more useable mealie meal. The camp charged 20% of the mealie meal for grinding it.

Everybody won!

HARARE, ZIMBABWE: THE JACARANDA CANOPY

In October the Jacaranda trees bloom. Their purple blossoms cover the streets like a velvet carpet.

When the British colonized Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) they landscaped and manicured the grounds.

ZIMBABWE CHILD: VULNERABLE INNOCENCE

I've used this photo before and I'll probably use it again.

She is the sweetest child in Africa (except for my three grandkids).

Her eyes are always peeking over my shoulder in the back of my mind. They compel me to do more for more hurting children.

ZIMBABWE, CHAMBUTA REFUGEE SCHOOL

Happy day!

Close to 500 students celebrate getting their own notebook and pencil.

One child wrote us a thank you letter. "Thank you for the paper and pencil. There are 50 in my class and they had only one pencil for the whole class. Some of us never got to use it. Now we each have our own."

ZIMBABWE, TONGOGARA REFUGEE CAMP

For thousands of refugees our clinic was their only source of medical help.

They were grateful.

ZIMBABWE, RHUNDE RIVER

Ben Rodgers (white shirt) and two friends from Healing Place Church baptize a newly born-again teenager in the crocodile-infested Rhunde River.

This province alone has over 100,000 AID orphans. For this lad and all the others their only hope is Jesus.

Hope's name is Jesus.

ZIMBABWE: BRUTAL STREETS

Street thugs attacked this beggar girl.

They blinded her, and raped her. A child was concieved by that deed.

Here she sits on the city streets tending the baby and pleading for coins to buy food. Even bargaining with her body so the baby can eat.

Crushing thought: she is only one of thousands.

IMIRE, ZIMBABWE: NZOU'S IDENTITY CRISIS

We know this elephant and her herd of Cape buffaloes and their gamekeeper.

Nzou, the elephant, was orphaned and brought to this game reserve. She grew up with the buffaloes and actually began to believe she was one of them.

You can read more of the story on the internet here.

The gamekeeper told us how once he was pinned to the ground by one of the buffaloes. Our friend was moments from death.

Nzou charged in and threw the buffalo off with her trunk, saving the gamekeeper's life.

Since then there has been a unique friendship between Nzou and the gamekeeper.

Nzou has become one of the most famous elephants in Africa.

UMZILIZWI, ZIMBABWE

Another continent, another thirsty lad talked me out of my Coke--with his eyes.

ZIMBABWE BUSH: PASTORS DINO AND DE LYNN RIZZO

Healing Place Church and Children's Cup were born about the same time in 1992.

We have "grown up" together.

Pastors Dino and De Lynn have spent considerable time in Africa with us and have led the HPC congregation to enable much of what Children's Cup does in Zimbabwe, Swaziland, and Mozambique.

As a Presbyter for HPC I have watched their lives and ministry as God has used them to develop one of America's most outstanding churches.

Their passion for the lost and hurting and their personal transparency are impacting the world.

ZIMBABWE ON THE ZAMBEZE RIVER NEAR VICTORIA FALLS

I studied David Livingston's life in my youth.

I have spent long hours at this statue contemplating his courage and how he opened Africa to the Gospel--and hearing God speak to my heart about continuing his work.

From my youth I knew I must give my life to answering the same call he did.

Tell your children about this man--it may influence their lives, too.

ZIMBABWE--NOT KANSAS

Zimbabwe was the site of bountiful harvests when I took this photo. It was a breadbasket exporting food all over Africa.

Today there are no harvests, its people are starving.

Pray for this hurting country.

ZIMBABWE BUSH MEETING

David Meyer--Joyce Meyer's son--and I found the African bush to be a great place to meet and seek God for plans to impact African countries with the Gospel.

So much has happened in Swaziland, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe since that meeting.

Thank you, David.

CHAMBUTA, ZIMBABWE RIBBON CUTTING

Children's Cup built a library addition to the Chambuta school attended by about 500 needy children.

We sent an ocean container full of school texts and primary readers to the school.

It became one of the best equipped schools in the country.

And because we fed the kids everyday, it's sports teams started winning all the inter-scholastic sports contests in the area..

Warm thought: even though I cut that ribbon years ago a steady stream of students--past, present, and future--had or will have their lives changed by this school.

ZIMBABWE MEDIC KATH NEVILLE

For many years Kath Neville directed our medical program and mobile clinic on the Zimbabwe/Mozambique border.

Although you could never tell for sure where the border was back in the mountains and bush, Kath treated any who came for help.

I always thought the fact that she treated Zimbabwean and Mozambican rebel children alike insured her a kind of political immunity. She was never attacked--even though the mobile clinic was high value to either side of the war.

Kath is in heaven now.

I miss her.

TROUTBECK INN, NYANGA MOUNTAINS, ZIMBABWE

Nestled above a small lake in the Zimbabwe Nyanga Mountains is a quaint ancient inn named Troutbeck.

This was an affordable, favorite meeting place for the Children's Cup Team over the years.

It is told that for 60 years plus the fire in this fireplace in the lobby had never been allowed to go out.

Warm memories of the crackle and wood smoke take me back often.

A DOG'S PARTING SHOT

It may be funny now, but it wasn't then.

Several of us were at a grass landing strip near Chipinge, Zimbabwe, waiting for Pastor Dino Rizzo, his wife and a Zimbabwe official to arrive by Cessna. We had placed our travel bags in group at the end of the runway (off to the left outside the photo).

A mangy bush dog came near. It's never smart to trust a bush dog and I didn't trust him.

The dog locked eyes with me. He could tell I didn't want him there. He walked over to the bags, sniffed around until he found mine. He looked me in the eye again, lifted up his leg, peed on my bag, and walked off.

I'm still not sure it's funny.

LEO OUR LEOPARD

We miss old Leo. He is our leopard pelt that we must leave in Swaziland. US laws won't allow us to import him.

Friends in Zimbabwe were given permission to kill the leaopard because he was killing their domestic farm livestock.

Leopards are part of the fabled "Big Five" group of game animals in Africa.

Even as a bed cover, the leopard is a very dramatic animal.

Pleasant dreams...

A REAL-TIME MIRACLE IN ZIMBABWE

Ben Rodgers, Children's Cup African Director, and I were driving into Harare, Zimbabwe. After we stopped at red light we got a flat tire. We didn't know a gang of robbers had stabbed the tire to stop us.

We got out of the truck. Ben was crawling under it to drop the spare tire, I was directing traffic to keep them from running over Ben.

Suddenly three thugs stole our brief cases out of the cab and took off in their car.

A Zimbabwe businessman was in the car behind us and saw it all. He chased the thieves's car. Three blocks away it crashed into another car at an intersection. The police were right there at the scene and they recovered our bags which contained about $10,000 cash (banks don't work in Zimbabwe), passports and vehicle documents.

Two of the robbers were in the back of a police truck. They were rather banged up, but they were lucid enough to let me tell thim I forgave them and God would, too, if they asked Him. One of them responded that he was doing that already.

The Good Samaritan businessman urged me to get the bags from the police or they might keep them.

After a verbal and physical tug-of-war I got the bags out of the policemen's hands and returned to our car.

Ben and I got into our truck and for just a moment sat there in goosebumps--aware that we had just experienced a miracle--a real-time miracle!