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August 4, 2012 – Bulawayo, Zimbabwe I peek through the door which divides customs at the airport from the waiting area and I spy my friend Lisa who is visiting us for a few days.  My heart is happy as I know that Lisa will get to see the work AFCA does first-hand and that she will enjoy her time here. Like Jodi, she is easy going, ready to do anything and to eat anything.  It will be a nice stay, I am sure. We have so much to do in the next few days! August 5, 2012 – Matopos, Zimbabwe   After church, we pack up a picnic lunch [...]

Having just returned from a mission trip to Central America, I realize now more than ever that Americans are the sole occupants of a large and shiny social bubble. If you’ll pardon the generalization, I’d say our concerns can sometimes be pretty narrow, limited to ourselves and more significantly our group, i.e. Americans. We buy glossy electronics for our children and friends. We fret that our upper and middle classes may have money unduly taxed away from them. We relegate to the back of our minds children and families around the world who struggle to survive and sometimes fail to. A quick disclaimer—I’m not writing this blog entry to harp [...]

August 1, 2012 - Bulawayo, Zimbabwe Last week we were given a bag of Mopani worms because we were curious about them. I'd heard that they are quite delicious and that they are easy to prepare and full of protein and everything that is good. While I wasn't about to go running to pick them off the Mopani tree, I wasn't put off by the bag of worms we received. The worms came to us dried up and shriveled in a plastic bag. I ask Q what in the world to do with them since he is quite the fan of the "little fellows", as he calls them. He asked [...]

Dear friends, Voting starts on August 1! One of the photos taken by the American Foundation for Children with AIDS (AFCA) has been selected as a finalist in a contest hosted by Global Giving! Here is the link where you will vote:http://www.globalgiving.org/poll/vote/?pollOptionId=21.  I took this photo while in Zimbabwe during a goat distribution to grandmothers who are raising AIDS orphans. The photo which receives the most votes by noon on August 15th will win $1000 for the organization, plus, $3000 from matching grants, AND it will be highlighted on the Global Giving home page, which opens us up to many more donations.  Voting starts at noon on August 1, so we please be ready to vote [...]

Aiden says "I even painted my arm pits!" Juju getting her braids taken out Last week was splendid!  We went on a family vacation and visited Hwange National Park for two nights and Victoria Falls for two nights.  It was so fun to drive off after packing a friend's truck (she is so brave to let two americans drive it, as it is a standard car, driven on the opposite side of the road) and to head out with no computers in tow. We pack food, blankets, towels, clothes, and huge smiles as we get in the truck and pull out of the Stambolie's house for the first non-working vacation [...]

It is fairly easy to slip into the belief that because the virus that causes AIDS is transmitted through sexual relations, acquiring AIDS is primarily the result of choice. AIDS victims chose to engage in unnecessarily risky behavior. Sometimes, that’s true. Oftentimes, however, the factors contributing to that risky decision are much more complex than a disinterested observer might at first assume. For millions of HIV victims around the world, and for HIV+ women in particular, putting oneself at risk is anything but voluntary. Even if HIV were harmless, women’s lack of cultural power throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, where HIV+ population density is far higher than anywhere else in [...]

For more than 30 million adults around the world, carrying HIV is an onerous burden. Maybe they know that inside them there is something lethal lying dormant, waiting—and maybe they don’t. But when HIV manifests as AIDS, half of these victims won’t have access to the proper treatment for it, and they will probably die. The economic, physical, and emotional strain of living with AIDS is incredibly wearing, and adults around the world suffer under that burden. But for a lot of unfair reasons, the plight of children with AIDS is worse. First of all, many of them are born straight into treatment. If the pregnant mother has not been [...]

July 13, 2012 –Coronation, Zimbabwe They gave me this mat Eight hours of driving. Two hours of workshops. Two large cabbages. Eight kilos of chicken. Two kilos of tomatoes. Two kilos of onions. Six kilos of rice. One mat. Twenty grandmothers and grandfathers. Eleven songs. A million smiles. If I had to state my day in numbers, the above would be the sum of it. Ncube, Q and I head out of Bulawayo at 6:00am and stop in Masvingo to purchase food for our workshop before driving the last 20k to Coronation. This is where we delivered sixty goats a few weeks ago and I am excited to be back. [...]

July 11, 2012 Juju has been pretty good at doing summer school work while we are here in Zimbabwe that I told her that I'd treat her to something special if she continued using her best handwriting, not complaining and worked hard at her numbers. She complied and has been a great student during her homework times (ie when her mother needs a break from the million questions that come out of her mouth). When she wakes up today, I tell her that we are going to get her hair braided. You'd have thought she'd been promised a trip to the moon! Her smile is huge and all morning long, [...]

July 8, 2012 Today we visit Piet and Anike, a couple from Holland who’ve been living in Zimbabwe for 32 years. They graciously invite us to their house for lunch after church and we arrive excited to make new friends. Anike is a gracious host, presenting us with a delicious stew and rice meal, salad and a dessert of yogurt and stewed fruit. It is so nice! Homemade wine and guava juice completes a delicious meal where conversation flows easily and where the kids don’t feel like they have to sit still the entire time. After lunch, we talk and the little ones scamper off to play in the sand [...]