Update from Mashonaland

door Mbuma | mrt 24, 2023 | English Articles

Do you remember that Rev. Mwedzi was confirmed in the New Canaan congregation last May? He is the only minister besides Rev. Khumalo at the moment and is therefore very busy. Still, he found time to let us know how things are going now.

How are you doing?
Rev. Mwedzi: “The Lord has helped me a lot from May last year until now. I preach at 11 preaching stations under my charge and helping at communions almost every month around our congregations. I also visit John Tallach high school at least twice in a term.

How about outreach work?
“I have received 6,000 Bibles from the TBS (English sister organization of the GBS) and distributed them throughout the country. There is a great demand for Bibles, but our supply was limited and we hope the Lord will send a friend to print and send more Bibles.”

How do you travel to all these places?
Rev. Mwedzi: ” I have a better car with four-wheel drive, but the roads are too bad and the roads to other stations are almost completely destroyed. I travel about 5000 km a month on those roads, which means more fuel costs and repair costs for the car. Thanks to the mission’s help, I got a better vehicle for the long trips.”

A lot of work rests on your shoulders!
Rev. Mwedzi: “Yes, but there are also encouragements. I will mention three.
Next to our church at one of the stations is a school of about 334 students. They have opened the door for me to preach to them. They have offered us their well. Unfortunately, the pump’s solar panels broke last month so we may have water supply problems again during the communion in April.
Although the congregation is generally poor, their contribution to the maintenance of the ministers has improved from  2021 to  2022.
Through the Lord’s help, I have seen a number of people who had not come to church for almost a decade return and four take their seats at the Lord’s Table again.”

Obituary Catherine and Margaret Tallach – Rev. J.R. Tallach

door Mbuma | mrt 13, 2023 | English Articles

Earlier this year two daughters of the late Rev John Tallach, missionary in Zimbabwe, passed away to be with their Lord.

Margaret was born in Bulawayo on 19th July 1987. She was the youngest of five children and twin to Helen. Margaret spent her early years living  at Ingwenya Free Presbyterian Mission. When she was nine the family returned to Scotland settling first at Raasay and then finally Mr Tallach was inducted as minister over the Oban congregation where Margaret completed her secondary education. She went on to train as a nurse in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Margaret returned to the Mission in1967 working for three years at Mbuma Mission Hospital. During her time there she learned Sindebele Bible verses so that she could quote them to her patients.

On her return to Scotland Margaret settled with her mother, Mrs Anne Tallach, in Inverness and worked as a community nurse for several years.

Margaret’s greatest concern was that each of her relatives would come to know the Lord and in the community at large she was often to be seen standing in a local shopping centre distributing tracts. She passed away on the 1st of April 2022.

“So to the haven he them brings which they desired to see. ” Psalm 107:30.

Catherine, Margaret’s older sister, passed away two months after her in 25th June 2022.

Born in present day Zimbabwe Catherine grew up in Ingwenya and spoke fluent Sindebele. She had shown an early interest in nursing matters and used to love being around the late Rev Dr MacDonald when he was attending to cases.. On her father’s return to Scotland she trained as a nurse and completed a course in nursing in the tropics.

Catherine returned to Zimbabwe in 1966 to work at Mbuma in the hospital started there by the late Mr Ian van Woerden. She spent six years working at Mbuma.

Catherine ’s knowledge of Sindebele was drawn on for translation work on the Mission.

Catherine came to live with her mother and Margaret in Inverness and was for a time Matron of the Church Ballifeary Residential Home in the city.

Her passing away was as peacefully as the wind passing over the grass in psalm 103;16.

“But into them that do him fear, God’s mercy never ends.”

A visit to Zimbabwe – Nelleke van den Hoorn

door Mbuma | feb 7, 2023 | English Articles

The time came in September 2022 for me to visit Mbuma, together with a friend and her husband. We arrived safely after two long days’ travel. The purpose of the journey was to familiarise ourselves with the hospital and how healthcare is practised there. I am a Dutch paediatric nurse and was keen to see how big the differences were between healthcare and resource availability in the Netherlands and in Zimbabwe.

I was allowed to spend a day at the Outpatient Department, visit all the wards and witness an operation. Let me describe for you Dr Anneke Snoek’s schedule when she has an outpatient day—when patients turn up at the hospital with problems or for check-ups.

The first to shuffle into the Outpatient Department is an old man. He is greeted by a nurse who takes his temperature, oxygen saturation and weight. It is all noted in a softcover book that the patient keeps with him, and is stamped and dated. He then proceeds to the specialist nurse, who is able to deal with many issues single-handedly. However, the old man’s condition is too complex, so he is referred on to her.

A hospital visit begins at the Outpatient Department

He takes his seat in the waiting room and bides his time. It is another hour and a half before he is called: the doctor has been called away to an emergency operation.

This already identifies for us a major difference with the Netherlands, where everything is mapped out in minutes. We Dutch become impatient even if we are kept waiting for a quarter of an hour by some circumstance, but here at the hospital, people will uncomplainingly sit and wait their turn for four hours or more.

After the old man, we saw a variety of other patients come past: the young, the elderly and pregnant women.

Something else that struck me was that they really take time here to listen carefully to the patient. How different from the Netherlands, where there are specialists for all kinds of problems: here, the same treating doctor takes all comers. Another difference from Dutch healthcare is that when a scan or ultrasound needs to be taken, the patient is asked beforehand whether he can pay. The same applies to any medicines that might be needed. They have to be paid for first, and then they can be collected from the pharmacy.

After a long and patient wait, the old man gets to see the doctor, who looks through his notes and asks him some questions. She is quite frank with him: he is gravely ill and won’t live long. There is discussion of prolonging his life and managing the pain, but also of the spiritual support that is available. Dr Snoek tells him that there is another Physician, One Who can give true healing and rest. The patient gives his consent to be referred to the hospital catechist to be taught from the Word of God. This, I think, is the greatest difference between Dutch hospitals and Mbuma Mission Hospital: patients here do of course come for treatment of their physical ailments, but they are also told about their spiritual state and pointed to the Great Healer—advice which we all need for this life and for eternity.

A baby admitted to the paediatric ward. The mother stayed with her child

I saw and learned much in the space of this visit. On the one hand, we are phenomenally well-off in the Netherlands: healthcare is well organised and so much more can be done than in Africa. However, the visit impressed upon me that Zimbabweans take one day at a time and live in dependence on the Lord, particularly the Christians among them.

This was my glimpse of healthcare in Zimbabwe. I wish all who read this, wherever they are, the Lord’s blessings.

With a local schoolgirl