door Mbuma | jul 13, 2023 | English Articles
A wedding invitation from Canada to attend Maria and Roy Bartle’s wedding on January 4, 2023 in Ingwenya was my main reason for visiting Zimbabwe last December and January, the second I attended there in two weeks. Maria Kerkhoff has been employed as teacher at the John Tallach High School for almost five years now.
How honoured I felt to be invited to the wedding by Maria’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Willem Kerkhoff, being a family friend of theirs for almost 50 years. Although it was going to take place in Zimbabwe, I knew it was not going to be a traditional Zimbabwean marriage. No lobola was going to be paid by the bridegroom’s family. It was not like in the Old Testament days either, when the dowry or lobola was a compensation to the parents for the girl, as they lost the girl’s labour. David married Michal and the compensation was a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. In Europe it was the other way round up to the 1970s. The father of the bride paid for the wedding as a compensation for all the work the daughter had done for the parents. The Kerkhoffs did it in the traditional way and made sure all the guests were looked after well. Mr. Moyo, the Boarding Master, assisted with the wedding preparations.
Being foreigners, The Zimbabwean government found many excuses not to approve a wedding license for this couple. After many complications, the much-desired paper was finally obtained, with just a few days to spare!
Both marriages took place in the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland in Zimbabwe. This couple had met through the FP Church like Velani and Gugulethu had. Maria from Canada and Roy from the UK met in London in 2018, when he informed Maria of what to expect as a teacher at Ingwenya, as he had been teaching there in 2015. Both love working in Africa with the Africans and feel it as their calling. Maria is the only non-Zimbabwean currently working at the John Tallach High School at Ingwenya Mission.
The wedding took place in Ingwenya, the site of the primary and secondary school. This time, the summer holidays, there were no teaching activities and there was plenty of space for the family friends who had come from afar. Early morning, on the wedding day, we all awoke to the roaring of the school bus heading for Bulawayo to pick up Maria’s colleagues and about 40 students for the wedding, which was to take place at Ingwenya Church at 10.00 am. How elegantly dressed they all stepped out of the bus! Locals, teachers and the ones staying at the compound all joined the wedding service. The ushers showed everyone where to sit, whereby women to the left and men to the right is common practice.
Dr D.W.B. Somerset, minister of The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Aberdeen had been busy with coaching the two catechists who are going to study in Scotland to become ministers and conducted the wedding service. Mr Moyo, the boarding master, translated from English to Ndebele simultaneously. Unbelievable how fluently he was able to do that!
After singing Psalm 136 a cappella in the Ndebele language from the Psalms of David in Metre (English script provided), the minister read John 2 about the marriage in Cana in Galilee. It teaches us that marriage is a divine gift to mankind, and we are to rejoice. Wine in a marriage is associated with rejoicing. Jesus was present at the wedding in Cana so we know that marriage is an honourable thing. Marriage is ordained by God and involves a solemn vow in which wedding couples commit themselves to each other. It is a public matter, as we are the witness of it. This and other marriages are a picture of the bond between Christ and his church. The solemnization was done by the moderator, Rev. S. Khumalo. Heavy rainfall on the corrugated iron sheets made his words barely audible. He was the one who made sure all the vows were said and all the signatures put on the right place, including thumbprints by the bridal couple. On behalf of the bride’s parents, Rev. Khumalo presented the newlyweds a Bible with the words that in this Bible they could find the way for the future.
After the ceremony, everyone present was invited to the school’s dining hall. The Zimbabweans had been quiet up to the moment the bride and bridegroom entered the dining hall. Local Zimbabweans would expect a cow to be slaughtered on the occasion of a wedding and they would certainly break out in exuberant singing upon the news of the lobola agreement being settled. Here, however, the Zimbabwean guests spontaneously started singing in their Ndebele language, in traditional Zimbabwean style, with Nkosie Khumalo as lead singer in After five minutes or so of singing, we had a delicious lunch served by the school dining room staff.
At 2.00 pm the school bus took the guests, including the students, back to Bulawayo and at 4.30 pm it was time for the special guests invited for the evening dinner at Bulawayo Club to board the bus. Mr Ncube, John Tallach School’s principal sitting opposite me, suggested that I order some Mopane worms. Those worms are cheap and healthy food with three times more protein than beef. It is a delicacy for the Zimbabweans. We both tasted them. Not something I particularly liked. but how international and special!
Mopani worms alive…
… and fried
The table setting was carefully planned, with wedding guests from countries far and near like Zimbabwe, Canada, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. How enriching it was to be in international company and how special to notice that, in spite of the cultural differences, you conversed with like-minded Christians from all over the world, all supporters of the Mbuma and Ingwenya Missions, who were joined together on the wedding occasion of Maria and Roy. What an interesting experience this was!
Roy concluded this special day by saying: “on behalf of Maria and myself We beseech you in God’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. He alone, it is not our wives, our husbands our relations in this world, but He alone Who is the Friend that sticketh closer than any brother. It is our prayer that God would bear with us together”.
door Mbuma | jun 23, 2023 | English Articles
On recent visits to our Mission location in Mashonaland, I had the privilege, while visiting New Canaan, Maware and Chiedza, in being able to attend prayer meetings held there by our minister, Rev Trycot Mwedzi (see picture 1). His sphere
1. Rev Trycot Mwedzi
of labour extends out from his manse in the town of Zvishavane to a total of 11 preaching stations, some of which are as far away as 140 km, often accessible only by very bad roads, made almost impassable in the rainy season.
2. Maware Prayer Meeting
Maware is situated northward, about 40 km from Zvishavane. Weekly prayer meetings are regularly attended by children from the nearby school, where all the pupils have been issued with a copy of the new Shona Bible recently provided by the TBS, with substantial assistance from the Dutch GBS (see picture 2). On this occasion, Rev Mwedzi preached on the Commandment “Thou shalt not steal”. We were impressed by the intensity with which the children listened to his exhortation to obedience.
Chiedza is located 70 km south of Zvishavane, where the tar road runs into dirt track for
3. Chiedza Prayer Meeting
26 km. The church is situated in heavily wooded forestation, giving the impression of remoteness and with little obvious habitation. However, as from nowhere, out of the bush, people starting arriving for the prayer meeting, where Rev Mwedzi preached from John 20:15 “Woman, why weepest thou?” In expounding the power of the resurrection, in the divine revelation to Mary of a risen Christ, the minister gave an encouraging discourse on this event which is so central to the Gospel message. After the meeting, we had the pleasure of meeting those attending (see picture 3)
4. Mr Sibanda, Mr Mashavakure and Mr Mpofu
Also present were our Mashonaland missionaries, Mr A Sibanda and Mr J Mashavakure (see picture 4). Before the meeting, accompanied by the missionaries and Mr T B Mpofu, our Mission Administrator, I took the opportunity to visit Mrs Mazvabo (widow of the late Rev Z Mazvabo) in her home, which is close to the church. The occasion evoked happy memories of her dear departed husband while we partook of true Shona hospitality, fellowship and worship (see picture 5).
5. Mrs Mazvabo
door Mbuma | mei 16, 2023 | English Articles
From December 7, 2022 to January 4, 2023, we, Annemarie Visser and I, went to Mbuma. There is a lot to tell about our visit to Mbuma. About the bumpy roads, about the work in the hospital, the heavy showers, the dirt roads that suddenly turned into rivers, the deafening sound of the chirping crickets, the electricity that kept going out, the fact that no water came out of the tap, so that we had to boil rainwater, the encounters we had, the special conversations with various people, the bond you can feel when you experience that there is only One God who rules. And that the Lord God is the same everywhere, whether you are in the Netherlands or in Zimbabwe.
We could also tell you that it was so special to see that in the Mboma magazine of February there are pictures of the water pump during the month of September, where everything is barren and dry and where four to six men are needed to pump up the water. In the month of December it was completely different! Everything was beautifully green, the sandy plains have turned into grassland, the cows look healthy again and there is enough water available for people and animals, even outside the pump. All nature has been revived!
But every period has its peculiarities. That is why I am writing a little about the question: What is it like to be in Mbuma at Christmas and the New Year?
Christmas and New Year’s Eve in Zimbabwe
It was the first time for us to experience the time of Christmas and the New Year abroad, and that at Mbuma in Zimbabwe! It was a very special experience.
While it was getting colder in the Netherlands, we left for the warm south at the beginning of December. It was high summer in Zimbabwe, where temperatures of 37 degrees in the shade were no exception. Everything was beautifully green. Then you notice that the weather conditions we are used to also play a role around Christmas and the turn of the year: we in the Netherlands are used to cold, dark days around that time. And the whole month of December is dominated by Advent. That is different in Mbuma. That’s because the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland does not connect the event of the birth of the Lord Jesus on earth to December 25 and 26. Although the sermons we heard in Mbuma were not Christmas-oriented, they were very educational. (…)
Around Christmas and the New Year in Zimbabwe there are a number of “public holidays,” days when everyone is off. In Zimbabwe, they generally do have some sort of ‘Christmas’, linked to December 25/26, but unfortunately this often only involves thinking about presents.
At the hospital, it was also noticeable that the adults had the day off; mainly because of the heavy drinking and its consequences. Several people were brought in with wounds from fights. But most poignantly, two young men died from the effects of excessive drinking. One was 26 years old. Married and had recently become a father for the first time. Oh, what an impression that gives. It has become eternity for these young people….
From Mbuma, Keith Mpata, the evangelist, Sister Willie and several others took the opportunity to engage in conversation with the people around the shops in the nearby villages. To point out to them the wrong way they are going and that there is only one right Way, the Lord Jesus Christ. We hope it may be a blessing!
At the turn of the year, communion was held in Nkayi, which we also attended. Rev. Khumalo administered Holy Supper on January 1. How special it was to be able to start the new year 2023 like this. Then all circumstances fall away. The Lord is not bound by time or place, and His eyes roam the whole earth.
Our wish is that the Lord will give His blessing over the many works that are taking place in Zimbabwe; above all, that the proclamation of His Word may touch and shatter people’s hearts, to His glory!
door Mbuma | apr 19, 2023 | English Articles
I was honoured to attend a wedding service on Thursday, December 22, 2022 in Bulawayo of Velani Moyo, a catechist at the Mbuma Mission and Gugulethu Nyoni of Bulawayo.
During the four-hour trip back to Mbuma, we, Willy Geurtsen, Ronald, Nienke and I learned a lot about Zimbabwean marriages from our driver, Mr. Khumalo and his wife. More than 25 years ago he had gone through the procedure of paying lobola in order to marry his wife-to-be. His family had to pay in kind, or cash, to the head of the prospective wife’s family in consideration of a marriage. He mentioned that paying in cash is not a very good option, as the inflation rate is over 280% and
rising. Since it may take years before lobola is fully paid, cash in local money is out of the question. Much better, and widely practiced, is paying in cows or otherwise foreign currency. Did I hear that correctly? Was the payment eight cows in his case? Anyway, eight cows is not an unusual payment for lobola. He had been married for over 25 years and, as I understood, there was still some lobola
to be paid, although he owed now quite a few cows. Maybe he was reserving them for his son who was of age to marry. In most cases, lobola is reportedly paid to honour the woman’s family for their efforts in raising her. When I asked him what would happen if a wife passes away before the lobola is fully paid to her family, he answered that you do not pay for the woman but for the children she is going to give him. He added that you take much more care not to leave her without a good reason when there is lobola agreement.
In the old days, in traditional Zimbabwe, when a man failed to pay, he would stay and work for his bride until his father-in-law was satisfied with his labour. Only then would he receive his bride. As the christian Zimbabweans say, the Biblical Jacob in the Old Testament worked 14 years for Laban as lobola for his wives.
There was so much more to ask, but after a long day, which had started at 5 am already, leaving from Mbuma Hospital, all the way to the Free Presbyterian Church in Bulawayo, driving as quickly as possible for two hours on a dirt road , followed by two more on a tarred road full of potholes, we were exhausted! we still managed to buy a set of dishes in Bulawayo for the bridal couple, arriving just in time for the wedding ceremony. First of all, a quick visit to the toilet, where we had to use a
bucket of water because of an out-of-order flush! ‘Never mind and no need to hurry’, the bridegroom’s sister whispered in my ear. The car arranged by the bridegroom to collect all the family members had broken down! As the bridegroom put it: “by the will of the Most High we managed to proceed up to the end. A lesson derived is that ‘man proposes, but God disposes”.
Bridegroom & Bride
The bride, Gugulethu Nyoni, was unaware of all the transport problems. She entered the church, bright and beautiful looking, together with the bridesmaids. A white and furry stole covered her shoulders on this rather cool day, compared to the 35 degrees temperature in the shade on the following days. The Zimbabweans have so little money to spend, yet they put so much effort into being well-dressed for the wedding.
The bridegroom’s twin sister led the bride to the front of the church. She grew up in Thembiso’s Children’s Home under the teachings and doctrine of the Free Presbyterian Church. No parents who could accompany her. How lonely must she have felt! The bridegroom, Velani Moyo, is a twin son in a family of nine. He was received as a member of the FP church in the Zenka congregation and, as mentioned earlier, is currently the catechist at Mbuma Mission. At the moment, he is studying Greek and Hebrew. The plan is to move to Scotland for further studies to become a minister of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Rev. S. Khumalo preached about Genesis 2 verse 24: ‘ Therefore shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh’ . and
seriously warned the listeners about the unbiblical ideas of the present time, where the wicked men of this world are turning marriage into their own thinking. There was no man created to marry a man. From the New Testament he explained Ephesians 5: 22-25 about wives that submit themselves unto their husband as unto the Lord. God did take a bone from the rib which are protecting vital organs. This shows how precious she is. It is the duty of the men to love their wives
as Christ loves His Church. And he concluded with Matthew 19:6 that he is the One who joined them together.
Among the hearers were, of course, the boys and girls of Thembiso Children’s Home, Guguletha’s former home. Rev. S. Khumalo had a double function that day. He first delivered his wedding sermon and afterwards he functioned as a marriage officer. In Zimbabwe, a religious leader may solemnize a civil marriage instead of a magistrate. Parties sign the certificate, together with the licensed minister and two witnesses above the age of 18. The licensed minister then enters the marriage in the marriage register book. This is not much different to what happens in The Netherlands. There is no legal requirement for payment of lobola. However, that is the custom in Zimbabwe. To marry in an acceptable way you have to pay lobola. I assume this was not the case for Velani’s and Gugulethu’s marriage, since there are no relatives to pay for it. It is sufficient to give the oath according to the ordinance of God during the ceremony in church: Will thou have this
woman/man to be thy wife/husband and wilt thou pledge thy faith to him/her, in all love and honor, in all duty and service, in all faith and tenderness, to live with her/him, and cherish her/him, according to the ordinance of God, in the holy bond of marriage?”
After the service, everybody started chanting with Mr Nkosie Khumalo’s deep, well-sounding voice clearly audible. On a home visit, soon afterwards, to a Free Presbyterian family near Mbuma, I met Velani, the bridegroom, in person. It appears there had not been a honeymoon trip for the newlywed. The wedding was on Thursday. They managed to travel and meet family members on Friday and on Monday it was back to work. For Velani it was working as the catechists and for Gugulethu it was working at Mbuma hospital, the place where they had met in 2021. They are still looking for a home of their own.
Picture with the family
This is what Velani feels about his marriage: “It was and it is so pleasing to be married in an acceptable manner, not only by society, but by the Word of God. It is pleasing is to be married to one with the same background, as far as the spiritual
pillar is concerned. It is indeed a new thing and our first time to live together as husband and wife. It makes me happy to have someone in my life who shows concern about me, who listens to my problems and shows love in everything. Above all, it makes me happy and thankful to the Lord tha He gave me one who knows God and my prayer is that the Lord will make us grow spiritually.”
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.”
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.”
