11th August 2026
Sometimes with all the running around it’s easy to forget to just take a break and relax a little. Tuesday was definitely that day for us. I woke up at a respectable time and even went back to sleep several times. I’ve heard that you can’t really catch up on sleep that you’ve lost. It’s just gone forever and you have to find new sleep to replace it in the future. But I felt like I did catch up a little. Over the past few days Chisomo has been making us three men with colds a special cold remedy consisting of shredded ginger and garlic, honey, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a little cooking oil, and hot water. I think it’s working!
The plan for the day was to obviously get a late start. And then before too late go and see some parts of Kadoma. The teacher in Josh (he was lost recently a math teacher) kept him busy playing games and chatting with Layla most of the morning. At some point we had breakfast. At some point we may have eaten again. There was definitely coffee in there somewhere. Actually I think that was the breakfast where, in my attempt to prevent Layla’s sleeve from going into her tea, I spilled my own coffee all over the table. Thankfully we were mostly finished eating. And thankfully there was more hot water and warm milk for another cup of coffee.
At lunch Chisomo mixed up a unique treat: baobab juice. The baobab tree is an iconic part of the African landscape, especially in places such as Madagascar and Malawi. Zimbabwe has them too. The baobab tree grows slowly and some say they can live up to 3,000 years. They are difficult to kill although they can be chopped down. The trees can take 100 years or more to start reproducing. Baobabs produce a green seed pod that has a tough woody shell. Inside the shell are small brown seeds surrounded by a tangy white powder. The powder has some health benefits so some people mix it with water and serve it as a refreshing drink. This was both Josh and my first time trying the drink. Honestly I think I prefer eating the powder off the seeds and getting that usual tangy taste.
After lunch we took a tour of Chisomo’s garden. She had served a green for lunch that was very delicious. It turns out it was the leaves from the cassava plant. Today I learned that the leaves are edible. I also learned that the stocks turn into a thick woody trunk. I guess I’ve only seen the thin spindly stems that are harvested along with the underground tubers. You learn something new every day.
In the afternoon Mabasa took Josh and I to meet some of his mining personnel. I had met his foreman before. We picked the two guys up and headed to the site where the amalgamation process happens whereby gold is essentially captured by mercury on a tray and then the mercury is removed. The gold can then be melted down and sold. We also saw one spot where miners were actively down below the ground in tunnels breaking up rock, taking samples, bringing ore to the surface, and going back down again. We didn’t actually see the inside of the depths of the earth, but we at least caught a glimpse of how things are done.
Zimbabwe is rich with all sorts of minerals and precious metals. From what we’ve been told the gold is bought by the government which does seem advantageous. Hopefully the gold will stockpile in their banks (or wherever they keep it) and the national currency will be strengthened enough to prevent future hyperinflation. Some of the other elements mined that I can recall are platinum, lithium, and asbestos. There is a bit of controversy over asbestos. When we visited Zvishavane we learned that there was a very large asbestos mine that supported the city. As imports of the stuff were mostly banned in the US and many other countries (currently more than 70 countries have banned the import and use) the mining operations slowed down significantly and the city has suffered greatly ever since.
After seeing the mining operations we headed to the church property on the outskirts of Kadoma. I’ve visited the property several times now, and even saw the place shortly after it was purchased. Mabasa, Christal, and I walked the perimeter in January of 2023 (you can read about that experience here). It’s been great seeing the progress through the years, and also interesting watching Mabasa work through the occasional hiccups. I do my best to support him as he strives to make the place nice for the brethren keeping the Feast of Tabernacles there. It was neat that Josh got to see the place. His ABC class did some fundraising to help purchase materials for various construction projects on the premises.
On the way home Mabasa received a call from a good friend of his who lives in Kadoma. The man’s sister was in a terrible car accident. She was the driver and there were six other passengers (including a baby) packed tightly into a very small car. There may have been drinking involved and there was definitely some poor decision making involved. As of that evening four people had died and another was not doing well. Thankfully the baby was alright.
Mabasa dropped us off at the house and headed back out to go support his friend. You can imagine the emotional pain of having to deal with the aftermath such an accident. Not to mention the questions from the police and from family members of the people involved. Mabasa did his best to comfort his friend, anoint some of the injured, and then headed back home. The cold that we shared with him didn’t get him down the day before, but today he was definitely feeling its effects.
Josh and I ate dinner with Chisomo and the girls. After our meal I was reminiscing about my very first trip to Africa. In 2011 Lena and I flew to Zambia to teach English and help run a youth camp just outside of Lusaka. I showed Chisomo a few photos and she helped identify a few of the people and locations. She’s originally from Zambia and tries to go back there to visit her family at least once a year. I really wish I had kept a more detailed record of who we had met on that trip and the places we had gone. Without calling Lena (who no doubt remembers much more than me) I managed to look up the general area where we met for a leadership conference, English classes, and the youth camp somewhere east of the capital city. If you are interested in reading some of that story you can get a glimpse of it here.
I should mention that Chisomo told me about the ferry boat that overturned in Lake Kariba on the northwest side of the country. If I remember correctly she has friends who had family members on the boat. Some of them were still missing at that point. Reports say the boat was over capacity including an unspecified number of unticketed children. Couple that with the strong winds on a holiday weekend and you get quite a disaster. As of now (about 8:15pm in Harare on August 12th) at least 44 people have died in this tragedy. You can find a BBC News article here.
Mabasa came home after half the household had gone to bed. He found Josh and me in the living room chatting with people as the evening came to a close. Mabasa looked a bit defeated but sounded more realistic about the car accident situation. The reality is people make poor decisions that can affect their life and the lives of others. Also accidents happen. Also we live in a world where death is a reality at present. But thanks be to God who has triumphed over death!
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory!” (see 1 Corinthians 15:55)
We all went to bed. I only stayed up half the night writing and contemplating life. In the morning the plan is to head to Harare for some more visits.
-Lewis VanAusdle
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