Bryn, Sue Phil and Naomi Vaughan

John Valentine spoke at Cliff College in 1980 about Ameva. He preached from John’s gospel on resurrection life and at the end he asked the men who were prepared to go to stand up. I stood up. Then he asked where “were the women” who were prepared to follow these men. Sue stood up.

This was our response, but the time was not right for us to go and I let it slip but Sue continued to pray for God’s will to be done. (I went out soon after this on a work party with Ron White to wire up the Bible College and dorms. Later Sue and Phil went out to help; Phil then took a year out and went there with Graham Mallet for 6 months). Eventually in about 1993 God spoke to me “what hinders thee” from Peter getting out of the boat. It was early on a Sunday morning, so I got Sue and the family up and said that God had spoken it was time to go and they all agreed. We phoned John Valentine in Zimbabwe and he said to come and teach in the Secondary School. We told Peter Gray and he announced it in church that morning.

Eventually Sue and I left England in April 1995 to go to join those at Ameva. Phil, who was then at university, joined us for his summer vacation and Naomi, having remained to complete her A-levels, joined us in the summer and stayed for about 6 months. Both Phil (twice) and Naomi returned to visit and help with the work.

Upon arriving we lived on the farm next door to John and Martha Shaw, and I took up my teaching post at Ameva Secondary School. During my time there I set up the Science Lab and the Preparation Room. This involved creating the mains electrical distribution board for the school and wiring up the science area, building the permanent and moveable benches. I also trained Twape Black as a technician. I enjoyed the time teaching the pupils, finding them so well behaved and keen to learn. The Ameva staff where wonderful to work with and the leadership of John Shaw the best I’ve known. The Deputy (and now headmaster) Shepherd Ziramba was a good man to work with. He loves the Lord and shows it in all he does.

Sue oversaw First Aid and the Medical cupboard and also Celia asked her to set up the crèche in the straw church. During this time, she organised the building of a storeroom and a Blair toilet for the crèche. We got involved in the life of the church in Chegutu and on the farm. We joined in the prayer meetings, the bible study, and the Sunday afternoon outreach to the outlying farms led by John Shaw. Sue helped the ladies outreach meetings run by Martha Shaw on Saturdays. We also provided a place for the young people from the UK (people who had come out to work on the farm for a period) to come and enjoy a relaxing Saturday evening watching a movie.

Whilst there we enjoyed the times when teams led by Jim and Margaret Bailey visited the farm and we got involved with them. After being there nearly 3 years, we returned to the UK for me to take up teaching again. But the pull of Africa was still there, and we returned on 2 teams with the Baileys. Further to this we returned 5 times for me to teach some of the BTCP modules to the students. During these times Sue ran a Health Clinic (eventually these stopped due to changing regulations).

Some of our lasting memories include spending time at Ian and Elsie Gibson’s home where hospitality was lavished upon visitors, scrabble was the game and swimming a relaxation. It was a pleasure to travel around the country on holiday with Eric and Ros Taylor and John and Martha. We got to see some of the beauty of the country and meet lovely friendly people as we travelled. We also remember the wonderful leadership of John and Celia and how they led by example. The tremendous love they have for the folks at Ameva was clearly demonstrated and it was a privilege to be a part of the work.

Phil Vaughan

My six months were spent working at the school, whilst Graham worked alongside two Tear fund graduates around the farm. I taught maths and science to a variety of children and young adults. It was rewarding to see their appetite to learn and their appreciation of the work that Ameva was doing.

I have strong memories of times spent with the young pastors being taught to sing, sitting along the top ridge of the straw church with a hammer, Jon Val directing from below and even working with the herdsmen tracking/ finding beef cattle in the bush.

I also had the opportunity to travel and visit other teams both in Mozambique and Malawi.

Although being hard work at times I was rewarded with amazing memories, alongside lactose intolerance due to contracting giardiasis and malaria parasites in my blood.

It was also a time that enabled me to develop massively as an individual, giving me skills and experiences that have influenced my life and career since.

Stan & Yvonne Kearsley

Having lived at Ameva from 1982 for few years, also many visits our last time there was 2012, yet when not there bodily they have always been in our hearts. The wonderful vision that God gave to John in 1981 will be forever a countless blessings of souls brought out of darkness into His marvellous light through the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST. Having been a small labourer in the vision have seen many miracles for the Glory of God. One notable one being the Lord sending rain to save a tomato crop which was instead of looking green, spider mite had turned it red. We saw a cloud as big as a man’s hand arising over the back of the river in Chegutu. Instead of the usual we had seen many times it followed the river, God guided it to the farm and emptied it just on the tomatoes, in those days the crop brought in £2,000 plus £3,000 with the wood sales, which aloud Derrick Spriggs work shop to be built and also used to press sunflower seeds into oil. To numerous other to mention as you have many more contributions.