Just before the elections (June 27) my brother Mike who is with YWAM in Bulawayo, visited home, a mission farm 105km out of Harare to attend our niece’s memorial service. All went well but the political situation at that time was getting more volatile. The Zanu PF youth (militia) had set up a torture camp at Ameva farm football ground. They were beating people, those they suspected to be MDC supporters and sympathizers.
Apparently, my family– my mother who is in her 70s, my two sisters and my other brother and his family who live on a farm down the road had been listed for beating because they have family members who are married to white women (me and my nephew who is married to an American) therefore; they must support the opposition.
Mike says he was scared the whole time he was there. Everyone was terrified. The young people including my 14-year-old niece Edith were taken to attend all night re-education camps – educating them on how they should vote next time. Not a pleasant atmosphere. Well the news I get from home now is that things have cooled down a little at the moment. Please pray for protection for the rest of the family. The beatings and killings are still going on in some parts of the country.
Zimbabwe is in a terrible mess. My call to Mike was cut off and Mike suspects the government owned cellular network is being monitored. I was advised not to go to Zimbabwe myself as it would be unsafe for me and also would put the family in danger. This is hard for me as I worry for their safety and also for the fact that they are struggling to get food. I wanted to take them some food.
Via text/sms, another nephew in a township in Harare said he wants to come and visit me here so he can have “rest.” The army had just dismantled their torture camp near his house. He is in shock and wants to get away. He asked me to pray. “Your prayers make a difference,” is how he ended one of his text messages.
Pray that this horror will come to end. Pray for wisdom on what to do and how to do it. I have seriously prayed and thought about moving the whole family here. It is a big family and I do not know how or where to start.
Towns along Mozambique’s borders are crowding with people fleeing the situation in Zimbabwe.
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