Tennessee students meet needs in Zimbabwe
Posted by Amanda Stravinsky on November 19th 2009 in Organizations, Volunteers
A water purifier installed at Nenyunga Clinic courtesy of JourneyPartners. Photo | Jim Wilson
Students from Carson-Newman College push wheelbarrows filled with stones along the dry dirt in Nenyunga, Zimbabwe. Sweat splashes their faces but smiles can’t be contained. The students know that the well they are constructing, the only one within 20 miles, will help this village.
Carson-Newman is a Christian college in Jefferson City, Tennessee. JourneyPartners, an organization that connects with other church organizations to help those in the US and around the world, sent a group of Carson-Newman students to Zimbabwe for five weeks during the 2009 summer. It was a learning experience for all the students, who worked in JourneyPartners’ three areas of focus: water, education and health. Some built a well and water purifier system; others helped in an orphanage, House of Hope; and those who were medical students worked in the Nenyunga clinic.
To immerse themselves in local culture, students stayed with Zimbabwean families. The families cooked sazda, a corn meal loaf with a stiff mashed potato texture, for meals with the students. Greens and meat were valued additions at some meals. “[The students] learned from their customs, culture and faith,” said Jim Wilson, director of Carson-Newman’s campus ministries.
Audra Jordan, a Carson-Newman student and Jim Wilson, director of Campus Ministries, help build Nenyunga Clinic. Photo | Jim Wilson This was his second trip to Zimbabwe. Wilson has been to many countries extending from China to Bulgaria, but in Zimbabwe, he was overwhelmed with the poverty and the devastation that people face every day. Eighty percent of those living in Zimbabwe were unemployed in 2005, and 1.3 million people suffer from HIV/AIDS.
While the JourneyPartners were there, a 9-year old girl slipped into a coma at the House of Hope orphanage. She was HIV positive, having inherited the infection from her parents, who died from AIDS. There was no car to take her to the hospital 20 miles away. The orphanage director’s son carried her on his back 10 miles until a car was found. The girl was stabilized and recovered, becoming a good friend to the students and Wilson.
The JourneyPartners team brought Doxycycline, a medicine to treat the cholera outbreak. With every three pills, cholera can be cured, malaria treated and acne cleared.
Despite the constant suffering, the Zimbabweans welcomed the American teams into their homes with open arms. After the five weeks, the students gave their hosts gifts of food for hosting as an expression of gratitude.
“When hopeless people have a good neighbor with resources to come and stand with them it brings encouragement and sometimes even physical salvation,” Wilson said.
